It’s been a big week! On Tuesday over 1,000 people marched up Queen Street and, in one clear voice, we said Stop Deep Sea Oil!
The Waiho Papa Moana hikoi came down from Cape Reinga and together we marched on the ‘Petroleum Summit’ oil industry conference at Skycity. There we delivered an emphatic message to Statoil - and anyone else wanting to threaten our seas and coastlines with deep sea drilling: Go home - you are not wanted here.
Security was high and the oil men kept their heads down, but the industry and the Government certainly got the message: New Zealanders do not want deep sea drilling.
Then on Wednesday a small team of Greenpeace activists breached security at the petroleum conference to deliver the message again.
You can watch the TV3 news report here.
That same day, activists from Oil Free Wellington hung a banner on the Statoil HQ in Wellington.
And later that evening, as the oil summit delegates arrivede at their gala dinner at the Auckland Museum, 26 people covered in oil stood in silent vigil at the oil industry dinner.
And to cap off the week, 20 activists from Oil Free Aucklandheld a 'funeral for the oil industry', outside the Statoil sponsored Petroleum Summit. The oil is a dead industry, the time for clean energy is now!
Now it’s your turn. Click here to send a message to Statoil’s CEO and Board of Directors.
Statoil cannot continue with its drilling agenda when faced with such large levels of opposition - so we must keep it up.
There’s a global movement building against new fossil fuel extraction, and for action on climate change. We are in sync with millions of people around the world and we New Zealanders have a compelling history of successful protest, including stopping the French nuclear testing in the Pacific and our anti-apartheid protests.
Thank you so much to all of the people and organisations who sent messages of support and love this week.
Together we can do this. We can be the first nation where deep-sea oil drilling is banned. We just need to keep the pressure on. Take action now and stick with us, there’s more work to do.