Distilling the essence of us

The double album Gossip was the very first Paul Kelly album I bought. I can’t remember when, but I guess it was around 1986. I am sure I nearly wore it out playing it (these were the days of vinyl), and I have been a fan ever since. I think of Paul Kelly as more of a story teller than a singer, with his marvellous ability to distil out the essence of humanity.

And living away from home in Europe, there is nothing like a dose of Paul Kelly to easily get back in touch with Australia. The nation, its icons and it psyche are embedded in his words.

I couldn’t name a favourite album or track. The catalogue is too vast, and there are so many tracks that have such gems in them. I am always finding something new in the songs, even tracks I have listened to many times. So I thought I would try and come up with a dozen. They are in no particular order, and I am sure this would be different on a different day, but here goes:

• How to Make Gravy
• To Her Door
• I Can’t Believe we were Married
• Sydney from a 747
• Every f*#king City
• Everything’s Turning to White (the same story on which the recent film Jindabyne is based)
• Deeper Water
• Winter Coat
• Forty Miles to Saturday Night
• From Little Things Big Things Grow (written with Kev Carmody)
• When I First Met your Ma
• The covers of It Started with a Kiss (original by Hot Chocolate) and Reckless (Australian Crawl)

Cricket is obviously a passion for Kelly, and is the spur for this post. Coming on top of the earlier numbers Bradman and David Gower (a hidden track on the album Comedy), Kelly has now recorded a song about Shane Warne. The notes introducing the track are thus:

“I was watching this year's Sydney Ashes test on TV around the same time as listening to Lord Kitchener's (aka Aldwyn Roberts) great calypso song London Is The Place For Me. The Kitchener tune suggested to me a new set of lyrics based on the adventures of Shane Warne.”

And in his unique way, Paul Kelly has captured the essence of a sportsman that has become a part of modern cricket folklore, and a part of modern Australian culture. The good, the unbelievable and the infamous are captured, all in four short minutes. But rather than me rave on, check it our for yourself…

Shane

Meanwhile, off the coast of Iran...

Well its been a very eventful day. It started with the hope that we would still be able to enter Bushehr, the port in Iran we have been hoping to visit, and ended with dolphins playing off the bow as we sailed slowly out of the area tonight. Although disappointed that we haven't been given permission to enter Iran on this occasion, I am excited that we have begun our tour to bring our message of hope for a nuclear free middle east to this region.

As part of a series of activities on the Rainbow Warrior, in Israel outside the Parliament and in Istanbul we are pointing out that this region is at a nuclear cross roads - just about every country is considering 'going nuclear'. We are asking the people of this region a very serious question - is there any possible benefit of nuclear technology that outweighs the costs of a nuclear middle east?

Nuclear weapons provide no one with security and threaten everyone. Nuclear energy brings with it the enormous risk of accident and the danger it will be used to make nuclear weapons. And the crazy thing is that there is an alternative: research recently conducted by Greenpeace demonstrates that the people of the Middle East can easily meet their future energy needs through peaceful, renewable energy - which will actually be cheaper and therefore enhance economic development.

And although we haven't managed to visit Iran with the ship this time, we will be back. We have received enormous support from a great many people in Iran from NGOs, to politicians and other senior Iranians who want to work with us and are encouraging us to talk about this issue in their country. They share our vision of a green and peaceful future and we are looking forward to working with them towards our next visit to Iran.

For more information on the Rainbow Warrior's Tour of the Middle East visit this website.

Let the Sun Shine

Nicky

A slice of home....

There’s little doubt about it – the Persian Gulf, 12 nautical miles off the coast of Iran is a long way from Bega. For those of you who don’t know, Bega is a small town on the south coast of Australia, not far from Canberra, most famous for it’s cheese factory and environmental activists being arrested in forest protests. So imagine my surprise when the cook brings out a tin of Bega cheese. As you can see from this photo, it's clearly made for export, with English on one side and Arabic on the other and bought in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. And for tinned, processed cheese, it didn't taste that bad either!

Nicky

Anything but Normal

Not only was the ‘normalisation meeting’ pretty odd, the fallout afterwards has been anything but normal.

