|
Journal
- Latest
entries
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
Archive
Journal entries prior to May 2008 can be found in the old archived site here
|
|
Remembering Chico Mendes
In the Greenhouse, 20 Years On
13 January 2009
Never thought of myself as a diary-keeper, indeed had not kept a diary until 1989, when I completed a diary which was then turned into a book, A Year in the Greenhouse, by Victor Gollancz. The first entry, for Friday, 23 December 1988, began as follows" In today's world, a shotgun can sometimes be heard around the world." I then went on to talk about the assassination the previous day of Chico Mendes, who had fought to protect Brazil's rubber and brazil nut reserves against the depredations of loggers and cattle ranchers. Activists still run the risk of murder there.
Tonight, went along to the Royal Society of Arts for an evening with Elenira Mendes, Chico's daughter, flanked by a panel including Jonathan Dove, Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace and Dame Vivienne Westwood. Interesting flashes, and not (mercifully) by the once-knickerless-Dame, but overall the evening struck me as somewhat flat. Dame Vivienne did her best pantomime party piece, alternately lauding Jim Lovelock and warning that 5 billion people will die this century before scooting off into la-la-land.
Early on there was lively applause for Greenpeace's cunning plan of buying a plot of land smack-bang in the middle of where BAA wants to build its third runway at Heathrow.
Comments
|
|
