Climate alarmists affiliated with the extremist organization Just Stop Oil may drive gas-powered vehicles, wear petroleum products, and rely upon fossil fuels for their survival, but according to one member, that doesn't make them hypocrites.
Instead, the motorists turned extremists keen to congest highways, block emergency vehicles, and deface beloved works of art are allegedly "victims."
Leisure-time victims
So-called climate scientist Larch Maxey, 50, is a member of Just Stop Oil. Maxey told the Telegraph on Monday that "we are all victims of this horrendous crime against humanity of fossil fuel production in a climate emergency."
Maxey, who claimed last year there would be societal collapse by 2023, suggested that it would be wrong to point out the fact that the anti-oil extremists rely upon the very energy product they seek to deprive the world of.
"It's really important that we don't shame and blame the victims," he said.
Despite their zeal, it is clear that Just Stop Oil extremists will not just stop using oil themselves.
Maxey said the organization does not presently and shouldn't ultimately have a policy requiring members not to drive or to use only public transit and bicycles to get around.
'Ordinary people'
The 50-year-old extremist spoke to the Telegraph at a Just Stop Oil blockade preventing motorists from going to or from their families and work in south London on Tuesday. This blockade is part of a broader seasonal campaign that is expected to last until Dec. 14.
Maxey suggested that Just Stop Oil extremists are "ordinary people," apparently with plenty of time to spare.
Although it is unclear whether one truck driver stuck behind the extremists' blockades is similarly "ordinary," he was extraordinarily upset, especially after police took issue with his honking but not with the blockade.
"The police officer told me my air horn was hurting his ears. ... The police need to get a backbone — we should drag [the extremists] round the corner and give them a good kicking like they used to," said the truck driver.
With Maxey's compatriots ahead, blocking three lanes of traffic, the truck driver added, "My thoughts would be run over the lot of these — why don't they go to China and do it — they produce far more emissions than us."
A taxi driver stuck in traffic as a result of the Just Stop Oil blockade told the Telegraph, "The police just asked me 'how I feel.' I said, 'What?!' I told them to do your job properly."
While the extremists held up working-class commuters, they were sure to let cyclists by.
When the extremists took to the streets again Thursday on the east side of the city, blocking rush hour traffic on Whitechapel Road, one pedestrian protested against the extremists' holdup of traffic.
London police officers reportedly issued the pedestrian a warning, stating, "They're minding their own business; what harm are they doing to you?"
At a previous protest, one Just Stop Oil extremist said, “We are holding the government to account. We do not want to disrupt the lives of ordinary people.”
Whereas authorities appear in many such instances deferential to or at the very least patient with the extremists, some "ordinary people" whose lives have been disrupted have clearly had enough.
In late October, infuriated London motorists dragged Just Stop Oil extremists off the road.
Motorists drag Just Stop Oil protesters off central London road youtu.be
A war on mobility funded by California elites
TheBlaze previously reported that both Just Stop Oil and Last Generation, a similar group fighting against energy security, receive funding from the Climate Emergency Fund, on whose board sits Adam McKay, a Hollywood director and screenwriter; Aileen Getty, the American actress from the ultra-rich Getty oil family; Rory Kennedy, the youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy; and other wealthy climate alarmists.
The Climate Emergency Fund has funneled cash to 94 organizations. According to its website, it has helped to mobilize over 1 million activists. In 2022 alone, it has disbursed $4.5 million.
Aided by California millionaires and oil family heiresses, Just Stop Oil and Last Generation have both achieved notoriety in recent months not just for blockading roads but for defacing beloved works of art and vandalizing private property.
According to the Just Stop Oil website, the aim of their extremist attacks on British art, property, and U.K. citizens' mobility is to resist the government, target the U.K.'s oil and gas infrastructure, and to force, by way of undemocratic means, the government to comply with their demands.