From the climate defenders camp to the the funders of coal

Sorry but my last entry didn’t show up on the website (internet doesn't always work on the ship). So I give you again an overview of the last days.

When the sun rose on Monday morning I climbed into one of the inflatables from the Rainbow Warrior and headed with mixed feelings towards the Climate Defenders Camp on the shore.
The day before had started off in a festive atmosphere. Anti-coal communities arrived in boats to support the camp as the road access had been blocked. Together we planted colourful wind socks around the camp with personal Quit Coal messages. We packed out our solar cookers and cooked noodles for everyone. It felt a little like having a picnic at a festival.

Suddenly Panay Power brought in about 100 so called “pro coal” people into our tiny camp (much more than the day before). However one of the women told a Greenpeace volunteer that they were paid 500 pesos and received free lunch to be there. The atmosphere grew tense again when Panay Power employees threatened to tear down the camp.
Intense debates took place and my full admiration goes to all the Greenpeace volunteers for always behaving calm and friendly - even when the employees started covering our 6 meter high structure with cloth enclosing our climbers. Non-violence sends out such a powerful message!

In the afternoon a priest managed to convince the Panay Power people to leave.
The next morning we broke up the camp shifting our campaign focus on Metrobank, the funder of the proposed power plant. We dumped a huge amount of coal in front of the main branch (see the viral here) and will continue our campaign nationally against them until we stopped this plant.

Taking down the camp was hard work and I felt a little sad to leave this place behind. But when the last volunteer jumped into one of the boats, some locals came running along the shore. They handed flowers to us and thanked for our support. This was a nice note to leave on.

We finished the Iloilo stop with a dinner in the archbishop's palace and are now on our way to Boracay.

- Mareike Britten

Metrobank: Save the Climate!

Click here to know more

Taking the easy way out...

News came about of intimidation from Panay Power Corporation (PPC), wherein their men harassed the Greenpeace Climate Defenders Camp in Barangay Ingore, Iloilo City, Philippines and endangered the safety of peaceful activists.

In an unprovoked attempt to disrupt the camp, workers from PPC, acting under orders from management, tried to dismantle the camp tower while Greenpeace climbers were still on the structure and could have been injured. Later the workers fenced in the Camp tower with bamboo poles and tarpaulin, cutting off the Greenpeace activists.

A quick look at it, simply makes me realize how PPC is now trying to take the easy way out, by resorting to violence in order to brush aside our message. At the same time it also demonstrates why the Greenpeace principle of non-violent confrontation to raise the level and quality of public debate has stood the test because it does not take the easy way out it seeks to go deep into the roots and follow through on the issue and stop only when the 'wrong' has been made 'right,'as Cesar Chavez puts it:

"Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak … Non-violence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win."

Read our statement on the incident

- chuck baclagon

Facing the pro coal villagers

Have you ever been surrounded by 20 people shouting at you in a language you don’t understand? Quite scary. Yesterday in the early hours of the evening the pro coal chief of the village next to our camp had organized his relatives to come to the camp and shout their pro coal messages. The atmosphere seemed tense.

I made eye contact with the women in the crowd and smiled at them and to my surprise the smiled back, even giggled and seemed somehow embarrassed. Most of them had spent the afternoon with us while their children had coloured in pictures of the Rainbow Warrior with our Quit Coal message. Three women seemed more serious though and tried to agitate the crowd. My heart was beating. Not the right moment to sit down and have a discussion about Climate Change. Just repeating that we are here to protest peacefully, smiling and calming down the crowd. I can understand that they want the jobs at the power plant and the money the company promised to invest into schools. However they will be the ones first feeling the impacts of climate change and won’t have any resources to adapt. I have to tell myself that many people in the community are against this plant and that this is also more than just a local issue.

It seemed hours before they left. They might come back though today.

