Greenpeace Activists Arrested for Stealing Whale Meat in Japan
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 06.24.08
Here in Japan, the government funds massive "research" projects to kill whales in the South Pacific and elsewhere, very far away from Japan's coastal waters, where whaling was indeed a traditional way of life - a long time ago.
Enter Greenpeace. Yes, they have a small office in the middle of Shinjuku, Tokyo (think Lost in Translation) and they campaign on everything from genetically modified foods to forests and oceans. And, a few days ago, two of their activists were arrested for stealing whale meat from a shipping company. Since almost no other NGOs here are doing anything at all to stop whaling, this was perhaps not unexpected.
Yet, people are surprised that the government would send some 40 police officers who spent 10 hours intimidating the Greenpeace Japan staff, seizing cell phones, computers, servers, and documents. "This wasn't a police action, it was intimidation," I was told.
What can you do? Read more after the fold.
Brought to you by Martin, Hiromi, Nao & Yosh at greenz.jp
Whaling is a serious topic here. If you try to discuss the issue, you may very well get a reply along the lines of: "So, do you support the killing of cattle and pigs?" or "There are plenty of whales in the sea" and so on.
Activists feel the government may be trying to make a point to other NGOs, in case anyone is thinking of protesting against the G8 Summit in Hokkaido next weekend. Others wonder if perhaps Greenpeace did go to far this time - the activists did steal the whale meat on a tip that it was being sent illegally as gifts or bribes to crew members of the whaling ships.
A third explanation (since we have no way of knowing why Greenpeace Japan is suddenly the target of this) is that the International Whaling Commission meeting in Chile is about to show the world, once again, that Japan has virtually no allies - and the country may quit the IWC. Or allow what they may call "limited whale harvest". Local media could then be using the Greenpeace arrests footage as evidence that whaling protesters are unreasonable people who are not acting in Japan's best interest. Complicated? Yes. Yet, who said it was going to be easy to save whales or create a sustainable development for ourselves and this beautiful planet.
What you can do, if you oppose whaling, is to help get the two activists out of jail.
And to support Greenpeace Japan at this very difficult moment for them, consider making an online donation.
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- The TH Interview: Anti-Whaling Warrior, Captain Paul Watson
- Greenpeace's "Forests for Climate" Tour reaches Indonesia
- Ocean's 'Poop Machines' Could Help Fight Climate Change
- Greenpeace Activists Detain Palm Oil Tanker: Where Do Readers Stand on Direct Action?
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breaking and entering is a crime. possession of stole property is a crime. Conspiracy to do any of these things is also a crime.
It really is that simple.
The quote says it all: "We took the whale meat as evidence to expose an injustice. It doesn't amount to stealing."
How would you like it if someone stole something from you on the bases that they disapproved of it?
Regardless of the cause, you can't justify stealing.
The point on stealing may or may not be valid. We should certainly know why it was deemed necessary. However, I don't think most Japanese are proud of whaling. Most could care less. Many are opposed. However, the governor of Tokyo, in his full right-winged logic, deems whaling good but sometimes caring for the environment also good. Go figure. At least Greenpeace did something!
Mike, how did we, as a society become so timid?
I have heard that one of the reasons there was so little protest against the Nazi persecution of Jews and other minorities is that they made sure they always passed a law to make it legal first.
There is a big difference between ownership and right.
There is a simple reason for these arrests. Huge Japanese corruption: Politicians taking revenge for Greenpeace revealing that huge amounts of whale meat are being sold on the black market directly from ships. You can be sure that (being Japan,) the corruption reaches VERY high up the scale.
Agreed. Particularly in Japanese society where propriety, etiquette, and obedience are so highly valued, the method is as important as the goal. This greenpeace action will win few converts among the Japanese people, I assure you.
Maybe the title should be changed to "Arrested For Stealing." No matter what the Japanese polices' motivations were for the arrest, the Greenpeace activists deserve to be arrested because they were taking something that didn't belong to them. Committing a crime to enforce your own beliefs is wrong. If you support this, you might as well support a pro-life person who burns down abortion clinics. This type of activism is shameful.
Junichi and Toru have taken personal responsibility for the crime of trespassing and theft. They documented how they got the whale meat and turned the dossier over to the police. They made themselves available to assist in the investigation.
They knowingly committed an act of civil disobendience in the name of a greater good.
I have personally been in a similar situation: I committed trespass for Greenpeace when I walked into the Nevada nuclear weapons test site in 1983 to stop a nuclear detonation, and remained at ground zero for 4 days. I was willing to do the time for my crime, because I believe in civil disobedience as an agent of change, and believed the crime that I was protesting was disproportionate to the crime I committed.
Junichi and Toru probably wouldn't mind doing the time for their crime -- if the criminals they exposed were also doing theirs.
But Junichi and Toru are the only people who have been arrested -- in a highly publicized raid on the Greenpeace offices -- despite the fact that they presented evidence of a scandal that is costing the Japanese taxpayers millions of yen every year, despite strong evidence that it has been going on with the full knowledge of the bureaucrats who run the whaling programme, and despite the evidence that it has been so lucrative that at least one person claimed to have built a house on the proceeds of a decade's worth of embezzlement proceeds.
The Japanese government has seized documents, computers, cell phones and records during the raid -- including the Greenpeace Japan supporter database -- in what has all the earmarks of an intimidation campaign against a voice of dissent.
The technical question of whether their actions constitute theft under Japanese law is a grey area for the lawyers.
The ethical question to the Japanese people of whether Toru and Junichi should be jailed for exposing a scandal while the criminals they outed walk free is black and white.
--Brian Fitzgerald
Full disclosure: I work for Greenpeace.
(And Junichi and Toru are two reasons I'm proud to say that)