(September 15) -- At the Sydney 2000 games, Mark Schulman talks with Amit Barkay, an Israeli environmental activist who's more concerned about the 'green' than the gold --
Amit Barkay, 27, of Binyamina, is in Sydney this week for the Olympic Games - although not as part of the official Israeli team.
Not that he lacks sporting experience, especially in kayaking. Last February Barkay, an activist working for the international environmental organization Greenpeace, was arrested when he and ten other protestors in kayaks tried to stop an Italian tanker delivering raw toxic materials to the PVC (polyvinyl chloride)-producing plant Electro-Chemical Industries in Akko, by chaining themselves to the factory's effluent pipes.
Barkay is currently part of a 15-strong international crew aboard the Rainbow Warrior II Greenpeace's flagship, which will be docked in Sydney Harbor throughout the Games. His mission: to help make sure that this year's Olympics will be the world's first "Green Games."
Australia won its 1993 bid to host the Olympic Games by promising to make them the most environmentally friendly games ever. IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch has said himself that the International Olympic Committee is "resolved to ensure that the environment becomes the third dimension of Olympicism, the first and second being sport and culture."
Before joining the Rainbow Warrior, Barkay worked for Greenpeace in Israel where he spent his time campaigning against US-owned chemical fertilizer manufacturer Haifa Chemicals for dumping toxic chemicals into the Mediterranean Sea. He also helped conduct surveys testing the waters of some of Israel's most polluted rivers - most notably the Kishon.
Greenpeace alerted Israeli authorities about the Kishon's threat to human health and the environment back in 1995, but no action was taken. Five years later Greenpeace came out with a report that revealed heavy dumping of toxic metals. In addition, other hazardous substances were being pumped into the Kishon by Haifa Chemicals, Gadiv, Carmel Ulipinim, and Gadot Biochemicals, as well as by local refineries and municipal sewerage treatment plants. Still, no action was taken.
It wasn't until May this year that researchers from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed the worst - that pollution from the Kishon was the direct cause of cancers discovered amongst at least 20 Israeli naval commandos who were required to dive in the polluted waters as part of their routine training.
"I was not surprised to hear about the soldiers being diagnosed with cancer," says Barkay, a reserve captain in the Israeli Navy. "Everyone has known for a long time that the river is full of heavy metals and other toxic substances."
BARKAY'S interest in environmental issues started while he was serving in the navy, but well before the recently revealed outbreak of cancer among the frogmen commandos.
"I really got interested after someone from Greenpeace Israel came to our unit to lecture on pollution issues," he says. "I really saw a connection with the work I was doing in the navy, and the importance of keeping our coastline safe and clean."
Greenpeace Israel opened its doors in 1995 and has since been active in preserving the marine environment from further toxic pollution, and fighting toxic emission from incinerators, in particular the hazardous waste site in Ramat Hovav. Through several high profile actions, in coordination with Greenpeace's Mediterranean headquarters in Malta, Greenpeace Israel has brought some of the country's worst environmental problems to the public's attention.
Following his release from the IDF in 1998, Barkay started volunteering full-time at the Greenpeace office in Tel Aviv.
"Amit was a big asset right from the start," comments Rick Gentry, fundraising coordinator for Greenpeace Israel. "He traveled down to the Tel Aviv office every day from Binyamina at his own expense, and demonstrated tremendous enthusiasm and efficiency."
In a short period of time he become an assistant campaign coordinator and found himself taking part in several actions, including a protest against ocean dumping by Haifa Chemicals in waters near Cyprus.
After working last year for several months as a security officer in Senegal, Barkay returned home and last November became the first sabra invited to join the crew of the Rainbow Warrior, as it set sail on a campaign against toxic pollution in the Mediterranean.
"Greenpeace receives some 6,000 applications a year for the Rainbow Warrior," says Gentry, "so it says something about Amit that - helped perhaps by his naval experience - he was among the 15 chosen, "
The ship made stops in eight Mediterranean countries, including Israel, with the aim of investigating toxic pollution, confronting polluting industries, and lobbying governments to ratify the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean.
