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TOUR
LOGBOOK
20 April 2000 - Personal Account of the boarding of the MV Wanhe
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It's
now a day and a half since we were occupying the ship Wan He which
carried the PCB shipment of U.S. Military waste originating in Japan.
The time since and before this action has been hectic and ironically,
the most peace I've had since arriving here in Japan has been while
I was chained to the Wan He all day in the harbour in Yokohama.
As has been my experience before, much time during an action is
spent sitting and reflecting. |
Which
is actually very appropriate as it gives you time to look inward and
contemplate your actions and the bigger picture of environmental activism
and crimes against the planet.
Once the adrenaline of boarding a ship has passed (and what a rush it
can be), my mind becomes more calm and rational than it ever is otherwise.
It offers a good space to think about why it is you're actually there
and to also reflect on how in your life you must take each opportunity
to stand up and be heard, and to help others hear about injustices in
the world which they otherwise would never know about.
It always amazes me how these actions happen with seeming effortlessness
and how little people realize the truckloads of time, sweat, blood and
tears that go into these direct actions is endless and the people involved
are tireless in their devotion.
In the case of this PCB shipment which originally came from a United
States Military base in Japan, much work has been done on both sides
of the Pacific to ensure that as many people in the world as possible
know about the irresponsibility of the U.S. Military in their dealings
with this shipment and their toxic waste in general. As well, pressure
has been exerted on the U.S. to ensure that their Military deal with
this waste in an environmentally responsible way. You may wonder what
the big deal is, it's just one shipment of PCB's. The point is that
it's just one that we actually know about. Who knows how many others
there have been before and will be in the future, U.S. Military bases
have stockpiles of PCB's all over the world that have to be disposed
of at some point.
The boarding team for this action consisted entirely of women, four
of us each very different people with very different experiences in
life and brought together under very strange circumstances (as is usually
the case in an action). We represented the countries who are primarily
affected by this shipment: Japan, Canada and the United States. Canada
because the U.S. Military attempted to ship the waste to Canada for
disposal but it was refused by the authorities due to work and actions
done by Greenpeace in Vancouver, Canada. I was in Vancouver to assist
with activities there as well and welcomed the opportunity to make our
point again in Japan, the U.S. Military needed to hear us loud and clear.
Our team was exceptional, and as we marched onto that ship single-mindedly
I felt that we were one unit, we moved in unison slowing together, quickening
our pace together always communicating with each other. The walk up
the gangway at the stern of the ship and then to the bow of the ship
felt like an eternity and almost instantaneous if that's possible. Everything
went very smoothly and before we all knew it we were in place with banners
deployed and locked down ready for a long sit in the sunny Yokohama
day. I was locked down on deck with a Japanese women while the other
two women were locked down atop some of the containers containing the
PCB's. The sun beat down on us all day and we were all grateful for
the absence of the rain we had been expecting. As we sat after having
dealt with the initial flurry of activity around our arrival there we
began to feel a bit dozy with the heat and the lull in activity on the
ship, our attentions turned to the gigantic container facility of which
we had a bird's eye view from the Wan He's deck. The monstrous cranes,
the uniformity of all the equipment, movements of machinery and constant
flow of trucks delivering or picking up containers was mesmerizing,
and soon we were all hypnotized by the repetitive movements of the equipment
around the dock . One thought was constantly in my head as I sat chained
to that deck staring down at the container yard: "consumption, this
is all for our consumption".
Throughout
the day we were constantly visited by men representing all different
agencies: Japanese Coast Guard, Japanese police, the shipping company,
ship owner's, U.S. Embassy. At one point the ship's skipper came down
and he and I had a long conversation about the entire situation, he
was very understanding and supportive of our cause but he had a job
to do, he explained to me and we were preventing him from doing it.
The common goal was, of course, to coax us down in any way possible;
guilt and begging were common and the shipping company was reluctant
to have us arrested. We stood our ground and remained on the ship until
we had some assurances from the U.S. Embassy that they had heard what
we were saying and that there would be a commitment to dealing with
the waste responsibly.
In the end
and in retrospect everyone involved felt that this was definitely a
small step toward victory on a much bigger issue, it's always a success
when public awareness has been raised and that certainly seems to be
the case here. It is difficult sometimes to explain to people why we
board ships and put ourselves and our freedom on the line in order to
raise awareness about an environmental issue. I can speak for myself
and many others I'm sure in the belief that the power of many peoples'
voices raised together in opposition to something is far more powerful
than anyone can estimate. People cannot raise their voices in opposition
unless they are informed, they cannot be informed unless they are listening,
they will not listen unless we speak loudly, we cannot always speak
loudly enough for the entire world to hear so we must take action This
is why we board ships, and chain ourselves to things. Actions do speak
louder than words; across many boundaries and borders, in many countries
and languages.
Read the
action report from 18 April and links to
examples of US Military pollution
21
April 2000 - Greenpeace highlights PVC waste pollution in Seto Sea,
Japan
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