Showing posts with label Greenpeace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greenpeace. Show all posts

Friday, 4 October 2013

Dutch take legal action over Greenpeace ship in Russia

Dutch take legal action over Greenpeace ship in Russia

The group was arrested last month over a protest on an Arctic oil rig owned by Gazprom

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The Netherlands has launched legal action to free 30 Greenpeace activists charged in Russia with piracy.
The group was arrested last month over a protest on an Arctic oil rig owned by state-controlled firm Gazprom.
Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said he was also acting to free the Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.
Greenpeace calls the charges against the activists, who include two Dutch citizens, "irrational, absurd and an outrage".
Mr Timmermans said the Netherlands had applied to the UN's Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, which resolves maritime disputes between states.
He said his country, the first nation to take legal action in the case, viewed the ship's detention as unlawful.
Under the rules of the Hamburg-based Tribunal, the Netherlands may apply for the immediate release of the ship and those on board.
"I really want to consult with my Russian colleagues... to get these people freed as soon as possible," Mr Timmermans said, according to Associated Press.
"I don't understand why this could be thought to have anything to do with piracy; I don't see how you could think of any legal grounds for that."
'Group piracy' The BBC's Anne Holligan in The Hague says the dispute threatens to test the strong diplomatic ties between Russia and the Netherlands.
Citizens of 17 other countries, reported to include Britain, France, Canada and New Zealand, were also among those arrested and detained in the Russian city of Murmansk.
The group was seized during a skirmish with armed Russian security officers after several activists tried to board the Prirazlomnaya platform, Russia's first offshore oil rig in the Arctic.
They were later charged with "piracy of an organised group".
Greenpeace's international executive director, Kumi Naidoo, said earlier this week the charges were "extreme and disproportionate".
The Russian government has not commented on the Dutch legal action. President Vladimir Putin has said the environmental activists broke international law, although he has conceded they were not pirates.
Mikhail Fedotov, who heads the presidential council for human rights advisory body, said on Thursday he did not think there were "the slightest grounds" for a piracy charge.
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Monday, 16 July 2012

Greenpeace said they intended to close about a dozen stations across the capital


Protesters draped a Greenpeace banner over the Dalry Road petrol stationRio summit jargon buster
Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key terms:
Brundtland Commission and Report
Commission chaired by Norwegian politician Gro Harlem Brundtland that published report in 1987 concluding that humanity was on an unsustainable development track. Coined the most commonly used definition of sustainable development.

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Environmental campaigners are threatening to shut down every Shell petrol station in Edinburgh in a protest against the company's plans to drill in the Arctic region.
Greenpeace said they intended to close about a dozen stations across the capital.
One of the first to be targeted was in Dalry Road, in the west of the city.
Shell said it recognised the right of individuals to express their point of view.
Activists said they were using the emergency shut-off switch, which stops petrol going to the pumps, to close the stations.
They also draped a large banner showing images of animals Greenpeace believes are threatened by oil exploration in the Arctic, and used tape carrying the slogan Save the Arctic to close access to the station.
Protesters could be seen on the roof of the Shell station in Dalry Road early on Monday morning, and a man in a polar bear outfit chained himself to a pump before being cut free and led away by police.
Greenpeace also claimed to have shut the Maybury Shell station in ‪Edinburgh‬, and said five of its activists had been arrested in the city by 09:00.
The protesters said they planned to spend the rest of the day touring the city using a combination of low-emission cars, bikes and public transport while shutting off the petrol supply to other Shell pumps.
Blocked access
Greenpeace also said it would broadcast live video of the protest on its website.
A similar direct action protest is being carried out in London, where Greenpeace activists said they were aiming to shut about 100 Shell stations.
Greenpeace's Sara Ayech said: "The oil giant Shell is preparing, for the first time, to unleash a drilling fleet of huge vessels upon the fragile and beautiful Arctic, home of the polar bears.
"It's time to draw a line in the ice and tell Shell to stop. That's why today we're going to shut down all of Shell's petrol stations in the capital cities of London and Edinburgh. We've got dozens of people who will hit over 100 Shell garages throughout the day.
"An oil spill in the Arctic would be catastrophic for wildlife such as walruses and whales, and Shell knows full well that it would be impossible to clean up after such devastation. The Arctic must be saved, and made a global sanctuary where oil drilling is banned."
The protest comes after more than a dozen people were detained as Greenpeace activists blocked access to Shell's headquarters in The Hague in the Netherlands on Friday.
A spokesman for Shell said: "Shell recognises that certain organisations are opposed to our exploration programme offshore Alaska, and we respect the right of individuals and organisations to engage in a free and frank exchange of views about our operations.
"Recognising the right of individuals to express their point of view, we only ask that they do so with their safety and the safety of others, including the general public and Shell personnel in mind.
"Shell has met with numerous organisations and individuals who oppose drilling offshore Alaska. We respect their views and value the dialogue. We have extended this same offer for productive dialogue to Greenpeace."
A man dressed as a polar bear chained himself to a pumpA man dressed as a polar bear chained himself to a pump
Greenpeace launched a Save The Arctic campaign last month to preserve the land mass from oil exploration and industrial fishing.
The group has called for an agreement to ban environmentally damaging activities in the Arctic region, just as they were banned in the Antarctic 21 years ago under a protocol added to the Antarctic Treaty.
In May, the Greenpeace's activists temporarily halted several icebreakers heading for the Arctic in a bid to block Shell's plans to drill for oil in the region.
And last month the environmental group called for more use of renewable energy and greener cars in what it said would help protect the Arctic and other areas from being spoiled by oil drilling.
According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic is believed to hold 13% of the planet's undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas.

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Saturday, 10 December 2011

Greenpeace how do you travel ? by air ? how do you think ?


Removal from Greenpeace Board


Paul Watson continued as a crewmember, officer, and skipper (in 1972) aboard several Greenpeace voyages throughout the mid-1970s. He considers himself a founding member of Greenpeace and Greenpeace International, a claim Greenpeace disputes. Friends noted that his personality, his liking to "push himself front and centre", was to blame in addition to his espousing direct actions that Greenpeace did not agree with
In 1977, Watson was expelled from the Greenpeace's board of directors by a vote of 11 to 1(Watson himself cast the single vote against it). The group felt his strong, "front and center" personality and frequently voiced opposition to Greenpeace's interpretation of "nonviolence" were too divisiveWatson subsequently left the group. The group has since labeled his actions at the time as those of a "mutineer" within their ranks. That same year, he founded his own group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
During an interview in 1978 with CBC Radio, Watson spoke out against Greenpeace (as well as other organizations) and their role and motives for the anti-sealing campaigns. Watson accused these organizations of campaigning against the Canadian seal hunt because it is an easy way to raise money and it is a profit maker for the organizations
Greenpeace has called Watson a violent extremist and will no longer comment on his activities
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