Five world-famous paintings were attacked in a month, not because of strange thieves in the museum, but by radical environmentalists.
After roads in Britain, the United States, Italy and Australia were closed, police stations, shopping malls and office buildings were spray-painted, and Van Gogh's sunflowers were poured with tomato soup, environmental groups targeted Monet's famous paintings.
Throughout October, people in many countries were exhausted by non-stop environmental protests, some felt their actions were understandable, but many more thought they had gone too far...
A few years ago, we talked about the ecological conservation group Extinction Rebellion (XR) that has set off many activities around the world.
These include breaking into the British House of Commons naked, spraying fake blood on ancient buildings with high-pressure water cannons, and so on.
Their activities were suspended for two years due to the pandemic.
British Prime Minister Truss, who resigned in October, angered environmentalists by legislating to remove restrictions on fracking, an ecologically damaging way of oil extraction that could cause earthquakes, in an effort to increase fuel reserves.
So throughout October, environmental groups around the world were working on things.
Last Sunday, two young men broke into the Barberini Art Museum in Potsdam, Germany, and without saying a word, poured mashed potatoes on the paintings on the wall.
This painting is Monet's masterpiece "The Barn Pile", not to mention its $110 million sale price in the auction house, as an authentic work of the Impressionist master, its historical value must be imagined by everyone.
An investigation later revealed that a man and a woman from the climate activist group Letzte Generation (the last generation) who tried to destroy the famous painting first poured mashed potatoes on Monet's paintings, then got into the guardrail and glued themselves to the walls of the museum.
The two shouted: "We are in the midst of a climate catastrophe. All you're worried about is mashed potatoes on a painting. ”
Two protesters were subsequently arrested by German police on charges of damaging property and trespassing. Fortunately, the museum confirmed that the painting itself was not damaged due to the protection of the frame.
The two protesters were clearly inspired by the "sunflower attackers" in London.
Last week, two women wearing "Stop Oil" T-shirts broke into the National Gallery. Splash tomato soup on Van Gogh's masterpiece sunflower.
The 21-year-old protester shouted: "Which is more valuable, art or life?" Is this painting more important than food? Are you more concerned about protecting a painting or protecting our planet and humanity? ”
The behavior of the two people really scared many visitors and netizens who brushed up on this news, and everyone did not expect that one day these famous paintings would be threatened by environmental protection organizations. However, the painting is also protected by a frame, so the original work itself is not damaged.
Two participants were asked to compensate the museum for the contaminated walls and picture frames, at a rate of £2,000.
Police have also charged with criminal sabotage, but two girls from Newcastle, aged 20 and 21, have pleaded not guilty and the case has been decided to go ahead on 13 December. If convicted, the two could face imprisonment.
Also in Australia, in October, two XR protesters glued their hands to Picasso's famous painting at the National Gallery of Victoria to call attention to climate change.
Then activists glued their hands to Van Gogh's paintings at the Courtaurd gallery in London.
Also in October, two environmentalists tore up a replica of John Constable's "Haycart" by renowned British painter John Constable, then pasted the replica on the original and glued their hands to the frame of the original painting to protest Britain's oil extraction problem.
Criticism erupted online, with some netizens describing the protesters as "clowns" and some saying they went too far:
"The starting point was good, but the direction was completely off.
The members of Stop Oil are just imitating themselves, and we're all losers. ”
"How can these actions mitigate climate warming? I think they're a little too casual. ”
"I agree that we should do something about climate change, but I think it's ironic to say that in thirty or forty years humanity will run out of food, and then pour food on the wall?
In addition, if they glue themselves to it with superglue, isn't superglue also a by-product of petroleum? ”
"I'd rather have a serious discussion about the climate crisis than watch these self-righteous idiots perform absurdly all day and shouldn't give them the look, they're just paying attention."
But there are also many people who express understanding, and some agree that "a picture is really less important than our planet". There are also people who help to explain the destruction of famous paintings:
"This group has been protesting outside government departments and oil companies before, but it has hardly been reported, so they came up with this way to satirize people who care more about art than the planet."
In fact, chaotic situations do not happen overnight.
Before the destruction of famous paintings became famous, there was a paint splashing campaign that was carried out all over the world. 24 people sprayed the London Police Department with orange paint:
Soon after, London's famous Harrods department store was also painted:
The scene was a mess, and in the end, it was still cleaned up by the workers who spent a lot of water.
A student in Derbyshire sprinkles human feces on a statue of British philanthropist Tom Moore, a recently deceased centenarian.
She asked Britain to ban private jets, but Tom Moore was just a normal man who had never owned a private jet in his life.
Also splashed with paint this month was the physical store of the luxury car Aston Martin, in order to boycott gas cars.
At the same time, the German Volkswagen plant was poured with red paint, and environmentalists demanded that the German government not build new car factories to protect the environment.
This month's Paris Motor Show was not spared, with XR group members barging into Ferrari counters and pouring black paint on a gasoline-electric hybrid Ferrari.
Members said they would boycott electric and hybrid vehicles because their batteries would pollute the environment and cost human lives. Eleven people were arrested as a result.
And after such a toss, consumers no longer know what to do. Buying a gas truck says it destroys the environment, and buying a tram also destroys the environment, is their purpose to make the whole world ride a bicycle?
If splashing paint is at best a little trouble for entrepreneurs, then there have been many incidents of dumping milk this month, making more people say: waste of food, unbearable.
