I agree with much of what you’re saying here in terms of what kind of climate action is actually successful at undermining the system, and in terms of Stonehenge being a sacred site that shouldn’t have been a target, but I feel very uneasy with the rhetorical move you are making here. This action was a temporary and ultimately harmless “defacement” of what is admittedly a sacred place to which many people have spiritual and land-based ties, yet is nonetheless under the protection of a (white supremacist) state and protected because of its visibility and profitability as a tourist spot (even if those who actually care about this site and have a relationship with it do not care about it for the same reason as the state). This is not the same as places in turtle island that have been under active colonization and destruction at the hands of a (white supremacist) state yet remain under active stewardship by indigenous people who are doing everything they can to protect it despite massive violence against them. Saying that this act alienates and goes against stewardship of the land and that anyone who supports this action can’t possibly be decolonial or in line with indigenous resistance reads like you (a white person) are weaponizing the indigenous perspectives of turtle island native peoples and comparing two vastly different struggles. Yes Stonehenge has spiritual and natural significance to the indigenous people of england, but these indigenous people did not experience colonization in the same way or in the same ongoing time period as indigenous people in turtle island. In addition, you are saying that the young people who did this action are just looking for attention. Of course they are! They are screaming for attention because the state and the rich people in power are not listening to them. They are going after targets that will threaten the state. I’m much more in line with people locking down to pipelines as a resistance tactic but you have to admit (look at the recent MVP, Line 5 and Line 3 pipelines) that this tactic still hasn’t been enough. People are desperate to be heard and perhaps they could have picked a better target, but from their perspective they picked something that a white supremacist government would actually “care” about being “destroyed”. I feel as though I’m struggling to articulate my feelings about this nuance, but I wanted to bring it up because I worry about the comparisons you are making.
Hi Peregrine! Thank you for your comment. I hear you and I think you've articulated your thoughts just fine, I understand where you're coming from.
Rest assured I'm not claiming there's an overlap between these two struggles, in nature, time or current reality, that is of course impossible on many different levels. My mention of the indigenous resistance that is dedicated to stewarding their ancestral lands isn't aiming to compare the geopolitical situations of Turtle Island and Britain and draw false equivalents. I didn't delve deeper into this precisely for this reason, because saying anything more might slip into the realm of weaponising, which I believe I avoided in what little I said (you're of course welcome to interpret this differently and I completely respect that). I opted for this one-sentence reminder, a wake up call if you want, to people who have lost any and all connection to the meaning of land stewardship. If I mention land stewardship as fostered by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island, it's only ever with deep gratefulness for waking the rest of the world up by example. An example that is not always taken into account around the world and especially in the imperial core that is Britain, a place that supports and legitimises the existence of America. Funny enough, just the other day I got a great second hand book by an Indigenous author and was quite shocked when I opened it and saw a big stamp stating it's been withdrawn from an English university. It's not an old and outdated book in any way, so it was likely withdrawn because there was no readership and interest in Indigenous studies! I feel this is all the more reason to mention the Indigenous struggle when I can.
I'm not English or even British, I'm an immigrant in a land still under active British occupation (as it happens - the longest colonial occupation in history, 850+ years). My perspective is that of an outsider married to a native person, crushed by the weight of colonial erasure, which is affecting our own family and friends on a daily basis. The Irish Sea separates me from Stonehenge, yet I see all the land - anywhere on this planet, be it Ireland, Britain or Turtle Island - as a part of the same sacred web we became alienated from. Throughout human prehistory we all had the exact same sense of connection to the land. The disconnection that happened was a result of very different colonial realities all over the planet and I always acknowledge those differences (on all possible levels, as an animist, archaeologist and anarchist). Britain had its own nuanced share of erasure - "indigenous English" doesn't exist as a homogenous group nowadays; the English are now a mixture of multiple waves of brutal colonisation (several different prehistoric populations, Britons, Romans, several different Germanic tribes, Vikings, Normans etc). In Britain itself this reality was weaponised to give birth to a monolithic "British" identity.
Indigenous people of Turtle Island managed to hold onto their sacred connections in a way that was long erased on the island of Britain, and in a similar but not completely same manner in Ireland and mainland Europe. I think reminding people of this is worthwhile when colonial othering of the land continues to gallop in full force. I stand by what I said in the essay, that this wasn't a temporary defacement, but an attack on the sacred.
