By Charlotte Mair
Dr Patrick Hart, 37, has become a notable Just Stop Oil protestor. The GP from Bristol has been a leading figure head in the environmental activist organisation, and has been arrested many times for his involvement.
Notable protests by members of the movement include throwing tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery in London, smashing protective screens on paintings, releasing orange smoke at the World Snooker Championships, and their slow marches against traffic.
In May last year, Hart disrupted the Premiership Final rugby match at Twickenham, prompting GB News to run with the headline: “Just Stop Oil protestor WRECKS rugby Premiership final by invading pitch with orange smoke bomb.”
The forms of protest have sparked debate into whether this type of action is beneficial for the activist group, or whether it is counterproductive due to the widespread distain it creates. Metropolitan Police have stated that in April – July 2023, the group’s 515 protests had cost £7.7 million in damages, with 23,500 officers needed to be present at the events they created.
Hart’s journey into Just Stop Oil started from joining Extinction Rebellion. “I joined in 2022. It was a progression from my involvement at Extinction Rebellion,” he told Holloway Express, right before the panel discussion, Dirty London, which was part of London Metropolitan University‘s Journalism Newsweek.
“At that time, I have friends in the Insulate Britain campaign, and in a short space of time taking insulation from something that people were not talking about to something that was on front pages. These were good people, and I could not bear to watch them go it alone and suffer the consequences alone I need to be with them fighting for this cause.”
The work of Just Stop Oil is often categorised as “extreme” within the British press, and the group’s activities are often painted in a negative light. “I am disagreeing if anyone says it’s extreme,” Hart says.
“I have just come from a friend’s court case, in law there is always a question of proportionality, when talking about the collapse of our ecosystem on a massive scale and the collapse of human civilisation in our lifetimes then sitting in a road is not extreme.
“If anything, it is not enough. I know we will be looking back and thinking damn, why did not we do more. I am already thinking I have done enough yet.”
As a doctor and a climate activist, Hart sees the direct impacts of climate change in his patients, which motivates his activism. “In the UK, the direct impacts of warming are less obvious. The impacts of burning fossil fuels on our health are everywhere. I see the consequences of polluted air every day at work, and I hate to bring it up, but I have seen people die of it.
“I have tried to treat children with severe asthma and watch them die, and I know a major contributor to this, which has finally been recognised is the fact that all of us are breathing dangerously polluted air.”
He explains the planning behind the rugby protest. “There was not a lot of preparation that went into the protests at Twickenham. The police kept asking if we had dug tunnels and we had to remind them that we just bought tickets. What we have seen with our actions is that we do not set out to have direct media coverage, it just happens – especially at live events.”
Hart is dedicated to the cause, and has suggestions for the government. “There is an already a climate legislation called the Climate Emergency Bill that was written by a range of experts in the field from outside of government and has been completely ignored by the government. There is not one simple thing now, there is a whole raft of measures.
“The legislation to do it is all there, [and[ some of these decisions will be easy from the government to make. However, some things that we are doing, like giving billions of pounds in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry which is already the richest industry in all human existence we could stop, which most people would agree to do but there will be tough choices.”
Another measure that Hart suggests is a cornerstone of the Extinction Rebellion cause, the creation of a Citizen’s Assembly to advise the government on climate change action. “The creation of Citizen Assemblies where the public would be involved in government matters. This has been an ask from Extinction Rebellion from the outset, and it is an important part of working action work.”
Photo by Wendy Sloane
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