Now as I look at the picture of myself at the website where chained with other activists I cannot even begin to tell of how many things this action has brought about in my personal perspective towards Greenpeace and the cause it advances. Nor do I have the luxury of time to put in writing all of what happened. So with this I could only make do with what very little skill I have in writing to give you some sort of glimpse to what has transpired during the blockade at the BLCP plant construction site.
So here it goes...
With barely a couple of hours of sleep (if the mere closing of your eyes, and struggling to not be awake is considered as sleep), I got up just when the sun was rising. You might think that I'm being poetic or something but no, it just happened to be the exact time wherein I opened my eyes for the action. I left my toiletries at the place that I was staying because I was supposed to be on camp up until midnight but last night tension was high, when security people went to the Rainbow Warrior and cut the mooring lines, causing some of the crew to fall overboard, thankfully no one was hurt and so it was decided that all of us should stay on the camp.
I'll skip the part where I did the morning rituals and others and go directly to the part where I along with other activists started to board the van where we dressed up in our green coveralls and started started locking ourselves to the pipe locks and handcuffs that we'll be using to blockade the plant's entrance and exit points.
So the moment the van went on a u-turn towards the gate we calmly rushed towards our position and strapped each other in a single line. Wherein we spent a greater part of the day blocking and cutting accross our message which can be summed in the message of Greenpeace International's Jean Francois Fauconnier: "Coal plants like BLCP are the main cause of climate change."
A lot went through my head at the time, as the sun got higher and the sweat drenched my clothes and I can't help but feel helpless as we are at the moment with our food and drink being hand fed to us in fact even scratching our noses were done by other hands. Its strange how things are when you can't understand what people are talking about, because Thai's don't speak a lot of English you can't help but think that we're screwed everytime someone from the plant would raise their voice. Also you can't help but anticipate anything but the worst as the negotiations go about, and the suspense was killing me.
So it came to a point when the workers at the project are going home and the trucks carrying them were also blocked and its already ok for us to leave since the Thai National Economic and Social Advisory Council of the Prime Minister's office, has committed to review of the Government's energy policy. All in due time since our action coordinator was saying to us as we were withdrawing from the scene that the crowed was cheering: "kill! kill! kill!" in Thai.
It ended with Tara the local campaigner saying: "this a major victory for the Thai people". In looking back I can't help but feel proud of myself, that I was there and a part of that action, which in a way is a step forward in advancing the call for 'clean energy'.
It was over.
And I am here to tell the tale.
Thank God it was over.
If you're wondering where I am on the picture I am the 3rd person from the right with the New Balance sneaker.
You can read more about the action here
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