- Mareike Britten

From the Solar Cafe Point of View

We arrived on site early in the morning to set up the Solar Cafe, our venue for engaging the community in what we were doing at the proposed coal plant site. From a distance I could see the volunteer-filled inflatables waiting by the coastline, and the sight of the approaching Rainbow Warrior and all that it stood for still made me catch my breath, even as I was apprehensive about how the first few hours would turn out. Somehow the shipís presence gave me reassurance that everything was going to be okay, that our teams would be safe, and that we would be able to deliver our message loud and clear.



There was a bit of a standoff when the barangay captain first arrived. His vehicle was about 20 meters away, headlights flashing, but he wasnít approaching or getting out. At this point my mind couldnít help but play western movie music as I wondered if and how he would make the first move.



Well, the media decided for us since suddenly they were everywhere, interviewing representatives of the Responsible Ilonggos for Sustainable Energy (RISE), the barangay captain, and our Greenpeace campaigners.



We had several confrontations wherein we tried to appease those who came and tried to stop us, to the extent of them pulling down our streamers. The barangay captain kept insisting that had we followed procedures and given notice, he would have given his support. Sure. Then there was that whole hullabaloo about PPC owning the land and the access road we were on, so we had to move two meters back from the shoulder of the road, and that the land owner of that land instructed the barangay captain that we couldnít stay there, when in fact we had the land ownerís full support to set up the Solar Cafe, with the help of our RISE allies.



When they realized they couldnít kick us out, the pro-coal leaders immediately launched their own impromptu 'rally,' calling on their allegedly paid supporters and trying to put their pro-coal streamers over ours. The police arrived in several batches and were surprised and amused that instead of finding violent protesters and trespassers, they found volunteers serving them fruit shakes with a smile.



At the height of the sunís heat, things calmed down for us at the Cafe and the scene started looking like a picnic, with our friends from RISE bringing in food, Manong Buko delivering fresh coconuts, and our Cafe Manager serving us coconut shake, guaranteed to make you forget your name. I was still worried about our team in the Camp, and had my eyes glued to what and who was coming in and out, since we were along the way of the only land access to the site where the Camp was built. Nothing out of control, thankfully, as far as when we pulled out the Solar Cafe at around 6pm after a small forum with community members.



Our day with the Solar Cafe ended with village children posing for our cameras, the Rainbow Warrior at a comfortingly close distance, and an orange sunset reflecting off the fishpond waters ñ a nice scenery if not for the belching smokestacks from the diesel power plant in the background. I looked towards the Camp several ponds across and silently wished my fellow Climate Defenders safety for the night. Tomorrow will be another day.

- Tanya Conlu

Save the Climate - Quit Coal in Iloilo, Philippines

Do you remember the movie “The day after tomorrow” ? When I watched it a shudder ran through me and I felt helpless with this dooms day atmosphere in relation to Climate Change. Entering the climate defenders camp this morning here in Iloilo, Philippines in the area of a proposed coal fired power plant, reveals a completely different picture; laughter, colourful flags and banners all around the site, happy but tired Greenpeace activists are working to improve the camp and an atmosphere of peace prevails.

The local children have found their way into the camp and use our improvised pier made of rafts as a platform to jump into the sea. Shouting, clapping and splashing are filling the air. Next to us some workers of the existing power plant have set up camp. I overheard that they are quite happy to be here as they are paid overtime and just have to sit and watch. I feel relieved. The situation looked differently yesterday. Police and the local pro coal village officials came with a whole crowd into the camp and threatened to dissemble the camp. After some negotiation they backed off. This morning they blocked off the road to the camp not letting any camp supporters like nuns and bikers through. Now everything has calmed down.

Being among so many passionate people gives back the feeling that we are doing something meaningful. Sometimes I miss this feeling working in the office and just reading about all the great activities that people organize to combat climate change.
Most important is the feeling of giving hope to the community here. A nun came to me 2 days ago and thanked me for Greenpeace being here. That makes even the worst heat bearable.

- Mareike Britten

Happy Independence Day!

