… on a quiet day, I can hear her breathing

Category: Greenpeace

  • The extreme broadness of ‘extremism’

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    Image of a Just Stop Oil participant getting arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal.
    A Just Stop Oil participant getting arrested at Kingsbury oil terminal. A JSO / Vladamir Morozov image.

    Original article republished from Freedom under Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. There are other interesting articles at this site that is new to me.

    Just Stop Oil are being branded “fanatics” for disruptive actions whose like hardly raised an eyebrow a decade ago

    I wasn’t terribly surprised to see, in the weekend Morning Star, a letter suggesting that while the sentencing of the Just Stop Oil Five was overly harsh, they deserved punishment for their conspiracy to disrupt traffic on the M25.

    The Star is, to be fair, generally quite supportive of JSO’s right to protest, while having some knee-jerk types in its readership, particularly in the crusty old tankie set.  But such complaints get at the heart of an issue JSO has had for some time — they’re often really annoying even for their nominal allies. 

    Many of them are quite posh and can sound patronising or smug. Their targets are disruptive but less often to the wealthy and more to a cross-class cohort of art lovers, or pagans, or sports enthusiasts, or holiday makers. And motorists, of course. Roger Hallam, as their most famous face, often acts like a self-aggrandising edgelord whose projects have a habit of getting people in trouble without much of a plan for long-term support.

    It sometimes makes JSO hard to love, and it gives grouches in politics and the media an excuse to label them attention seekers, or cultists, or extremists.  

    But here’s the thing: for all their PR controversies, JSO aren’t actually extreme at all, and not only in comparison to, say, cops throwing their weight around on a Friday night, or any major event that gridlocks a city centre. Comparing them to similar campaigns from the 1990s or even the early 2000s, JSO are tamer than Lassie. The anti-roads movement, Animal Liberation Front, Earth First!, Reclaim The Streets, even Greenpeace — have all mounted considerably more disruptive campaigns within living memory. You can find reports on some of them in old issues of Freedom and Schnews.

    In fact, a quick look through the latter’s archive for mentions of the M25 very quickly turns up this article from 2012, with the Tories already in power, which notes the following action:

    On Monday 16th July a Greenpeace co-ordinated swoop saw seventy-seven petrol stations within the M25 shut down, and another thirteen in Edinburgh - hitting Shell on the forecourt and in their pockets. Activists disassembled the emergency fuel shut off switches and chained the pumps together, stopping business for the day.

    Twelve years ago, shutting down nearly the entire refuelling system around London and Edinburgh wasn’t considered big enough to fluster the Graun, which reported the whole thing as just another news story for the day. Shell were careful to say they respected the protesters’ views, and the police didn’t even bother to comment! My goodness what a difference a few years makes. Can you imagine the level of dribbling outrage the press would indulge in now? 

    This impressive gap in the treatment of disruptive protests on the same road is symptomatic of an issue touched on in a recent Freedom discussion, which has been worsening for a long time and accelerated, strangely, alongside the culture wars. While the left was accused of going woke and indulging in cancel culture, the right was becoming so pathetically unable to handle confrontation that it changed the laws to jail people for being annoying. Part of Suella Braverman’s anti-protest law (since struck down) literally gave police the power to break up protests for being “too noisy”. 

    And now we’re at the point where Hallam and co. are being jailed for 4-5 years each for conspiracy to disrupt the flow of traffic. But what’s worse is they’ve managed to somehow convince the public this is all a response to sudden rising environmental “fanaticism” entailing behaviour we’ve never seen before. A straight-up bald faced lie to a population who, if they are adults, should be able to personally remember examples of this not being the case which has nevertheless sunk in as truth. What a stunning propaganda victory! If the left had done it, you can bet your life the word “Orwellian” would be burning holes in printing presses across the nation.

    Which brings us back to our letter writer in the Star. The left (and of course the anarchists) need to remember our history, and why it is that solidarity applies even to people we don’t get on with ideologically (or personally). We need to be much, much better at getting our heads out of our arses and fighting back against the demonisation of disruptive protest. It’s not a matter of whether we approve of JSO or Roger the Public Nuisance, or whether think their work is counterproductive in terms of public opinion. 

    Because not too long ago what they’ve been doing wouldn’t have been a jailable offence, or even a front page one. Not too long ago, columnists opining about disruptive protest being “anti-democratic” would have been quite rightly ridiculed for their lack of commitment to human rights. JSO’s re-designation as extremists courting much-deserved jail time is our re-designation.

    Kier Starmer needs to be pressured on this from all sides. He has, after all, taken away the left’s voice in Parliament. Now he needs to hear it in the streets.    

    ~ Rob Ray

    Original article republished from Freedom under Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. There are other interesting articles at this site that is new to me.

    Health for Extinction Rebellion protests at JP Morgan Chase’s London Embankment offices 19 October 2023.
    Health for Extinction Rebellion protests at JP Morgan Chase’s London Embankment offices 19 October 2023.

