Greenpeace and Politics Essay

Greenpeace is an organization which often collides with governments in countries all over the world in its attempt to stop things like global warming, deforestation, overfishing and more. Greenpeace tries to reach their goals by direct action and lobbying. This is the part where they often collide with the governments. My questions about this topic are: -What conflicts does Greenpeace have (or did they have) with the government and corporations in the Netherlands and governments and corporations of other countries in the world? -How exactly does Greenpeace influence governments and corporations? -What influence does Greenpeace have on governments and corporations? I want to answer these questions by first telling a bit more about Greenpeace. Then I will tell about some conflicts which Greenpeace have had and still have with Dutch government and corporations. I am also going to tell how Greenpeace acted in those conflicts and if they reached their goal(s). by telling this, I will have answered the second and third question. I will also tell about some conflicts Greenpeace has with other governments and corporations and how Greenpeace acted there. Greenpeace Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization. It has offices in more than forty countries all over the world. Its international coordinating body is in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Greenpeace states its goal is to â€Å"ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity.’’ It focuses on worldwide issues such as global warming, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling and anti-nuclear issues. Greenpeace is known for its direct actions and lobbying to stop or delay things but also uses research and innovation to achieve its goals. Greenpeace does not accept money from governments, political parties, or companies. It relies on more than 2.9 million individual supporters and foundation grants. Greenpeace is a founding member of the INGO Accountability Charter; an international non-governmental organization that intends to promote accountability and transparency of non-governmental organizations. Greenpeace has been described as the most visible environmental organization in the world. It has raised environmental issues to public knowledge, and influenced both the private and the public sector. Greenpeace has also been a source of controversy; its motives and methods have received criticism and the organization’s direct actions have led to legal actions against Greenpeace activists. Greenpeace and conflicts with the Dutch government and Dutch corporations – In August 2008, Greenpeace threatens the negotiations of the Dutch government and civil society organizations concerning the designation of protected nature reserves in the North Sea. Greenpeace threw large rocks in the Sylter Buitenrif, near the German-Denmark border. Each of the rocks are about two to three tons. Because of the rocks, fishing is impossible in that area because the fishing nets might get hooked on the rocks, which will be dangerous for the boats. The reason why Greenpeace did this was because the Dutch government was too slow with the designation of protected nature reserves. In 1995, all EU countries promised they would take protective measures known as ‘Natura 2000’, but all North Sea countries, including the Netherlands, took too long to do this and were behind schedule. The Dutch minister of agriculture, minister Verburg, agreed to designate four protected nature areas. – Minister Verhagen declared he wanted a second nuclear power plant (NNP) to be built in the Netherlands, one much bigger than the NNP we already have in Borssele. He had already found a solution for the nuclear waste: put it under the ground. According to minister Verhagen, two soil types are suitable for storing nuclear waste, salt domes in the northern Netherlands and the Boom clay layer which extends over the Netherlands and a part of Belgium. And since a few months, Dutch Greenpeace activists have been protesting against nuclear energy in the Netherlands. They have been trying to persuade the cities to say ‘no’ to nuclear waste storages underneath their city. They did this in several ways, they for example placed warning signs under more than 64 signposts of cities in middle and south Netherlands. Greenpeace activists also visited cities and spoke to councilors and they dumped ‘nuclear waste’ in several places. By now, more than 75 cities said ‘no’ to nuclear waste and the energy company Delta declared in January to have put the plans for a second NPP on hold. They declared it was not feasible anymore to built a second NPP. However, minister Verhagen still wants a second NPP, though he does not seen to get much support anymore†¦ – In December 2011, Greenpeace campaigned in the harbor of IJmuiden against harmful giant ships which was about to set sail to the waters West-Africa. Because of overfishing in the European seas, ships like these now have to go to other seas because they cannot catch enough fish in European seas anymore. The ships against which Greenpeace was campaigning was part of the Pelagic Freezer-Trawler Association (PFA). This is a company which is established in the Netherlands and is a partnership of several Dutch fisheries. PFA got more than 142 million euro subsidy from 2006 to 2011 on. the last five years more than 142 million Euros in European subsidies. Subsidies which are paid from tax money paid by European inhabitants. Greenpeace wrote the amount of money which one of the largest fishing ships in the world got on the ship itself. Also, on the 31st of January 2012, Greenpeace anchored one of Europe’s largest ships to the dock with steel cables to prevent it from setting sail to fishing waters. The Second Chamber will debate about overcapacity on the 15th of February in the Algemeen Overleg. Greenpeace and conflicts with other governments and corporations all over the world Finland, 1995 In June 1955, Greenpeace took a trunk from a tree and put it on display