The Island’s flagship festival drawing thousands of people from across the UK sees a new kind of protest targeting its credit card sponsor.
Every bus stop poster on the Isle of Wight has been taken over with images of embroidered posters that call out Barclays bank, the sponsor of the Isle of Wight Festival, for being Europe’s largest fossil fuel funder and driver of climate change.
The 5 poster designs, created by The Rainy Day Women, were created with the tagline ‘Stitched up by Barclays’ as a direct protest to Barclays sponsorship of the Isle of Wight Festival. Barclays has been the biggest European banker of oil, gas, and coal companies since 2016, ploughing over $190 billion into companies extracting fossil fuels, and harming communities and habitats across the world.
The demand from the embroiderers is that the Isle of Wight Festival ends sponsorship ties with Barclays, which has been the subject of massive public pressure recently.
A banner drop was also included as a part of the protest, above one of the main pedestrian walkways from the Festival at Medina Quay. People have been handing out thousands of leaflets at the site of the banners to make sure festival goers get the message that Barclays is trying to buy back a social license after facing growing pressure from customers, investors, and the public, over its policies to fund new oil and gas which are driving up emissions and causing the climate crisis.
One of those against the Barclays sponsor, Julie Hutchinson has said:
“People go to the Festival to enjoy the music and sense of community. But the actions of the Festival’s main sponsor – Barclays – are actively undoing all that joy and community through its funding activities. Today we’re telling people that they’ve been stitched up by Barclays. Isle of Wight Festival needs to stop taking Barclays’ oily money.”
The original embroideries are being exhibited at Peer Studios in Ventnor until Saturday 1st July 2023.
The thing that gets me with all these protesters, whether it be JustStopOil, or these lot above…they don’t seem to have any understanding of how our global network and economy works. Do they want us to support child labour instead through the mining of elements required for batteries? Besides, I assume all these ‘environmentalists’ drive cars, get new phones every year, embrace fast fashion, use single use plastic etc etc. Some people seem far too miserable and do not know how to enjoy life…this is becoming far too common these days.
Well said…
Tell that to those in New York , or maybe those dying of cancer caused by all of that pollution caused by dirty fossil fuels , maybe look at the crop yield figures that are caused by the climate chaos. Enjoy flying unnecessarily and look down on the proven deaths and destruction, but don’t feel guilty because it’s all of us causing it .
These paid protesters/activists have no idea how the earth works. Astronomers and Scientists are now stating that the climate change is due to the the earth shifting onto a different axis and has actually moved closer to the sun. Whatever the cause of climate change why do these idiots expect others to change their lifestyle, yet its OK for the protesters to travel hundreds of miles using oil and to wear clothing and shoes that use oil in the ingredients to manufacture them.
And you know this how? 0r another huge assumption on your part I bet you have shares in fossil fuels somewhere whoopsie that’s me assuming now
So your argument is brown children should drill for oil so white children don’t have to.
If only there was another way…
The thing that gets me with all these financial letter writers is they don’t seem to have any understanding of how our global network and economy works. For example when you go to buy your Daily Mail do you realise that it is registered in Bermuda and pays on tax and that the owner, a mate of our ex prime minister lives in Monaco and considers himsel a French citizen. These people really do know how to enjoy life but at whos expence?
Ooops should be no tax
Funny you should mention child labour. One of the many criminal injustices called out by those with the courage and moral fibre to protest them on the streets and in parliament. The introduction of the poor laws and abolition of slavery was down to these bloody people. How very dare they! Just keep your little head down and don’t think about it too much. That’s best eh..
Yes there really is no gap between not wanting to burn fossil fields and vying for child labour.
Absolutely no middle ground at all. Well said “islander”.
And I’m absolutely sure there’s no child labour in the process of oil extraction either. Oh there isn’t you say? Well surely that makes a good case to use those industrial processes to extract and recycle lithium (which is happening today by the way). I guess that could be one middle ground.
Yes but that’s not the point. It’s one more piece to the puzzle. They’ve exposed Barclays and that’s a good thing. They’re also the sort of people who would most likely try to avoid buying plastic wrapped fruit and veg, because they’re aware of it. Or try to avoid fast fashion, because they’re aware of that too. They’re not the sort of people like yourself who would just go “oh well, people don’t have fun these days” and continue to selfishly mess up the world. You do small bits when and where you can and everyone can make a big difference rather than being massive fatalist pessimists.
Totally out of touch these protester people. Agree Barclays shouldn’t sponsor Festival ( I don’t pay my Credit card for that ),but come on we are using less fosil fuel every day, so called going green is short term,soon there will be millions of solar panels that will need replacing, Lithium batteries are killing thousands of children forced to mine for likes of Tesla to make millions of £. No evidence that climate change wouldn’t still be taking place, due to more people,more farming etc. Festival will be producing alot of rubbish and thousands of travel miles – unnecessary in many ways. But we are human and need to enjoy our life, can’t be worrying about hundreds of years from now,our ansesters didn’t for us . We need to stop war.
