In the lead-up to the World Cup and following a trip to Brazil in March, I wrote to President Dilma Rousseff, asking her to welcome and embrace the protests in Brazil as an opportunity to build a more just, diverse and free society. 

While in Brazil I met with representatives from Amnesty International, Article 19 and Conectas Human Rights. They expressed concerns about the escalating violence on Brazilian streets and how this is being used as an excuse to fast track the approval of bills within the Brazilian Congress which restrain Brazilian democratic rights and tend to increase the criminalization of social movements.

Street protests in Brazil started in June 2013, mainly due to bus fares, but rapidly expanded to cover other issues - such as the lack of proper education, sanitation and... Read more >

So Shane Jones is off. Retired from politics he says. Couldn’t give 100 percent to the cause so he did what he thought was best for the Party.

Shane Jones has always been a polarising figure and never more so when it comes to his dislike for us: “the Green Priests”. We’ve clashed on many issues, most notably his pro-oil and gas stance and his support for destructive fishing in the Pacific. We spoofed a Sealord video, highlighting the impact the company was having on our oceans. Much like an oil spill, his rage washed up on the telly as he leapt to the defence of his former paymasters who had given him 10 grand in 2011.

And now Parliament's resident firebrand is chasing the money once again and seemingly selling out to National.

So often Jones has tried to publicly re-write Labour party...

There are certain stories that get under your skin, stories that no matter how many times you hear them somehow strike you in a way that you never forget, stories that become a very part of you. The story of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior is one of those stories.

I was a two year old when the Warrior first began her transformation from a humble Scottish trawler into the iconic international champion that made her famous.  She was bought for £40 000 in 1977.  She was a twenty-two year old then.  I can't imagine what it would have been like working on her back in the day, taking on the sealers and whalers in the South Seas, campaigning against nuclear testing in the Pacific.  I read Susi's early accounts of life on the ship from the comfort of my bunk in the cabin I shared with a Swedish d... Read more >

There has been disappointing and worrying news today. The Government of Japan has announced that it intends to return to the Southern Ocean to hunt whales in 2015. It has also officially announced that it will again send its factory whaling ship to hunt whales in the North Pacific, although it plans to target fewer whales.

The announcement confirms that although no sperm whales will be targeted, Minke, Bryde’s and endangered Sei whales will be targeted in the North Pacific in the coming weeks. This news comes just weeks after this year’s Antarctic whale hunt was cancelled, following a March ruling by the UN’s International Court of Justice that it was illegal.