Steaming towards Cancun

We began our journey from Veracruz to Cancun yesterday morning knowing that a hurricane now named Isabel could intercept us on our way or hit us after we arrive.

We are really eager to get to Cancun and send a strong message to the WTO and the world’s governments that people and the environment must be freed from the effects of forced trade.

Last night onboard we watched a brand new documentary film on the genetic contamination of maize in Mexico and the social impacts on campesinos of the dumping of genetically engineered (GE) maize from the US. The film, made by Eréndira Valle Padilla from the film school in Mexico City, made a huge impact on all of us. Not only is GE maize threatening the incredible diversity of maize races and varieties in Mexico, but millions of Mexican farmers have had to give up farming due to dumping of cheap US maize in Mexico.

Among the scientists and farmers featured in the film is Professor Ignacio Chapela from the University of California at Berkeley who was the first to document (in the respected science journal Nature) that native maize in the Oaxaca state of Mexico has been contaminated with genetically engineered maize genes.

For a long time the US and Mexican governments denied the contamination and later sought to downplay its importance. We won’t let them get away with ignoring this very serious and growing problem, just as we won’t let agribusiness corporations such as Monsanto and Cargill get away with profiting at the expense of both biodiversity and Mexican subsistence farmers.

When doing non-violent direct action at sea, Greenpeace always puts safety first, so on today’s program was boat training for crew, volunteers and campaigners. Regular boat training is needed in order to be able to use the boats safety and effectively, and the training exercise went really well.

Despite our eagerness to get to Cancun and our begging -- and sometimes cursing -- Isabel to please, please change direction away from our route and destination, it seems our wishes and prayers are not being heard. Isabel with its 115-140 knots winds is now east of Cuba and is still heading west towards Cancun -- I wonder if there’s a hidden message to the WTO here…

In any case, as safety must come first, we’re waiting in a safe area to see whether Isabel keeps moving west or curves up north along the Florida coast. Therefore we still don’t know when we will make it to Cancun. In our frustration over this uncertainty, we take note that we cannot change the weather -- only governments and big oil companies that continue to promote use of climate changing fossil fuels can do that!

Dan Hindsgaul is a Greenpeace campaigner on board MV Arctic Sunrise