|
Atlantic Frontier News Sunday 15th June
At dawn this morning Independence was declared on
Rockall. The
flag
of the Global State of Waveland was raised on the rock
by Al, Peter
and Meike. Peter said "We reject the governance of a country which
permits new oil exploration despite professed concern for the climate.
Waveland is a new kind of country designed to protect
the global
commons rather than to exploit it. We hope this is the
start of a
peaceful revolution. Waveland expresses every person's
right to
oust
destructive governance and replace it with a new one, to
put the climate before profits from oil." Monday 16th June
Marketing did an appeal mailing today inviting supporters to become
citizens of Waveland and help us win the campaign for no new oil.
Relevant MPs were invited to obtain a Waveland passport. Wednesday 18th June The first Embassy of Waveland was created today on the doorstep of the Foreign Office in London. Four Waveland Ambassadors in full regalia officiated and engaged civil servants and members of the public, inviting them to become citizens of the new country. A fully functioning Waveland passport office (including a photo booth) were set up in order to be able issue passports. More Embassies will be set up in London over the next few days and then up and down the country. PA, the Mirror and Independent were there. MPs, Matthew Taylor and Norman Baker (both Lib Dem) were there and were issued with Waveland passports.
A letter from Peter Melchett was delivered
to Robin
Cook,
the Foreign Secretary, saying that "Greenpeace believes
that all
four
countries is dispute over the Rockall area should agree
to promote
a
poitivie non-development of the area in the interests of
both the
global environment and as a precedent for the peaceful
resolution
of
international resource conflicts. Greenpeace Germany also opened their first Embassy of Waveland and had a live link up with Meike in the pod.
A letter went out today from Chris to the Top 100 UK
Companies
inviting them to sign our joint statement which points
out that a
'carbon budget' is required and reliance on fossil fuels
must be
phased out in an orderly way. We believe the timescale
to complete
such action will be a number of decades but that a start
must be
made
now, taking advantage of the political opportunities of
1997. Also - here is something which happened last week which I forgot to put in but I think it's worth tagging on the end to give you a laugh: Royal Navy sailors called off an exercise at the last minute after Greenpeace protesters seized the lonely outcrop of Rockall, it emerged today. Men from the frigate HMS Monmouth planned to join a military attempt to host the biggest tea party around the world by brewing up on the uninhabited 100 foot high rock. But as they were preparing to fly off the ship, a member of the crew heard a radio news item that Greenpeace had occupied Rockall in protest at oil exploration in the Atlantic. "The sight of Royal Navy personnel leaping from a sleek, grey military helicopter on the tiny rock might have lead to some misunderstanding", said a Naval source. "Given the situation, I think it might have been difficult to convince them that the Navy was only there to drink tea!" Monmouth's crew cancelled the flight and the tea party took place in the comfort of the modern ship, which is on exercises in the North Atlantic.
|