Greenpeace India is under threat — and could be shut down permanently. Keep the environmental movement in India strong. Ask the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to support free speech in India.

I’m writing you today because Greenpeace India is fighting for survival.

India is poised to lead the world on tackling climate change and reducing poverty by showing we can move from dirty to clean, renewable energy.

But over the last few months, government authorities here have been doing everything they can to stop our work — from putting travel bans on our staff to blocking our bank accounts. So far, the courts have been on our side and these orders have been overturned.

The relief is only temporary.

That’s why I’m asking Greenpeace supporters like you from around the world to take action and call on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to support free speech in India.

Why is this happening? Over the last 15 years, Greenpeace India has had some important victories. Sometimes, we disagreed with the government too. This has now earned us the wrath of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The Indian home ministry seems determined to silence Greenpeace India’s work. Soon, the campaigns we’re running here to protect the forests, for clean air and against dirty energy could be scrapped.

Attacks on freedom of speech and democracy here in India — and it’s not just Greenpeace — threaten our ability to be a major force in tackling climate change and poverty. We need a strong environmental movement in India to solve the most pressing issues of our generation. We need a strong Greenpeace India.

I know this issue isn’t unique to India. Freedom of speech and the right to question powerful people is under threat all over the world. The United Nations helps protect these rights, so ordinary people can speak out and help find solutions to the problems facing our planet.

Please take action today and ask the UN Secretary General to speak up for free speech in India.

Since 2001 Greenpeace India has worked with communities all over India to safeguard our natural environment and better the lives of all our citizens:

• We worked with the forest community of Mahan to save the lands on which their livelihoods depend. Small communities that might otherwise not be heard worked together to take on the might of giant coal companies — and won.

• Together with the people of Dharnai, we’ve shown the possibilities of solar energy in India. A whole village now has electricity for the first time — clean, renewable electricity.

• And after a Greenpeace India investigations showed unsafe pesticides in tea, four major Indian tea producers agreed to phase out their use. Good for tea drinkers and the natural world.

Now instead of being rolled out all over India — and the world — projects such as Dharnai are facing the prospect of being shut down because government authorities are threatening our very right to exist.

Take action now to keep projects like Dharnai alive in India.

If we can’t continue to speak out against climate-wrecking companies, and help lead the fight for clean energy in India, so much will be lost.

I’m proud of our tradition of free speech in India. I’m proud of Greenpeace India. That’s why I’m asking you to join me in standing up for Greenpeace India and speaking up for freedom.

For Free Speech,

Samit Aich,
Director, Greenpeace India

P.S. Stand with Greenpeace India and for free speech by taking action today.

“Let’s leave the oil beneath the ground… the oil industry is destructive for indigenous society, non-indigenous society, the planet, and nature. It disrupts our indigenous worldview and destroys our ecosystems.”
– PatriciaGualingaKichwa leader ofSarayaku,EcuadorDear carmen,This week, world leaders are in Bonn, Germany for the latest round of climate negotiations. They are working on a draft version of a major United Nations agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions that are changing the Earth’s climate. But the fossil fuel industry and other global corporations that have a vested interest in stopping progress on climate policymaking continue to delay, weaken, and block climate policy at every level.

The only way we’ll get an international agreement to reduce emissions is to end the corporate interference that has derailed and watered down climate talks time and again.

Please join us, Corporate Accountability International and many other allied organizations to call on world leaders to kick big polluters out of policymaking. SIGN TODAY to join this call.

We are more than halfway to our goal of 250,000 signatures! They will be delivered in just a few days while the meetings are still under way. Sign today because if the United Nations is serious about finding real solutions to our increasingly urgent climate crisis, fossil fuels have to go.

For our global climate,

Paul Paz y Miño
Director of Outreach and Online Strategy