“When the anti-suffrage members of the government criticise militancy in women, it is very like beasts of prey reproaching the gentler animals who turn in desperate resistance at the point of death.” These words were spoken by Emmeline Pankhurst some 110 years ago. As the great-granddaughter of Emmeline, and the granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, I’m often asked to make comparisons between the suffragette movement and the environmental movements of today. People regularly ask me whether I endorse the tactics of climate activists such as Just Stop Oil.
The climate activists who recently threw tomato soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting might easily be regarded as gentle beasts turning to desperate resistance. The climate crisis is already deadly for many around the world: in east Africa, one person dies of climate-induced hunger every 36 seconds. My great-grandmother advised suffragettes to go to the House of Commons and refuse to leave; to break windows; to “attack the secret idol of property”. The point she was making was that within every cause there is room for people to find their own versions of activism and militancy. The choice of tactics must not divide the movement.
