Guest guest Posted August 21, 2000 Report Share Posted August 21, 2000 ===== A message from the 'makahwhaling' discussion list ===== FROM WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE ------------ Sekiu, WA: 6:15am PDT In today's news, we have plenty of culture-based killings to go around. The focus of this update is the renewed Japanese whaling in the North Pacific. It should be noted that while the purpose of these updates is to keep you informed of developments in the Makah whaling issue, the connection between the two is so important that we felt it necessary to keep you posted. We highly encourage you to visit www.stopwhalekill.org for the latest in this, and other issues. ***** INTERNATIONAL CRITICISM OF JAPANESE WHALING GROWS ----------- Representatives From Ten Nations Set to Deliver Strong Protest Message Today To Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, Action Applauded by IFAW TOKYO, Aug 20, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW - www.ifaw.org) today learned, from well-placed US government sources, that ten nations' ambassadors to Japan have signed a strong letter of protest against Japanese whaling and that the letter is to be delivered today to Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono at a 4:15 pm scheduled meeting. The ambassadors of the US, UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, and German are confirmed to be participating in the protest; Mexico and Brazil are also likely to join sources said. This action signals a growing global opposition movement to Japan's annual whale hunt, which this year began in force on 29 July. Since that date, Japan's Fisheries Agency has confirmed that 6 minke whales, 4 bryde's and 1 sperm whale have been killed by the Japanese whaling fleet. The International Fund for Animal Welfare and its 2.5 million supporters around the world strongly oppose Japanese whaling, and support US trade sanctions against Japan for its blatant disrespect of international whaling agreements. " We applaud this action and congratulate the governments involved for their willingness to take such a strong stand against Japan's renegade actions, " said IFAW President Fred O'Regan of the anticipated delivery of the multi-national protest message. " If Japan wants to become a respected political player on the world stage, they should begin by showing they can live up to both the spirit and intent of international agreements, " said Karen Steuer, IFAW Director of Commercial Exploitation of Animals. " That is the message being delivered today by these powerful nations in protest to Japanese whaling. We hope the government of Japan is listening. " For downloadable images of Japanese whaling and the fleet leaving on 29 July, as well as information on IFAW's global campaign against commercial whaling visit www.StopWhalingNow.com. ***** FROM THE WHALE AND DOLPHIN CONSERVATION SOCIETY ----- WDCS PRESS RELEASE Fifteen countries and sixty-five Japanese organisations add to diplomatic measures to stop Japanese whaling In two unprecedented moves, the Japanese Government has today been bombarded with diplomatic and domestic protests over its killing of three protected species of whales. Earlier today in Tokyo, a demarche signed by 15 countries was presented to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling on Japan to end its so-called " scientific whaling " in the North Pacific. At the same time, an open letter to the Prime Minister of Japan, signed by 65 Japanese environmental and animal welfare organisations, called on him to stop the hunt immediately. These unique initiatives add to pressure on Japan to stop whaling from a joint letter of protest from Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand; a resolution passed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC); and the threat of trade sanctions by the USA. Japan argues that the hunt (which is an extension of its infamous minke whale hunt) is justified on scientific grounds. Japan inaccurately claims that whales are eating too many fish needed by humans, and that it needs to kill 10 sperm whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 100 minke whales to determine their stomach contents. The IWC, which has banned commercial whaling since 1986, considered Japan's 'research proposal' at its annual meeting last month. It robustly criticised Japan's poor scientific arguments, noting that the 'data' sought in the hunt was not necessary for whale management and could, in any case, be gathered by non-lethal means. The IWC adopted a resolution calling on Japan to refrain from the hunt. But this and other attempts to stop the whaling operation have, so far, been ignored by Japan, whose five-vessel fleet set sail shortly after the IWC meeting closed and has already killed a sperm whale, four Bryde's whales and five minke whales. As Sue Fisher, Campaigns Manager at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, notes, " this whaling operation is motivated by money, not science. Japan is targeting two new species of whales that yield large quantities of meat. Japan wants to increase its whaling and its profits and is testing the resolve of the international community. WDCS is delighted to see such a resounding protest against Japanese whaling both within Japan and from so many nations. Even countries that have previously contemplated doing a 'deal' with Japan to bring its minke whaling under control, have joined this diplomatic protest and given Japan the clear message that its whaling activities will simply not be tolerated. " Nanami Kurasawa, Director of the Dolphin and Whale Action Network in Japan, whose open letter to the Prime Minster of Japan is supported by 64 other Japanese organisations, describes the hunt as " unacceptable " and calls on Japan to " stop killing whales under the guise of science " . She protests that, " this research will not benefit whales, the IWC or the Japanese public; it just provides a cover for a profit-making industry selling luxury food items to a tiny minority of the Japanese population " . She refutes the claim that whale meat is a staple food in Japan and notes that the whaling industry and government have had to run media campaigns in Japan to encourage whale meat consumption. For a copy of the Japanese NGO statement, footage of Japanese whaling, or other details, contact: Sue Fisher, WDCS-UK Tel (44) (0) 1225 334511 Nanami Kurasawa - Dolphin and Whale Action Network. Tel (81) 3-3366-8122 ***** INDIANS SEEK RIGHT TO HUNT ANIMALS ON ENDANGERED LIST -------- Vancouver