Some content on this page was disabled on March 17, 2025 as a result of a DMCA takedown notice from Guardian Media Group. You can learn more about the DMCA here:
Some content on this page was disabled on March 17, 2025 as a result of a DMCA takedown notice from Guardian Media Group. You can learn more about the DMCA here:
Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
The article (as many/most Guardian articles do) misses the point: that governments (UK, US, EU) are no longer sovereign – they are mostly pushed & pulled by companies & lobbyists – the EU & the Bx village is a case in point. As somebody remarked to me last year: if you think lobbying in the EU/Bx is bad – Berlin is even worse.
Taking the example of the people jailed for +/- 5 years in the Uk for standing on motorway gantries: the police made a decision to cause maximum disruption by closing the motorways – there was no need as a cursory glance at any motorway gantry will show (the demonstrators could not have fallen off if they tried). We will never know the communication between oil & gas mafia and the gov’ and the gov and the police – but you can be sure that the police did not close the motorway on their own initiative – likewise the actions in places such as Germany – which is increasingly authoritarian – not just in terms of those agitating with respect to climate but also, those unhappy with the slo-mo genocide in Gaza.
My contacts in the Commission tell me that it is difficult to take any action without being inundated with lobbyists and the actions of, for example, Labour in the Uk concerning GB Energy demonstrates that the ultimate controller of UK/EU/US governments is a combo of the already mentioned oi&gas Mafiosi and the neo-liberal finance community – both of which ensure that govs of all political colours enforce the status quo.
You are right about these companies and lobbyists. Those lobbyists are so powerful and with endless pockets to keep their message front and centre. But it is wrong to so severely punish those who are trying to take a stand against these industries that are creating the damage.
One key constraint upon such overbearing practices by authorities is to ensure that defendants , during any court trial procedure,be permitted to explain in full to juries the contextual reasons for such protests.
Whenever this is allowed by judges to occur, experience has shown that juries are unwilling to collude with the prosecution.
You are so right