Greenpeace and the Russian Oil Platform

The Greenpeace Activists and other members of their party who have been arrested whilst protesting against the Gazprom Prirazlomnaya  rig are in for a very tough time. I wonder if the directors of Greenpeace were fully aware of what would be the consequence of their action and did they fully advise all members of their ship's party of the risks involved?

The oil rig may be in international waters but it is very close to the the Russian mainland but albeit in a very remote location. The Russian authorities obviously see Greenpeace as a threat to their national interests and their fuel strategy. They could have been expected to have acted very strongly when their oil rig was approached by the Arctic Sunrise ship. The  attempt to board oil rig: was regarded as being illegal and it was resisted.

Perhaps, the Greenpeace activists on board knew what they were letting themselves in for but was  the British journalist, who was not a member of Greenpeace, fully informed of what might happen? The journalist and his family must now be living in despair.

The detainees are claiming that they should be released under the convention of the law of the sea but I doubt that this will make much difference. The detainees could quite easily be charged and found guilty of piracy and end up in prison for a long time. 

I hope that no one has entered into this form of high profile protest without knowing what could happen especially with regard to the risk to their own safety. Fire hoses were used to try to wash the boarders from their  ropes. Shots were also fired at or near them by the Russian authorities. 

In Western Europe, we have got used to our governments treating protesters with a rather light touch when compared to Russia and other states. In fact, in Britain, the police will quite often defend the right to make peaceful protest. We cannot expect liberal values to prevail in every other state; protesters should therefore act accordingly and look after their own safety as no one else will do it for them.

Of course the protesters should be released immediately without charge; that would be the fair approach but can we expect the Russian authorities to do this? No: we cannot.

Greenpeace should be more careful  about what it is doing, how it obtains publicity and how it exploits the idealism of its young activists. It should also pay attention to the safety of the journalists who work for them.

The end does not always justify the means.