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Greenpeace Takes Global Action Against War
Greenpeace Takes Global Action Against War
Auckland, Wednesday, 5th February, 2003: Greenpeace New Zealand has issued an open letter to Prime Minister Helen Clark urging her to take a more pro-active stand against the impending war in Iraq.
“The Prime Minister must voice our county’s opposition to war. Will New Zealand remain silent while the United States pushes the United Nations into a war with Iraq?” said Robbie Kelman, Greenpeace New Zealand spokesperson.
Greenpeace has also taken peaceful direct action in Australia, France and the UK as part of an ongoing campaign against war.
In the UK, Greenpeace volunteers
entered Southampton's Marchwood Military Port. Seven were
arrested but five managed to climb inside tanks about to be
loaded onto supply ships, destined for the Gulf, and secured
the hatches behind them. Two more activists chained
themselves to the tanks.
Three New Zealand activists
were involved.
In Toulouse harbour, France, Greenpeace
activists, protested the departure of military aircraft
carrier to Turkey and demanded President Chirac explain why
he is sending aircraft to Turkey given that he is publicly
opposed to military action in Iraq. In Australia, activists
inflated a hot air balloon outside
Parliament House in
Canberra demanding that the Australian Government stop
sending troops to Iraq and to 'give peace a chance'.
Speaking from the Rainbow Warrior, in Southhampton, Kiwi
crew member, Phil Lloyd said: "Greenpeace will use every
peaceful means available to try and stop an attack on Iraq.
An
attack would lead to massive civilian suffering and
increase the threat that weapons of mass destruction will be
used."
Bush and Blair have cited Saddam Hussein's desire
to acquire weapons of mass destruction as justification for
an invasion. However, pre-emptive military strikes against
states possessing or suspected of possessing chemical,
biological or nuclear weapons do not provide a basis for
controlling them. It would require repeated armed
interventions against numerous countries. The five nuclear
powers are Britain, the US, China, France and Russia. Other
states known to have nuclear weapons include India, Pakistan
and Israel. The Bush administration has claimed that at
least 13 countries are
pursuing biological weapons
research.
Greenpeace believes the solution to the threat weapons of mass destruction is collective international arms control and disarmament. The framework already exists, in the form of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. But rather than being strengthened, these global treaties are being undermined, especially by the USA.
One
clear motivation for this war is oil. The same U.S.
companies that maintain America's oil addiction and oppose
the Kyoto Protocol are also backing the war against Iraq. A
wave of protests against war for oil are scheduled to take
place in the U.S. later
today.
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
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