> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.europeans.today/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Liz Truss’s government spewed hate about everyone, including tofu-eating people like me - URL: https://www.europeans.today/2022/10/21/liz-trusss-government-spewed-hate-about-everyone-including-tofu-eating-people-like-me/ - Published: 2022-10-21T00:10:00.000Z - Updated: 2022-10-21T15:11:29.000Z - Description: Spewing hate about everyone, including tofu-eaters like me, is neither a strategy nor a solution to climate action activists’ disruptive tactics, Rashmee Roshan Lall writes. - Author: Rashmee Roshan Lall - Tags: COMMENT, Just Stop Oil, Language in Politics, Liz Truss, Suella Braverman, United Kingdom, UK Politics ### Spewing hate about everyone, including tofu-eaters like me, is neither a strategy nor a solution to climate action activists’ disruptive tactics, Rashmee Roshan Lall writes. ###### First published: Oct 2022. --- Now that a climate action group, *Just Stop Oil* **[¹](#1)**, has been making headlines by [blocking a major motorway](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/18/just-stop-oil-protesters-block-dartford-crossing-second-day?utm%5Fterm=634f926e6db7b799a5d83c9ff155e9eb&utm%5Fcampaign=FirstEdition&utm%5Fsource=esp&utm%5Fmedium=Email&CMP=firstedition%5Femail) between Essex and Kent on October 18 and sending two of its members to [throw cans of tomato soup at a Van Gogh painting](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/14/just-stop-oil-activists-throw-soup-at-van-goghs-sunflowers?utm%5Fterm=634f926e6db7b799a5d83c9ff155e9eb&utm%5Fcampaign=FirstEdition&utm%5Fsource=esp&utm%5Fmedium=Email&CMP=firstedition%5Femail), the British government has responded with fury. Naked fury. Fury that is frightening in its viciousness. **YouTube / Just Stop Oil** Prime Minister Liz Truss’s then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, blamed the traffic chaos caused by *Just Stop Oil* on the following list of people: 💬 *“I’m afraid it’s the Labour party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating, wokerati — dare I say the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today.”* Really? People who eat tofu and/or read *The Guardian* are not necessarily violent neo-Luddites or status-quoists. It’s hard to be sure if activists belonging to this particular climate action group even read *The Guardian*. The newspaper’s environmental reporter Damien Gayle has been describing this group as an increasingly radical breed, which indicates both the depths of despair and dedication. *Just Stop Oil* apparently emerged just months ago as the successor to *Extinction Rebellion* (XR). It is said to have [close links to other environmental action](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/14/just-stop-oil-activist-direct-action-against-uk-oil-infrastructure-target-petrol-stations-depots-refineries?utm%5Fterm=634f926e6db7b799a5d83c9ff155e9eb&utm%5Fcampaign=FirstEdition&utm%5Fsource=esp&utm%5Fmedium=Email&CMP=firstedition%5Femail) groups and is said to be a youth-led movement with a lot of recruitment at universities. Their aim at this point is very clear — to force a moratorium on new fossil fuel project licences. According to the *Guardian* reporter, the demand was specifically picked as a good start *“because it’s in line with the advice of the International Energy Agency, which had said there cannot be any new fossil fuel projects if we’re going to stay within 1.5 degrees of global warming.”* Their disruptive tactics at roughly 10 fuel distribution facilities a day in London and southern England are working to halve business activity at those sites, he said. Though *Just Stop Oil* have broadened their demands from climate action to social justice, one of the more remarkable aspects is their sense of desperation. The *Guardian* reporter says: *“There’s a real sense that we’re hurtling towards civilisational collapse, and it’s led to a moment of radicalisation.”* What it says to me is that the government is losing when it can’t give young people hope instead of a deep abiding sense of despair. Spewing hate about everyone, including tofu-eaters like me, is neither a strategy nor a solution. ![PMP Magazine](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2021/09/end-flat-1.png "PMP Magazine") ### **GOING FURTHER:** *- [Just Stop Oil](https://juststopoil.org/?ref=europeans.today)* *- [Do we really care more about Van Gogh’s sunflowers than real ones?](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/19/van-gogh-sunflowers-just-stop-oil-tactics?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian* *- [M25 Dartford Crossing closed as protesters climb bridge](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-63281841?ref=europeans.today) | BBC News* *- [Just Stop Oil protesters arrested after Harrods sprayed with orange paint](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/20/just-stop-oil-protesters-arrest-harrods-orange-paint?ref=europeans.today) | The Guardian* --- | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/feeback1-small-flatten-1.png)](https://forms.gle/tRe7igVtMPaiAPtJ8?ref=europeans.today "Leave some feedback") | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/share-1-small-flatten.png)](#share "Share this article") | [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/2022/08/comment4-small-flatten-2.png)](#comments "Leave a comment") | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ### **— AUTHOR —** | ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/15/40/1540bec0-7154-4feb-b8e1-97f579155b08/content/images/size/w150/2018/08/rashmee-roshan-lall.jpg) | ▫ **[Rashmee Roshan Lall](https://www.europeans.today/author/rashmee-roshan-lall/)*, Journalist by trade & inclination. World affairs columnist.* | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ##### Sources **Text:** This piece was originally published in [Medium](https://rashmee.medium.com/liz-trusss-government-spews-hate-about-everyone-including-tofu-eating-people-like-me-f4687cfcd5de?ref=europeans.today) and re-published in PMP Magazine on 21 October 2022, with the author’s consent. | The author writes in a personal capacity. - **Cover:** Flickr/[Number 10](https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/52345462343/?ref=europeans.today). - Liz Truss and her cabinet. (Licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=europeans.today).) ![Creative Commons License](https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png "Cover photograph license")