Subject: [cwj 68] Rainbow Warrior raided by Japanese police/ Four arrested
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 17:15:44 -0700
Seq: 68

Rainbow Warrior raided by Japanese police

Okinawa / Amsterdam, 21st July 2000
Greenpeace Website

Forty Japanese policemen in riot gear have raided today the Greenpeace
flag- ship
Rainbow Warrior at 00h30 local time (15h30 GMT) and are currently onboard. 

At this stage it is unclear if the police will
arrest the entire crew and confiscate the
ship or if they will leave after the raid. The
Rainbow Warrior is currently berthed at
berth 31, in NAHA, SHINKO, on the island of
Okinawa. The Greenpeace flagship
Rainbow Warrior attempted this morning to
deliver 8 logs from Russian forests to G-8
leaders to highlight the elevated rate of
illegal and destructive logging that continues
to occur throughout the world's last remaining ancient forests.

Four Greenpeace activists had been arrested after this peaceful protest and
are still in
jail. They should be brought in front of the prosecutor tomorrow (Saturday
22nd July),
but it is unclear if they will be kept in custody for longer. 

GREENPEACE DELIVERS CRIMINAL LOGS FROM ANCIENT
FOREST TO THE LEADERS OF THE G-8 

Okinawa, 21 July 2000.

The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior attempted to deliver 8 logs from
Russian
forests today to G-8 leaders to highlight the elevated rate of illegal and
destructive
logging that continues to occur throughout the world's last remaining
ancient forests.
The logs of oak and ash are from Russia's Primorsky region where according to
regional government statistics 80% of logging is illegal. Along with the
logs, the
Greenpeace activists tried to deliver a letter to the G-8 heads of state
explaining their
demands. Each log has the flag of a eight G-8 countries on it and banners
with crime
painted across them. The Rainbow Warrior and the log barge are currently
half a mile
off shore from the Summit Meeting venue. 

At the same time activists in Germany continue to occupy the vessel MV
Aegis which
is transporting illegal timber from the endangered African forests. The
activists have
now been on cranes for more than 20 hours to prevent any more cargo from
making it
to the markets in Germany. 

According to Greenpeace, time is running out for the ancient forests, of
which only 20
percent remains of the original forest cover on Earth. An area the size of
a football
pitch is destroyed every two seconds. And while the G-8 Foreign Ministers
met last
week, Greenpeace intercepted ships carrying illegal timber in Russia,
Japan, Portugal
and Spain.

"The time to act is now. The leaders of the G-8 still have an opportunity
to really do
something to protect the world's ancient forests," said Michelle Sheather,
Greenpeace
spokesperson onboard the Rainbow Warrior in Okinawa. "In 1997 and 1998 at
the G-8
summits many promises were made to combat illegal and destructive logging,
yet not
one of these promises has been kept. The G-8 must move beyond words and start
taking action, before it's too late for our ancient forests." 

Along with the US, the countries of the European Union import 75 percent of
the
world's timber production. G-8 countries are also providing billions of
dollars in
subsidies to help companies log the world's last ancient forests according
to a report
released yesterday by the World Resources Institute.

Recent actions carried out by Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior have
resulted in
very positive steps to protect the world's forests. In Russia, the
Primorsky Regional
Forest Prosecutor's office has suspended
all logging until a thorough investigation is
completed. In Japan, after two days of
occupying containers proven to be
transporting plywood from the Amazon, and
after peaceful confrontation with the heads
of the importing logging giant, Eidai,
Greenpeace obtained a commitment from the
company's director's to stop purchasing
illegal timber from the Amazon.

"The G-8 can no longer turn their back on the ancient forests. They must
assess and
abolish subsidies that harm forests, implement domestic policies and laws
to prevent
trade in illegal and destructive logging and give development aid to combat
illegal logging
and trade. We now need meaningful agreements by the G-8 to save the last
ancient
forests," concluded Sheather.

-------------------------------------
Corporate Watch in Japanese
Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC)
P.O. Box 29344
San Francisco, CA 94129 USA
Tel: 1-415-561-6472
Fax: 1-415-561-6493
Email: cwj@corpwatch.org
URL:  http://www.corpwatch-jp.org
-------------------------------------
______________________
The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ)
mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect
activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around
the world.
*
To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to
majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj".  To subscribe to the CWJ
mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text
"subscribe cwj"
*
The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution.  If you would
like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first
contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org
______________________