Love, Anger and Betrayal. Jonathan Porritt talks about Defend our Juries

Jonathan Porritt visited Sheffield in December to launch his new book, Love, Anger and Betrayal. Jonathon was influential in my joining the Ecology (now Green) Party back in the early 80s, and his first book, Seeing Green, cemented my belief in the green manifesto. Jonathon led Friends of the Earth, co-founded the Prince of Wales Business and Sustainability Program,  became President of the Conservation Volunteers and has been Chancellor of Keele University. 

Love, Anger and Betrayal was co-authored by 26 Just Stop Oil activists. Jonathon believes it’s not too late (to prevent the worst aspects of climate change), but the thrust of this book is that it soon will be. Jonathan spoke without notes for an hour and a half, covering many topics, from the betrayal of various Prime Ministers, the growth in renewables, the importance of Non-Violent Direct Action, the frequent flyer levy, nuclear power and the Labour crackdown on protest and human rights. This article is about Jonathan’s work with Defend Our Juries. 

He said, “The last year has been very bad for our political rights and freedoms. There is an absolutely crucial principle of British justice called jury equity. This goes back to 1670, when a judge sent two Quakers to prison for preaching in a place where they shouldn’t have. The jury decided the two Quakers were not guilty. The judge said, “You have to find them guilty.” And the jury said, “No.” So the judge sent the jury to prison! There was an outcry over crushing the right of a jury to make its decisions on the basis of their conscience, so eventually they were freed by a higher judge, and the two Quakers were found not guilty.

There are lots of trials going through the courts at the moment, and they will continue to go through the courts into 2026, 2027, and some even into 2028. 

Jonathon explained “If we still have jury trial for some of these things, and that’s by no means guaranteed any longer, a lot will depend on whether a judge allows the jury to hear why defendants have done what they’ve done, what their motivation has been, was it proportionate to the action they took, and to learn a bit about the basic science of climate change, which many juries don’t have when they hear a Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain or Extinction Rebellion case. So, for a judge to say ”no, we’re not going to share any information about climate change” is a way of ensuring the jurors have no access to the basic knowledge which would allow them to decide according to their conscience. And when juries do have that chance, many juries have found people not guilty of the crimes for which they’ve been accused, even though they obviously did what they did. If you break windows at JP Morgan Bank and cause £250,000 worth of damage, you can’t really deny the evidence. If you spray orange powder on private jets,  the evidence is there, but the jury can still say “we get that”. But we’re still going to find the defendant not guilty. And that’s happened more times than you can imagine.” 

Defend Our Juries is the organisation defending the principle of Jury Equity. The name tells us a lot. Could you imagine five years ago that we would need a new organisation, specifically to protect jurors from being bullied?

 Defend Our Juries emerged in an Insulate Britain trial, where the judge was seeking to stop any sharing of climate science inside the court. It led to the holding up of a sign reminding people of exactly what is on the wall of the Old Bailey, which is to remind people that jurors have an absolute right to make decisions according to their conscience. From there, Defend Our Juries has gone on to become the principal organisation now seeking to lift the ban on Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. Jonathon says this is an inspirational example of how civil society organisations can launch and play this fundamental role. 

Jonathan explained Defend our Juries “asked people to sit in Parliament Square or wherever, holding up a sign saying ‘I oppose Genocide, I support Palestine Action, and 2730 arrests have now been made for people holding up that sign, including myself. This world is basically mad!” (See here for the Sheffield arrests). 

Since Jonathan’s talk, things have gone from bad to worse.  The 4 Hunger Strikers in prison without trial, members of the Filton 24, are close to death and are suffering appalling prison conditions, while another 4 have reluctantly ended their hunger strike. As I write this, Palestine prisoner Heba Muraisi has reached day 60 of her hunger strike — the point where sudden death becomes imminent.

On Wednesday, 17th December, two people were arrested, allegedly for saying “Globalise the Intifada”. Intifada is an Arabic word which means uprising. It is an appeal for people to campaign against the Israeli occupation, apartheid system and genocide of the Palestinian people. It should not be interpreted to mean “kill Jews”. 

Tents in Gaza have been flooded, and many have died from collapsing buildings and hypothermia. Israel ignores the ceasefire, bans aid agencies from helping, and the genocide continues.

For the latest news on the Hunger Strikers see https://filtonactionists.com/

For a much longer article about Jonathan’s meeting in Sheffield see https://tellthetruthsheffield.org/2025/12/20/jonathon-porritt-in-sheffield-for-the-love-anger-and-betrayal-book-launch/