Draft:This is Rigged

This is Rigged (sometimes written as This Is Rigged) is an activist organisation in Scotland which campaigns on issues including the cost-of-living crisis and climate change.

Background
This is Rigged was formed in 2022 as a climate activism group to protest the Scottish Government's investments in fossil fuels.

2023
On 2 March 2023, members of This is Rigged entered the Hall of Arms at the Wallace Monument and damaged the case containing the Wallace Sword with tools and rocks. The protest referenced an earlier action by Ethel Moorhead, a Scottish suffragette who had attacked the sword's case in 1912, and one of the rocks used was inscribed with a similar message to that of Moorhead:

The three activists involved at the Wallace Monument pleaded not guilty, arguing that their actions were part of a "fundamental human right" to protest, but were later ordered to pay £3,333 each for criminal damage.

On 19 July, a group of This is Rigged activists scaled oil tankers and pipework at Grangemouth Refinery, with 20 people being charged under section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and with breach of the peace. The action occurred three days after a similar occupation by Climate Camp Scotland at the refinery's nearby gas power station. On the same day, members of This is Rigged protested at the NuStar oil terminal in Clydebank.

On 1 August, members of the group threw red paint over the public entrance to the Scottish Parliament Building after the UK Government granted a series of North Sea oil licenses the previous day.

2024


On 21 February 2024, members of the group dressed up as Tesco workers and handed out bread and roses which had been taken from one of the company's shops in Glasgow city centre. The action referenced a speech by the suffragette Helen M. Todd and was described by the group as a "redistributive action" in reaction to the cost-of-living crisis. This is Rigged activists continued to hand out apparently-stolen food and hot drinks the following week.

On 6 March, activists representing the group scaled the Queen Elizabeth House civil service building in Edinburgh and replaced its Union Flag with that of Palestine over the British Government's position on the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The group also sprayed red paint on the front of the building with a fire extinguisher and water balloons.

On 11 March, three activists from This is Rigged were arrested after spraying the public entrance to the Scottish Parliament Building with red paint. Alongside the protest, the group called for the Scottish Government to create a "community food hub" for every 500 households in the country as a way to combat food insecurity.

Externals links

 * Official website