Quoting Marcus Sky <phreaka at freenetname.co.uk>:
>From the Rainbow Warrior in the Gulf of Oman.
Please distribute widely especially in cities where there are anti_WTO events planned this weekend,
NO NEW ROUND RADIO
With the help of Indymedia, Greenpeace intends to put on the web at least 1 hour of English programming a day during the WTO meeting, more as we can manage. We are also planning some Arabic programming.
The origin of the "broadcasts" will be the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior, as it is docked in Doha, Qatar during the 4th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization. (WTO)
Indymedia (www.indymedia.org) is a decentralized infrastructure of
media sources (web, radio, video, tv, etc) in 50 cities around the world since it was started at the WTO meeting in Seattle (1999).
Greenpeace has founded in Canada in 1971 and has offices in over 30 countries. The first Rainbow Warrior was bombed by French military agents in Auckland in 1985.
We hope that others will send us finished programming, and that others will use our programming on their radio station and/or web sites.
A big part of what we want to do is bring WTO protests to the delegates. Not many will listen at first, but some will. If have important things to say, more will listen.
Another part is to inform people around the globe of what is happening at the meeting. Hopefully they will use the information to put pressure on their governments.
ON NOVEMBER 9 TUNE IN AT:
www.greenpeace.org
or www.indymedia.org
For up to the minute details of the voyage of the Rainbow Warrior anytime go to www.greenpeace.org
Greenpeace presents alternative to WTO proposed new Round
Beirut, 2nd November 2001 - Greenpeace International today presented the environmental organisations' alternative to the new Round of trade liberalisation proposed by the United States and European Union for the 4th ministerial conference of World Trade Organisation (WTO). The international organisation also outlined it plans in the run up to the meeting in Doha, including the visit of the flagship SV Rainbow Warrior, which is only a few days sailing away from Doha and will be a platform to give a voice to people who are usually never heard at such meetings.
The draft ministerial declaration circulated this week from WTO headquarters in Geneva is clearly an attempt by a few countries to bully others into agreement on a new Round without giving due consideration to concerns of transparency, equity, broad participation, and the social and environment impact of globalisation (1)
Greenpeace urged WTO members states not to be intimidated by these few countries and their claims that if no new Round of trade liberalisation is launched in Doha, the meeting would be a failure.
"The new Round is being promoted by a minority of countries which have vested interests. A failure in the eyes of these countries does not mean that the entire meeting would be a failure," said Greenpeace campaigner Zeina Al-hajj, at a press conference held in Beirut. "In fact a failure to initiate a new Round could not only represent a tremendous success for the majority of WTO member states but also bring important opportunities for the WTO itself." Al- hajj added.
Greenpeace believes an acceptance of a new Round as a result of U.S. and European pressure, would go a long way to establish as legitimate the exclusive, bullying tactics used by the new Round proponents within the WTO.
Greenpeace will be participating in a seminar on "WTO and the Environment regulations" at the "World Forum on the WTO" to be held by international and local NGOs between the 5th and the 8th of November in Beruit, where it will be presenting in depth the organisation's position on WTO for the forum's participant.
"There are alternatives to a new Round," said Juergen Knirsch, Greenpeace expert on international trade, representing Greenpeace at the Forum. "Alternatives that can make Doha a success, and build a real foundation for fair multilateral negotiations in the future."
The Greenpeace flagship vessel, SV Rainbow Warrior had been granted permission by Qatari authorities to dock in Doha harbour for the duration of the WTO ministerial conference. An international crew and witnesses from the five continents will be on board to deliver their message to the WTO.
For further information please contact: Remi Parmentier, Political Director, Greenpeace International: +34 637 557 357 Zeina Alhajj, Greenpeace Mediterranean, Campaigner in Beirut +961 3 755 100 Sara Holden, Chief Media Officer Greenpeace International: +31 615007406 Jeurgen Knirsch: Greenpeace Germany, Campaigner: +49 171 8780 831
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Notes for Indymedia.
We are making this offer because we believe that a joint broadcast between Indymedia and GP is the best way to put pressure on governments not to proceed with the Free Trade agenda. To that end, we have been back and forth on technical matters, I made sure that Indymedia was consulted, and changes made, to our notice to other organizations and within GP that this is a joint effort.