Regarding the relationship between the state and monuments such as Stonehenge, I have to differ here because the state cares nothing about Stonehenge or any other ancient site. As I've written, they're reduced to dead landmarks, their importance and feigned reverence for them only invoked when capitalism and neoliberal political games call for it. When this defacement happened, the state was actively and vehemently supporting the destruction of the sacred landscape by building a new tunnel next to Stonehenge. This protest action was served to them on a platter so they can post their fake outrage on social media and make people forget about what the government was doing with Stonehenge. Is the British state white supremacist? 100%! And that white supremacy is harming not just the entire planet, but also the very soil on which the colonial "United Kingdom" is currently built. I'm calling for us all to remember that different ways are possible and that those different ways have been our shared reality for most of human history. The colonial state you're so rightfully criticising is putting every effort into convincing us that we're all separated and that we can't find kinship and shared (but not entirely same) struggle around the globe.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate the clarification and while i still have some emotional reservations about aspects of your argument I think your perspective is informed and necessary, and appreciate your emphasis on finding kinship and solidarity against colonial/state sanctioned exploitation of the sacred natural world. Thank you for engaging in conversation with me.
I have to thank you for your comment! It's the sort of comment I want to see here, I don't want total agreement and praise (which happens and makes me quite uncomfortable!), I want to start conversations. I'll definitely keep coming back to your comment, as well as my own essay.
I have this approach where I go back to my own writing after a couple of weeks and months to analyse my own words one more time with a fresh pair of eyes and new knowledge. To ask myself why did I phrase something they way I did, what influenced my train of thought, what ingrained biases or privileges came through my words, what can I do to do better? I think for me, the most crucial aspect of writing is to be able to keep a check on myself, hold myself accountable, and strive to learn and do better. I don't want to write to be right and have the final word, I want to write to never stop analysing and deconstructing (the world and myself alike). So I'll approach our exchange here the same way because your comment gave me a lot of food for thought.
Your essay and response invited me into self-reflection as well, and I’ll be sitting with it for a decent while I think— I’m glad I could be part of your process of reflection and evolution as well.
Excellent article, which matches much of what I have myself been thinking about that kind of protest. The protestors' argument will be, well we need to be outrageous to grab people's attention, but they end up grabbing attention in the wrong way and alienating people, while doing a real disservice to the earth and to the cause they claim to care about.
What a beautiful and powerful prayer. So may it be. I wish you strength in your recovery, and utterly agree about that self-righteous whataboutism that implies a person of good conscience is incapable of caring about more than one issue at a time and that they do not somehow cancel each other out.
Beautiful writing Ramona, your ability to cut through to truth is very moving, may it move us all to speak truth and be truth for the good of all human and non-human. Your words are a beacon of light and hope because there isn’t much out there right now!! It can feel like a lonely path. Solstice blessings 🔥
Such powerful words, Ramona, thank you for your voice. I read your note a day or two ago, and now this, and it echoes with so much of what I've been feeling and thinking about since "retiring" from climate activism 3-4 years ago. There has to be another way to do activism that doesn't involve pointless, destructive, attention-seeking actions like this, but that does more than be nice about it and try to enact change from within! As Bayo Akomolafe says, "how we deal with the crisis is the crisis". Solstice blessings to you and good health wishes too 🔥
Beautiful as always. Thank you so much for saying all of this. These are the thoughts I have when I see protestors burning tires, wearing fast fashion keffiyehs, waving polyester flags, making vinyl stickers, ect. Or any new wave of activism merch. I love rebellious disruption, but if we aren't thinking of every way it just adds to the problem, it's utterly counterproductive. But you're right, anytime I've ever said anything like that I'm met with people treating me like I'm trying to stop protest, like I'm being a protest prude. I want total disruption, but with the mindset and methods that will need to be a part of the new world. Total intersectional thoughtfulness in all things. I don't think collective liberation is possible without that. Maybe we are getting there though...I'd like to think we are. We will get there. With beautiful voices like yours leading the way.
Solstice blessings be upon you. May the Goddess lay her hand on you and bring you back your health.
