Two young climate activists, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, threw a can of tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888), causing outrage in the British media on October 13. The picture of the soup covered painting went online.

Their protest staged in front of a glass-encased painting, was intended to draw attention to the severity of the climate crisis.

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Who is Phoebe Plummer?

Phoebe Plummer is a 21-year-old Just Stop Oil activist, which has a simple goal: to persuade the UK government to halt all new oil and gas infrastructure construction. Plummer is from Lambeth, southwest London. 

Plummer is queer. 

Plummer along with Anna Holland, 20, from Newcastle threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers.

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Talking about the incident, Plummer said “what would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?’ I’d like to think Van Gogh would be one of those people who knows we need to step up into civil disobedience and non-violent direct action. And the painting was behind glass, the painting was protected, but right now, millions in the global south aren’t protected, future generations aren’t protected. As young people, our own futures aren’t protected.”

“The reason I’m part of Just Stop Oil is that I’m terrified of my future. I’m terrified I’m going to be denied the right to grow old, I’m terrified that I’m going to live in constant fear of climate disaster, I’m terrified that I won’t have access to food or clean water. Our generation doesn’t have the luxury of sitting on the side-lines, because our futures are at stake,” she added. 

Plummer acknowledged that her actions were ‘ridiculous,’ but she said what she really wanted to ask the media was why Liz Truss was planning to award over 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences, as per Mtero UK.

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Early this year, Just Stop Oil emerged as Extinction Rebellion’s replacement (XR). Despite the fact that the organisation seems to have come out of nowhere, many of the activists behind it are also closely associated with other environmental action organisations.

One of these activists is Roger Hallam, the social movement strategist behind XR and Insulate Britain. Just Stop Oil, on the other hand, positions itself as a youth-led movement, with Hallam reportedly visiting universities to recruit eager students who have an abundance of time and passion. In contrast to these other groups, which frequently rely on older activists who believe they have less to lose.