Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
50 years of Greenpeace
FOR half a century of protests Greenpeace activists have swooped at sea, on land – and air.
What started with barely 10 activists sailing into a nuclear test zone in 1971 is now a global institution.
Stunts have been daring – and some reckless – as they sought to defend the natural world and promote peace.
They blazed a trail for campaigners for decades to come, be it anti-nuclear war, global warming or marine preservation. And the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow in November is testimony to their efforts.
Extinction Rebellion may be the new eco kids on the block, but Greenpeace led the way. Their stunts are typified in these dramatic shots – like the dinghy being attached to a Japanese whaling boat as it lands a stricken creature.
Greenpeace opposed commercial whaling and, in 1982, it was banned. Another image shows a mighty sunfish freed from Japanese fishing nets.
The battles kept coming. In 2016 a pianist played amid the ice as Greenpeace fought to stop Arctic oil drilling.
CARNAGE
An activist is seen spray-painting a seal cub to render its pelt worthless in 1982, highlighting the carnage as thousands faced slaughter for the fur trade.
Toxic fluid sprays before an overflow pipe – pumping waste from a Spanish lead and zinc mine –is blocked in 1986.
A hot air balloon flies in front of the Taj Mahal in June, 1998, with a message against India’s nuclear arms tests.
Islanders from Rongelap are hauled aboard Rainbow Warrior in 1985 as part of an evacuation amid health fears after nuclear tests. And an activist is held in 1999 while exposing genetically engineered maize in Lyng, Norfolk.
The crusade all began 50 years ago this Wednesday when a meagre crew in a battered vessel halted the detonation of nuclear weapons in Alaska.
Greenpeace now has offices in 40 countries and UK turnover alone is £25million – mostly from donations.
Executive director John Sauven, 67, from Ealing, West London, says: “Our strategy has been to go to where the problem is happening and document it and show the world.
“We always take responsibility for what we do. Of course we are technically law-breaking when we do these things. My most memorable stunt was chaining myself under a Range Rover, stopping production at Solihull. We were campaigning to stop pollution from diesels. We eventually succeeded.
“The UK agreed to phase out the internal combustion engine by 2030.”
Their next battle is to ban trawlers which destroy marine life. Don’t bet against them winning.
I chained myself under a Range Rover to stop production of polluting diesel vehicles ...eventually the Government agreed JOHN SAUVEN GREENPEACE CHIEF AND LONGTIME PROTESTER