Why isn't this piracy?

[Dinner]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/3824355.stm

Green Peace says they feel so strongly against the use of GM foods that they sent speed boats to a French shipping vessal which was entering a British port and then sent men aboard to seize control of the ship. There is no word as to what the "activists" have done with the crew but when the British harbor pilot came to guide the ship in to port the "activists" pulled up the ladders and refused to let the government offical board.

I realize that everyone has a right to free speech but what about the ship owners right to carry out legal international commerce? What about their right to not have criminals sneak aboard their ships and take away control of the ship from the crew? Why shouldn't these "activists" be charged with piracy and thrown in jail for the rest of their natural lives? Personally, I think they should plus since the Green Peace Organization is organizing, training, and financing people to commit acts of piracy they should be severally dealt with too.

[Space05us]

It would be a French vessel wouldnt it?

[joncha]

Re: Why isn't this piracy?

Because they didn't meet the minimum pirate requirements in terms of eye-patches and parrots.

[problem_child]

Screw that, Yay Green Peace, Direct Action Now, Smash The Gene-Corp Scum!

[FrustratedPoet]

Re: Why isn't this piracy?

Originally posted by Oerdin
Personally, I think they should plus since the Green Peace Organization is organizing, training, and financing people to commit acts of piracy they should be severally dealt with too.

I think that too.

[FrustratedPoet]

Would this mean that everyone who gives money to Green Peace is funding terrorism?

[Dinner]

Piracy at least.

For those of you who approve of taking over ships please explain to me why this isn't piracy. So far all I've heard is something along the lines of "It isn't piracy because I agree with their politics".

[Dinner]

From dictionary.com

piracy

n 1: robbery on the high seas; taking a ship away from the control of those who are legally entitled to it

It seems clear that they have "tak[en] a ship away from the control of those who are legally entitled to it". So the question remains why isn't this piracy?

[Nubclear]

Oerdin, before your head explodes, I'd like to point out that nobody has really seriously stated that this wasnt piracy

[Last Conformist]

I think it's pretty clear it is. But I'm afraid the UK doesn't hang pirates anymore.

[Urban Ranger]

How did they seize control of the ship? Did they point guns at people, or did they just get in the way?

[Chemical Ollie]

Who said it isn't piracy? Since it happened today (or was it yesterday?) the legal process is far from over. However, I don't think calling in a SWAT team to resolve the situation would give good publicity, as they don't seem to be threatening anybody's life.

Would you support the French way to deal with Greenpeace?

[problem_child]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Piracy at least.

For those of you who approve of taking over ships please explain to me why this isn't piracy. So far all I've heard is something along the lines of "It isn't piracy because I agree with their politics".

I didn't say that, fact is it is piracy. GOOD piracy!

[Dinner]

If it is piracy then this begs the next question. Why haven't we thrown the book at people who have done this in the past? Surely, a crime is a crime even if you are politically sympathetic to their criminals cause? I'm sure loads of Arabs sympathized with various terror groups which hijacked planes and ships in the 70's and 80's but it was still a crime.

This guys can't be hanged which was the traditional method of punishing pirates but they should still get at least 20 years as should the organization which trains them, finances them, and puts them up to such criminal acts. Just my two cents.

UR: I'm not sure. If it was violent then I'd say give them life without parole but if it was nonviolent then 20 years would work for me. I'm not sure how one nonviolently takes control of a ship though.

[problem_child]

Actually piracy for money is alive and vibrant on the high seas (why is it called high seas, when all sea is at... sea-level?) especially in the Carribean and South-East Pacific. Any particular reason why this Green Peace piracy annoys you, as opposed to the thousands of pirates that also get away with it? I know alot of people find Green Peace really annoying, because they're abit up-themselves.