The Russian coast guard boarded the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise early Saturday morning to conduct a mandatory search. The vessel had entered the Northern Sea route north of the Russian Federation without permission, in order to protest Arctic drilling by Rosneft and Exxon Mobil. The Russian authorities had three times rejected an application by Greenpeace for the Arctic Sunrise to enter the waterway. Non-response and delay are favorite tactics of the Russian authorities when confronted with a request they do not wish to approve. As a non Russian, I needed permission to leave Moscow to go to Zagorsk, the seat of the Russian Orthodox church. I applied to the Soviet tourist agency repeatedly for the proper document, but every time, the answer was, “Come tomorrow.” Eventually, I decided that I was getting the run-around and would never get permission; and since I spoke Russian, I asked someone on the street how to get to Zagorsk. “Take a train from the Yaroslavsky Railroad Station,” the man said. At the Yaroslavsky Station, I went to the ticket window and asked for a ticket to Zagorsk. The man at the window said something I did not understand, and when I hesitated, he asked me my nationality. “ “Do you have a permit?” he asked. I said I didn’t. “Then you can’t go. I could have left it at that, but I didn’t. I reckoned what the man had asked me was, “One way or round-trip, and so I went to another window and asked for a ticket to Zagorsk again. The second man said the same thing, and this time, I said, “Round-trip.” The man stamped a ticket and handed it to me. I realized that in the Soviet Union, as well as in Greece, if something doesn’t work the first time, you could try the same thing again with someone else. My tactic was risky as if I’d been caught traveling outside of Moscow, I could have got into trouble. I mention it now because I found myself in a situation similar to the one Greenpeace is in now. They asked for permission and their application was repeatedly rejected on technicalities, so they did the same thing I did. They went ahead with what they wanted to do and entered the Russian waters without permission. When permission is repeatedly denied for bureaucratic reasons, action may be the only way to provoke a response. Greenpeace in turn claims that the Russians’ drilling for Arctic oil is against international law and also against Russian environmental law. The organization cites the danger arctic oil exploration poses to polar bears, walruses, and other rare creatures, all of whom will lose their habitat. I wonder what Alexey Navalny and other Russian activists will have to say about Russian Arctic oil exploration. I also wonder if the Russian government will want to add to its string of controversial actions, eg. Snowden and Navalny, by arresting the Greenpeace ship. What do you think of Greenpeace’s actions, or mine?
Posted on: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 10:34:42 +0000
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