Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is barrelling south to hunt thousands of majestic whales, escorted by a 30 million dollar security force paid for out of the tsunami disaster relief fund!
Anti-whaling champions were successfully blocking the Japanese whale hunt -- which is exactly why the Japanese government decided to swipe money from relief efforts to stop the activists from bothering the boats while they engage in their brutal slaughter.
If we can stop the whaling security and get the relief money back for desperate Japanese citizens still languishing in radioactive hotspots,we could help end the whale hunt for good. Japanese PM Noda is already under enormous pressure after scandalous failures to compensate victims of the nuclear disaster. A massive global outcry can spark outrage inside and outside Japan and force Noda to use precious relief funds to save people, not kill whales !
Whale hunting is astronomically expensive, and it's made possible by ludicrous government subsidies amounting to $35,000 per whale! If these subsidies are cut back, the whaling industry could collapse. Now the Prime Minister will squander $30 million to provide private security for whale slaughterers to make sure they’re not bothered by environmental activists in the ocean. With the added muscle, Japan plans to kill 1,000 Minke whales for commercial meat sales this year.
Officials claim that whaling subsidies will support coastal communities hit by the tsunami -- even though Japan has had to stockpile whale meat because so few people wish to consume it. All the while, the government has turned a blind eye to victims trapped in radiation hot-spots, with the few who are entitled to compensation pocketing a pitiful $1,000.
Let's urge Prime Minister Noda to stop caving to the whaling lobby and spend relief money on the people who need it most: the victims.
Last year, our community came together in record numbers, and we won the fight to keep a global ban on whaling. And last month, 130,000 Japanese Avaaz members joined together, pressing the government to use tsunami relief funds to protect radiation-exposed children by funding their evacuation from unsafe areas. Time and again we see how powerful lobby groups like the Japanese whaling lobby put profits before people and planet. And time and again, we stop them. Let's do it again.
With hope and determination,
Loup Dargent
On behalf of Stephanie, Jamie, Emma, Ricken, Morgan, Laura, Wissam, Wen-Hua and the rest of the Avaaz team
More Information:
- BBC: "Japanese tsunami fund used for whaling programme"
- Guardian: "Japan whaling fleet accused of using tsunami disaster funds"
- Letter: "Greenpeace Japan and 15 other NGOs letter to Japanese government"
- WSJ: "Use of Government Recovery Funds Stokes Japan Whaling Row"