Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Greenpeace Rejects Terrorism Label
IPR: Greenpeace Rejects Terrorism Label
Amsterdam, 14
th December 2001- Following Greenpeace’s first encounter
with the Japanese whaling fleet in Antarctica, the
Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) – a private institute
that catches whales under a license from the Fisheries
Agency of Japan - put out a statement calling Greenpeace
“eco-terrorists”. Today Gert Leipold, Executive Director of
Greenpeace International responded with a letter to the
Director General of the ICR, Dr. Seiji Ohsumi.*
“Greenpeace strongly objects to this insulting and incorrect use of the word 'terrorism' to describe the peaceful and non violent anti- whaling activities of Greenpeace in the Southern Ocean. This use debases the language. Calling non violent protest terrorism insults those who were injured or killed in the attacks of real terrorists,” said Leipold.
“There is a right to peaceful protest and we are exercising that right in the Antarctic. Our small inflatable boats pose no risk to the steel hulled high powered whale catchers. The catchers outweigh our boats by hundreds of times and tower over them. Simple disagreement is not terrorism. Signalling your disagreement is not terrorism. To call our peaceful protest terrorism is absurd.”
Greenpeace calls on Japan to immediately cease their whaling activities and to engage in solely non-lethal research and to cease personal attacks on those that disagree with its current whaling programme.
In its
statement, the ICR also gave a false account of a very
dangerous collision which occurred in Antarctic waters in
1999, claiming Greenpeace violated maritime navigation laws
and “caused a collision with our research ship". This
account was
rejected outright by Leipold who cited the
Lloyd's database record of this incident as a “ramming of
the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise by the factory ship
Nisshin Maru.”
For more information, please contact
John Frizell, Greenpeace International, Ocean Campaign,
tel.: +441273476839
MV Arctic Sunrise - Greenpeace
Oceans Campaigner: Kieran Mulvaney (English language) or
Yuko Hirono (Japanese) Tel: + 873 1302577 (Satellite
phone approx. US$10 per minute
* Text of letter from
Gerd Leipold, Executive Director of Greenpeace
International, to Dr. Seiji Ohsumi, Director General of the
Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo.
Dr. Seiji Ohsumi
Director General
Institute of Cetacean Research
Tokyo
December 14, 2001
Dear Dr. Oshumi,
We refer to your
announcement that Japan's vessels are in the Antarctic to
conduct the 15th year of its whale research program and in
particular your claims that the Japanese whaling constitutes
a “scientifically valid and perfectly legal research
program”.
You will be aware that the International
Whaling Commission at the 2001 meeting strongly urged the
Government of Japan to halt the take of minke whales
conducted under the JARPA programme, at least until the
Scientific Committee has reported to the Commission on the
impacts of the JARPA programme on the stocks of minke
whales in Areas IFV and V. You will also be aware of the
often-repeated International Whaling Commission
recommendation that scientific research involving the
killing of cetaceans should only be permitted in
exceptional circumstances where the questions address
critically important issues which cannot be answered by the
analysis of existing data and/or use of non-lethal
techniques. Yet the United States Commerce Secretary Norman
Mineta has stated that “Japan has no reasonable scientific
justification for its whaling efforts“ and the New Zealand
Prime Minister has observed that within the IWC there is a
real question about whether this is the purpose of the
Japanese activities, given that they clearly do not meet
any ‘critically important research needs.’
Thus you
will see that many object to Japan’s whaling activities.
The use by your organization of words such as 'terrorism' to
describe the peaceful and non violent anti-whaling protest
of Greenpeace in the Southern Ocean shows an act of
desperation. It is not only wrong but insulting to our
supporters around the world and undermines the global fight
against international terrorism. Calling non violent
protest terrorism insults those who were injured or killed
in the attacks of real terrorists, including Fernando
Pereira, killed by State terrorism in the 1985 attack on
the Rainbow Warrior.
There is a right to peaceful
protest, and we are exercising that right in the Antarctic.
Our small inflatable boats pose no risk to the steel hulled
high powered whale catchers. The catchers outweigh our
boats by hundreds of times and tower over them. To call our
peaceful protest terrorism is absurd.
Greenpeace utterly rejects Dr. Ohsumi's false account of the very dangerous collision which occurred in Antarctic waters in 1999. The Lloyd's database records this incident as a ramming of the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise by the factory ship Nisshin Maru. Even the whalers themselves have admitted the factory ship (which is faster, twice as long and several times heavier than the Greenpeace ship involved) was overtaking the Greenpeace ship at the time of the collision. Under international maritime regulations for the prevention of collision it is the overtaking vessel which is responsible for keeping clear. The Japanese factory ship was engaged in a reckless manoeuvre intended to intimidate the Greenpeace vessel when she collided with it. The collision was entirely the fault of the factory ship and posed a very real risk to the smaller Greenpeace ship they struck. Crew on the Greenpeace ship were thrown off their feet and the ship rolled so far under the impact that she was in danger of capsizing.
We call on
Japan to immediately cease their whaling activities and to
engage in solely non-lethal research and to cease personal
attacks on those that disagree with its current whaling
programme.
Regards,
Gerd Leipold
Executive Director
Greenpeace International
Greenpeace
Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice.
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace.
Carbon Market Watch: Going For Green - Is The Paris Olympics Winning The Race Against The Climate Clock?
New Zealand Defence Force: NZDF Working With Pacific Neighbours To Support Solomon Islands Election
UN News: Ceasefire The Only Way To End Killing And Injuring Of Children In Gaza
ICHRP: US-Japan-Philippines Trilateral Summit Makes The Philippines A Battlefield For US-China Conflict
East West Center: Environmental Journalist Alexander Kaufman Receives East-West Center’s Inaugural Melvin M.S. Goo Writing Fellowship
Compassion in World Farming: Octopus Farm Must Be Stopped, Say Campaigners