The Line We Crossed - People
We plan to run Q&As after many of the screenings of The Line We Crossed. Below you can find out more information about people who have volunteered to be part of these discussions. Head over to our screenings page to find out who will be on the panel for each screening.
Pia grew up knowing about climate change, like so many of her generation. She resigned from her job in the corporate sector in the summer of 2022 and went to a Just Stop Oil meeting. A month later she was doing roadblocks. “I really hated the fact that most of my time alive was dedicated to something that really did not matter. It just made sense to join Just Stop Oil, of course this is what I was supposed to be doing.”
She was part of the road blocks and lock-on in October 2022 and the slow marches of 2023 in London for Just Stop Oil. She has also taken action with This Is Rigged where she was part of blocking a petrol refinery, locking onto the gates.
Valerie was one of 9 women who took part in direct action where they broke windows of HSBC headquarters to protest against the bank’s role as the second largest investors in fossil fuels. In their trial all 9 women were found not guilty by a jury. They were allowed to explain their motivations for their action and to use “the consent” defence. Since their trial, following an appeal by The Attorney General on a different case, the consent defence has been removed.
Rachel is a young academic from California with a PhD in Political Theory. After years of researching and writing about inequalities, she felt compelled to put her body on the line and got involved with protest and direct action in 2021. While she has been involved with climate activism for several years, she would identify more as a social justice activist. Rather than seeing the climate crisis as a single or middle-class issue, she understands the fight against fossil fuels as central to challenging global capitalism, which prioritises the profits and comfort of global elites over ordinary people’s lives.
In The Line We Crossed she appears speaking to media at Morgan & Marcus’ sentencing, protesting the Public Order Act 2023 the day it became law, and attempting to participate in a legal protest at the Coronation. Currently, she is working on a project on the criminalisation of protest that causes emotional—rather than material—damage or harm. In line with this, she hopes people will join her out on the streets to challenge the anti-protest measures in the new Crime and Policing Bill!
Tim, a former barrister, is the founder of Plan B which was established following the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change to hold to account those in power who knowingly take action inconsistent with 1.5˚C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
After 12 years of trying to make change within the law Marcus decided to use his professional rope skills for a daring action. Together with his friend Morgan he shimmied up the cables of the QEII motorway bridge to unfurl a huge Just Stop Oil banner and to rig a hammock each in which they stayed for 37 hours at about 400 feet above the river Thames.
He was one of the first to be sentenced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and was given what was the longest ever sentence for peaceful protest at that time. As an EU citizen on pre-settled status in the UK and having received a prison sentence of longer than one year, Marcus then became the first environmental defender to receive a deportation order. He and his partner Holly are currently fighting his deportation.
Click here to read some of Marcus’s press coverage and find out how you can support him.
Clive had a successful career working in engineering for over 30 years. There he developed his problem solving, analytical and management skills. Clive now devotes a significant amount of his time working on civil rights issues raised by the UK court system. He has worked closely with Defend Our Juries and has delivered speeches and talks on their behalf. As someone without a legal career Clive is able to speak freely and bring the perspective of non-legal people looking to, or forced to, use the judicial system. Clive’s religious background provides him with a strong desire for justice.
Cathy is a London-based musician and mum. An environmentalist all her life, she became aware of the true gravity and urgency of the climate & ecological emergency in 2018. Understanding the need for ordinary people to step up into nonviolent direct action, since then she has taken part in numerous actions with Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil. As a result of these actions, she has been arrested over 20 times, faced fines and civil injunction costs of thousands of pounds, and has been sent to prison twice.
In 2023 she was wrongfully arrested for Perverting the Court of Justice, a charge that carries a max sentence of life in prison, simply for putting up posters along the road outside a court, reminding the public of their rights if they’re on a jury. Following this she helped set up the campaign group Defend Our Juries.
Sam’s decision to get involved with Just Stop Oil actions came after experiencing unprecedented 40 degrees heat in London in the summer of 2022. His son was 13 at the time and he wanted to do everything he could to protect his future.
Sam was arrested numerous times during the Just Stop Oil slow marching campaign and was remanded in prison after walking down a road for just 20 minutes.
He also took part in a nonviolent action with This Is Rigged, for which he received a 16 month sentence. This was the longest ever sentence for peaceful protest given by a Scottish court. He was released on the successful appeal of his sentence on the 29th of July after serving four months.
Rosa became interested in Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) while getting involved in XR in the lead up to the 2019 April Rebellion. She lived in Australia for a few years, experiencing floods and fires, and co-founded the A22 campaign Fireproof Australia, working behind the scenes. This wasn’t enough, and she knew had to come back to England to engage in frontline civil resistance with Just Stop Oil, which she did in early 2023.
She was part of the slow marching campaign, has engaged in multiple cultural actions, and most recently spent 6 months on remand at HMP Bronzefield for her involvement in the Just Stop Oil airports campaign. She received a 15 month sentence for a “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”
Steve was raised by devout Catholics who understood there are things more important than self interest. He took part in the Insulate Britain roadblock actions and was told he could not explain to the jury why he took action. At his sentencing the judge sent him to prison when he said he would not give up nonviolent protest action as a matter of conscience. He has been sent to prison five times for peaceful protest action including on two occasions in the eighties for nonviolent anti nuclear protest.
Anne is an emeritus professor who took early retirement and got involved in direction very soon after. She was involved with Just Stop Oil since its inception. She is also active in Defend Our Juries, and other activist groups. She has 3 daughters and 2 granddaughters. She feels she has no choice other than to do what it takes to help make societal changes for future generations.
Olly is a carpenter and lives in South London. He learnt how bad the Climate and Ecological Crisis was after seeing an Extinction Rebellion protest in autumn 2018 and watching a “heading for extinction” talk. He joined the protests in April 2019 and October and learning about the climate crisis and being part of civil disobedience rapidly became a larger and larger part of his life.
He took action with Insulate Britain in autumn 2021 and was sent to prison for breaching an injunction. He has helped with Just Stop Oil in supporting roles although the police still kept coming to his house to arrest him.
A couple of years ago he was extremely burnt out and has been in therapy and developing a meditation practice in order to find the joy in life again and to become more resilient for whatever challenges lie ahead.
Liz is the director of The Line We Crossed and is an award winning British documentary filmmaker. When she set out to make this film she did not expect to become part of the story, but that all changed when she was arrested under new anti-protest laws while filming the activists.
Her work is centred around human rights issues. The films she is making at Page75 Productions are the outcome of years of study on the issues driving the rise of populism and the erosion of our democratic rights. However, researching the issues can only go so far. Her approach of spending time with affected communities on the frontline delivers a much deeper understanding of the forces driving these trends.
Retired social worker, Trudi Warner, found herself at the centre of a landmark case that would have implications for juries rights and climate activists. She stood, in silence, outside a British court with a sign stating “Jurors you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience.” She was arrested and charged with contempt of court. This would begin a journey through the courts that would conclude at The Royal Courts of Justice over a year later. It sparked the birth of “Defend Our Juries”. At stake was a 400 year old legal principle. This right was first established in 1670 when the Recorder of London tried to compel a jury to convict two Quaker preachers, William Penn and William Mead, for holding an unlawful assembly. The Jury led by Bushell repeatedly refused to do so.
Deborah is a nonviolent climate change activist and is part of Just Stop Oil, Defend Our Juries, Christian Climate Action and Marching for Palestine. She is motivated to act for her grandson, Jacob. With the scientific facts about the climate crisis making it clear to her what is coming for him she asks, “how can I then do nothing?”. Her father was a trade unionist. She was brought up in the christian faith and learnt that there must be justice for all.