On board with the rainbow warriors

On board with the rainbow warriors

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

How ironic that a symbol of environmental sustainability, the
Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior had to berth at the port of
Tanjung Priok in Jakarta Bay; a smelly, dirty port where garbage
runs amok amid oil-slicked water.

But perhaps it was just as well because Rainbow Warrior's trip
to Jakarta was part of the group's global campaign against
environmental damage.

The vessel, a 555-ton motor-assisted schooner, was named after
a North American Cree Indian legend that foretold the coming of
the "rainbow warriors", a group of people from every nation,
color and belief, coming together to fight against environmental
destruction and save the Earth.

It was this prophecy that inspired early Greenpeace activists
to take more active, yet always peaceful, action against
environmental damage in the early 1970s.

"Our way is to bear witness against environmental damage. To
arrive at a scene, register opposition, and publicize the issue,"
Natalia Truchi, Greenpeace's media liaison on board the Rainbow
Warrior, said as she led The Jakarta Post on a tour around the
ship.

In an early Greenpeace campaign against U.S. underground
nuclear testing at Amchika -- a tiny island off the west coast of
Alaska -- a ship was needed to get the campaigners close to the
site. Since then Greenpeace's fleet has become indispensable.

To date, Greenpeace owns four ships -- Esperanza, Rainbow
Warrior, Arctic Sunrise, and Argus -- and a Greenpeace balloon.
The Arctic Sunrise came to Bali in May 2002 for the last pre-
meeting before the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in late August.

The present Rainbow Warrior is in fact the second Greenpeace
vessel using the same name. Its predecessor was bombed in 1985 in
New Zealand by the French Secret Service to prevent a major
campaign against nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll, part of French
Polynesia in the South Pacific. One activist was killed by the
explosion.

After the bombing, Greenpeace sunk the original Rainbow
Warrior at Matauri Bay, in New Zealand's Cavalli Islands, where
it became a living reef, attracting marine life and recreational
divers.

Rather than deterring Greenpeace campaigners, the bombing put
the international pressure group in the spotlight and the second
Rainbow Warrior was launched on July 10, 1989 -- the anniversary
of the bombing.

Since then the second Rainbow Warrior has campaigned against
overfishing, toxic dumping, damage to fragile marine ecosystems,
nuclear power and nuclear testing.

The ship also showcases environmentally friendly technology --
solar panels for hot water, a heating system that uses waste heat
from engines, a water desalinization plant, and a sewage
treatment system.

There's also art on board -- a 1.8-meter dolphin carved from
oak, a donation from a local support group in Germany.

But most remarkable on the ship are the people manning it, the
crew of 20 from 13 nations -- including Spain, Argentina, Italy,
New Zealand, Australia, China and Papua New Guinea.

It is difficult to match the passion of the men and women in
Greenpeace, who have dropped everything to save the Earth and
become "rainbow warriors".

Sep Galeva, a 38-year-old former policeman from Papua New
Guinea, joined Rainbow Warrior on the Asia-Pacific leg of its
global campaign.

He flew in especially from Port Moresby to join Rainbow
Warrior in Jakarta and will continue on board for the next few
months.

"I expect to learn a lot (while on board), build up confidence
and learn about tactics in campaigning," Galeva, who has
campaigned against illegal logging and forest destruction in
Papua New Guinea, said.

Long-time Greenpeace activist, Philip Lloyd, used to be a
manager for a company that built ships in New Zealand. The
nuclear testing in Mururoa in 1996 -- "right on my backyard," he
commented -- compelled him to join the international peace
flotilla that gathered on the site to protest.

Lloyd later quit building ships to crew them instead, and
since then has been at the forefront of major environmental
campaigns. His first ship was the Arctic Sunrise, campaigning
against the extinction of the Southern Bluefin Tuna. Later, he
campaigned against the use of dangerous chlorinated chemicals in
New Zealand's Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill.

"I didn't want to continue making pretty boats after what I'd
seen," Lloyd, who is the boatswain, or bosun, of Rainbow Warrior,
said.

Being on the ship was like being on a "floating sponge, trying
to absorb all information" about environmental damage.

But visiting some of the world's most beautiful places and
seeing the destruction being done to them can at times be
depressing, which is why each crew member gets a three-month
holiday after three months of duty.

"One needs 'grounding' once in a while, otherwise it becomes
overwhelming," Lloyd said.

It's difficult to take Lloyd's attention off nature, however,
as even during his "grounding" periods he would rather go
mountain-biking, river-rafting, and trap fishing, than do
anything else.

"(It's about) just being in the outdoors that you're trying to
protect".