Powerful words and a right condemnation for these hooligans masquerading as climate activists. Those of us who dance and pray around the bon fires at the equinoxes and solstices know the difference between the connection between the land of the Sidhe, the middle world where we live and the sky where the Gods live. All are connected. None can live without the other. This business of spraying paint on the ancients is disgraceful. But then, throwing soup on masterpieces in the museums was no different. There are better ways to make a point than destroying and defacing things than have no bearing on the message. Painting the megaliths does nothing for any cause. As you pointed out, it does the opposite. It seems these Instagrammers and TikTokers don't get that. For them, it's all about the attention they bring on themselves and not the message it sends to the world. Look at me, I'm famous now because I painted a large stone at Stonehenge. Best thing they could do would be to lock them up and take away their ability to take pictures and videos of themselves for many years to come. Make them disappear off of social media until they are long forgotten about. That and make them clean up their messes without destroying the object they defaced with no attention paid to them. But as we know in this day and age, that is not likely to happen.
Take good care of yourself and your family. You were missed.
Solstice blessings to you, dear Terrance. I have to catch up with your newsletters and podcasts, they're some of the many things I missed in recent weeks.
I agree with what you're saying. That is if this was indeed a terrible and immature misjudgement from people unaligned with Nature; the other possibility is a government psy-op. We know well from history how radical movements have always been swiftly infiltrated and steered to look ridiculous in the eyes of the general public. JSO certainly fits that description. Either way, the result is the same and damage and delay have been caused to the environmental movement.
Now that is a scary thought. The government supporting these eco-terrorists. I hope it's just a case of misguided judgement and they will rethink doing something like this again. Let's hope so.
I am lost for words, Ramona but so very grateful that you can so beautifully communicate what I am feeling in my heart. Your writing is filled with wisdom. I believed I understood the motives of JSO but increasingly I feel their actions are doing nothing but alienating people. The problem isn't simply climate change and the solution isn't just stopping the production of oil.
Thank you so much for this powerful piece of writing which I'm saving to come back to again...so much here for me to ponder!!
Thank you so much, and I'm always happy and humbled that you can find yourself in my words.
Indeed, we can physically stop the extraction and production of oil tomorrow, yet that alone wouldn't do anything to heal the wound of disconnection the mankind suffers from. Collectively we have an awfully long and painful journey in front of us.
I agree with much of what you’re saying here in terms of what kind of climate action is actually successful at undermining the system, and in terms of Stonehenge being a sacred site that shouldn’t have been a target, but I feel very uneasy with the rhetorical move you are making here. This action was a temporary and ultimately harmless “defacement” of what is admittedly a sacred place to which many people have spiritual and land-based ties, yet is nonetheless under the protection of a (white supremacist) state and protected because of its visibility and profitability as a tourist spot (even if those who actually care about this site and have a relationship with it do not care about it for the same reason as the state). This is not the same as places in turtle island that have been under active colonization and destruction at the hands of a (white supremacist) state yet remain under active stewardship by indigenous people who are doing everything they can to protect it despite massive violence against them. Saying that this act alienates and goes against stewardship of the land and that anyone who supports this action can’t possibly be decolonial or in line with indigenous resistance reads like you (a white person) are weaponizing the indigenous perspectives of turtle island native peoples and comparing two vastly different struggles. Yes Stonehenge has spiritual and natural significance to the indigenous people of england, but these indigenous people did not experience colonization in the same way or in the same ongoing time period as indigenous people in turtle island. In addition, you are saying that the young people who did this action are just looking for attention. Of course they are! They are screaming for attention because the state and the rich people in power are not listening to them. They are going after targets that will threaten the state. I’m much more in line with people locking down to pipelines as a resistance tactic but you have to admit (look at the recent MVP, Line 5 and Line 3 pipelines) that this tactic still hasn’t been enough. People are desperate to be heard and perhaps they could have picked a better target, but from their perspective they picked something that a white supremacist government would actually “care” about being “destroyed”. I feel as though I’m struggling to articulate my feelings about this nuance, but I wanted to bring it up because I worry about the comparisons you are making.
Hi Peregrine! Thank you for your comment. I hear you and I think you've articulated your thoughts just fine, I understand where you're coming from.
