What is and what is not eco terrorism is not easily decided. Take for instance the ocean conservation group, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. In Japan this group is widely considered to be a terrorist group, in the US they are featured in an Emmy nominated television show. There are clearly some discrepancies here.
On their website, the Sea Shepherds have posted the following: “Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species”. They intervene in the hunting of many different species, most famously, whales. This is where Japan comes in. For the last four years the Animal Planet cameras have followed the group to Antarctica to document them trying their hardest to basically get in the way of Japanese whalers. They say that where they hunt is a protected whale Sanctuary. They have boarded their ships, rammed into them and thrown stink bombs onto their decks. This group makes it clear that they will not do anything to hurt the whalers, just make it hard for them to do their job and make the operation unprofitable. Even with this promise, the whalers have labeled them eco terrorists and are constantly calling for the Sea Shepherds to be arrested. In this year’s hunt the whalers left Antarctica early and said it was because of the tactics of the conservation group.
I believe this is a case of a clash of cultures and a difference of opinion about the environment as well as animal rights. While the Japanese do eat the whale meat, they claim that they need to hunt the whales to do scientific testing. The research began only after whaling was banned, except for the loophole that allowed whaling for scientific research. They set a quota for the hunt every year to somewhat limit their impact on the whale population. In this case, neither side can even comprehend the other side’s opinion. So what now? Each side is just waiting for the other to mess up and actually do something to get arrested.
This is where the term eco terrorism becomes arbitrary. To the millions of people who watch “Whale Wars”, the Sea Shepherds are a group of nice vegans who give a lot of their time to a good cause. To the millions of Japanese who pay attention to their portrayal in the media they are a group of dangerous terrorists trying to hurt their fellow countrymen that are just trying to do their job. In the following video clip promoting the fourth season of the show,Whale Wars, the captain of Sea Shepherd explains the reasons they go to such extremes and even risk their safety for the cause.
I think that Brad Knickerbocker sums up the curious human-animal relationship in his article, 'Some animals are more than others.', when he writes, “Back in 1641, Massachusetts Bay colonists included in their legal code an order that "no man shall exercise any Tirrany or Crueltie towards any bruite Creature which are usuallie kept for man's use."Here, in a nutshell, was the guiding principle for humankind's treatment of animals: Be kind, but don't forget that "bruite Creatures" are mainly here to serve us - as food, clothing, entertainment, or involuntary labor”. I think that the feelings of people towards animals varies so greatly that it will be nearly impossible to ever set a moral standard that applies to everyone in every culture and the defending of animals being favored over the comfort of humans will always be met with animosity.
Sources: seashephered.org
‘Some animals are more than others.’ By Brad Knickerbocker in Christian Science Monitor
Image and video:http://animal.discovery.com/animals/
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