Just Stop Oil protesters will eventually be proven right – just like the suffragettes before them, according to an Irish feminist and activist.

Writing in the Irish News this week, campaigner Elaine Crory said the public were often not on the side of the suffragette movement – going as far as throwing stones, bottles and mud at activists as they were taken into custody.

She said the Just Stop Oil movement has faced similar anger from certain sections of the public in recent years – and questioned whether the mood will change in the future as the harsh realities of the climate crisis become clearer.

Ms Crory was writing after four members of the protest group were jailed for four years in the UK for their part in a demonstration that disrupted traffic on London’s M25 two years ago.

Meanwhile, the groups perceived leader Roger Hallam (58) was jailed for five years after being found guilty of ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’ for his part in the protest.

More than 1,200 artists, athletes and academics have since come together to condemn the “injustice” of the sentences – believed to be the longest ever handed down in the UK for peaceful protest.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Ms Crory explained why she believes Just Stop Oil may one day be viewed the same way many people now view the suffragettes.

“The way I see it, in a couple of years’ time or a couple of decades' time, the conversation will have shifted on climate in the same way as it did at the time the suffragettes started out,” she said.

“There was really no widespread acceptance that women deserved the right to vote or were able to handle the right to vote.

“I mean, some of the narrative around at the time was simply that they were relying on a false premise that women were intelligent and responsible enough to vote and when that view changed, so did the view that they shouldn’t be allowed the right to vote.

“In my view, Just Stop Oil are making an argument about climate and about how much of a crisis it will be when it fully and completely arrives on our shores – and arguably to some degree, it already has – but that is going to get worse.”

A Just Stop Oil protester jumps on the table and throws orange powder during the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, 17-04-2023. Image: PA Images / Alamy

Also on the show, Irish Independent columnist Ian O’Doherty dismissed any link between the two movements.

“As usual when it comes to dealing with Just Stop Oil people, I'm just struck really mostly by their modesty und their very modest claims that, ‘Hey, we're just modern suffragettes,’” he said.

“How incredibly modest of you to procreate one of the most famous civil rights movements in, modern times.

“The thing is, the main difference is that the suffragettes, their aim was to liberate half of the population.

“Just Stop Oil’s aim, on the other hand, rather than liberating half of the population seems to be to immiserate all of the population – to make everybody's life more difficult.”

Activists throw soup on Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' at the National Gallery in London, England. Picture by: YouTube/Just Stop Oil

Mr Doherty also claimed that the ‘ridiculous’ net zero target will “plunge us back into a new dark age”.

He admitted, however, that the sentences handed down to the protesters in the UK were “probably a bit harsh”.

Ms Crory noted that she has no connection to Just Stop Oil – and said the group’s aim is to highlight crisis to ensure that governments around the world take action.

“It's not aimed at immiserating people,” she said. “What it is saying is, if you leave it long enough, if you ignore the problem until it's impossible to be ignored any longer, that will immiserate people in ways far beyond being delayed [in going about their daily lives].”

Mr Doherty said they should focus their efforts on changing the Chinese Government’s attitude – claiming, “any change we make will have absolutely no impact whatsoever”.

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