More news from IWC54 in Shimonoseki, Japan

Diaries from the IWC

24 May 2002

The Greenpeace IWC Team

A great result … by a great team.

The Greenpeace IWC 2002 Shimonoseki Team consisted of 30 people, from 12 countries, representing millions of supporters all over the world.

My job was to coordinate this team and it was made easy by the upbeat disposition, commitment and creative individualism displayed by each and every member. It was hard work, sometimes stressful. The hours were long, from early morning to late in the evening. Thursday's meeting ran to midnight, we had to work later than that.

But we had fun. Working together for a common objective, fighting for a computer to check out our email, to update our office, to send a message home.

As I have already said, we come from 12 countries ranging from Japan to Canada, Australia to Ireland, Fiji, Argentina, US, New Zealand and from all over Europe.

Lack of Japanese was no barrier. Greenpeace Japan had ensured we had enough translators. Not only did they take care of 'official' matters, they also acted to make sure that we all knew what we were eating. We managed to order drinks without their help.

Our 'official' team was bolstered by one of our Japanese-based cyberactivists, Tig, who helped by uploading updates to the cybercentre.

And there was Frank. Frank Future came to Shimonoseki at our request to participate in a Whale Watch Industry seminar. He runs his own whale watching business in Port Stephen in Australia. Frank will always be remembered. Why? Well ….

He needed some cash. He went to the machine in the conference centre and put his card in. A few days ago he noticed it was getting a bit worn so he applied some glue to it. When he put it in it got stuck. Looking around he saw a sign that said to push the red button if you have any trouble. He push the button. Alarms started ringing all over the place. He thought it was a bit over the top. It was. He had pushed the wrong button. It was the security button. Police and security arrived in a flash - guns and all.

Eventually everything ended up alright, he got his money as well as a fright.

Why didn't I think of pushing that button?

It has been a great week. In particular I am so happy with the team. I have worked with lots of different groups of Greenpeace people, including ships' crews, and this team was as good as any I have had the pleasure to be with. In particular, the logistical support from our Japanese colleagues was the best I have come across.

Here's to Berlin 2003.

John

John is a jolly man from Ireland and was formerly the executive director of Greenpeace Ireland. Now he goes where he is needed helping out with various Greenpeace projects around the world – and he is needed a lot. John probably had the hardest time finding food he likes in Japan being a picky vegetarian. But we found out the undercover policemen following us this week have fondly nicknamed him Santa Claus. He does like milk and cookies. And plum wine.