At Mason Department Store in London, a man and a woman picked up milk bottles on the shelf, dumped several liters of milk on the ground, and then swaggered out. This is the second time this month that Mason has been poured milk.
Immediately afterwards, the two men ran to the famous department store Selfridges, picked up milk in their dairy display case and poured it on the floor.
The customer asked the clerk in panic: "Do you care?" The clerk said, "We can't do that." ”
The woman pouring the milk shouted, "I don't want to see my children grow up in a world of drought, natural destruction, food shortages!" We need to replace animal products with plants! ”
The two protesters reportedly belong to XR's animal protection offshoot, with many supporting veganism and opposing any animal products.
However, their waste of milk is clearly more concerning than their initiative. Many shoppers tried to stop them that day, and several even scolded them directly.
This wave of people also went to several cities in the UK to do similar things. For example, pouring milk at Manchester City's Martha supermarket, at least six or seven litres of milk are wasted.
Others poured milk at Waitrose, a mid-to-high-end supermarket in Edinburgh:
Pour milk into the butcher and cheese shops of Harrods in London:
Last month, the group tried to directly disrupt the dairy transport chain, gluing itself to the entrance to a large dairy factory. There are also members who sprinkle "fake milk" made of white paint on Big Ben.
They blame the UK government for ignoring their proposal, citing a 2019 Harvard study that concluded the UK could achieve negative carbon emissions if it fully transitioned to a vegetarian-based diet.
So they asked the British government to urgently ban fishing and animal husbandry, and let Britain strive for a vegetarian life alone. They also asked the British to leave large areas of land and sea and let them go wild so that other species could survive.
Obviously, at least for now, none of this is imminent.
As a result, the British Farmers' Union has slammed the behaviour of these people, saying that dairy products are the main source of the British diet and it is impossible for everyone to be vegetarian.
"There are still many families who can't even eat, and farmers can't sell their produce because of the epidemic.
Our farmers were saddened and shocked to learn that the fruits of their hard work had been dumped on the ground, and that you were deliberately wasting food and preventing them from earning money to support their families. ”
If the damage to public property is only to cause trouble for some businesses and infrastructure departments, then blocking the road really angers people in all countries.
Two men from Stop Oil last week climbed the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge over the Thames and suspended themselves in the air.
The dangerous behavior caused the police to quickly dispatch rescuers, and the roads around the bridge were closed.
This is the working time on Monday, and the office workers who are stuck in the road are so aggrieved that who would have thought that their wages would be deducted because of this kind of thing.
On the 23rd, a group of people blocked the road on Abbey Road in London and stopped the car. This is the filming location of The Beatles' famous album cover "Abbey Road", and several activists also posed in the same pose for the album cover, causing traffic jams.
More egregious was the roadblock at Knightsbridge near London's Hyde Park last Tuesday. An ambulance, a fire truck and a private car that was about to take a sick baby to hospital were stopped in the road, causing delays.
The baby's father shouted angrily at the event: "I don't care what you guys are going to do, I'm going to take the baby to the hospital!" ”
Trapped drivers and protesters debate
A taxi driver asked the protesters: "How can I support my family if you don't let me go?" I bought an electric taxi to protect the environment, it cost me seventy thousand pounds, I tried to do what I had to do, why are you punishing me? ”
A truck driver yelled at the protesters
Weeks of road closures in October also led to a serious traffic accident in which four vehicles rear-ended at blocked intersections and two women were killed. Some blame members of environmental groups that obstruct traffic.
Many others say the road closures have really affected the lives of so many innocent civilians, many of whom are poorer and helpless than these highly educated environmentalists, and should not pay for it.
However, the act of road closure began in the United Kingdom and was completely carried forward by other countries in Europe and the United States.
Route I-395, one of the main roads in Washington, D.C., was blocked by activists this month, but it takes a better psychological quality to do so in the United States.
It didn't take long for a woman to warn protesters that she was going to visit her mother and that she would make everyone regret if she wasn't allowed to go.
At first the protesters still wouldn't let her pass, and who knows after a while, the woman got a gun out of the car. The protesters were immediately frightened, and the activist in charge whispered to the people next to him, "Let her pass," and got out of the way.
In the traffic, there was also a white brother who didn't know what to do, and began to give passionate speeches in the clearing, preaching the Bible to environmentalists, and telling them: "If God wants the earth to be destroyed, then destroy it", which is probably magic defeating magic.
So many people may want to ask, aren't they afraid to go to jail? In fact, these organized environmental activists are not stupid, they have long figured out the boundaries of the law, they will only do some misdemeanors, at most a few weeks of detention, or a fine of several thousand yuan.
It doesn't matter if you don't have money, XR and Stop Extracting Oil have strong financial support. Interestingly, the person who invested tens of millions of dollars in them turned out to be Erin Getty, the heir of the oil tycoon Getty family.
It can be said that many of the above activities are carried out with her support. Using the money from oil to fund those who resist oil is unique in the world.
It is not difficult to see from the environmental protection activities that the requirements of the participants are not the same, some are vegetarian, some want to reduce emissions, and some want to stop the extraction of fossil fuels. It is individuals who can jump out and say that they are making trouble for the sake of the environment, which is the main reason why people feel uneasy.
Environmental protection is a very important issue, but are these behaviors that make people gradually bored and slowly forget their original intentions.
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