"I support the cause, I like the people, and most importantly, I love the ocean," Barkay says about his experience aboard the Rainbow Warrior.
It was only a matter of time before Barkay's actions would put him in direct confrontation with the authorities.
"Sometimes you just have to do things to get your message across," he comments on his arrest at Akko last winter. "I would do it again if I had to."
And in fact, he did. Barkay was arrested again several months later while campaigning for Greenpeace in the Pacific. This time, he, along with three Greenpeace campaigners, were taken by Japanese authorities - after an intense highspeed sea chase - for breaching a one-mile exclusion zone in the waters around the G-8 summit in Okinawa this past July. Their crime: protesting against international illegal logging practices.
Barkay was released after three days in police custody and the charges against him were dropped. Satisfied with getting their point across to the international community, the Rainbow Warrior continued on its way to fight the next battle.
THE Rainbow Warrior (the name inspired by a North American Indian legend which prophesies that when man has destroyed the world through greed the Warriors of the Rainbow will arise again to save it) earned international recognition in the 1970s by sailing into US atomic test sites in the North Pacific. The ship was later bombed by French secret service operatives in New Zealand in 1985, during preparations for a protest against France's nuclear testing in the Pacific. A Greenpeace photographer was killed in the attack.
Undeterred by the setback, a new and improved Rainbow Warrior - a 55.20 meter converted steam-powered fishing vessel - was launched in 1989. Today, the ship and its committed crew of activists continue to play a major role in uncovering environmental abuse throughout the high seas.
The Rainbow Warrior arrived in Sydney from the US-administered island of Saipan, in the northern Pacific, where Greenpeace exposed the toxic legacy of US military bases and its health effect on Pacific islanders. The ship will now be docked in Sydney harbor until September 25, so visitors can meet the crew, and find out more about the campaign to "green" the Sydney Olympics.
Barkay says that Greenpeace's campaign for a "green Olympics" at Sydney has already shown some results. At the international environmental organization's urging, solar panels have been installed in the 665 newly-built homes in the Olympic Athletes Village to supply basic heat and electricity. Sustainable timber and non-toxic building materials have been used in on-site construction, and numerous recyclable paper and plastic products have been introduced. The Sydney 2000 Games will also be the first car-free Olympics, with most spectators expected to use public transportation to travel to the various events in and around the city.
According to Greenpeace however, the Olympic organizers have yet to fully live up to their commitments. Greenpeace recently issued a press release highlighting Australia's commitment, or lack of commitment, to comply with the games' environmental guidelines.
Of greatest concern is the area around the Olympic Stadium itself in Homebush Bay. Just 2.5 kilometers from the Olympic Village and 12 kilometers from the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Homebush Bay is a toxic waste dump. It is by far the most polluted waterway in Australia and is considered to be one the most toxic hotspots in the world. In fact, it is the only place in Australia where it is illegal to fish.
Greenpeace and other independent investigations at Homebush Bay have revealed high levels of dioxins, furans, phthalates, heavy metals and other persistent organic pollutants that have been dumped at the site for decades by the chemical industry. Traces of DDT and Agent Orange - the deadly chemical used during the Vietnam War - have also been found.
Although the Australian government has assured the public that the Olympic site has been made safe, Greenpeace says it has failed to properly clean-up some 400,000 tonnes of toxic waste that remain in the area. In its third and final report card on the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Greenpeace gave the organizers a "bronze medal" for its overall environmental performance.
BARKAY is not the only one in Sydney this week connected to Israeli environment concerns. Also attending the games as one of the ceremonial Olympic torch bearers is Sasha Elterman, the Australian-Jewish teenager who has suffered serious health problems since plunging into the severely polluted Yarkon river three years ago, during the Maccabiah bridge-collapse disaster.
The befouling of the Yarkon, like the Kishon, has also been the target of protests by Greenpeace Israel. What kind of "medal" does Barkay think his homeland would receive for its commitment to the environment?
"I doubt," replies the eco-activist, "that it would even pass the Olympic trials."
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