We have 4 national offices (US, Canada, UK, and Lebanon) already producing programming. (Our crew is made up of 11 nationalities)That number will increase over the next week. Greenpeace has 6 people credentialed to participate in the meeting, as well as 2or 3 credentialed media reps. Most of these people will not be on the Rainbow Warrior, but will have hotel rooms in Doha. Their credentials will give us access to national delegations and WTO officials for intelligence gathering and/or interviews during the meeting. We also have a network of critics who will not be in Doha but available to do phone interviews as required.
We have been saying that we are planning at least one hour of programming a day, and that we want to put that programming on a loop, so that it will be available 24 hours. We have also been saying that by the end of the meeting we expect to generate much more programming, and that we are prepared to go 24 hours for the final day, as the meeting reaches a fever pitch before its final, rotten collapse. (sorry for the editorialising !!) In fact, at this point we are confident that we can produce more (quality) programming right from the beginning, and we still expect to go 24 hours towards the end.
We expect to start programming on the morning of the 9th, timed to be available to delegates as they wake up, say about 7:30am local time (O430 Central Euro Time). The idea is to create a sensation among the delegates themselves, and to give them a taste of the opposition to a new round. (You can run from protests, but you can't hide !!!) This in addition to informing audiences of the evil doings of their governments.
We have enough gear to operate an onboard studio, as well as a land remote station. Mini-disks will be the core of our news gathering. The ship has 2 satellite phones, as well as the usual assortment of mobile phones and antennas
(We also have a full range of broadcast quality video gear including editting decks and satellite transmission equipment that we will be using, but that's a different story for now.)
A reporter from the Wall Street Journal (???) will travel with the ship from Dubai to Doha. We are also expecting 2 journos from Al Jezeera-TV to make the trip.
I have included a press release issued Friday that gives you some outline of Greenpeace's non-broadcast activities in Doha.
Notes from Marcus Sky IMC-UK
Chema Hernandez Gil has been chosen from a short list of people that could be contacted in time and who have the technical skills and could overcome all of the travel problems. (We still have some hurdles to get over)
Due to a media blanket ban on this story, it was felt impossible to post any public messages on the indymedia network in case this endangered the negotiations with the Qatar government. Now that this ban has been lifted, I have been able to publish this update on what is happening with greenpeace.
My personal view is that indymedia should work with Greenpeace because of the very nature of greenpeace and what the NGO is attempting is roughly in line with what readers of IMC share and believe. It has been a groundbreaking experience to finally link in with greenpeace and much of the communication with greenpeace on a first time basis. Thus an important new relationship is very much closer between indymedia and greenpeace. This is not to say that indymedia shares all of Greenpeace's policies and politics.
IMC is independent as a newswire editorial agency and thus cannot be a mouthpiece for greenpeace. However I feel very comfortable with the offer on the table that we broadcast Greenpeace's message as well as quoting our own independent view on the whole show down there. We have been invited to broadcast a min of one hour up to 24 hours. This leaves us with the issue of content and IMC will be able to chase any story IMC thinks is of interest to our audience
It shows forward thinking on the part of greenpeace to contact IMC. As one of the oldest IMC reporters in Europe, I am impressed by their knowledge of IMC and our mission statement. They consider that indymedia, in the main part, is the voice and opinion of the anti-globalisation network and of the new, rapidly forming anti-war movement.
An independent viewpoint that also should be understood in case there are any critics. This is the 'only' independent broadcast platform covering the WTO conference, which is quite possibly a defining meeting between the west, the third world and Islam. Consider the role of the two al-Jezeera journalists in this equation and the possibility of IMC having a larger audience in the middle east becomes a vision. The anti-globalisation movement has never had a voice in the area, so this is an important relationship building operation with all of the players.
I hope the IMC network makes the most of this and we make true progress in being a true global independent news media network that I have high hopes for great things. Indymedia really does go where no other news agency will go and thus brings a voice to the unheard, the dispossessed and from all corners of the planet. I am nominating myself to try and put a global IRC session over how IMC is going to bring the loudest message to the widest amount of people. I have proposed this: 11pm GMT(London time) irc3.indymedia.org. join #radiodoha for all aspects of media and technical discussion. Chema will be present, greenpeace may be (they are being invited), myself, jebba, jiromil, several people from IMC-UK, NYC-IMC and from the south American IMCs and anyone from the middle east is welcome (although the language is set in English). I also like to hear from anyone from the states that can rebroadcast the WTO conference on American radio networks. A question and answer line could be set-up.
Marcus Sky IMC-UK, IMC-GENOA, IMC-PRAGUE
http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=14765 AP PRESS statement
Everything in life is connected!