Whalers Call Paul Watson “Eco-Terrorist,” Then Shoot Him
Mar 12th, 2008 by Will Potter
Call me Ishmael.
I mean, call me an “eco-terrorist.”
I mean, call the Japanese whalers complete hypocrites.
So, you remember how whalers held members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society hostage when the activists boarding the whaling boat in order to deliver a letter? Well now the whalers have turned to physical violence, shooting Paul Watson, captain of the Steve Irwin, in the chest.
Whalers are, not surprisingly, trying to spin what happened, and so is Sea Shepherd. But a few things seem pretty clear. Members of the Sea Shepherd crew threw stink bombs, bottles of butyric acid (an acid found in rotten butter), aboard the whaling ship near Antartica. In return the Japanese say they threw “sound balls,” a pretty hilarious euphemism for what police and the military call concussion grenades or flash grenades. One member of the Sea Shepherd crew was hit by a grenade and suffered minor injuries.
About this time, Watson says he felt something hit his chest, and discovered a bullet lodged in his bullet-proof vest. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “but it also came through and I have this badge and it hit the badge and bent that too so it just left a bruise really on my chest - so it could have - if I wasn’t wearing the vest it could have been pretty serious.”
[Here's some good footage from CNN.]
The Australian Embassy was told by the Japanese that the whalers fired “warning shots.” Sea Shepherd says that’s not true.
From a statement by Sea Shepherd: “Captain Watson is now in a comfortable condition, and no whales are being slaughtered in the name of bogus research by these illegal poachers.”
Ok, now just so we’re all getting this straight. Sea Shepherd disrupts illegal whaling operations, harasses whalers, and sends a boarding party with a note that explains what they are doing, and why the whalers must stop. Whalers respond by holding crew members hostage. Sea Shepherd tosses stink bombs. Whalers respond with concussion grenades and a gunshot to the chest.
Taking hostages and using physical violence are pretty traditional “terrorism” tactics (tactics the environmental movement, it should be noted, has never used). So if the T-word is going to be used at all here, should it be used against the people taking hostages and using violence, or against the folks with the stink bombs?
Well, the “Institute for Cetacean Research,” the whaling front group, said it “was disappointed that more serious means were required today for defending its research vessels in the Antarctica against more violent attacks by the terrorist group, Sea Shepherd.”
And, perhaps my favorite part in all of this: the whalers condemn the Sea Shepherd for using stink bombs, because “it will be causing damage to the Antarctic environment.”
Best headline ever, Will!
Lets not paint poor Paul Watson an innocent victim. Watson oversees a small fleet of ships outfitted with cement-filled bows built for the sole purpose of violently ramming and sinking ships they deem enemies of the environment; this could include everything from large whaling ships to small commercial fishing vessels. Each of Watson’s boats is armed with high-powered water cannons and is protected by electrical barbed wire. His group has used acid, explosives, and a host of other means to disable and sink “enemy” ships. Watson himself has been known to brandish an AK-47 assault rifle that he has used to fire on fishing vessels. Painted on the sides of his ships are the names of those boats he has sunk.
If Watson was shot I’m sure he brought it on himself!
“If Watson was shot I’m sure he brought it on himself!”
Joe: That’s a very interesting comment, supporting shooting people, considering the recent back and forth you’ve been having with Jerry Vlasak on this website, condemning him for his stance on property destruction and violence.
I don’t support shooting people Will, but I beleive one should be able to protect themself. I don’t know for sure what happen onboard those ships, but given Watson’s track record he may have put others in fear for thier lives to the point where they felt there was no other recourse but deadly force.
“If Watson was shot I’m sure he brought it on himself!”
Joe, you’re a jackass.
“I don’t support shooting people Will, but I beleive one should be able to protect themself. ”
And then you went and made a bigger jackass of yourself. This is the point where you say that women who wear skimpy clothing are asking to get raped, but make sure that we know you don’t support rape, you just think those girls should have been able to protect themselves.
Wait…now I look like a jackass for comparing Paul Watson to a rape victim. I would hate…hate to see him in a skimpy dress.
I think you’ve got that backward, Joe. It’s the whalers who do the killing, not Watson; the whales who are in fear for their lives, and Sea Shepherd who’s acting in defense (and not using deadly force). I’m not a Sea Shepherd historian, but I’m fairly sure they’ve never tried to sink a ship at sea or fired a rifle at anyone. Empty ships in port aren’t the same thing.
