To mark the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, Greenpeace UK revealed a 55m by 40m artwork on the beach outside Trump’s golf course in Scotland, ‘Trump Turnberry’, showing a giant portrait of the US President raked into the sand with the message: “Time to resist – fight the billionaire takeover”.
Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said, “During his first 100 days President Trump has been actively working to dismantle and weaken environmental protections and attack those who fight to protect nature and our shared climate, putting the corporate profits of his billionaire friends ahead of people and the planet.It’s time to resist the billionaire takeover of our rights and freedoms.”
The artwork took several hours to draw out in the sand overnight, by a team from arts organisation ‘Sand in Your Eye’ and Greenpeace UK.
During the Trump administration’s first 100 days the president has not only left the Paris Climate agreement and offered Alaskan wilderness to oil drilling. He has also opened up pristine marine ecosystems in the Pacific to industrial fishing and wants to launch deep sea mining in US and International waters. And he has ended investments in clean energy and instead boosted coal, oil and fossil gas by weakening regulations and removing obstacles for the fossil fuel industry.
Areeba continued, “Trump’s biggest allies are a group of unelected billionaires, including the fossil fuel company CEOs who are knowingly burning the planet, polluting our waters, and hurting communities around the world. No one voted for these corporate bullies to end free speech, but they will stop at nothing to keep their oil and gas empire alive – even weaponising the legal system to crush dissent and silence environmental activism.”
A key weapon being used by the oligarchy against those advocating for a green, just future is SLAPP lawsuits, like the one waged against Greenpeace in the US and Greenpeace International by the fossil fuel pipeline giant Energy Transfer. In a recent verdict, a US jury found Greenpeace International and Greenpeace in the US liable for over $660 million to Energy Transfer — a company headed by billionaire and Trump donor Kelcy Warren.
Areeba added,“For the billionaires and big oil companies this is not just another source of money. They want to silence all critics and any protests against the core issue with their business: fossil fuels that are causing the climate crisis and environmental destruction.”
