Durban activist and head of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo’s “brave and direct action” is the only hope that the world has that sanity may prevail over madness.
This is the message that his daughter, Naomi, sent out to him yesterday in a lengthy Father’s Day letter.
Naidoo, who comes from Chatsworth but is now based in Amsterdam, was arrested on Friday in Greenland after violating a court ruling barring Greenpeace from boarding an oil drilling vessel 120km off the coast of Greenland.
He was charged with trespassing and violating Greenland’s home rule order by entering Leiv Eiriksson, an exclusive zone.
He was arrested after he scaled a 30m ladder up the rig to hand over a petition which had 50 000 signatures to Cairn Energy, the operators of the oil platform, demanding that Cairn halt drilling operations and leave the Arctic.
He was flown 80km off the site via helicopter to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, where he is being kept behind bars.
He is expected to appear in court on Monday.
In the letter, his daughter says while her friends spent father’s day with their fathers, she spent the day alone in her London flat feeling proud and saddened by her father’s arrest.
“I am both proud and saddened to know that you are being held in custody in Greenland after standing up against the madness of Arctic oil drilling.
“Watching the videos of you braving the freezing water cannons to scale that massive Arctic oil rig: I can truthfully say that I will spend this Father’s Day being proud to be your daughter,” she said in the letter.
Late on Sunday night Naidoo, 45, wrote a letter addressing his friends and family who had gathered at the Durban University of Technology for a night vigil.
In the letter, Naidoo said he was being treated “very well” in prison.
“Actually having three meals a day which with my schedule is normally rare as you know…and on regular times too.
“Just missing spicy food though,” he said in the letter.
Naidoo went on to say he was looking forward to “coming home” in August where he would organise talks about climate change.
Paying tribute to her father, Naomi, 19, thanked him for making her aware of social, economic, gender and environmental issues.
“It has never been more clear to me that the Earth is a fragile place that needs protection, and if it continues to be exploited in ways such as is currently being done in the Arctic, it will not be long before there is nothing left,” she said.
Naomi said her father was in her and her family’s thoughts. “Most (people) are asking whether you had time to pack the right clothes and dress up warm, worried that the Arctic is not quite ideal weather conditions for an African man.
“Others are worried about how you are coping on prison food.,” she said.
Speaking from the vigil, Naidoo’s brother, Professor Kovin Naidoo said the family wanted to “apply pressure on the government (so) that Kumi could be released from prison”.
“We know that he’s okay and that he hasn’t been harmed, but our big concern is that there is a chance that he might spend more time in jail and we don’t want that to happen,” he said.