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THE WITNESS
Yesterday was a dramatic day here on board the Rainbow Warrior and in the capital of Brazil too. Our ten day blockade was suspended to give space for a meeting in the capital which we hoped would be an important step towards cleaning up the pig iron trade and stopping slave labor and deforestation from entering the supply chain of big car companies like GM and Ford. Continue reading
I’ve written a few blogs since I’ve been on the Rainbow Warrior, but my time in Brazil has given me enough material for thousands more. I worked as a journalist before Greenpeace and that is how I have approached this trip, trying to tell you the stories that happen every day in this magical country and do some justice to the people who live in it. Continue reading
Eight days into this blockade, and our climbers are standing firm. They’re helping to expose forest crimes like illegal logging, slavery and the loss of indigenous land by sitting on the anchor chain of the Clipper Hope cargo ship here in the port of Sao Luis, Brazil. Continue reading
by EoinD
Actress and human rights activist Q’orianka Kilcher today joined the Greenpeace occupation of the anchor chain of a cargo ship in Brazil to protest the invasion of indigenous tribal land and illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. The occupation is in its seventh day now and continues. Continue reading
Less than a year old, and the Rainbow Warrior is causing trouble already. But being a Greenpeace ship that’s just what nature intended.
Five days into a major direct action here in the Amazon and the new ship is holding up well. We’ve been painting banners below deck, taking urgent media calls from the campaign office and eating Walter’s fantastic food in the shiny new mess. Occupying an anchor chain for nearly 140 hours has required all the tools at our disposal, and we’ve been hoisting inflatable boats on and off the ship like clockwork. The Bosun’s workshop has seen sawing, chopping, gluing and creative improvisation (we’re cooking up a pretty dramatic little number right now – watch this space). The conference room has been turned into a makeshift recreational area, allowing the crew somewhere to listen to music and chill out in between shifts for the action. Continue reading
by Emma Briggs
Leaning back in the evening breeze, listening to the waves churning, I almost feel like I’m lying on the beach at home instead of hanging from an anchor chain near the 10 meter water mark of a cargo ship near Sao Louis in Brazil. But here I am. The Clipper Hope was due to arrive in the port days ago to pick up a load of pig iron, but for 3 days so far we’ve been preventing the ship from heaving up anchor by hanging on their chain. Continue reading
What do you need most on an anchor chain in the middle of the Atlantic, when you’ve been there for over 24 hours, and it’s pouring with rain? Muffins.
Freshly baked by our chef, Walter, and put into waterproof tins ready for loading into speedboats. Speedmuffins. Pronto pastries. Two young Brazilians – Leonor and Elissama – are waiting across the water having been up most of the night and little things like this make all the difference. Fruit is great, but nothing beats that fresh-from-the-oven comfort of spongey goodness. Continue reading
Pig Iron Vessel Anchor Occupation, Brazil. © Greenpeace
Right now a 20 year old Brazilian named Elissama de Oliveira Menezes is attached to the anchor chain of a massive cargo ship here in Sao Luis, at the mouth of the Amazon. She’s a small girl anyway, but next to the 175 meter ‘Clipper Hope’ she looks absolutely tiny.
As long as Elissama stays on the anchor it’s impossible for the ship to dock and load its cargo of pig iron which is destined for the USA. Pig iron is used in the production of steel and is exported from Brazil ready for processing.
She’s there because she wants to end a cycle of destruction which starts in the Amazon rainforest and ends in car showrooms all over the world. She’s also sending a message to Brazil’s President Dilma, who is preparing to host the world’s elite in Rio in a few weeks time. Dilma is currently considering whether to veto changes to the ‘forest code’ a key law which has protected the Amazon for decades. It’s vital that she shows leadership to regain control and protect the Amazon.
Over the past two years Greenpeace has collected evidence about a new rainforest scandal involving the production of pig iron. Our research shows how rainforest trees are being chopped down to make wood charcoal, which is then burnt in furnaces to make pig iron.
This is driving the destruction of the rainforest, but it’s not just the trees that are suffering. The wood is often taken from protected land which is the home of indigenous people like the Awa tribe who have relied on the forest for centuries.
And at the charcoal camps themselves people work under terrible conditions to feed the ovens with fresh wood. This is modern day slavery, where people are lured from their homes with the promise of money but landed with huge debts for accommodation and food which they cannot pay off. Often these people sleep with nothing more than a plastic sheet as shelter, breathing in charcoal particles and other pollutants as the shovel wood in and charcoal out.
Greenpeace activists, along with Elissama, are taking action today to bring this Amazon crime to an international audience. Some of the world’s biggest car makers including Ford, GM, BMW and Mercedes are caught up in this scandal, but right now they’re on cruise control with the radio turned up. She’s there because she wants to end a cycle of destruction which starts in the Amazon rainforest and ends in car showrooms all over the world.
As I look out of the window of the campaign office here on the Rainbow Warrior I can just make out Elissama against the vast bulk of the cargo ship she is blocking. One committed Brazilian can stop a ship of many thousand tonnes – but she can’t do it alone. She needs your help.
Visit our Amazon homepage to join her.