Greenpeace Stage A 'Climate Change' Stencil Action In Hong Kong...

Wed, 19/05/2010 - 6:24am

5am this morning, and I was quietly creeping along Lower Albert Road with activists from the Hong Kong office of Greenpeace China.

Taking care not to make any noise, or use the flash on my camera, I photographed a team of activists stencilling white poster paint slogans on the pavement outside the Central Government Offices. It took ages for the police to arrive.

Hong Kong's finest did eventually turn up.

Confucianism hard at work.

Greenpeace were pleasant an non-confrontational throughout.

You're nicked, son!

Some senior rozzer will be in the firing line today, that's for sure.

Questions will be asked as to why it took well over twenty minutes for the police to arrive and stop the activists. Embarrassingly for the police, Greenpeace succeeded in their aim of making a entire loop of Hong Kong Government buildings with end-to-end slogans.

By 9am, the slogans were still there for the commuter crowd to enjoy.

It took several hours for the hapless bureaucrats to get their Kärchers ready .

There was much faffing with tangled extension leads and leaky hose pipes at the main gates to CGO on Lower Albert Road.

There were some comical scenes on Queen's Road too.

Security guards and AOs, all in a flap.

The stencil loop was supposed to symbolise a rope tightening around Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang. Here's Ice House Street.

And here's Lower Albert Road.

But does anyone really care?

ALEX HOFFORD : HONG KONG CHINA PHOTOGRAPHER

What does it mean?

Submitted by smog (not verified) on Wed, 19/05/2010 - 1:06pm.

You'd think that if they're going to put some of the slogan in English they'd get it read by someone who speaks the language to check that it actually makes sense! I assume this is a literal translation of the Chinese, but what exactly is "Catch Donald" supposed to mean?

And "Climate" isn't going to cease to exist, so saving "Save Climate" isn't a meaningful statement in the way that say "Save the whales" would be. Do they perhaps mean something like "Stop Climate Change"?

Shark's fin

Submitted by Joyce Lau (not verified) on Mon, 31/05/2010 - 3:39pm.

Hi Alex, I mentioned on my blog that you're working on a book with Paul Hilton on shark's fin. If you have any shark-related photos that I could you, please let me know. Thanks! Joyce

I never thought that even

Submitted by Vending Machines Business (not verified) on Tue, 01/06/2010 - 10:54am.

I never thought that even Greenpeace will do a move something like this. I mean why don't they do something in a more legal way, vandalizing on the street isn't a good example even their intention is good.

Hi Joyce

Submitted by Alex on Sat, 05/06/2010 - 11:46am.

Yes I am. It is coming out in July. Can you contact me offline about it?

love the subversion

Submitted by gweipo (not verified) on Sun, 06/06/2010 - 12:31pm.

come on everyone, get a sense of humour. That's funny. It's impressive.
I like it. And thanks to Alex for photographing it. I'd be happy to bail my kids out if they did something like that. Although I'd hope the wording was slightly better thought out.

i have the same feeling

Submitted by Mr.M (not verified) on Mon, 07/06/2010 - 3:38am.

i have the same feeling after i saw those pictures. like you said, I don't think Greenpeace, such a well-known organization should always perform like a low-level player.
What I read from those pictures is wasting extra energy and public resources to clean up the what-was-left after the show.
After all, the intention is good, the presentation is poor.