The eyes of even the most hardened court observers glazed over as the seemingly endless mess of legal procedures dragged on. It wasn’t just unremarkable, it was outright dull – obscuring the profound struggle set to unfold.
Last night our two activists were removed from the survival pod that had been suspended from the Leiv Eiriksson oil rig for four days. They were arrested just before midnight last night, local time, and taken to the Greenland capital of Nuuk. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza remains just outside the 500m exclusion zone, imposed by a Danish navy warship, around the drill site. Captain of the Esperanza Madeleine Habib blogs for us directly fom the ship.
The Australian captain of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza - Madeleine Habib - sent us this blog from the freezing waters of the Arctic where activists are taking action right now, preventing deep water drilling from the world's most controversial oil rig - the 53,000 tonne Leiv Eiriksson - operated by the Cairn Energy. We've got activists hanging from the underside with enough food and water to keep them going for ten days.
Friday afternoon syndrome* has been at full strength at Greenpeace over recent weeks. It has become the time of the week where all planned work should be just set aside so we can react to whatever appalling or bizarre decision is announced, usually by a government body.
Last Friday it was the Victorian EPA keeping us on our toes as they gave works approval to a new coal-fired power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.
Exactly two months ago an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. Together, they not only resulted in a huge natural disaster, but also triggered an unprecedented man made tragedy. The Fukushima nuclear power plant is still out of control, threatening thousands of people’s health and livelihoods.
At 5pm on Tuesday the 26th of April the candlelight vigil seemed like a very bad idea. Not only was it the last night of the Easter Break with half of Sydney stuck in traffic jams up and down the coast, the rain was so fierce it was coming in sideways and the wind was wild.
