"I and I" Smack Down | Home | Take action: tell Denmark not to vote against whales

You have no respect for yourselves and anyone else. You went to St. Kitts with the responsibility to break the law...and you did. I am very sorry that you didn't have to spend a longer time in the "stinky cell" because you would have deserved it. Greenpeace members were not arrested because they wanted to put "whale tales" in the sand, you were arrested because you were told that you could not enter the island and you chose to do it your own way. St. Kitts does not appreciate unauthorised uprising and protests and as such, we did what we had to do. We are a small island and none of us appreciate your blatant disrespect for our laws. I don't beleive that anyone or any country can respect you for that. If Greenpeace intends to save the whales by spending the night in a prison, then this organization and its members are useless!

P.s. Thanks for the free publicity.

I find it really funny when people come by with strange nicknames (like "horrible intentions" maybe you are also Insatori, who knows?), and quoting Andrew - with rather snarky and unsubstantiated statements...

Mate, your government used their people's resources (money) to bank an international meeting ripping out the budget it couldn't afford by nearly US$700.000! A meeting concerning whaling that your country never practiced and has no direct interest. The only interest it has is the "economical help" given by Japan so they collaborate in their "vote consolidation" at the IWC.

This happened after St. Kitts takeover of the organization of the 58 th IWC (2006) meeting firstly proposed by France, whom official proposal is said not to be delivered at the IWC secretariat, even though it was sent.

By the way, my name is Francisco Gonçalves, I'm one of the people arrested and who slept it in smack down.



A lot of St. Kittians are aware of what goes on regarding whaling, and some people at smack down were really nice to us, some still remember when Grenpeace prevented the nuclear waste to be driven arround your islands by sea..



And talking about laws … I entered you country by air, my passport was stamped; I was arrested on a public beach holding on a piece or cardboard reading RIP (Rest In Peace). I wasn't charged of anything, I was not even presented to court BUT… I was convicted, got an immediate deportation order!



It wasn't our plan to spend the night in prison; in fact we had a very different idea in how to spend our last night in St. Kitts. The plan was to plant 863 whale flukes in the sand. It was our way to say shame on you, shame on the IWC, shame on the whalers, and shame on the conservation governments for their lack of action! Also remembering the 863 whales killed by Japan on their last “whaling season” and to assure Greenpeace will be down the Southern Ocean to prevent and document the slaughter!



Concerning other countries … I was approached by two friendly police officers from Anchorage ( Alaska ) – John and Bill – where the 59 th IWC meeting is going to be held. They asked if we were to make another action next year if we could coordinate efforts with them so things could go smoothly and we could FREELY express our beliefs and ideas.



Respectfully:

Francisco

Errata: John and Bill from the Anchorage Police Dept. weren't at St. Kitts by chance. They were at the meeting as observers, to have an idea of what they can expect next year. They can certainly expect Greenpeace to be present, but whether there will be an action is still rather uncertain!

Francisco

GP is so irrelevant, and needs to have a reality check. sure, we all care about the whales, but let's get things into perpective here. GP accuses small island nations who are members of the IWC of taking tied aid...is GP doing anything to address the gross injustices in economic and trade imbalances between developing and developed countries. Is GP also trying to address and or support sustainable development in these very countries. How much of GP resources are targeted at the exploiting nations like japan, Australia and the USA who use their ecomonic and political clout to perpetuate their political and ecomonic colonialisation. Unless organsiations such as GP can start addressing the real issues behind why countries like St Kitts are quick to take aid in exchange for their silence ....than they should shut up and go home. Groups like WWF are much more relevant and constructive and people in GP should perhaps learn from them!!. I am so disappointed with GP -they are like bloody thirsty leaches that feed off and exploit, both finacially and emotionally the real concerns of its supporters, with no real long term impact to the ambalance chasing work it dose.

Furthermore....perhaps GP can explain where its Iraq work went....it spent so much money sending a team down threre etc etc....but what's hapening now!!

From Martini, GPNZ:

I believe this is a serious question, which warrants a serious answer.

Japan can do what it does at the IWC for the very reason that the core question implies.

Pacific nations are to a large extent dependent on their fisheries resources. If a nation comes along with big wads of dollars to

a. Get access to those very fisheries resources
b. And, as a bonus, to gain favourable political support

then these nations have very little leverage in negotiations, because of the economic and trade imbalance.

Add to this very low wages in those countries, including authorities, which makes them vulnerable to bribes. Right or wrong this is a reality, which cannot be ignored.

Greenpeace Australia-Pacific is faced with this very problem in their campaign to achieve sustainable fisheries in the Pacific. Hence, an added element to the campaign is Fair Fisheries.

If Pacific nations get a fair price for fisheries access and increased investment in processing, then economies will improve, wages will rise and the
incredible gap between the rich and poor nations will get smaller. - Martini Gotjé, Greenpeace NZ

From Tiy, GP Australia Pacific:

I would have to say that Greenpeace is trying to address the gross injustice of tied aid very much through our Pacific fish campaign (Pacfish).

The work we are doing in the Pacific to encourage countries to manage their own resources and stop big countries like China and Japan from dictating or pressuring quota numbers in the Pacific is difficult precisely because of tied aid. In an ideal world countries like Kiribati would be able to decide the price of their ever dwindling tuna resource or have enough cash to start their own tuna industry and manage their own resources. I don't see any country jumping up to provide money to build such a capacity. And this is the very type of economic and trade imbalance that needs to be highlighted. It is a case of blatant exploitation.

Japanese aid goes toward increasing certain types of capacity that ultimately benefits their fishing fleets. A dock to offload tuna here, ice machines there, transportation to airports etc to get their fish to Japan. This helps a small local industry that can never compete with the Asian fleets or fully escape their dependency on aid.

This is why it is important to highlight the Pacfish work internationally, to connect the dots between how Japan operates in exploiting the important marine resources of small poor Pacific countries and then carrot and sticks them into voting their way at the IWC. We are addressing the issue of development and the "gross injustices in economic and trade imbalances between developing and developed countries" and that it is complicated.

- Tiy, Greenpeace Australia Pacific