Greenpeace
For more than 50 years Greenpeace has been using peaceful protest to bring about change. Non-violence is a core principle of Greenpeace and at the heart of all of our activities. Our non-violent direct actions have been essential to the success of our campaigns in exposing environmental crimes, confronting unjust activities and stopping environmental destruction.
Big oil is trying to silence the climate movement — and the truth. This challenge is bigger than Greenpeace. Oil companies know protest works — that’s why they’re trying to make the stakes so high no one will be willing to take the risk.
This is part of a much wider crackdown on dissent which began under the previous government but is being embraced by this one. Everyone should have the right to make their voices heard, but new laws mean peaceful protest is being treated as a serious crime and activists that care are being given harsh sentences by courts and vilified by some media – while big oil rakes in the profits. These draconian laws and powers are silencing the public at the request of polluters and profiteers.
No-one should face years behind bars for peaceful protest. Recent sentences for protest have been criticised by international bodies including the UN, and they have a chilling effect on freedom of expression
Protest is a vital sign of a healthy democracy and a protected human right. Protest has won many of the freedoms we take for granted today, like votes for women, the freedom to roam our countryside and landmark bans on whaling and fracking. These victories could not have been won at the ballot box, but this democratic right is being whittled away.
Greenpeace are at Glastonbury Festival to stand up for our democratic rights and to join the growing global demand for fossil fuel companies to FINALLY ‘Stop drilling & Start paying’. The science is clear: fossil fuel companies like Shell cannot drill for new fossil fuels any more if we are to have a liveable planet. We are asking that they stop business as usual and compensate for the environmental damage they have caused already. Floods, typhoons, wildfires, heatwaves–we are all experiencing these impacts but those of us who have done the least to cause any harm are paying the highest price. This cannot go on–companies must take responsibility for the impacts of their relentless pursuit of short term profits.
This is the fight of our lives – ordinary people like us are paying the price for billionaire oil giants’ greed.
So we must keep fighting for a greener, safer future – until fossil fuel companies stop their destructive drilling and start paying for the climate destruction they cause. The time is now—will you rise with us to meet it?
To find out more please head to our website @GreenpeaceUK
