LUCMICHEL. NET / WHAT IS GREENPEACE DOING IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC ?
Luc MICHEL / In Brief /
with Ria Novosti – PCN -SPO / 2013 10 09 /
The Russian authorities announced on,e week ago the opening of an investigation for “piracy”, a crime punishable by severe penalties, against Greenpeace activists who reached a platform of Russian gas giant Gazprom in the Arctic, in the area of the Barents Sea belonging to Russia.
This announcement comes while the Greenpeace ship, ‘Arctic Sunrise’, was boarded and towed to the harbor of Murmansk (northwest) by the Russian authorities . The investigation has been open for “piracy in organized group”, a crime punishable in Russia with 15 years in prison . “All those who participated in the attack on the platform must answer for their actions, regardless of their nationality ,” said Tuesday morning the Investigation Committee in a statement .
But what is the inside information in this case ?
Beyond sympathy usurped for several years by Greenpeace …
Those who know me – and know my true biography , not that of the NATO medias – know that radical ecology has always been part of my fighting since the early 70s . At first glance , the Greenpeace fighting joins my preoccupations. And the NGO activist style was mine in the first twenty-five years of my political action.
Just today Greenpeace has become a Western sham.
And the history of some of its founders, particularly in Belgium , has led them to join the US- Western system (like environmentalists politicians passed in 30 years from the pacifist left to the green-khaki and liberal conservatism) …
Greenpeace is an international non-governmental organization of environmental protection present in more than forty countries around the world. Founded in Canada and headquartered in Amsterdam. Greenpeace presents itself as “a group of propaganda and action fighting against what it considers to be the greatest threats to the environment and biodiversity on the planet.” Greenpeace claims to ” focus attention on global problems that threaten the wider environment and which are global issues : climate change , energy , nuclear proliferation, loss of biodiversity , genetic pollution, release of toxic products ” …
WHO USES GREENPEACE AND FOR WHAT INTERESTS ?
But there is also the dark side of the organization.
In his book QUI A TUE L’ECOLOGIE ? (Éditions Les Liens qui Libèrent, Paris) (WHO KILLED ECOLOGY ?) , Fabrice Nicolino denounces Greenpeace evolution towards a capitalist organization led mainly by professionals and not by militants . He gives the example of the former executive director of Greenpeace France , Pascal Husting , who has long worked in the world of finance. The ” recruiters of members ” are not all volunteers nor necessarily members of Greenpeace , but employees trained and paid directly by Greenpeace. Critics that point out the arguments of neo- Machiavellian sociologist Robert Michels on the ” oligarchic tendency” of developed organizations…
But there is more .
In its action Greenpeace confronts the states and multinationals, disrupts interests and projects. We know the commitment of the NGO against the French government at the time when it was part of the Gaullist policy of national independence and refusal of blocks . A policy that precisely met hostility from Washington …
In the Arctic , the Greenpeace action against Russia comes as the Continental area became a source of tension between the West – U.S. and NATO – and Russia. The Arctic is with Africa one of the fundamental issues of the twenty-first century. And the Westerners contest there the rights of Russia. The Greenpeace action is timely ( and was conducted at the risk of an environmental disaster) and it is probably not a coincidence …
Luc MICHEL
Version française sur :
http://www.lucmichel.net/2013/09/24/lucmichel-net-que-fait-greenpeace-dans-lartique-russe/
Pics :
Greenpeace activists scaled an oil platform owned by state energy giant Gazprom in the Russian Arctic.
Document of Greenpeace showing its action in Arctic. Only Russian stations are targeted …
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Greenpeace versus Russia’s Big Oil
Twenty eight Greenpeace activists and a freelance video journalist and a photographer were formally charged with piracy under Article 227 of the Russian Criminal Code on October 2nd and 3rd, 2013. The maximum sentence, if convicted, is 15 years in a Russian jail.
The 28 Greenpeace activists and the two journalists, now known as the Arctic 30, protested against oil drilling in the Arctic on September 18, 2013 in Russia’s Pechora Sea. Two Greenpeace International activists attempted to climb the side of an oil platform operated by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom to hang a banner, when they were stopped at gunpoint by the Russian Coast Guard. The activists were protesting against Gazprom becoming the first company to produce oil from the fragile Arctic region. Subsequently, all 28 activists and the two journalists were arrested by the Russian authorities and they have all now been charged with piracy.
Condemning the arrest of the activists, Greenpeace Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said, “I call on people across the world to stand with us against Gazprom and all oil companies who want to drill in the Arctic, join us in this fight against bullies of the very worst kind.”
The photographs in this slideshow show the sequence of events leading to peaceful activists being charged with piracy by the Russian authorities.
Courtesy of Greenpeace India