Actress, model and longtime Greenpeace advocate Angel Aquino celebrates Independence Day with Greenpeace's Climate Defenders Camp.





x.s.
I find this quote from Bill Pullman in from the movie Independence Day quite timely:

"We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!

- chuck baclagon

Solidarity night against coal

We were all in high hopes as music from Noel Cabangon and other local artists filled the halls of the Pius XII Catechetical School in Iloilo for a solidarity concert that was held with the local coal opposition in Iloilo, and what made it extra special is that as we were about to start news came that the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading on the Renewable Energy Bill that would expedite the development of renewable and indigenous energy sources, a wonderful night indeed....

- chuck baclagon

Day 4: The Sory so far...

Here's the story so far...

Day3: Hurray the navy has arrived!

Do you still remember those war movies with scenes that have the protagonists surrounded by their enemies and then all of a sudden the cavalry arrives and then the tables are turned and the heroes are now on the winning side of the battle?

In a way that’s what we felt now that the Rainbow Warrior has arrived.

The day was greeted with hope that what has been so far accomplished since the ship’s arrival here in the Philippines for our Quit Coal Tour will be replicated in this leg of the tour.

Below is a slideshow of the wonderful images taken by Vinai Dithajohn





the Greenpeace site also has an interesting story on the arrival be sure to check it out on this link


-chuck baclagon

Day 1: Fire & Rain

"The poor will be hardest hit by weather-related disasters and by soaring price inflation for staple foods, but even the richest nations face the prospect of economic recession and a world in conflict over diminishing resources. Mitigating climate change, eradicating poverty and promoting economic and political stability all demand the same solution: we must kick the carbon habit!"
-Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary General

Today’s world Environment Day and what better way to celebrate it than to open a ‘Climate Defenders Camp’.

Under the clear blue skies we’ve set up camp right outside the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, we’re here because there’s an ongoing struggle between some business groups and government officials on one hand, and the Roman Catholic Church & environmental groups on the other, over a proposal to build a “clean coal” 165MW coal-fired power plant in the province. The location of the coal plant is beside an existing diesel plant located within the city itself, and within 300 meters from densely populated low-income residential neighborhoods.

The NGO Germanwatch, has ranked the Philippines as the top nation to be hit by climate-related disasters in 2006. Yet despite being ravaged by some of the most powerful storms, floods and mudslides in recent years, yet the Philippine government is embarking on one of the most aggressive coal expansion plans in Asia.

It is in response to this myopic perspective of development that we’ve set camp in one of the city’s busiest areas we want to engage people into looking at the long-term benefits of opposing the plant and while at the same time pushing for a dramatic shift of our energy dependence from coal to renewable energy.

As we set camp youth members of Solar Generation launched a solar café that runs on solar energy derived from the solar panels that we’ve also installed on site, we’re hoping that the people of Iloilo would share our vision of a greener future that’s no longer dependent on fossil fuels, echoing the sentiments stated by UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on his World Environment Day Speech.

A few hours after we’ve put up the entire camp along with the exhibit, rain suddenly gushed and what seemed like an afternoon drizzle suddenly became a relentless downpour that flooded the entire camp area and we were forced to take down all the stuff that might get damaged from the water that's speedily engulfing our camp.

By the time the rain has stopped it was almost dusk and we were forced to regroup and rebuild. Hopefully tomorrow's another day...

This is a video taken by our volunteer Albert on his camera during the rain

The whole experience candidly reminded me of James Taylor’s, Fire & Rain where there’s a line that goes: “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain…” and that best explains how we all felt we put up camp under the scorching heat of the sun up until noontime when suddenly the rain poured. On hindsight, our experience during the first day of the camp best illustrates the sudden unpredictability of weather patterns that we are all experiencing now, due to climate change. All over the world there’s a debate on whether or not we should kick the carbon habit.

Hopefully this camp will in its own little way help turn the tide in the debate.

• you can also read the web story on the Greenpeace website

- chuck baclagon