What’s the newest trend, you ask? Well, climate activists have the answers; glueing oneself to walls (and now tables!)
Following the footsteps of two activists who recently threw a can of soup a Vincent Van Gogh painting, and then proceeded to glue themselves to the wall of the museum, climate activist Jelle de Graaf glued himself to the table of the popular Dutch program, Jinek, reports RTL Nieuws.
People are dying, Beau
During the show, the environmental activist, who is from Extinction Rebellion, climbed onto the table and glued the palms of his hands to the wood.
READ MORE | 175 arrests made during Extinction Rebellion protest in Rotterdam
Once safely and securely glued to the table, he began to speak about his cause. “I’m stuck here on a live program, and I’m going to talk about the climate and the ecological crisis,” De Graaf said.
Extinction Rebellion is a cause that hopes to prevent further climate change, or at least, garner the attention of those important enough to do something about it.
De Graaf accuses the RTL show of not fulfilling its duty of reporting honestly about the climate crisis.
READ MORE | The easy guide to the Dutch nitrogen crisis, farmers’ protests, and more
His planned course of action? To glue himself to the table, of course!
And, much like in the words of our beloved Kim Kardashian when she lost her diamond earring, de Graaf said; “People are dying, and you’re talking about Donald Duck.”
Glue slid right off
The good news for the Jinek program is that once De Graaf was escorted off the set (while still stuck to the table), his glue quickly dislodged, and he was able to jump right off the prop.
Once off the set, Beau asked audience members what they thought of his stunt, one viewer saying, “this is necessary to keep the conversation going. Having a conversation at the table is possible, but I think people will remember the content less.”
But why bother?
In the same way that it feels ridiculous to throw soup at a painting in the hopes of spreading the word about fossil fuel issues, it feels doubly ridiculous to glue oneself to a table on a tv show and then talk about climate change.
The glue wasn’t that strong… 😬
But, the major thing that actions such as these do is get a conversation going.
We’ll be loling about de Graaf’s Donald the Duck comment for the next few days — but it’s also true. Real people are being affected by the climate change crisis.
By making a bit of a fool of himself on national television, now Dutch (and international) people across the country will be talking about his stunt, debating whether it was a good decision or not, and finally, thinking about the cause that he was protesting for.
At the end of the day, all media is good media, as they say! 😉
What do you think of de Graaf’s activism? Tell us your thoughts in a comment below! 👇
If others were going to be interviewed this activist spoilt it for them. Somewhat selfish in my opinion.
Agree with the report here that his action will make a bigger impression than what he thought he would convey regarding climate change. Same happened to climate activists glueing themselves to the floor in a VW factory.
Can I suggest that all broadcasters check activists before letting them in to their studio?
“his glue quickly dislodged”
😀 😀 😀 What a showpony.