Sympathetic or not about Greenpeace's protest at Svea a couple weeks ago, this is pretty amusing.
First, this excerpt from an article last week:
"Fundraisers say they lost 20,000 kroner to help impoverished women when Svalbard's governor was forced to cancel a day washing cars so he could deal with the Greenpeace protest at Svea...Anne Lise Klungseth Sandvik, chairwoman for the local CARE campaign, sent an e-mail to Greenpeace asking for the 20,000 kroner...Truls Gulowsen, chairman of Greenpeace Norway, told the newspaper he's sympathetic for the lost fundraising and will provide the number of the telethon to those involved in the protest, 'but to force someone to pay is to go too far.' He said the governor, if committed to the event, can reschedule it for another day."
And this, courtesy of Svalbardposten, is at the top left of the Icepeople page today:
"Greenpeace has been fined 20,000 kroner after customs agents in Tromsø found 1,250 cans of beer aboard the Arctic Sunrise a few days after the group staged a daylong blockade at the Svea coal mine. 'We had a routine inspection when the ship arrived in Tromsø and found there was 627 liters of beer too much on board in relation to what was declared,' said Atle Joakimsen, regional customs director for northern Norway. The matter was reported to police who issued the fine, which was paid on the spot. The Arctic Sunrise was about to depart for Amsterdam last Thursday when the customs inspection occurred. 'It was embarrassing and very annoying after a four-month-long expedition to Greenland and Svalbard,' said Truls Gulowsen, head of Greenpeace Norway."
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
OK, protesting is fun, but...
Why do people think doing things that make them look stupid is going to win coverts on serious policy issues?
I can't count the number of times I've seen this. They'll bring traffic in the busiest part of a major city to halt by demonstrating on the road for hours. What do you think those hundreds of thousands of proles stuck in gridlock (not to mention the millions seeing it on the news) are talking about that night? The cause of these folks, or how angry they are at these idiots?
They throw pies at world leaders. I admit it's a great photo, but I haven't got the slightest idea what their cause is.
Greenpeace is at it again a week after blockading the coal mine at Svea for a day, this time scaling the roof of Parliament and getting arrested in droves. OK, I and probably most other at least get their issue in this case: Climate change is bad. But among the leaders and citizens who aren't convinced, are demonstrations like this and stripping naked by the hundred in vineyards more likely to advance serious debate or generate "hey, Martha, look at what those whacky Greenies did today" comments?
Sure, it's a great way to get media coverage. But how many serious wonks at the Copenhagen climate summit are going to be want to be seen meeting with these folks?
On the other hand, with a lot of people already making noise about whatever coming out of the summit likely falling well short of usefulness, maybe having fun and firing up your base of contributors isn't a bad thing.
I can't count the number of times I've seen this. They'll bring traffic in the busiest part of a major city to halt by demonstrating on the road for hours. What do you think those hundreds of thousands of proles stuck in gridlock (not to mention the millions seeing it on the news) are talking about that night? The cause of these folks, or how angry they are at these idiots?
They throw pies at world leaders. I admit it's a great photo, but I haven't got the slightest idea what their cause is.
Greenpeace is at it again a week after blockading the coal mine at Svea for a day, this time scaling the roof of Parliament and getting arrested in droves. OK, I and probably most other at least get their issue in this case: Climate change is bad. But among the leaders and citizens who aren't convinced, are demonstrations like this and stripping naked by the hundred in vineyards more likely to advance serious debate or generate "hey, Martha, look at what those whacky Greenies did today" comments?
Sure, it's a great way to get media coverage. But how many serious wonks at the Copenhagen climate summit are going to be want to be seen meeting with these folks?
On the other hand, with a lot of people already making noise about whatever coming out of the summit likely falling well short of usefulness, maybe having fun and firing up your base of contributors isn't a bad thing.
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