Two octogenarians armed with a chisel and a hammer entered the British Library in London one morning last May. Without arousing suspicion, they went to the room where one of the only four copies of the Magna Carta, a document dating from 1215, is located, and proceeded to chip away at the window which houses the medieval document, considered as a founding text of modern history. democracy and which affirms that no one, not even the king, is above the law. It was a protest action against inaction on climate change.
One of the activists was Sue Parfitt, 82, dressed in her Anglican priest’s collar, holding the chisel near one of the corners of the exhibition. His partner is Judy Bruce, 85 and a retired biology professor, who articulated the gavel. After several knocks, Parfitt unfurled a banner with the message: “The government has violated the law,” before sticking to the window to end the protest. Both were arrested and later released pending trial.
The statement of the two women had a legal basis. The previous week, the High Court ruled that Britain’s Conservative government was not doing enough to meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and forced it to change environmental policies. which have made it possible, for example, to grant new oil and gas exploitation licenses in the North Sea.
“This is of enormous importance, the government was violating its own laws, failing to respect the Paris Agreement and all of our international obligations. Was this reported in the press? It was barely mentioned,” laments Parfitt. What caught the attention of the international media was the “attack” on the national historical treasure, which remained intact. An advertising success which, however, focused on the small damage caused to the glass and not on the denunciation of the actions of the government. “We live so immersed in this consumerist culture that people are more bothered by the damage to property than by the disruption of human lives,” reflects the nun.
We live so immersed in this consumer culture that people are more bothered by damage to property than by disruption to human lives.
Parfitt has lived on the outskirts of Bristol in an 18th-century house for more than 20 years. He occupies a modest apartment on the ground floor of the house which he shares, in addition to an electric car, with his owner, his wife and his children. In the living room and over a cup of oat milk coffee, the activist explains: “The objective of all actions is to highlight the climate catastrophe. We measure the seriousness of the emergency in which we find ourselves. Otherwise, no one talks about it. It doesn’t matter how we do it. We need to convince the government to shut down the fossil fuel industry. It’s a huge task,” he admits.
Born in another town in the southwest of England, Hereford, she has always lived between Wales and Bristol, where she studied History before training as a family therapist in Cardiff. She considers herself a “cradle Christian”, her parents were very pious and as soon as she finished university she became religious, although after two years she had to give up her habits to take care of her parents until ‘to their death. Later he became interested in psychotherapy, which he practiced for ten years, until he again felt the call of God and decided to study theology.
Activism in the DNA
You could say this little woman has the activism gene etched in her DNA. A maternal ancestor was accused of sedition in the 18th century for inciting the working class to fight for their labor rights and the paternal grandfather, also an Anglican priest, confronted his bishop for wanting to bury a suicide in the cemetery, which which is not the case. authorized at the time, and eventually moved to another doctrine.
His love for nature was instilled in him by his mother and his paternal aunts, excellent gardeners, and by his father, a passionate ornithologist. She has lost count of the number of protests she has attended, but someone recently reminded her that she had been arrested 27 times since joining the Extinction Rebellion action that blocked traffic in the center of London for almost two weeks in 2019. also blocked access to Ministry of Defense facilities, boarded a subway to paralyze service and disrupted traffic for several days on London’s M25 ring road, the world’s busiest motorway. popular in Europe. “We probably now have to add a few more arrests,” he adds with a smile.
New legislation (the Crime, Policing and Sentencing Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023), which extends police powers to make arrests during peaceful protests, prohibits for activists to use the climate crisis as part of their legal defense and increases fines and prison sentences for civil disobedience, which can carry up to ten years in prison for disturbing the peace. At least 33 members of the Just Stop Oil organization have already been imprisoned for non-violent protest. Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam received the UK’s longest sentence last summer for planning the blockade of the M25 road: five years in prison.
“On the one hand, there are these young people who, for throwing soup on paintings, are sentenced to two years in prison and, on the other, agitators who deliberately try to injure and kill immigrants by burning down the hotels in which they stayed. receive pathetically short sentences… It’s a shame. I think in this country we have lost our minds,” says Parfitt.
On the one hand, there are these young people who, for throwing soup on paintings, are sentenced to two years in prison and, on the other, agitators who deliberately try to injure and kill immigrants by setting fires the hotels they stay in, receiving pathetically short sentences… It’s a shame. I think in this country we have lost our minds
Sue Parfitt
— Priest of the Anglican Church of Bristol
Parfitt has several pending lawsuits. He never pleads guilty before the judge because he believes that it is the government which is acting illegally. “I am here to tell the truth,” he insists. The possibility of ending up behind bars is increasingly real, but she faces it with stoicism.
Cannot officiate at ceremonies
Recently, this prolific activism has come at an unexpected personal cost. The Bishop of Bristol, Vivienne Faull, who had supported these actions, decided not to renew the Church’s permission to officiate retired priests and deacons until their ongoing trials are resolved.
“It saddens me to lose my license, especially this year, but the most important thing is that by taking it away, the bishop puts the Church in a group – with judges, the press, doctors… and the government . – this does not talk about the climate catastrophe. “This amounts to silencing the truth,” he said in a clear, slow voice.
With total assets valued at around €12.3 billion, the Anglican Church announced in 2023 its intention to divest from companies linked to oil and gas exploration and production, a decision Parfitt considers correct . However, he is disappointed not to take his actions further. “If the whole Church had sat down to block the M25 motorway two years ago, we would have succeeded in thermally insulating the whole of Britain overnight. »
He considers that their actions are not violent but generally “extremely peaceful” and defends that they receive extensive training and plan actions with the aim of minimizing risks. So when they cut roads there is always a clear path for emergency vehicles, paintings protected under glass are attacked and, in the case of Magna Carta, she herself verified during a visit prior to the action that if the exhibitor breaks the document, it would not be damaged, because it is protected by a second display case. “I would never have damaged the Magna Carta, I am a historian.”
He also does not believe that his actions legitimize other groups to resort to violent methods to defend their ideas. “I don’t think for a moment that I have any influence on these horrible far-right people who participated in the anti-immigrant riots,” he says. He especially regrets the problems caused by road closures, but justifies them as being “unfortunately necessary”. “This is nothing compared to the disruption we will experience from the climate catastrophe. » He also sees no contradiction between his actions and his religious values. “It’s a necessary pain to try to reduce the much more painful alterations that we are rapidly moving towards. “Scientists are alarmed because the speed at which the crisis is progressing is much faster than they had anticipated. »
He talks about the sixth mass extinction of species, the first caused by human activity, which he assures is underway and there is no turning back. “We can only delay the inevitable,” he predicts. “I want to spend my remaining years doing everything I can to stop harmful emissions,” he explains. “What is the alternative, staying at home to take care of my cat? “I wasn’t called to do this.”