Rest assured I'm not claiming there's an overlap between these two struggles, in nature, time or current reality, that is of course impossible on many different levels. My mention of the indigenous resistance that is dedicated to stewarding their ancestral lands isn't aiming to compare the geopolitical situations of Turtle Island and Britain and draw false equivalents. I didn't delve deeper into this precisely for this reason, because saying anything more might slip into the realm of weaponising, which I believe I avoided in what little I said (you're of course welcome to interpret this differently and I completely respect that). I opted for this one-sentence reminder, a wake up call if you want, to people who have lost any and all connection to the meaning of land stewardship. If I mention land stewardship as fostered by the Indigenous people of Turtle Island, it's only ever with deep gratefulness for waking the rest of the world up by example. An example that is not always taken into account around the world and especially in the imperial core that is Britain, a place that supports and legitimises the existence of America. Funny enough, just the other day I got a great second hand book by an Indigenous author and was quite shocked when I opened it and saw a big stamp stating it's been withdrawn from an English university. It's not an old and outdated book in any way, so it was likely withdrawn because there was no readership and interest in Indigenous studies! I feel this is all the more reason to mention the Indigenous struggle when I can.
I'm not English or even British, I'm an immigrant in a land still under active British occupation (as it happens - the longest colonial occupation in history, 850+ years). My perspective is that of an outsider married to a native person, crushed by the weight of colonial erasure, which is affecting our own family and friends on a daily basis. The Irish Sea separates me from Stonehenge, yet I see all the land - anywhere on this planet, be it Ireland, Britain or Turtle Island - as a part of the same sacred web we became alienated from. Throughout human prehistory we all had the exact same sense of connection to the land. The disconnection that happened was a result of very different colonial realities all over the planet and I always acknowledge those differences (on all possible levels, as an animist, archaeologist and anarchist). Britain had its own nuanced share of erasure - "indigenous English" doesn't exist as a homogenous group nowadays; the English are now a mixture of multiple waves of brutal colonisation (several different prehistoric populations, Britons, Romans, several different Germanic tribes, Vikings, Normans etc). In Britain itself this reality was weaponised to give birth to a monolithic "British" identity.
Indigenous people of Turtle Island managed to hold onto their sacred connections in a way that was long erased on the island of Britain, and in a similar but not completely same manner in Ireland and mainland Europe. I think reminding people of this is worthwhile when colonial othering of the land continues to gallop in full force. I stand by what I said in the essay, that this wasn't a temporary defacement, but an attack on the sacred.
Regarding the relationship between the state and monuments such as Stonehenge, I have to differ here because the state cares nothing about Stonehenge or any other ancient site. As I've written, they're reduced to dead landmarks, their importance and feigned reverence for them only invoked when capitalism and neoliberal political games call for it. When this defacement happened, the state was actively and vehemently supporting the destruction of the sacred landscape by building a new tunnel next to Stonehenge. This protest action was served to them on a platter so they can post their fake outrage on social media and make people forget about what the government was doing with Stonehenge. Is the British state white supremacist? 100%! And that white supremacy is harming not just the entire planet, but also the very soil on which the colonial "United Kingdom" is currently built. I'm calling for us all to remember that different ways are possible and that those different ways have been our shared reality for most of human history. The colonial state you're so rightfully criticising is putting every effort into convincing us that we're all separated and that we can't find kinship and shared (but not entirely same) struggle around the globe.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. I appreciate the clarification and while i still have some emotional reservations about aspects of your argument I think your perspective is informed and necessary, and appreciate your emphasis on finding kinship and solidarity against colonial/state sanctioned exploitation of the sacred natural world. Thank you for engaging in conversation with me.
I have to thank you for your comment! It's the sort of comment I want to see here, I don't want total agreement and praise (which happens and makes me quite uncomfortable!), I want to start conversations. I'll definitely keep coming back to your comment, as well as my own essay.
I have this approach where I go back to my own writing after a couple of weeks and months to analyse my own words one more time with a fresh pair of eyes and new knowledge. To ask myself why did I phrase something they way I did, what influenced my train of thought, what ingrained biases or privileges came through my words, what can I do to do better? I think for me, the most crucial aspect of writing is to be able to keep a check on myself, hold myself accountable, and strive to learn and do better. I don't want to write to be right and have the final word, I want to write to never stop analysing and deconstructing (the world and myself alike). So I'll approach our exchange here the same way because your comment gave me a lot of food for thought.
Your essay and response invited me into self-reflection as well, and I’ll be sitting with it for a decent while I think— I’m glad I could be part of your process of reflection and evolution as well.
Excellent article, which matches much of what I have myself been thinking about that kind of protest. The protestors' argument will be, well we need to be outrageous to grab people's attention, but they end up grabbing attention in the wrong way and alienating people, while doing a real disservice to the earth and to the cause they claim to care about.
