Vindicated

There’s something about securing your boat onto a target location that kind of reminds me of the Allied landing at Normandy.

Or it just might be because I’ve so often watched, Saving Private Ryan beside my father at home during the holidays. But I can’t help it there is somewhat of a resemblance as I see the constructed smoke stack on the horizon get larger as we approach.

As I stand on the boat in a Douglas McArthur stance beside me was Arthur, on top of us in the bridge were the media, taking their precious footages; and Tara the Climate and Energy Campaigner was behind us, whispering stuff in Thai, it may be just him practicing his statement, or perhaps praying, maybe humming a song or mumbling out words of poetry for all I know. After all they say that ‘Rayong is the province of poets’ it may very well then be poetry for all I know.

With the constructed coal plant in full view, the boat captain decides to stop our engine to see what’s up ahead of us. Then as the sunlight was glaring the vast ocean landscape, there it was: the Rainbow Warrior, entering dramatically into the scene, charging swiftly towards the plat. It was accompanied by a couple of inflatables carrying the Greenpeace activists all suited up in their orange cover-alls and ready for action.

From there on it started, another environmental exploit unfolds before our very eyes. As it was happening a Thai Marine Police boat, approached our vessel with its two crewmen boarding our boat so as to chat with Tara and the others in our boat.

I was quite nervous at the time, but I was later on reassured by the smiling and friendly facial expressions of the crewmen that boarded us, which in a way conveys a message to me that all would seem to end up well.

You may be asking why I got nervous?

There was a very good reason for me to be nervous, after all it was the police, and also because earlier on in the Philippines a similar action was met with violence by plant personnel.

But this time it was different.

By the time the climbers were able to display the banner that read: “BLCP, Climate Killer” alongside the other banner from the boat that exhibited the familiar phrase: ‘clean energy now!’ No gunshot was fired, no breaking noise was heard, no news of someone getting hurt were reported in the radios. All was well.

The activists were safe the banner and is message was shown off, for the videos and still cameras to record and broadcast it for the world to see.

And for me there was this certain feeling of vindication, because at this moment the banner and its message was hung, and there was no violent resistance from the plant as compared to the other action that I spoke of earlier. I gives you a sense of hope that the coal industry must really be at the very least listening to our demands.

This moment was excellent.

As the video camera rolled and shot Tara speaking his campaign message with the banners on the background, his words to me sounded like lines of poetry. So as he parted his message with the line: “…clean energy now!” The action went on as arranged.

Our message was cut across, it’s a victory in itself, but the energy revolution is far from over. There are more battles to be fought and won, all for ensuring a future that is unthreatened by climate change.