Greenpeace Campaign Against Illegal
Logging Subject of Unprecedented Court Case
PORTO DE MOZ, Brazil – Three hundred
Brazilian loggers, bribed by local officials with promises of free
alcohol, fuel and T-shirts, threatened the Greenpeace ship the
M.V. Arctic Sunrise, in a tense mid-river standoff in the
Amazon on Sunday. The international environmental group is in the
Amazon to continue its exposure of illegal logging in the Brazilian
rainforest and to help local residents establish protected areas of
the rainforest. Greenpeace’s work to protect the world’s endangered
forests has gained renewed attention in the United States because
of an unprecedented court case stemming from the group’s protest
against illegal logging off the coast of Florida in 2002.
“Renegade loggers routinely use violence
and death threats against those who are trying to save this
rainforest from destruction,” said Jeremy Paster, Greenpeace Forest
Campaigner who is on the Arctic Sunrise. “And local
authorities are often complicit in this intimidation. The U.S. can
help oppressed communities in the Amazon by enforcing international
law, cutting off the demand for illegal mahogany here in the U.S.,
and stopping contraband wood from coming in the U.S. That is why
Greenpeace took the action that it did in 2002.”
In April 2002, two Greenpeace activists
climbed onto a commercial ship off the coast of Florida with a
banner that read, “President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging.” The ship
was carrying mahogany wood illegally exported from Brazil’s Amazon
rainforest. The individuals involved in the protest settled charges
against them last year. However, rather than prosecuting the
importers of the illegal mahogany, the Justice Department
filed criminal charges against Greenpeace itself in July 2003.
Greenpeace is fighting the charges – the first criminal prosecution
of its kind in U.S. history – as a case of selective prosecution
and an attempt by the Bush Administration to stifle peaceful
dissent.
In yesterday’s events, armed loggers in
17 boats and two large barges threatened violence against the
Greenpeace ship and crew near the town of Porto de Moz. One boat
even rammed the Arctic Sunrise. The loggers were supported
and egged on by local officials, including the mayor, who also owns
the largest logging concession in the region. Greenpeace defused
the situation by allowing loggers on board the ship for discussions
and moving the ship further from town. At the same time, local
community leaders, who were meeting in town to establish protected
areas of the forest, were forced to seek safe haven at a local
church after receiving death threats. Three days earlier, heavily
armed loggers held officers of IBAMA (Brazil’s environmental
agency) and Brazil’s federal police hostage in nearby Medicilandia
for several hours before releasing them. Greenpeace is continuing
its
peaceful work in the Amazon and the Arctic Sunrise is
continuing its
ship tour, despite the volatility of the situation and the
possibility of further confrontation.
“It’s ironic that
even as Greenpeace staff are terrorized in the Amazon, facing very
real threats to their lives, Greenpeace is treated like a criminal
in the U.S.,” stated Paster. “The Justice Department prosecutes us
for trying to stop a crime while those who committed the crime get
away.”
