Paradox and struggle of interests: the museum attack by activists took place against the backdrop of a revision of the environmental agenda

The Green Pact was smeared on the Queen’s bust

Environmental activists remind us of the “green agenda” almost every day. The other day they pasted over leaflets with the inscription “Last generation – no gas, no coal” on Botticelli’s “Spring” in the Uffizi Gallery. And on Monday, they poured porridge and jam on a bust of Queen Victoria at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland, and wrote an obscene word on the pedestal. The creators of this act shouted: “We refuse to return to the Victorian era. Food is a human right and we call out the rotten systems that cause suffering.” But if you look at it, this statement contains a paradox and a struggle of interests, behind which are not only environmental and social values, but also big money.

Ecovandalism—as museum performances by “green performers” are often called—has become a common occurrence over the past couple of years. And despite the fact that all the actions were provocative, and their victims were the most famous masterpieces of the world – from Leonardo’s La Gioconda to Botticelli’s Spring – not a single work of art was truly damaged. All objects, doused in soup and seasoned with leaflets calling to protect the planet, were under protective glass, so traces of environmental activism in museums were quickly washed away by cleaners. And you might think that this is justice: museums are now not just repositories of works of art, but platforms for public expression on exciting topics. Why is this not a relevant performance? Moreover, ecology has been a sore point on the European and American agenda for many years and not even the first decade. However, everything is somewhat more complicated than it might seem at first glance.

When talking about the antics of environmental activists in museums, there is almost no talk about the reasons for the emergence of this movement, which involves many associations under different names – from the fairly well-known “Stop the Butter” to “It’s a Set Up” (the group under this name took responsibility for the action in Glasgow ). The fact is that on December 11, 2019, the European Union adopted the Green Pact, which involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero, abandoning the use of fossil energy sources and transitioning to renewable ones. It took a long time to reach this decision. In 1992, the manifesto “Warning to Humanity” was published, signed by 1,700 scientists, including Nobel laureates, calling for urgent measures to reduce anthropogenic impact on the climate. At the same time, the UN adopted a framework convention on climate change, providing for the reduction of emissions into the atmosphere. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol on stabilization of industrial greenhouse gas emissions was adopted, which came into force in 2005. An impressive list of various acts and documents has accumulated. The important thing is that five years ago it resulted in a real program, where various companies and EU governments planned to invest – no less – more than one trillion euros.

At the level of different European countries, following the Green Pact, specific decisions have been made on how to rebuild production, industry, the transport system, and farms in practice. However, in reality it turned out that entrepreneurs are simply not able to “repackage” their business in such a way as to comply with the new, rather stringent, standards. As a result, farmers in France began to go on strike and throw manure and hay at administrative buildings. In Britain, a project was launched to build railway interchanges with zero carbon emissions and the new generation of trains began to be gradually phased out. And on March 4, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that it was time to reconsider the harsh conditions of the Green Deal. “This strategy contains provisions that do not correspond to the real situation in the EU. In the near future, I will take the initiative to review such installations in order to protect agriculture and food production in Poland and in Europe. Nature conservation should not be in conflict with the basic interests of food production and agriculture. There should be no war between environmentalists and farmers.”

Actually, the whole “salt” is that European farmers, according to the “green reform”, must comply with emission conditions, and at this time grain and other products come from Ukraine and other countries that are produced without complying with these standards and are much cheaper. Prices for goods produced in Europe are rising, their quantity is decreasing, and cheap goods from abroad are further depressing the economy. Nevertheless, many millions have already been invested in the restructuring of eco-production, and those companies that “fit” into the “green” theme do not want their efforts to be in vain. It is likely that they finance environmental activists who, from below, point-by-point, regularly and loudly, continue to lobby for the “green agenda” and constantly bring it to the top of the news feed.

Now let’s return to the paradox of the latest action with the bust of Queen Victoria. Sitting next to the jam-stained monument, created by sculptor Francis John Williamson in 1888, the activist girls shouted: “We refuse to return to the Victorian era. Food is a human right and we call out the rotten systems that cause suffering. Disease and hunger are on the rise.” As if implying that climate change affects price increases. Although in fact, the rise in prices of products is precisely the result of the Green Pact, in which a lot of money and business interests are already brewing. The activists’ message itself sounded rather strange: instead of the usual calls to save the planet and abandon fossil sources, they demand cheap food, without mentioning in what way, environmentally friendly or not, it will be produced. It seems the girls are confused: do they want to return the planet to the pre-industrial era, when everything was produced with less harm to the environment, or cheaper products?

Published in the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets” No. 29230 dated March 6, 2024

Newspaper headline:
The Green Pact was smeared on the Queen’s bust