  • Anti-Whaling Activist Paul Watson Arrested in Greenland, May Face Extradition to Japan

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    Original article by EDWARD CARVER republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Danish police arrested anti-whaling activist Paul Watson when his vessel came to port in Nuuk, Greenland, on July 21, 2024. (Photo: Captain Paul Watson Foundation)

    The famed campaigner was en route to intercept a new 370-foot Japanese factory whaling ship in the North Pacific when Danish police in Greenland made the surprise arrest, citing an international warrant issued by Japan.

    Danish police on Sunday arrested prominent anti-whaling activist Paul Watson when his vessel came to port in Greenland, citing a warrant issued by Japan, a whaling nation that seeks his extradition.

    Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian American who co-founded Greenpeace and founded Sea Shepherd, was traveling with 25 volunteers aboard the 236-foot M/Y John Paul DeJoria on a mission to the North Pacific for the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), which he started after leaving Sea Shepherd in 2022.

    When the vessel arrived in Nuuk, Greenland to refuel, the Danish police immediately boarded and arrested Watson.

    The CPWF denounced the surprise arrest, which came as Watson planned to intercept a new Japanese factory whaling ship.

    “We implore the Danish government to release Captain Watson and not entertain this politically-motivated request,” Locky MacLean, CPWF’s ship operations director, said in a statement.

    Sunday’s arrest came as the M/Y John Paul DeJoria was making its way to the North Pacific via the Northwest Passage after setting off from Dublin. The CPWF team aimed to intercept the Kangei Maru, a new 370-foot, $48 million Japanese factory whaling ship that’s equipped with state-of-the-art drones that expedite the killing of whales.

    CPWF argues that the launch of the new vessel signals Japan’s ambitions to restart commercial whaling on the high seas—international waters—in the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean as early as 2025. Japan long whaled the high seas in defiance of international law, under the guise of scientific research, but in recent years it has shifted to whaling in its own territorial waters, which extend 200 nautical miles from its shores.

    Watson, who is known for confrontational tactics, was the star of the Animal Planet television show Whale Wars that ran from 2008 until 2015, in which he lead efforts to disrupt Japanese whaling on the high seas.

    Over a dozen police and SWAT team members took part in Watson’s arrest in Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. He was handcuffed and taken to local detention. A judge denied him bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk, citing a 2012 case from Germany in which he fled house arrest; he will be held in Nuuk until August 15 as authorities assess his possible extradition to Japan, where he could face up to 15 years in jail, The New York Times reported.

    The nature of Japan’s charges against Watson was not specified in media reports. The Interpol arrest warrant cited by Danish police may be an old one, according to CPWF. MacLean said the warrant had “disappeared” from public view a few months ago and may have been made confidential, possibly as a tactic to lull Watson into a false sense of security when traveling internationally.

    Original article by EDWARD CARVER republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Paul Watson, Anti-Whaling Campaigner, Held In Germany Over 2002 … ›

    What I learned the day a dying whale spared my life Paul Watson

  • June 2024 was the hottest on record: Greenpeace calls for making polluters pay the mounting bill for extreme weather

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    Reacting to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service that June 2024 was the hottest June on record, which makes it the 13th consecutive month for which the global average temperature reached a record.

    Ian Duff, Head of Greenpeace International’s Stop Drilling Start Paying campaign said:

    “Survivors of extreme weather over the last month are in the millions. From China and India to Greece and Italy, from Saudi Arabia to Jamaica and the US, floods, fires, and heat waves have shattered homes, claimed lives and hurt people’s health, costing the world over USD 41 billion in damages in the first months of the year, according to a recent Christian Aid report. This is happening while Big Oil is making huge profits while people are suffering – reportedly over USD 2.8 billion every day for the past 50 years.

    “Yet, climate change’s perpetrators are but a few. A handful of international oil and gas companies are chiefly responsible for fuelling extreme weather events. Not only did they deny climate science, they actively slowed down the solutions and now the expansion plans by Big Oil’s executives are a reckless assault on our planet. 

    “Greenpeace is campaigning to finally push governments to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for the loss and damage it creates, while it is raking up trillions in profits. Big Oil might have bought the media, they might have bought politicians – but our future and our heritage are not for sale. Through legislation, litigation and nonviolent action, we join youth groups, senior citizens, Indigenous Peoples and many others to restore justice and secure a stable climate.”

  • Greenpeace urges govt to restore right to protest

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    Commenting on the lengthy jail sentences imposed on climate activists for planning a peaceful protest, following a trial where the defendants were prevented from fully explaining the reasons for their actions, Greenpeace UK’s programme director Amy Cameron said:

    “This is a dark day for the right to protest, a pillar of our democracy. Without it, we would have no votes for women, basic workers’ rights or an end to coal and commercial whaling. What sort of country locks people away for years for planning a peaceful demonstration, let alone for talking about it on a Zoom call? We’re giving a free hand to the polluting elite robbing us of a habitable planet while jailing those who’re trying to stop them – it makes no sense. 

    Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.
    Just Stop Oil protesting in London 6 December 2022.

    “These sentences are not a one-off anomaly, but the culmination of years of repressive legislation, overblown government rhetoric and a concerted assault on the right of juries to deliberate according to their conscience. This judicial crackdown on climate activists has gotten out of hand and is now a major international embarrassment. It’s part of the mess the Labour government has inherited from its predecessor and they must fix it by giving back to people the right to protest that’s been slowly being taken away from them. 

    “Starmer’s ministers should repeal the gagging laws brought in by the Conservatives and instruct the Attorney General to meet with campaigners and the UN rapporteur on environmental defenders to discuss a way forward.”

  • Campaigners Demand Global Ban on Deep-Sea Mining

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    Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Greenpeace International activists attach a flag reading “Stop Deep Sea Mining” to the cable holding the prototype robot, Patania II, to disturb a deep-sea mining impact test by the company Global Sea Mineral Resources. (Photo: © Marten van Dijl / Greenpeace)

    As talks resume, supporters of a moratorium are also calling for the ouster of the International Seabed Authority’s leader, who faces an election on July 29.

    As talks to establish global policies on deep-sea mining resumed in Jamaica on Monday, Greenpeace International renewed its demand for a moratorium on the practice, the path also backed other civil society and Indigenous groups, at least hundreds of science and policy experts, and 27 countries.

    “The science is clear—there can’t be deep-sea mining without environmental cost and the only solution is a moratorium. The more we know about deep-sea mining, the harder it is to justify it,” said Greenpeace campaigner Louisa Casson, who is attending the United Nations-affiliated International Seabed Authority’s (ISA) 29th session in Kingston.

    “Governments at the ISA must not dance to the tune of the industry and approve rushed regulations for the benefit of a few over the interests of Pacific communities and the opinion of scientists,” Casson argued, as companies and countries see chances to cash in on the clean energy transition by extracting metals including cobalt, copper, and nickel.

    “The deep ocean sustains crucial processes that make the entire planet habitable, from driving ocean currents that regulate our weather to storing carbon and buffering our planet against the impacts of climate change.”

    The Associated Press reported Monday that although the ISA has not allowed any extraction during debates, it “has granted 31 mining exploration contracts,” and “much of the ongoing exploration is centered in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone, which covers 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million square kilometers) between Hawaii and Mexico.”

    The Mexican government last year endorsed a moratorium and Democratic Hawaii Gov. Josh Green last week signed a bill banning seabed mining in state waters, citing “environmental risks and constitutional rights to have a clean and healthy environment.”

    Ahead of the meeting in Jamaica, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition campaign lead Sofia Tsenikli highlighted that “gouging minerals from the seafloor poses an existential threat that goes far beyond the immediate destruction of deep-sea wildlife and habitats.”

    “The deep ocean sustains crucial processes that make the entire planet habitable, from driving ocean currents that regulate our weather to storing carbon and buffering our planet against the impacts of climate change,” Tsenikli said. “States must now protect the ocean and not allow any more damage.”

    The ISA was established under the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and a related 1994 agreement, and is responsible for waters not under the control of specific nations. As Common Dreams reported earlier this month, some diplomats have accused British lawyer Michael Lodge, its current secretary-general, of trying to speed up the start of mining.

    “The rush to complete the mining code was triggered by the Pacific island state of Nauru, which is expected to submit a mining license application on behalf of Canada’s the Metals Company (TMC) later this year, regardless of whether or not regulations are complete,” Reuters noted Monday.

    After ISA’s 36-member Council negotiates the “Mining Code” over the next two weeks, its full Assembly is scheduled to meet on July 29 to vote on the next secretary-general, with Lodge facing a challenge from Brazil’s Leticia Carvalho for the top post.

    “It is time for change at the ISA,” Casson of Greenpeace declared Monday. “A third term for Michael Lodge would not only put the oceans under threat but also risk further damaging public trust in the regulator. Mining companies are impatient to get started and mounting evidence indicates that Lodge is overstepping his supposedly-neutral role to align with commercial interests.”

    “The ISA must listen to millions of people and the growing number of governments calling for a halt to deep-sea mining,” she added. “It is time to put conservation at the heart of the ISA’s work.”

    In preparation for the talks in Kingston, Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, and Frontier Group last month released a report showing that not only would deep-sea mining destroy “a vibrant, biodiverse place, teeming with complex ecosystems and thousands, possibly millions of species,” but also it isn’t necessary.

    “Disposable electronic devices are creating a toxic e-waste mess. Now, some mining companies are trying to convince policymakers that we need to wreak havoc on the ocean to source the materials to make more,” said Charlie Fisher of the Oregon State PIRG Foundation. “This report shows that we don’t need to ruin the deep sea to make the products we need. There is a more sustainable path: Make long-lasting, fixable electronics and recycle them when they no longer work.”

    Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).