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I first heard of Greenpeace as a teenager, listening to a small transistor radio..
..where the one independent radio station reported that the french intelligence had actually..
..bombed the Rainbow Warrior.
And I think the news of..
..the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior..
..had a huge impact on my life, because it kind of showed
..that if you are really well organised..
..those that are your adversaries might be so threatened that they will
take such an extreme action.
If history teaches us anything..
..all of the challenges or struggles that humanity face..
..these struggles only move forward with people..
..engaged in what, in Greenpeace language, we call non-violent direct action,
or others call it civil disobedience..
..and we make no apologies..
..for using that which has worked historically..
..as a core part of our work.
We are having to make greater sacrifices, greater commitments,
..think out of the box. If we are saying it cannot be business as usual
we should be telling ourselves it cannot be activism as usual.
I think most people think..
..that we spend ninety five percent of our time..
..you know, occupying oil rigs, engaging in marches, and so on.
But actually the thing that people find most surprising..
..is that in fact..
..a lot of our work is dialogue, research, scientific engagement,
negotiations, planning, and so on.
There is a caricature..
..that gets put onto people who stand out,
..stick their necks on the line, and take a position first.
So I would say, to young people in particular,
don't be afraid about being vilified.
The struggle for justice has never been a popularity contest.
Nelson Mandela put it very well..
..he said, you know, the struggle to end racial injustice in South Africa..
..is something that I'm prepared to work for and live for.
And if need be, it's a struggle I feel so committed to..
..that I'm prepared to die for, if necessary.
We need to say to those with power, do not think..
..you are going to intimidate by us by threatening us with violence,
..threatening us with your court cases..
..forget it, is my message to them.
So long as the fight is not over..
..we should have a sense of optimism that we can actually win this.