By now you probably know that the crew of the Arctic Sunrise (the 'Arctic 30') have been held by the Russian authorities and could face 15 years in prison. I won't go into why the piracy charges are ridiculously disproportionate and have no basis in international maritime law - you can read that here. I won't go into how upset and frustrated this makes us all feel - we just want our friends and fellow campaigners safely back home - these are not hardened criminals, they are peaceful people with homes and families to go back to. Instead, I'd rather talk about what we can do.
The first thing, and nearly a million people have done this, is to write to the Russian Ambassador in your country to urge them to get the Arctic 30 released - if you haven't already written, it's quick and easy using this link (or this one if you're not in the UK). You can share the links around too - as widely as you like please - facebook and Twitter (#freethearctic30) are a good start.
That's not all though - this Saturday 5th Oct is an international solidarity day to show support for the Arctic 30. There are events happening all over the UK (and the rest of the world) but in Southampton these are the details, so please do come along and help even if only for an hour. They will all have the same theme - showing support for the prisoners - and we'll be asking members of the public to write messages of support on paper doves which we'll then send to the Arctic 30 in Russia. It may not get them released, but it will remind them that they are not alone - and that there are huge numbers of people working for their freedom - after all, they were campaigning for all of us, and so we stand together.
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