Good news. Sea Shepherd have reported they’ve intercepted the Japanese whaling fleet before they’ve had a chance to start their murderous activity.

I urge you to contribute to Sea Shepherd so they can continue their vital campaigning until whaling is brought to an end. They are currently opposing this barbarity by sailing to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and physically interposing themselves between the whales and the harpoon ships, at risk to their own lives.

I also commend to you this great post: Should we Save Paper Whales, Virtual Whales or Real Whales? by Captain Paul Watson in which his anger and sadness towards Greenpeace’s inaction on whaling comes across clearly. It caused me to think again on the difference between the two organisations and how the Greenpeace of today is really just a marketing agency with itself as the only client.

It saddens me that an organisation that pulls in millions will restrict its anti-whaling activity to a letter-writing campaign while pan-handling for further donations. As the comments on this page of the Greenpeace site make clear the money would be better spent on action in support of Sea Shepherd, an organisation Greenpeace refuses to co-operate with. One suspects this has less to do with the tactics Sea Shepherd employs and more to do with the fact that they see them as competition on a subject which Greenpeace used to make great capital out of ‘bearing witness’. I can’t speak on behalf of the whales but if I was them I’d favour intervention of the kind Sea Shepherd brings over observation and origami any day.

Back when Greenpeace did actually send a ship south I remember seeing a documentary, one detail of which stuck in my mind. The food on-board the Sea Shepherd vessel was strictly vegan; the Greenpeace kitchen was busy preparing a meat dish. That really struck me as summing up the difference between the two, trivial in the wider context, but a moment that stood out nonetheless.

Greenpeace can only exist in a late-capitalist society, thriving on the paid deferment of responsibility for one’s actions, while simultaneously playing along with our democracy theatre. Whaling in the Antarctic will be stopped one day due to Sea Shepherd making it economically unviable through their continuing direct action. I’m sad to say I expect Greenpeace will trumpet this success as their own. No matter, as long as the whales are safe.

Related posts: Sea Shepherd boat rammed by illegal Japanese Whalers and Donations to worthy causes.