On the hottest day of the year so far I found myself in boiling hot room with a bunch of men being told to strip down while two Russians watch on, no this is not some KGB torture camp this is a Greenpeace action (please come to Greenpeace actions!)
You never know what your doing on a Greenpeace action before you go so I was oblivious to the campaign against Volkswagen until I got there and saw the massive banner we were going to drape across the billboards at Old Street, the big media area of London were many of the advertisement companies work. Volkswagen are one of the biggest car manufacturers in Europe have great influence over a lobbyist group that is trying to fight against the EU's proposed 30% carbon emission cuts, this fly's directly in the face of their claims that they are committed to creating greener cars and promoting themselves as one of the greenest car companies about, so Greenpeace decided to call public attention to that fact. This is why I was in that hot room with a group of other volunteers in our boxers, so we could parody/spoof their incredibly popular commercial starring a pint sized Darth Vader. It wasn't the best day to be dressing in a skin tight black body suit but we had 2 members of the 501st there to help us through it putting on the pieces of armour which is a lot harder then you'd think, give us their experience and whip us into a well regimented squad of Imperial Soldiers.
During the action many Stormtroopers armed with speakers boom boxes and information readjustment banners were out and about at Old Street making headlines, scaring children (perhaps ;) ) delighting others by randoming up their day and of course informing people about Volkswagen. I however was sent on a more important task (so important we didn't get megaphones or boom-boxes!) of going to Volkswagen HQ and informing their employees of their companies activities as they arrived for work in the morning and deliver Greenpeace message to the local managers, a move that would be copied around Europe. So at Milton keys at 8.00am two Stormtroopers and a few other Greenpeace volunteers turned up to Volkswagens regional head office and started distributing leaflets to employees as the arrived for work, the initial response of the security team was to wave the cars through and rush them into the building (no free thinking allowed at VW) however when the manager came out to talk to our well dressed representative they were allowed to stop and collect a leaflet if they wanted, which almost all of them did. The manager after talking with our rep was happy to have a picture taken with us and that summed up the mood of all the employees who had massive grins on their faces as they came in the drive and submitted to the Empires supreme authority by taking out leaflets. Whether they were as happy once they learned what their employer was up to is unsure but I think when over 90% of people stop for you in their cars and take the information your giving out its a successful events. (If you have seen the video I am the Stormtrooper who is looking very professional and fumbling with his leaflets, helmets are harder to see through then you think.)
Later in the day instead of joining the other group we went into London to meet up with some of the lobbyists who were against the carbon cuts and present our case to them, once again we were met with smiles and the receptionist obviously thought a professional lobbyist group would have hired two Stormtroopers to sit in on their meeting and pointed us to their meeting room. As they left for lunch we were outside waiting for them and were giving out leaflets once again which was much harder considering they were not that interested in the environment and they had a group of PA's making a human shield for them as not to allow them to be subjected to differing points of view. We were very quickly shown the door which we then very quickly set ourselves up outside standing in a military position while the two other activists gave out information to interested passers by and employees of the offices before they were bustled away by the Receptionist. Its was great meeting so many other activists and getting involved with such a big and interesting action, its definatly something I'd hope every member of Greenpeace gets to experience to try!
Comments