Thursday, January 3, 2008

Whaling Protests

(Photo credit: The Australian)

The anti-whaling protests against Japan continue, most notably in Australia where a gathering of about 250+ people converged outside the Japanese consulate.

A spokesperson from Animal Liberation Victoria told the media that people had gathered "to send a strong message to Japan to stop whaling". One person was engaged in beating a gong 985 times symbolically for the whales Japan intends to slaughter this season.

The crowd was invited to sign the flag to send messages from Australia to Japan on the whaling issue. While people signed, the crowd chanted "Japan's bloodbath, ban whaling", "Boats of death, ban whaling", and "Japan's shame, ban whaling".

"It took about 40 minutes to strike the gong 985 times, the time it can take for a whale to die" said a spokesperson.


In other news, the government of Australia refuses to divulge the location of the Japanese whalers.


Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd calls it a "betrayal."

Greenpeace says they "understand the Australian government's position."

I'm with Sea Shepherd on this. All Australia plans to do is basically sit by and watch the whalers in action, recording their activities and taking pictures and/or video. Their goal is to potentially use the footage and other evidence against Japan in a court of law.

But that doesn't stop the whaling and obviously there will be no attempts by Australia to intervene with the killing.

As I've stated before, it seems to me that PM Rudd is basically putting on a dramatic show of being anti-whaling, blowing smoke up every one's butts, while being more concerned about continuing a mutually beneficial economic relationship with Japan.

Sea Shepherd's Executive Director Kim McCoy says it best:

"It is obvious that Japan is exerting intense pressure on Australia to do very little. For the Rudd government it appears that the policy is to present the appearance of aggressively opposing illegal whaling to satisfy the domestic pressure to end whaling but at the same to do very little in order to maintain a cordial trade relationship with Japan,"


What happened to everyone working together for a common goal? It doesn't matter who prevents the killing or who does what. What matters is that these whales do not meet with a cruel and inhumanely slow death by harpoon.

I mentioned in a previous post about one lone man who is on his own mission to participate in preventing whale culling and protesting against the Japanese government on this matter.

He's out there now in his 10-metre boat, battling the elements and hopes to get between a harpoon and a whale, much like Greenpeace plans to do, given the opportunity.

You can read more about this at: On a mission to battle whaling Goliath

Let's all hope and pray for his safety, and give props for his courage. Some might think it's foolhardy, but personally, I admire him. We should all follow our passions and stand up for what we feel is right, no matter the cost.

Mahalo,

Dolphin

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