at exhibitions in Austria and Germany. They declared that the trunk was from a tree from a ancient forest in a national park which was supposed to be protected. Metsà ¤hallitus is a state-owned enterprise in Finland has the tasks of managing most of the protected areas of Finland and to supply wood to the country’s forest industry. They accused Greenpeace of theft and said the trunk was from a normal tree that had been destroyed during a storm. Greenpeace replied that the tree had fallen down because the forest around it had been clear-cut. With this action, Greenpeace wanted to highlight the fate of old forests, and they did, because the incident received publicity in some large Finish newspapers. Great Britain, 2008 On the 11th of September, 2008, six Greenpeace activists were acquitted in a case started by energy company E.ON. The activists were protesting against the emission of COâ‚‚ and the construction of a new coal plant in Kent. They climbed the chimney of an existing plant and wanted to write the text ‘Gordon, bin it’ on the chimney. However, they were stopped after they had written ‘Gordon.’ E.ON wanted the activists to pay the damage costs of  £ 35,000 but the judge decided that the damage to the environment done by the coal plant was many times bigger than the activists’ graffiti. France, 1985 The first ship of Greenpeace was the Rainbow Warrior, a 40 meter long former fishing trawler. From 1978 to 1985 on, it was used as a ship to prevent whale hunting, ocean-dumping of toxic and radioactive waste, seal hunting and nuclear testing. In 1985, the Rainbow Warrior was to lead a fleet of protest vessels into the waters surrounding a French nuclear testing site. The French government secretly bombed the ship in the Auckland harbor, New Zealand. The bombings killed a Dutch freelance photographer. At first, the French government denied they had bombed the ship, but in the end they were exposed by the New Zealand police. They agreed to pay New Zealand a compensation of 13 million New Zealand Dollar. They also paid 2.3 million French francs to the family of the photographer. Liberia, Greece, 2002 In 2002, Greek, German and Swiss activists boarded the vessel MV Zini in the port of Kalamaki. The vessel was there to unload logs which it had picked up at the Liberian port of Buchanan. That port is largely controlled by the logging company Oriental Timber Company (OTC). OTC is run by a close business associate of the President of Liberia, who has granted the logging rights to at least one third of Liberia ´s remaining 4.8 million hectares of ancient forest to the company. Liberia’s forests contain enormous biodiversity, but its timber industry is fuelling both environmental destruction and human rights abuses. The Greenpeace activists dressed like animals, the same animals that are being wiped out around the world through the destruction of ancient forests. In reaction to the Greenpeace action, the Greek ministry of environment joined other European nations in committing itself to keep a very clear and strong position for the protection and sustainable management of the last ancient forests of the world and they made promises to take action against forest destruction. Japan, 2008 In June 2008, the Japanese police arrested two Greenpeace activists for stealing a box which was supposed to be full of cardboard, but which was in fact filled with whale meat. The two activists presented this box as evidence to the Public Prosecutor in Tokyo of wide-scale corruption at the heart of the government-sponsored whaling operation in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. There has been an investigation, but according to the Tokyo District Prosecutor Office, it has been unable to find evidence of the embezzlement. The investigation into crew and whaling officials has stopped. After their arrest, the two Greenpeace activists, known as ‘the Tokyo Two’, have been held without charge for some time. In that time, more than 170.000 people have done a cyber action, and a quarter million people sent a mail to the Japanese government to demand their release. The Tokyo Two have been handed a one year suspended prison sentence last year September, despite of the world wide protests against the unjust sentence. Although they are now in prison, they did manage to put whaling successfully on trial, both in court, and in Japan’s national media. Switzerland, 2010, Other European countries In 2010, the Swiss Parliament extended its ban on the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) plants for three more years. Switzerland will now stay free of GE plants until at least 2013. The original moratorium was backed by Swiss voters in a referendum 5 years ago. Supporters of the ban included farmers, who were concerned about the impacts of GE crops on organic produce as GE crops pose unpredictable risks to human and animal health. The Swiss Greenpeace office has been supporting these farmers and Swiss consumers to ensure the country remains GE-free. The EU Commission President Barroso is trying to force GE crops into the EU and to bypass standard authorisation procedures. However, this approval has met many criticism and opposition. The governments of Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, Italy, Hungary and France have all publicly announced that they will not allow GE potato crops grown in their countries. Six other EU countries, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg have bans on GE maize cultivation. I hoped I was able to give an idea of the conflicts Greenpeace gets into with governments and corporations all over the world. Of course, what I told is only a fraction of the actions Greenpeace does and the conflicts and problems they walk into when campaigning but had I told about them all, or even half of them, I could have continued for a very long time. And of course, Greenpeace does not always get into conflict with governments or big corporations, sometimes they only get into conflict with small companies or a small group of people.