Give it back
The Ministry of Defence in the UK has seized the Arctic Sunrise and all the crew have been arrested. Find out more here:
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February 25, 2007
February 02, 2007
A grand day out
Having spent last weekend on the Arctic Sunrise as a volunteer for the Dutch climate tour I was asked if I wanted to take part in a direct action this week against coal in the Netherlands. I jumped at the chance to strap myself to a crane, 40 meters up in the air and block 32,000 tones of coal from being unloaded off a ship.
On Tuesday we expected the coal to arrive on a big cargo ship but there was a very bad fire on a bottom trawler close to the north sea channel and they closed the channel so we couldn't do anything till the next morning. Spending an entire day waiting around wasn't any fun but radiant sunshine the following morning made up for it. About 30 of us were involved in the action and we all had different tasks. There were 3 cranes to block and we had 3 teams of crane blockers and a team who would hang a large banner from the main crane. I was in a team of 4 crane blockers.
We travelled alongside the Arctic Sunrise in inflatables towards the cranes and as our boat approached the quayside I hopped out and then looked down at my feet. I was standing on train tracks and the only way accross to the crane where my team was going was straight into a black oily river of liquid coal. There was nothing else to do but walk through it it so I lowerd my feet into the slick and took off towards the crane. Then up we went - climbing ladders and stairways with thick black gloop dripping off our feet as we moved. I had chains and padlocks around me and equipment and food in my backpack so it was difficult to climb quickly but we had to go as fast as possible so that we could get to the control cabin and block it before any of the workers stopped us. Filled with adrenaline I pushed myself up the metal stairs 40 meters into the sky.
We got into the cabin and began to fasten equipment to the door in order to stop anyone opening it from the outside. I was standing behind Sharon trying to help find ways to keep the door shut when she told us someone was coming towards the door and that we needed to hurry up. The door flew open and Sharon started to go with it! I grabbed hold of her as I heard a man yelling at us from outside saying "Get out! Get out now! GET OUT!". Then he shouted at us in Dutch and one of the activists spoke to him very softly but assertively and after a few minutes he seemed to calm down. He had been yelling at us about the high voltage electrical wires but he said that one of us could stay in the front of the cabin and that the other 3 would have to remain outside so that's exactly what we did and then he left. After that we didn't see anyone come close to the cabin for the rest of the day. I looked across to the other two cranes and saw that those teams were in position also. We had disabled the entire facility within about 15 minutes!
Being so high up on the crane was quite scarey. For me keeping my balance became the greatest challenge since the more I thought about it the dizzier I got and the less balanced I felt. We stayed locked to the crane for about 8 hours, looking over the river with the Arctic sunrise and the police going back and forth all day. It was cold but I had many layers on so I only noticed it in my toes, which seemed to have frozen by night fall. At about 5pm we heard on our radio that police had arrived with all the gear they needed to cut us free but that there was a court case in process regarding our action and that they were going to wait for the outcome. We kept our spirits up by playing games and singing songs.
At 8pm after the sky became pitch black and we'd braved high winds and rain we heard that there was an injuction ordering us to leave or pay a fine of over 200,000 euros so we decided to leave. The action coordinator called us and told us that we might be able to get onto an inflatable on the quayside and back to the Arctic Sunrise without being arrested so we went quietly over the top of the crane with our lights off and started climbing down. Before we got to the bottom several men came towards us shouting a lot and even though we talked to them calmly but they continued to yell and they drove a bulldozer against the ladder at the bottom so we couldn't get down without falling into the bull dozer. I learned later that the men were shouting "you left-wing facist bastards we're going to get you"". We went up to the top of the crane again and then called the police and asked them come to us immediately and as soon as they came and sent the angry shouting men away we descended again. It was better to get busted by the police than face a potentially violent group of angry men.
I was arrested without hand cuffs by a very nice policemen. We waited around for a van to arrive to pick us up and in the meantime I could see the search lights from the Arctic Sunrise shining accross the water so I peered under part of the crane and was greeted by Waldemar the captain who screamed across the water at me "Liiiiiisssssaaaaaaaaa!!" Having just been shouted at in a very aggressive way I was so happy to hear a friendly voice coming from the ship. I let out a big sigh of relief and waved at the bright lights of the Sunrise letting them know we were fine.
After a short ride to the police station with another team of crane blockers we were searched and told to leave all our belongings in a box and then I was taken to a cell with all the other females from the action. Every time the police opened the hatch to tell us something I asked them for cheese toasties and they laughed but then half an hour later we were served all kinds of snacks including bread and cheese and tea! They also put the TV on for us. I was released along with 20 other fellow activists just before midnight. We gathered outside the station waiting to be picked up by Greenpeace folks. Everyone had huge grins on their faces. It had been a great action and we were so happy that we didn't have to spend the night in jail.
I came to work yesterday with aching muscles and a wind burnt face. It feels strange to be back at my desk but I'm glad I'm off the crane. I was very scared when we were coming down in the dark but It was totally worth it. I believe it's not too late to do something about climate change and I feel proud to have done something that had a direct impact on the fossil fuel industry in addition to putting pressure on policy and decision makers. I hope they take action too.