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January 2008: A Greenpeace inflatable boat tries to prevent Japanese whaling fleet's factory ship Nisshin Maru from refuelling from the supply vessel Oriental Bluebird in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. © Greenpeace/Rezac
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This year, we are focusing our efforts to save whales right where the Japanese government feels it the most. We’re heading to Japan.
On 10 December, the world will celebrate the anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To coincide with this, we are creating a mass mobilisation of supporters willing to declare the arrests of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki an act of political censorship and declare themselves complicit in the crime of criticising whaling.
On 15 May 2008, we used undercover investigators and the testimony of informers to expose large amounts of whale meat being smuggled off the Nisshin Maru to the private homes of crew members. Junichi and Toru intercepted one of the boxes, containing whale meat valued at up to AU$4400, and took it to the Tokyo public prosecutor. Now they are being prosecuted and facing up to 10 years in jail for exposing an embezzlement scandal at the heart of the whaling program.
Their arrest is a politically motivated attempt to quiet opposition to the whale hunt and has not gone unnoticed. Over the last few months, more than 250,000 of you have called on Japan’s Prime Minister to drop the charges and release the activists.
And in the past week, the Japanese Government has drawn criticism from the United Nations Human Rights Committee for “unreasonable restrictions placed on freedom of expression and on the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs”.
Starting on 10 December, and leading up to Junichi and Toru’s trial, we will need your help again. Let’s make sure this trial passes judgment on the real criminals in the whaling industry, and not Junichi and Toru, whose crime is speaking the truth.
We have sailed to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in defence of the whales nine times. In 2006, a harpoon was fired over the heads of activists and the cable pulled one crew member into the freezing waters of the Antarctic. The whalers rammed our ships twice, hit one of our crew members with a metal pole and used high powered water cannons against us. Despite this, they were 82 whales short of their quota. In 2007, the whaling season was cut short by a fire onboard the Nisshin Maru, and we provided emergency assistance to the whalers. In 2008, the whalers ran from the Esperanza for 14 consecutive days, saving the lives of around 100 whales.
This year, we are fighting to end whaling harder than ever. As a direct result of our work in Japan, whaling is under increasing scrutiny in the Japanese media. The diplomatic efforts of Australia and the US have made it a subject of increasing irritation for the Japanese department of Foreign Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister. But the whale friendly nations need to make this issue more than an itch. They need to make it a pain.
Recently, the whalers suffered a severe blow with the outlawing of their supply ship, Oriental Bluebird, as a result of our work in Panama, the state that previously flagged her. Japan needs the Oriental Bluebird to transport half their deadly catch home. Under international law, the ship should not go to the Southern Ocean, and no other nation should re-flag her. If Japan has no supply ship, the number of whales they can take will be halved.
This year we will not send a ship to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We see the reaction of whaling interests as conforming perfectly to the way the most successful Greenpeace campaigns play out: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you. Then you win". We have not won yet, but whaling in Japan is now clearly moving toward the endgame – and we are moving our campaign to the place where we believe that endgame will be played out – in Tokyo.
We can stop future whaling fleets before they even leave the port and we can end whaling in the Southern Ocean forever.
This shift in the focus of the Greenpeace anti-whaling campaign follows many strategic successes, including:
On 10 December, the world will celebrate the anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To coincide with this, we are creating a mass mobilisation of supporters willing to declare the arrests of Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki an act of political censorship and declare themselves complicit in the crime of criticising whaling.
Take action: Declare your solidarity with Junichi and Toru's efforts to save whales
Lies and corruption
On 15 May 2008, we used undercover investigators and the testimony of informers to expose large amounts of whale meat being smuggled off the Nisshin Maru to the private homes of crew members. Junichi and Toru intercepted one of the boxes, containing whale meat valued at up to AU$4400, and took it to the Tokyo public prosecutor. Now they are being prosecuted and facing up to 10 years in jail for exposing an embezzlement scandal at the heart of the whaling program.
Their arrest is a politically motivated attempt to quiet opposition to the whale hunt and has not gone unnoticed. Over the last few months, more than 250,000 of you have called on Japan’s Prime Minister to drop the charges and release the activists.
And in the past week, the Japanese Government has drawn criticism from the United Nations Human Rights Committee for “unreasonable restrictions placed on freedom of expression and on the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs”.
Starting on 10 December, and leading up to Junichi and Toru’s trial, we will need your help again. Let’s make sure this trial passes judgment on the real criminals in the whaling industry, and not Junichi and Toru, whose crime is speaking the truth.
End the Hunt
We have sailed to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in defence of the whales nine times. In 2006, a harpoon was fired over the heads of activists and the cable pulled one crew member into the freezing waters of the Antarctic. The whalers rammed our ships twice, hit one of our crew members with a metal pole and used high powered water cannons against us. Despite this, they were 82 whales short of their quota. In 2007, the whaling season was cut short by a fire onboard the Nisshin Maru, and we provided emergency assistance to the whalers. In 2008, the whalers ran from the Esperanza for 14 consecutive days, saving the lives of around 100 whales.
This year, we are fighting to end whaling harder than ever. As a direct result of our work in Japan, whaling is under increasing scrutiny in the Japanese media. The diplomatic efforts of Australia and the US have made it a subject of increasing irritation for the Japanese department of Foreign Affairs and the office of the Prime Minister. But the whale friendly nations need to make this issue more than an itch. They need to make it a pain.
Recently, the whalers suffered a severe blow with the outlawing of their supply ship, Oriental Bluebird, as a result of our work in Panama, the state that previously flagged her. Japan needs the Oriental Bluebird to transport half their deadly catch home. Under international law, the ship should not go to the Southern Ocean, and no other nation should re-flag her. If Japan has no supply ship, the number of whales they can take will be halved.
This year we will not send a ship to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We see the reaction of whaling interests as conforming perfectly to the way the most successful Greenpeace campaigns play out: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you. Then you win". We have not won yet, but whaling in Japan is now clearly moving toward the endgame – and we are moving our campaign to the place where we believe that endgame will be played out – in Tokyo.
We can stop future whaling fleets before they even leave the port and we can end whaling in the Southern Ocean forever.
This shift in the focus of the Greenpeace anti-whaling campaign follows many strategic successes, including:
- Causing the de-flagging of the whaling fleet re-supply ship, the Oriental Bluebird last month, potentially cutting this years’ hunt in half;
- Creating an online petition targeting the Democratic Party of Japan to urge the Japanese government to end whaling, signed by 130,000 Australians;
- Pressuring seafood company Nissui to withdraw financial support for the Japanese whaling industry, leaving them totally government funded since April 2006.
Take action
If the Japanese government is going to unfairly prosecute the two activists for exposing the scandal and corruption of the whaling industry, they will have to face everyone that supports an end to the whale hunt. Join the fight to stop whaling – in person and online.
