Protestors made their way onto the track during the first lap at Silverstone. They had gathered outside of the track during the weekend and there was reason to believe they would make a statement inside the confines at some point. What are your thoughts on how it was handled? What could have been done differently? How do sports manage these concerns?
Michael Finley: We were extremely lucky that the field was already under full course yellow conditions by the time the cars got to where the protesters snuck onto the racetrack. Obviously, they have a right to protest, and things may be a bit different if they did this even in the midway, but stepping out onto a racetrack only endangers and undermines the cause. And honestly, the cause itself- protesting against fossil fuels- isn’t really the best for an F1 race, considering the carbon-neutral pledge and Sebastian Vettel zooming around the track before the race in a Nigel Mansell-era Williams powered by an experimental carbon-neutral fuel. People should be protesting the fact a Hungary GP is happening at the end of this month, considering the country’s obvious human rights violations. Or the mountains of gold handed over by countries such as Saudi Arabia every single year for a glorified PR event.
Alex Gintz: Free assembly, and therefore protest, is among the most fundamental rights of the individual. I fully support the decision of those involved to exercise their right to voice their concerns on issues of importance and contention.
Just Stop Oil, an organization barely five months old, seems to have made a strategy out of the disruption of recreational events. Just Stop Oil associates attempted to breach the entrance of the Royal Albert Hall during this year’s British Academy Film Awards in March. No less than three soccer matches were disrupted by Just Stop Oil associates in March, and on July 5 in London, individuals associated with Just Stop Oil vandalized a display of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and glued themselves to the painting’s frame by their hands.
This activism is so performative in nature that I honestly can’t bring myself to believe that those involved are even worthy of the labor and paperwork involved in producing criminal charges. I just can’t take them that seriously. Were Just Stop Oil’s agenda to include more direct action targeting the oil industry, I may feel something approximating admiration for their actions, despite our differing viewpoints….
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