The two main newspapers in Nicaragua yesterday carried the scandal that the ‘representative’ of Nicaragua at the meeting did not have government authorisation to attend. As El Nuevo Diario reports, Miguel Marenco was officially on leave from his job at the Fisheries and Agriculture Department, but instead appeared in Tokyo representing his country and arguing in favour of whaling.

The group Club de Jóvenes Ambientalistas (rough translation: Club of Environmentalist Young People) obtained the above photograph of Marenco from the meeting in Tokyo and revealed his presence to the government, sparking the scandal.

And in Denmark, based on my reports from the meeting, Greenpeace issued a press release questioning whether the Danish representative, Ole Samsing, had really suggested excluding NGO’s and the media from IWC meetings. The media followed this up, and he repeated the comments, resulting in a media controversy. It is now also the subject of a parliamentary inquiry.

To their credit, the Danish delegates have traditionally opposed secret ballots at the IWC, despite their support for other pro-whaling initiatives. This reflects a national political culture, and is no surprise given that Denmark is the home of the Aarhus Convention. The Aarhus Convention is an international agreement signed by 40 (mostly European) countries which grants the public rights regarding access to information and public participation and access to justice in environmental matters.

The politics in the run up to the IWC in Anchorage in May will no doubt continue to be anything but normal!

Shane

So 'normal' means 'hunt more whales'...

After three days of meetings in Tokyo, the pro-whaling members of the International Whaling Commission have concluded that the best plan to move forward is to keep hunting more whales.

The purpose of the meeting was to talk about how to ‘normalize’ the IWC. Before the meeting, we said that meant ‘commercial whaling’ in the eyes of this crowd, and it seems we were right.

The big move this morning was that the Japanese government presented a new proposal for what they claim is "small scale" coastal whaling, but rather than continue to call it science, it is now being referred to as "community whaling". However, the plan remains unaltered - to catch 220 whales, despite having virtually no market, no scientific justification, and no community benefit.

So the basic conclusion we draw from this meeting? Normalisation of the IWC' simply means continuing with the current situation - catch as many whales as possible. No new ideas have come from this meeting. The only concrete proposals are to have secret ballots at the IWC, to hold closed meetings, to exclude NGO's where possible, and to keep catching the same number of whales.

What has become very clear to me is that the IWC desperately needs to be modernised - to increase transparency, and to explore ways to protect whales for the future. The onus now clearly rests on the governments from other countries to seize the initiative, and make the IWC a body that works for the whales and not for the whalers.

It is hard to know how to describe the meeting – in some ways it was boring, in others fascinating. I have certainly never been to a meeting like it! But perhaps the best way to round out some reporting on this meeting is to let the delegates speak for themselves – I think these two quotes summarise it perfectly:

“I have worked for 25 years in European affairs and 13 years in the Brussels Council of Ministers, which works very well, because there is no access to meetings for press and NGO’s” – one delegate committed to transparency.

“I am a human being, and I get frustrated. I want to see the resumption of whaling as soon as possible” – the Chair of the meeting.

Shane

What does Normal mean?

So today was the first day of the Japanese Government hosted ‘Normalisation’ meeting, intended to find a pathway to resume commercial whaling.

As I said yesterday, it was definitely a gathering of the countries who support whaling. Of course, I should have known that when you have a meeting of people that all agree with each other it is going to get boring, but this was worse than I could have imagined!

Greenpeace greeted delegates this morning as they arrived at the meeting with our new whale costume and name badges for each delegate with Japanese yen attached to them, symbolising the financial incentives offered to many countries to support Japan’s stance.

There was strong media interest in the event, with a scrum of camera’s for the start of the day. I also did a live appearance on BBC World from their Tokyo studio – you can see it on the web here.

The meeting itself was just plain odd. I have been to a few international political meetings in my time, but nothing like this. Overall it was a bit chaotic. The agenda is vague, and there is no real structure to the meeting. It seems the organisers probably have already written the final outcome, and are now wondering how to fill in the time before presenting it.

