Posted by jossc — 2 April 2009 at 10:48am
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We've got a message for the leaders of the richest nations in the world who are gathering here in London for the G20 meeting to discuss the global economic crisis - put the climate and people first.
15 activists unfurled this 50m x 30m banner from the bridge at the Guanabara bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Posted by jamie — 18 December 2008 at 4:03pm
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Our podcast has skipped a month, but then with the Rainbow Warrior gracing our shores things have been a tad busy around here of late. As you may know, she was here in October as part of the international Quit Coal tour, and we went to meet some of the Greenpeace supporters who came to have a look round during the open boat days.
Also on our radar was the recent Indonesia tour undertaken by that other Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza. I was lucky enough to be there and while the crew were busy painting and blockading palm oil tankers in Sumatra, I was able to talk to them about what it's like being in the middle of a major piece of direct action.
And you'll have to excuse my froggy throat in the introduction, there's a cold going around the office.
Last time I looked we had a long and honourable tradition in this country of respect for justice and juries. And, though some might think it strange to say so, that respect lies at the heart of Greenpeace's direct action culture. Greenpeace volunteers take personal responsibility for their actions and leave it to 'the people', in the form of a 12-person randomly selected jury, to determine whether that action was appropriate and lawful or not.
Posted by jossc — 8 December 2008 at 1:13pm
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'Please DO something' - Plane Stupid send a message to the government
My favourite climate protesters Plane Stupid struck again this morning when they shut down Stansted, London's third airport.
Taking advantage of a temporary maintenance closure in the small hours of the morning, they set up
a camp on the runway. Wearing high visibility vests with the message, "Please DO something", and raising a banner which read 'Climate Emergency', they barricaded themselves with fortified security fencing. The blockade led to 56 Ryanair short-haul flights being cancelled, and the eventual arrest of over fifty young climate activists. Oh, and prevented the release of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere in the process - the average flight out of Stansted has a climate impact equivalent to 41.58 tonnes of CO2.
As the climate negotiations rumble on at Poznan in Poland, down the road at the coal power plant a group of Greenpeace climbers have scaled 150 metres up the chimney stack to hang 'Quit coal' banners, while another group has blocked the main entrance gate.
One of the climbers is Will, one of the Kingsnorth Six who were recently acquitted on charges arising from a similar action at (where else?) Kingsnorth power station in Kent - in fact, Will is providing the photos from the top of the chimney.
Posted by bex — 17 November 2008 at 11:19am
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Two Greenpeace ships - one of them the Rainbow Warrior - have been impounded and their captains and 90 others arrested after three days of nonviolent direct actions in the Netherlands.
Some of the 100 volunteers occupying the construction site of a new E.on coal plant in Rotterdam.
I'll start at the beginning. On Friday evening, nearly 100 Greenpeace volunteers pitched tents next to the construction site of a new E.on coal
plant in Rotterdam (one of eight E.on plans to build in Europe), to bear witness to
the unfolding climate disaster.
At first light on Saturday, they moved onto the
site and occupied it, stopping construction for 10 hours
before all being arrested.
Jamie wrote this - his thoughts and reflections on the ship tour so far - as he was waiting for something to happen in Indonesia last night. Eventually, something did.
Direct actions can be quite boring at times. The few moments of excitement are the ones which make the headlines and the photos, but anyone who has participated themselves will know there can be long, drawn-out stretches when not much is happening. Direct inaction, if you will.
I'm currently experiencing that now. As I write this, nestled in the campaign office on board the Esperanza, we're playing a waiting game. You've probably read about what the crew here has been up to in the Indonesian port of Dumai, painting and blockading palm oil tankers.
After painting and obstructing various palm
oil tankers in Dumai earlier this week, we of the Esperanza have been playing a
waiting game. There was one tanker due in which the campaigners were
particularly interested in - not only was it bound for Europe, but it was
picking up a cargo of palm oil from Sinar Mas, the largest palm oil company in Indonesia. As
soon as it arrived, a climber was installed on the anchor chain and then there
was some more waiting. A lot more waiting.
An update from Indonesia: yesterday, the climber occupying the anchor chain of a ship carrying a cargo of palm oil was brought down, arrested and later released without charge.
Yesterday, we also received the intriguing photo above (later chosen by the BBC for its day in pictures). As it took us in the office a while to get our heads around what was happening, I thought I'd pass on Jamie's explanation:
