Last Saturday June 24, 20 environmental activists met To the Metropolitan Museum of Art during a protest against the increasingly harsh penalties facing climate protesters.
The group, made up of members of Extinction Rebellion and Rise & Resist, painted their palms red and black and formed a circle around the bronze sculpture by Edgar Degas. Fourteen year old dancer (1878-1881) – effectively recreating a protest organized by activists Joanna Smith and Tim Martin at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC earlier this year.
Smith and Martin, who belong to the climate group Declare Emergency, were arrested for paint splatter on the protective plexiglass surrounding a wax version of the same sculpture by Degas at the NGA on April 27. The duo’s demonstration was among the first held at a US institution after similar waves of protests rocked European museums last year.
The action caused $2,400 in damages, but the artwork was not damaged.
Smith and Martin were indicted last month for conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and damaging an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
For the groups involved in last weekend’s protest, the accusations against Smith and Martin belong to a larger trend of “unfairly harsh (and possibly illegal) measures taken against climate activists”, according to a joint statement.
“If Joanna and Tim had been graffiti artists using finger paint to tag plexiglass, they wouldn’t have faced the prospect of long prison sentences,” said Stu Waldman, an organizer for Rise & Resist. “Their indictment is not based on their actions, but on their motives. This is an accusation of intimidation, rather than a pursuit of justice.
Members of the militant groups Extinction Rebellion and Rise & Resist demonstrate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 24, 2023. Photo: Graham MacIndoe.
At the Met, protesters also covered their mouths with black duct tape bearing words like ‘Famine’, ‘Floods’, ‘Glaciers’ and ‘Wildlife’ – symbols of the ‘repression facing activists’, explains the press release. Some held signs with slogans that read, “Earth is the treasure that no art has harmed” and “No art on a dead planet.” No damage was sustained as part of the demonstration, according to rMet officials.
The protest is part of a larger #FreeTheDegasTwo campaign launched by Declare Emergency, Extinction Rebellion, Rise & Resist and a fourth activist group, Scientist Rebellion Turtle Island. They recently launched a open petition calling on Assistant U.S. District Attorney Cameron A. Tepfer to drop charges against Smith and Martin. So far, the document has 430 signatures.
“While our government still has vestiges of democracy, it must not allow climate criminals to escape accountability, while simultaneously punishing citizens who dare to challenge their wrongdoings, citizens who are themselves victims of the actions of these climate criminals,” said Extinction Rebellion member Georgia B. Smith.
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