How can I draw this conclusion so early? Well, the Mission Statement for the meeting describes the aim of the meeting as being to “put forward specific measures to resume the function of the IWC as a resource management organisation”. The basically means hunting whales.

The morning session was basically countries making introductory speeches. Many countries complained bitterly about the 'boycott' by the anti-whaling countries, asking 'how can we have a dialogue if they don't come?'. This went on for a while until one delegate pointed out that the whalers had been boycotting the Conservation Committee in the IWC since it was formed several years ago!

One theme that came up was in talking about why the IWC is dysfunctional. A number of delegates put the blame with "extreme NGO's who are just out to make money" and also with the media. In response, a number of delegates suggested closed meetings of the IWC and/or secret ballots. Glad to see ideas of transparency are alive and well in this crowd!

I will finish with my favourite intervention of the day, which came from the delegate of St Lucia. It was in a discussion about why the anti-whaling countries took the stance they did, and he argued it is because they want to protect their livestock industries. The logic appeared to be that if whale meat was on the market, this would undercut the beef trade!

So we continue tomorrow – a fantastic way to spend Valentine’s Day!

Shane

Lost in Transit

Well, it has been a bit quiet on the blog, due to crazy travel plans. I left Buenos Aires on Thursday, bound for Amsterdam via Sao Paulo and London. Got home around lunch time Friday, then flew out to Tokyo Saturday afternoon, got here lunch time Sunday, and straight in to some work. Hell of a travel plan, and don't even think about the CO2 emissions...

The reason for coming to Japan is to attend a meeting organised my the Japanese Government. Over recent years, they have increasingly talked about the need for 'normalisation' of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This is basically code for a return to commercial whaling. So this meeting is really about commercialisation, not normalisation.

That said, we actually agree with the Japanese Government on one thing. There is definitely a need to reform the IWC. But we think it needs to be modernised. The convention governing the IWC was written in 1946, and it certainly does not reflect modern international environmental law norms. It needs greater transparency, the removal of the 'scientific' whaling loophole, and better monitoring and enforcement provisions.

And it needs to become an organisation that is about protecting whales. Whales face a myriad of threats in the oceans these days. Climate change, being struck by ships, pollution, getting caught in fishing nets and underwater noise all threaten whales, so the last thing they need is to be hunted. The IWC needs to become a whale conservation organisation, not a whale hunting group.

Anyway, this meeting is definitely a gathering of the whaler's club. Aside from Japan, there is Denmark, Iceland and Norway, plus all of the small countries that Japan pays for to be part of the IWC. All of the countries who are against whaling have decided not to attend, saying that the meeting is outside the IWC, so has no formal status. Unfortunately, Switzerland decided to attend. It seems sometimes neutrality can get in the way of common sense.

And then there is us! Junichi, from Greenpeace Japan, and myself will have to sit through three days of bad science, misleading population figures, and false argument about cultural heritage. I have just finished a background briefing document called "Whalers Myths - And the Reality". It is not posted on the web yet, but I will insert a link when I have one.

So watch this space - should be some interesting political snippets in the next few days.

Shane

Setting Sail

We are now on our way to Doha and hopefully the wind will be enough to use the sails again. It's very rare that we use only sails (the wind has to be in exactly the right direction) but using a combination of sails and engine makes a big difference to the amount of fuel we have to use. It's also really nice to see the Rainbow Warrior under sail. Apparently though, the weather is set to get worse and the captain is predicting an unpleasant trip - keep your fingers crossed for me.

Nicky

Watching is not enough

Here is another TV ad about whales that was made by Greenpeace Australia Pacific. The footage of the whale fighting for it's life is taken from our expedition to the Southern Ocean last year. This whale was harpooned three times, with several other shots missing. More than 35 minutes elapsed between the time the whale was first struck by a harpoon, and when it finally died. It was a very surreal experience to witness something so cruel. And gut wrenching. Gut wrenching because we have been unable to protect this whale from its pursuers. But the fight goes on, and we will bring an end to this. If you are tired of just watching, we know have a dedicated online community who are campaigning to protect whales - all it takes is a click to get involved.

