A Climate of Fear?

Some people think fines and prison sentences are imposed to simply punish behaviour. Others believe that rehabilitation is the primary aim. Offenders, they argue, can be convinced of their wrong-doing and will consequently change their activities. This distinction is important, when the'punitive' measures used to 'crack down' on climate protests by countries in the 'global North' are considered. Most climate change protestors believe they have 'right on their side'. They are no more likely to change their beliefs, than participants in the UK's suffragette movement of the early 20th Century. In spite of derision, fines, physical attacks and prison sentences, they maintained their belief in the 'rightness' of women's votes. Suffragettes were not rehabilitated and prison had little effect on their subsequent behaviour. A vast majority now celebrates the suffragette movement. A Climate Rights International report maintains, however, that countries, including Australia; France; Germany; the Netherlands; Sweden; the UK and the US, essentially violate the basic rights of climate change protestors. They, the report says, have their freedoms of expression; assembly and association strongly curtailed. In the UK, for example, some climate change protestors have recently received very long prison sentences. The report opines that the 'Global North's' "harsh, vague and punitive measures" used against climate change protestors are similar to tactics employed by the 'Global South' against 'their own' dissidents. Weirdly, politicians in the 'Global North', however, often criticises 'suppression' of basic rights in the 'Global South' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/10/climate-rights-report-draconian-measures-protest). It seems extremely odd that some UK climate change protestors are getting long prison sentences, at a time when folk convicted of other 'crimes' like theft are being given early release (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c047dkjgpxyo#:~:text=The%20government%20will%20announce%20plans%20on%20Friday%20to,emergency%20measures%20to%20free%20up%20space%20in%20prisons.). This early prison release is to prevent serious overcrowding. Overcrowding makes timely 'justice' more difficult and prisons difficult to manage. Filling UK goals with climate change protestors consequently seems counterproductive. These protestors are unlikely to alter their beliefs by being incarcerated. A growing section of society also now appears convinced that they 'have a point'. They may not like the protestor's methods but they are worried about climate change. That was probably basically true of attitudes towards suffragettes in the early 20th Century. Prison just created martyrs.