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Friday, July 04, 2008

Over the Top, Greenpeace?


When Greenpeace was born I was one of the first to approach them to start campaigning in India (yes I still have correspondence to prove it). But their latest campaign against Tata which is constructing the Dhamra Port has certain elements that I find a bit dicey. A letter I received recently from Greenpeace has the following:

“Thanks to you and another 83,000 loyal Tata customers, the campaign to stop the Dhamra port and save the Olive Ridley Turtles is bearing unexpected results.

“And now this. We've just received a pale green envelope in the mail. Inside, a note explaining "I am Namrata's mother… these were made for your campaign by children in the primary section of the Vishwashanti Gurukul, Pune."

“Dozens of paintings, sketches, drawings, each lovingly done by tiny hands for Mr. Ratan Tata. Each asking him to stop the port and save the turtles. It's as if a door has opened to let in the morning light.”

Along with it is this letter to Mr. Rata Tata from one Neal which say:

“Please, please don’t kill them [the turtles]. I will cry, then I will tell to Karad sir, Mr. Tata. Then I will kill myself.”

I guess Greenpeace campaigners have overstepped it this time. I know, from experience, that Greenpeacers are known as the extremists of the environmental movement. Even their fund raising campaigns are very aggressive. (Have you seen those green-jacketed interns dominating railway stations, lately?) However, this is a bit over the top, IMHO.

3 comments:

Pramod Kumar Kush 'tanha' said...

Well said Dear Mr John.It's nice to go through your immense writings.I like the open forum you have created for all to discuss and comment.Congratulations.....

Thanks for visiting my blog Mr John.I am honoured by your encouraging comments indeed.
I had written a song for Dev Saheb's Gangster - "aaja gori bangad kii teri kamar pe choti latke hai...." music by Jatin-Lalit and sung by Bali Brahmbhatt & Suchitra Krishnamurthy...(though my temperament of writing is entirely different). I love writing on romance , philosophy , social issues and so on...

I shall look forward to your valuable comments in future too...
Regards..

Dr. Ally Critter said...

Completely agree- they are a rather dubious set of folk. Something like the even weirder PETA.

By the way am linking you to my blog- I wonder why I had not done it earlier

Unknown said...

Tanha-saab,

Thanks for your kind comments! I am flattered. Will visit your blog. Do keep in touch.

Alankrita,

Nice to know you feel the same way. A child should not be quoted as saying "then I will kill myself." This is misguided and totally misleading.

Thanks for linking to my blog. I will give a reciprocal link on mine.

Thanks do come back and comment!

J