Socialism, Working Class Self-Emancipation, and Democratic Forms

In July 2024, five members of the environmental protest group Just Stop Oil (JSO) were given sentences of between four and five years in prison for planning a peaceful protest to disrupt the M25 motorway around London. These sentences are thought to be the longest ever given for non-violent protest in Britain ( Gayle, 2024 ). The sentences were widely condemned as draconian, with the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, describing them as ‘punitive and repressive’ and warning that the case represented a dangerous ruling that would likely deter people across Britain from protesting on any number of issues ( Gayle, Horton, and Quinn, 2024 ). While the sentences were reduced on appeal ( Friends of the Earth, 2025 ), the JSO case nonetheless crystallises a number of crucially important issues concerning rights, democracy and social change. Climate activism, in its various forms, is one of the central sites of activity for social change today. Given the pressing nature of the unfolding climate catastrophe, many people have turned to forms of non-violent protest and direct action, in a desperate effort to provoke action. Invariably, they have been met, in Britain and elsewhere, with aggressive policing, opprobrium from mainstream media and politicians and a raft of new anti-protest laws.