Sun, August 16, 2000 by Andrew Duffy OTTAWA - The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations wants the federal government to guarantee native Indians the right to hunt " traditional " animals - even endangered ones. Matthew Coon Come and other native leaders met Tuesday with Environment Minister David Anderson and provincial wildlife ministers to express concern about the Species At Risk Act and its infringement on hunting and treaty rights. In a meeting with the ministers in Iqualuit, native Indian groups asked to be made exempt from any absolute prohibition against the killing of endangered species, such as the bowhead whale and Peary caribou. " Every time there is an [endangered species] list that is prepared, the First Nations people are the first ones to be affected, " Coon Come told reporters in a telephone conference call. He asked Anderson, MP for Victoria, to guarantee Canadian native Indians, the right to harvest a limited number of animals, whether they're on the endangered list or not. " We can establish some guaranteed harvest levels and we can continue our community and ceremonial activities, " Coon Come said. Anderson told reporters that the limited harvest of an endangered species has proven to be workable in the case of the bowhead whale. The federal government now licenses the killing of one bowhead whale once every two years in the Eastern and Western Arctic. ***** ANCIENT RITUAL, CODE COLLIDE ------------------------------- Associated Press Tuesday, August 1, 2000 Every spring for centuries, Hopi Indians gathered fledgling golden eagles from nests perched on the red-hued cliffs of what is now northeastern Arizona and used them in religious ceremonies. But Wupatki National Monument officials stopped the practice last year, saying it violated federal laws prohibiting taking wildlife from national parks. The case is the latest in a string of disputes involving Indian cultural and religious traditions, the government and environmentalists. To the Hopi, what's at stake is the essence of their religion, which is older than the 12th-century ruins their ancestors built at Wupatki. " The practice of eagle-gathering is central to Hopi religion and cultural life, " tribal chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. said. " The Hopi regard the eagles as embodying the spirits of their ancestors. " Interior Department lawyers have been considering the issue for nearly a year and hope to have a ruling before 2001, said Patricia Parker, the National Park Service's Indian liaison. Critics say the Park Service cannot give the Hopi an exemption without giving all other tribes the same rights in other national parks and monuments. " If the long-standing prohibitions of taking animals from parks can be waived for religious purposes of the Hopis, then how can you not waive it for the religious purposes of Navajos or Blackfeet or Quinault, or other tribes that claim they want to take wildlife from parks for traditional ceremonial, religious or even subsistence purposes? " asked Frank Buono, a retired Park Service official. Buono is a board member of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, one of the environmental groups pressing the Park Service to stop the Hopis from gathering the eagles. Some Indian leaders complain that environmentalists show ambivalence toward tribes. " You find a lot of environmentalists who are only too happy to appropriate the words of Chief Seattle, or take the thinking of other great people of native history about the environment, " said Suzan Shown Harjo, a Cheyenne-Muskogee and director of the Morning Star Institute, an Indian rights group based in Washington. " There are people who are only too happy to adopt those trappings as their own and continue to disregard the living people who are related to that legacy. " The Hopi have permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to gather 40 golden eaglets a year for use in religious ceremonies, during which the birds are killed. The ceremonies are exempt from the 1962 federal law protecting golden eagles, which are not listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The permits do not specify where the eagles can be taken. The U.S. Forest Service allows them to be gathered in federal forest land. But Wupatki Monument Superintendent Sam Henderson said he intervened because federal law does not exempt Hopis or other Indians from the ban on killing or capturing wildlife in the monument. Parker said the prohibition was enforced last year because it was the first time the Hopi made a formal request to gather eaglets in the monument. Harjo, who helped write a White House report on Indian religious freedom in 1979, said federal law has plenty of exemptions for capturing or killing animals in parks for religious or other purposes. For example, Sioux tribal members are allowed to hunt for religious and subsistence purposes in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. ***** MORE ON THE GREEN PARTY - (From a European contact) " Can I please ask people to write to the European Federation of Green Parties at efgp asking them to condemn the pro-whale murder comments made by American Green Party Vice-Presidential candidate, Winona LaDuke? When writing to the EFGP please point out that " Save the Whale " is an international rallying cry for environmental activists around the world, and that LaDuke's comments can only harm Green politics internationally. Please state that for European Greens to retain their integritty they must distance themselves from LaDuke and her pro-whale murder comments. Also please ask the EFGP to call on the American Green Party to deselect LaDuke as their Vice-Presidential candidate as this is the only way the American Green Party can regain its integrity. " (Ed. Note- If you've already contacted the Nader/LaDuke campaign about the Makah issue, thank you! We have been informed that there is another address that the Green Party wishes you to use when contacting the Nader/LaDuke campaign: The address is campaign ***** WE'VE HEARD IT BEFORE, THANKS... -- " This whole thing must be seen from the larger perspective of imposing another set of values on a culture. " Joji Morishita, of the Japan Fisheries Agency, on the renewed Japanese whale-killing ***** AND..... BEST GORE/BUSH ZINGER OF THE WEEK -- " The erstwhile dope smoker from Tennessee fears the erstwhile cocaine user from Texas has the edge on the crime issue. " ***** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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