The prison sentences passed on the Just Stop Oil protesters who immobilised the M25 – five years for Roger Hallam and four for the others – were certainly stiff. With prisons overflowing and some violent offenders receiving less harsh sentences, a small reduction in the jail terms might have been justified. But despite the backlash from environmentalists, justice has been served. Those who say that the protesters are merely conscientious practitioners of civil disobedience – and that the punishments imposed amount to a stamping on the right of peaceful protest – are wrong.
Roger Hallam’s casting of himself in the role of a civil disobedience advocate is both disingenuous and incorrect. Civil disobedience involves a willingness not only to disobey, but take the punishment: witness Mahatma Gandhi’s frequent and provocative demands to be sentenced to the maximum possible penalty after his acts defying British rule in India. Hallam, by contrast, is seeking the advantage of being a civil disobedience martyr coupled with the avoidance of any substantial penalty. He cannot have it both ways, and should not be allowed to do so.
References to peaceful protest, which JSO types like to mention, are a red herring. It’s true that no blood was shed. But........