Feature story - May 30, 2005
ULSAN, Korea, Republic of — Yesterday our Whale Embassy Activists, on the ground in Korea, received a visit from angry representatives of the Jangsaengpo Development Association in the city of Ulsan. Our campaigner Jim Wickens tells the story of what happened next - and how we must help the people of Ulsan rebuild their lives without whaling.
"It all began at 6pm as promised. As the local development
association leaders walked into the embassy, the police cars idled
to a halt outside. The showdown had begun. What followed was a
rollercoaster of a meeting with a wonderful result.
The local leaders spent a long time discussing the history of
their community, how the number in their 'dying' community had
dropped form 16000 to 1600 in only 10 years. They talked about how
they accepted a polluting factory upwind so that they could have
the whale research centre and whale museum as well.
With trembling hands as they spoke, these community
representatives obviously did not want to be fighting. They
explained that the embassy was okay, but the mounds with the whale
tails behind were painful for them, striking an all too
real chord of the past, whilst preventing them from embracing the future with
oceans day and the opening of the whale museum. At that moment one
of the crew ran into the meeting to whisper in our ear that three
coach-loads of riot police had just arrived and parked on the
ground outside the embassy. After sending climbers up the mast, we
continued with our meeting, while the police officers listened
close by.
We explained that the whale tail mounds were erected by us to
illustrate the certain demise of whales and whaling communities if
whaling is ever resumed. We offered to take down the
mounds to show the genuine intentions of our goodwill, both to the
whales and to the coastal fishing communities as well. They could
not believe what they heard and were genuinely blown away. We
explained that we would like to help find alternative ways to economically revive the community in a
sustainable but profitable way.
Suddenly the president of the community group said he wanted to
learn about whale watching and would welcome all the advice that we
could give him on this. The guy next to him said that he would like
to get the children from Jangsaengpo school to come and meet us and
help design banners for oceans day to hang from the mast. Obviously
over the moon, they added that because it was so obvious that we
meant well, that Greenpeace could stay until the end of
the IWC, and if we have any problems, then we should get
in contact with them immediately. After a brief discussion of whale
watching history in Australia, we all agreed that we would meet very soon to
talk about each other’s concerns in more detail.
The meeting ended with a spontaneous round of applause and by the time we
emerged from the embassy, the riot police had gone, disappearing as
mysteriously as they had arrived. And so it was that the
organization that wanted to blockade the Rainbow Warrior in Ulsan
port last month and that publicly promised direct action against
Greenpeace only 24 hours ago, ended up agreeing to reconnect our
water, meet soon to discuss whale watching, send their children to the embassy to learn more about
whales and insist on having a group photo together
before they left.
We have now opened up a dialogue and potential friendship with
the most historically pro-whaling community in Korea, and a group
who are pushing for the whale factory as a means of reviving the
community. We now have a month to create, persuade and help sell an
alternative future for
the community of Jangsaengpo.
The feeling in the camp is great and we are having pizzas to
celebrate!"
Tell the Korean government that whaling is not the answer!
Ask the Korean and local governments to help the people of Jangsaengpo with real solutions - not whaling.
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