Shane

What are you doing in Bahrain??

Hello to everyone from Bahrain. What are we doing in Bahrain do you ask? Well it seems that our team working on genetic engineering in the region has been so successful that the authorities are a little concerned about us, and hence have refused to give the ship permission to enter Kuwait.

So, we’ve sailed from Abu Dhabi to Bahrain, and it seems that we will be here for the next few days before heading to our next port of call, Doha in Qatar. Ironically we are berthed about 300m from the American nuclear submarine that collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Gulf just a few weeks ago. We had to pass quite close to the Sub on the way into port yesterday and the Americans were none to pleased to see us. It seems that the local Bahraini’s are less than excited about the Americans as well, with the Pilot on board at the time, responsible for navigating our ship in his harbour, deliberately sailing closer than the Americans were comfortable with. They have large speed boats in the water with guns attached circling the submarine all the time and security patrolling the docks.

With our changed itinerary, we have a little more time on our hands, and are actually having some days off while we are here. So far I have managed to get some swimming done and also find myself a Thai massage. Bahrain is probably the most relaxed of the Gulf states when it comes to women and westerners more generally – alcohol is readily available for example - so it’s certainly a more relaxed place to stay than some of the other countries in the region.

That being said however, I was quite looking forward to going to Kuwait. Greenpeace was there after the 1991 Gulf War and it was going to be very interesting to be on the return visit.

Nicky

Peaceful Energy in Abu Dhabi

So we’ve left Abu Dhabi which was the first stop in the Energy & Disarmament part of the tour. I didn’t see very much of anything except the port, but the work and has given us a very successful start for the tour.

We held a well received press conference on board launching "Energy Revolution - a Pathway to a Sustainable and Clean Energy Future for the Middle East" – find it here. The press conference was attended by CNN web in Arabic, Al Fajr daily, Akhbar al Arab, Gulf News, Emirates Today, Al Emarat al Yom, Khaleej Times, Al Bayan daily and Al Khaleej daily. Gulf News, one of the english language dailies, printed a particularly nice story, with the rest of the page taken up by other stories on renewable energy which reinforced our messaging very well.

As well as the press conference we also hosted a VIP reception as well as about 120 school children and another 100 our so members of the public during an open boats. All the children were from the French School – the teacher told me it was important that the children know all about the Rainbow Warrior.

Nicky

Illusions of Palermo

Last night I witnessed a murga. I did not know what it was at the time, but I went running with one of my Argentinean colleagues this morning, and got the low down. My attention was drawn last night by the infectious sound coming from around the corner from my apartment. I wandered down to have a look, and found the street closed, with a small parade going on.

It turns out it was a murga, and the one I saw was the Illusions of Palermo. The murga was originally brought to Uruguay and Argentina by African arrivals. Apparently these days they are more popular in Uruguay, and generally linked to Carnivale. The fact that they are less developed in Argentina seems to be because they were banned by the military government, and have only re-established in recent years.

In Uruguay particularly, they are a form of political expression, often considered to represent the voice of the people in their lyrics. Wikipedia has a more detailed story on it, although it makes it sound rather more formal that what I saw last night.

Anyway, it was pretty colourful and energetic, and certainly brought some life to the sleepy little neighbourhood I am staying in!

Shane

It is Whaling Season again...

Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is just off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, hunting minke whales and endangered fin whales. Like last year, our Greenpeace ship Esperanza is on the way to try and stop them. All the details and latest stories, photos and tales from the team onboard are here.

This morning, I have just received the video below from my colleagues in Greenpeace Spain. I think it is both clever and poignant.

Back on Track

So I may have lost several kilos, but I am back on track, having got over my bout of food poisoning. My last day in Santiago was spent with the team from Greenpeace Chile, dreaming up some great plans for their office to work on defending the oceans.

Next stop on this trip is Argentina. I am now here in Buenos Aires with the Greenpeace team. The weather is hot – over 30 degrees and humid, and it really feels like summer, unlike the tepid ones we get in Europe!

The photo above is the last one from Santiago – another of those interesting reflections I saw while I was there.

Shane