While it is true that children are used to mine chemicals and minerals for the production of lithium batteries, provably an equal number are already used to mine cobalt that is used in the refining process to make petrol, kerosene etc, so that argument doesn’t really work. It’s just that few people mention that fact.
Tell that to those in New York , or maybe those dying of cancer caused by all of that pollution caused by dirty fossil fuels , maybe look at the crop yield figures that are caused by the climate chaos. Enjoy flying unnecessarily and look down on the proven deaths and destruction, but don’t feel guilty because it’s all of us causing it .
Wasn’t oil the reason for the war?
Recycling solar panels is happening today. As is lithium recycling. Not many kids on the work sites at these western industrial sites. Try to recycle oil yourself – it’s being worked on but much more difficult than recycling solid materials – it’s called carbon capture. Better to go with less resistance and recycle actual recycled materials like lithium. Plus there’s salt batteries being worked upon – quite a lot of salt in the sea, as well as these naive comments from those that are selfish.
What sort of music does Rainy Day Women play?. Not heard the song Stitched up by Barclays?. Surely not headline act as never ever heard of them.
So what? Let the mindless ones have their 5 minutes of joy. When starmer stops oil there will not be a festival to protest at.
STOP OIL ???? your living in a dream world, no UK govt is going to stop oil, how would the treasury fund the uk without fuel duty & fuel VAT? As soon as they put a tax levy on EV’s the anti oil brigade will be up in arms at having to make up the difference and how will they get their advocados & pulses when the cargo ships have to go back to the days of tea clippers?
With Climate change rapidly doiing it’s thing we will be able to grow our own Advacado and pulses really? They already are farmed in Uk””duh”!
Another example of nothing-to-do, time-wasting, people who have no idea on how the REAL world works. Sure it would all be lovely if everything was perfectly ecological etc; but that is not the world we live in and that has little to do with 1 bank! Wake up instead and go to work instead of annoying all of us.
Dead right Alex, anyone who had a job would be at that job because they couldn’t afford to loose the money by going protesting instead. So they must all be claiming benefits of some sort. If they can protest they are fit for work. This is where those who are genuinely sick or disabled need to be separated from those taking the piss out of the system. Trouble is not one minister has the backbone to question priorities and the principles of the problem
We live in a world with a mix of power sources. Wind, solar, tidal. Are you not aware of how much power we use from these sources?
I assume what the group is trying to accelerate is the use of these *existing* and in-use technologies.
Putting up them posters is vandalism,the protesters should be arrested for it and jailed for a while.
Can you suggest alternatives you’d prefer for them to raise awareness? Note that this will mean you may be aware of it by definition- that’s the point.
Can you suggest alternatives you’d prefer for them to raise awareness? Note that this will mean you may be aware of it by definition- that’s the point.
Get a life green protestors, if anyone looked into your life styles I bet you’re not as green as you make out. You’re all a bunch of hypocrites
Private helicopters constantly back and forth from the mainland. Cars gridlocked around Newport, Wootton and East Cowes. Vehicles travelling from all parts of the UK to the Island. Why aren’t these idiots protesting about the pollution being caused instead of defacing a few bus shelters. They are probably enjoying themselves at the festival. Double standards??
There’s a whole nother picture with Barclays. follow the money ! Barclays have investments in military firm Elbit which builds war drones that fly over Gaza and many other dirty investments . Protestors aren’t miserable , they are each highlighting the different ways Barclays invests in dirty projects which harm many civilisations around the world . Doesn’t take much research these days to see what they invest in . It’s good people are highlighting where banks invest.
Protesters are fighting for our children’s and our grandchildren’s future . Mainstream media sure don’t !
Taking this chaos we are all in and turning it into art
We should all be challenging companies such as Barclays. Big corporations should do more to fight climate change, not add to it. Barclays was an embarrassing choice for festi sponsor.
So a Bank Sponsors a totally cashless event
The festival is one big environmental disaster.
people seem to have a short memory, Barclays Bank repossess homes from people, they keep us all in debt, they launder money from drug barons and prop up the financial institutions that keep us poor, they are a shockingly corrupt and awful bank. But yeh, some women stitching a poster are out of touch. Adorable
Just stop bleating it’s the same type of mindless idiot that probably went round in a car to put all the posters up
Love these posters especially as it winds up the people who have commented so far. 😉
The festival is all about corporate greed. Always has been and always will be.
Wasn’t aware of that. These protests are acceptable. They’re informing people whilst peacefully protesting. Banks are never the good guy’s are they?
If these anti oil protestors really wanted to “stop oil” they would blockade refineries. Anything else is performative nonsense.
Idiots the lot of them
Good for Barclays I say! Without them where would the oil and gas shareholders be? They also need to keep an expensive roof over their heads whilst the likes of our hard working citizens are being forced out of their homes in droves because they can’t afford their mortgages. Those poor Barclays bankers who were sentenced in 2019 for artificially massaging interest rates believed, quite rightly, that the average British citizen is too reserved and parochial to stand up and do anything about it. Any wonder we have tolerated such a corrupt government for so long. Tea anyone?