Noose left as warning
to Greenpeace activists at our Forest Rescue
Station in Lapland.
22/04/2005- Men in balaclavas and combat
gear prowl around, looking in windows, blowing
horns in the ears of anyone they can get close
to.
Dangerous machinery is driven dangerously
close to where people are sleeping, and trees
felled in the middle of the night. Foul smelling
liquids and chicken faeces are daubed on doors
and walls.
Trees are set on fire. Burning crosses are
waved, nooses are left hanging from trees.
Snowscooters are driven around high speed
- endangering anyone who might get in the
way. Death threats are the order of the day.
Welcome to Finland, April 2005 - an EU country
that likes to pride itself on both its environmental
and human rights credentials. And these are
the tactics carried out by members of the
so-called "Anti-Terror Info Camp",
set up by employees of, and with the permission
of, the state-owned forestry company, Metsähallitus,
to drive Greenpeace activists out of the Forest
Rescue Station.
Violence, intimidation
Night after night, since April 7th, in the
woods of Nellim, Lapland, our activists have
been subjected to systematic - but also chaotic
- intimidation and violence.
It's getting more bizarre every night - last
night individual activists were cornered,
with three or four masked, intoxicated men
blowing air horns into their ears. The police
were called to the scene after violence towards
the Forest Rescue team became imminent. The
police arrived - but suggested that the behaviour
of the masked men was 'normal'.
Our actions to save this ancient forest:
undeterred
Despite this harassment, our work in Finland
continues undeterred - a few days ago, they
dumped a truckload of logging waste outside
government offices in Helsinki, about 1000km
south of the Forest Rescue Station.
Climbers unfurled a banner from the roof of
the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF)
reading: "Don´t Finnish the Sámi
forests". The ministry has been deadly
silent on the issue, despite sanctioning the
destruction of reindeer forests over several
decades, and allowing Metsähallitus,
to profit from the conflict between traditional
reindeer herders and logging. These ancient
forests have been logged to produce disposable
products such as copy paper and magazines.
What does "Anti-Terror" mean to
you?
Back in March, we set up the Forest Rescue
Station to highlight the role of Metsähallitus
and paper companies such as Stora Enso in
forest destruction. But it seems Metsähallitus
is unwilling to resolve the issue in a civilised
way, and the conflict has escalated. On 7
April, Metsähallitus´ workers set
up the so-called "Anti-Terror Info Centre"
close to our Forest Rescue Station.
There must have been some kind of translation
issue when they decided on "Anti-Terror"
as a name. Workers at the camp have tried
to intimidate Greenpeace activists during
the night by brandishing chainsaws and horns,
banging metal drums, or driving snow-scooters
around the Station blasting an air-raid siren.
A heavy forest machine has been illegally
driven around the Rescue Station, dumping
tree trunks and stumps close to people, violating
safety regulations for such machines. Trees
have been cut down and burned (despite a current
moratorium on logging in the area) and crucifixes
have been burnt. At least the "anti-terrorists"are
probably not getting much sleep either.
Monika, an activist who visited the camp,
said, "Lucky as I am, I had the chance
to see those loggers in reality when I was
in the camp. Their infantile and useless behaviour,
however, is not only quite annoying, but also
funny enough to laugh about at the same time."
Death threats
Perhaps more seriously, one of the Finnish
campaigners has also received death threats
via a mobile phone call. Strangely, the caller
did not hide his own number or identity, and
blatantly stated "If you will not remove
the camp in 48 hours, some people will be
killed....You will be the first one....I can
kill if needed...There's no harm if I'll end
up in prison." Concerned about our activists,
the New Zealand Consul General wrote to the
camp saying, "You can feel assured that
I will not accept illegal conduct by anyone
- least of all the authorities. And I have
the means of intervening if necessary."
To date, MAF has been unwilling to solve the
conflict. They have pushed their responsibility
and solutions back to local level of Metsähallitus,
despite of the fact that it has no genuine
will or tools to solve the conflict. The ministry
hasn't even bothered answering letters sent
by the indigenous reindeer herders or a joint
letter from WWF, Greenpeace and the Finnish
Association for Nature Conservation.
Recently, we took some authors from different
European countries to the Forest Rescue Station.
Despite an initially tense atmosphere, the
authors apparently managed to make headway
and hold very civilised conversations with
the "Anti-Terror" workers. Half
way through the dialogue, the loggers even
began to fold up their banners and put their
signs on the ground. (The banners read "Greenpeace
= Al Qaeda" and "F*ck FSC!"
However, more positively was a longer banner
that read: 'We love you authors'!) The authors
seemed to really appreciate some opportunity
to hear the other side of the discussion,particularly
given that Stora Enso and Metsähallitus
have refused to meet with them.