All of this.... and especially the prayer at the end. thank you
Mother Earth...and humans..hear this prayer
What a beautiful and powerful prayer. So may it be. I wish you strength in your recovery, and utterly agree about that self-righteous whataboutism that implies a person of good conscience is incapable of caring about more than one issue at a time and that they do not somehow cancel each other out.
Beautiful writing Ramona, your ability to cut through to truth is very moving, may it move us all to speak truth and be truth for the good of all human and non-human. Your words are a beacon of light and hope because there isn’t much out there right now!! It can feel like a lonely path. Solstice blessings 🔥
Such powerful words, Ramona, thank you for your voice. I read your note a day or two ago, and now this, and it echoes with so much of what I've been feeling and thinking about since "retiring" from climate activism 3-4 years ago. There has to be another way to do activism that doesn't involve pointless, destructive, attention-seeking actions like this, but that does more than be nice about it and try to enact change from within! As Bayo Akomolafe says, "how we deal with the crisis is the crisis". Solstice blessings to you and good health wishes too 🔥
Beautiful as always. Thank you so much for saying all of this. These are the thoughts I have when I see protestors burning tires, wearing fast fashion keffiyehs, waving polyester flags, making vinyl stickers, ect. Or any new wave of activism merch. I love rebellious disruption, but if we aren't thinking of every way it just adds to the problem, it's utterly counterproductive. But you're right, anytime I've ever said anything like that I'm met with people treating me like I'm trying to stop protest, like I'm being a protest prude. I want total disruption, but with the mindset and methods that will need to be a part of the new world. Total intersectional thoughtfulness in all things. I don't think collective liberation is possible without that. Maybe we are getting there though...I'd like to think we are. We will get there. With beautiful voices like yours leading the way.
Solstice blessings be upon you. May the Goddess lay her hand on you and bring you back your health.
Powerful words and a right condemnation for these hooligans masquerading as climate activists. Those of us who dance and pray around the bon fires at the equinoxes and solstices know the difference between the connection between the land of the Sidhe, the middle world where we live and the sky where the Gods live. All are connected. None can live without the other. This business of spraying paint on the ancients is disgraceful. But then, throwing soup on masterpieces in the museums was no different. There are better ways to make a point than destroying and defacing things than have no bearing on the message. Painting the megaliths does nothing for any cause. As you pointed out, it does the opposite. It seems these Instagrammers and TikTokers don't get that. For them, it's all about the attention they bring on themselves and not the message it sends to the world. Look at me, I'm famous now because I painted a large stone at Stonehenge. Best thing they could do would be to lock them up and take away their ability to take pictures and videos of themselves for many years to come. Make them disappear off of social media until they are long forgotten about. That and make them clean up their messes without destroying the object they defaced with no attention paid to them. But as we know in this day and age, that is not likely to happen.
Take good care of yourself and your family. You were missed.
Solstice blessings to you, dear Terrance. I have to catch up with your newsletters and podcasts, they're some of the many things I missed in recent weeks.
I agree with what you're saying. That is if this was indeed a terrible and immature misjudgement from people unaligned with Nature; the other possibility is a government psy-op. We know well from history how radical movements have always been swiftly infiltrated and steered to look ridiculous in the eyes of the general public. JSO certainly fits that description. Either way, the result is the same and damage and delay have been caused to the environmental movement.
Now that is a scary thought. The government supporting these eco-terrorists. I hope it's just a case of misguided judgement and they will rethink doing something like this again. Let's hope so.
I am lost for words, Ramona but so very grateful that you can so beautifully communicate what I am feeling in my heart. Your writing is filled with wisdom. I believed I understood the motives of JSO but increasingly I feel their actions are doing nothing but alienating people. The problem isn't simply climate change and the solution isn't just stopping the production of oil.
Thank you so much for this powerful piece of writing which I'm saving to come back to again...so much here for me to ponder!!
Wishing you well on your health journey 💚
Thank you so much, and I'm always happy and humbled that you can find yourself in my words.
Indeed, we can physically stop the extraction and production of oil tomorrow, yet that alone wouldn't do anything to heal the wound of disconnection the mankind suffers from. Collectively we have an awfully long and painful journey in front of us.
really powerful writing -- thank you.
solstice blessings and hope you continue to recover well.
Thank you for reading my friend, and for the good wishes! I'm hoping I'm on the mend now. Solstice blessings to you too ☀️