I do see where you’ve copied your post from though.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1217
I’m afraid its you greentangle who has it wrong. Watson used to boast about ramming other vessels and has been photographed with his AK47.
I have worked on fishing vessels as an observer, and trying to board a vessel without permission is just like someone trying to force their way into your house.
Interesting. The eco-terrorists, or as I like to call them, the Eco Facists, seem to render themselves above the law when it comes to whatever they deem necessary. More and more the Eco Facists seem to be aligning themselves with the likes of Hugo Chavez. He can’t get he wants through diplomacy, so he uses force. Oh, I know, the Eco Facists will claim they are doing it for the whales, or the owls or the salmon…. it really boils down to the Eco Facists feeling superior to that other breed of scum called man. If you interfere with a man’s livelyhood, you just might get bit. Eco Facists need to become less spoiled and more reasoned. Something they sorely lack….reason.
Joe needs to get his facts straight before he starts commenting. Sea Shepherd’s ships are reinforced with cement because they’re trawlers designed to break through Arctic and Antarctic ice. They don’t t-bone ships, they act to uphold international conservation laws under the UN Charter for Nature because apparently, no one else will. Sea Shepherd is trying to stop illegal activity, such as whaling in a Whale Sanctuary. It’s neo-orwellian logic to paint the conservationists as eco-terrorists, and gun weilding whale slaughtering ocean killers as victims. Hopefully the media coverage Sea Shepherd has brought to this issue will end illegal whaling in the whale sanctuary!
Joe’s right I suppose in that Paul Watson is no innocent victim. He is after all, guilty of having the balls to stand up for what he believes in and go to the mat for it, so to speak. If more people in this world had that kind of dedication and drive to do what was right, I would be willing to bet there never even would have been a Red Scare, much less our present Green.
Amy, here is part of an article from the New Yorker 03/15/2006.
“Watson believes in coercive conservation, and for several decades he has been using his private navy to ram whaling and fishing vessels on the high seas. Ramming is his signature tactic, and it is what he and his crew intended to do to the Japanese fleet, if they could find it.”
Get YOUR facts straight!
The Japanese in this case are the terrorists, obviously. They are cruel, violent people who have no compassion for whales or people. This confrontation is a great example of “the link,” i.e. the link between cruelty to animals and violence towards people. I have no doubt that karma will work all of this out.
Paul Watson is my hero! He puts his life on the line to protect all sorts of animals. I wish him luck fighting the horrid sealers in Canada soon.
So Joe, no embarrassment about passing off something from a website as your own words? Sea Shepherd “rams” ships with their can opener, not with the intention of sinking at sea. Since they’ve found the Japanese fleet many times and sunk none of it, does that tell you anything? There’s a difference between publicity and practice. The Japanese whalers have rammed Greenpeace however, so do you condemn the Japanese?
Why not include this quote from the same NY Times article? “The two ships were close enough to collide, but Watson had instructed Cornelissen to delay the ship, not to ram it.”
Or this one, “We’re not going to ram the Nisshin Maru, but we will obstruct any whaling activities that we come across,” he said. “I will not watch a whale die. I’ve not seen a whale die since I left Greenpeace, in 1977. When we show up, whales don’t die.”
Or “On several occasions, he has demanded to be charged for sinking or ramming vessels, and he has even flown to a country that is considering his arrest. Watson says the ploy works because his adversaries fear that he will use the courts to publicize their own wrongdoing. But he has also claimed responsibility for damage to ships that in fact was caused by accidents or by other activists. “Let me just give you a warning about Paul,” an anti-whaling conservationist told me. “He takes credit for more than he’s due.” (By Watson’s count, Sea Shepherd has sunk ten whaling vessels in port. By my count, he and his crew have attempted to scuttle two vessels and have successfully sunk two others.)”
And is there something illegal about being photographed with a gun? Are you pro gun control? That surprises me coming from someone who gets his words from that website.
I may be an Eco Facist (whatever that is), Tom, but I can’t imagine a more ecofascist attitude than to consider yourself superior to every other species of life on the planet and imagine they’re yours to do what you want to/with.
[...] Is The New Red reports Whalers Call Paul Watson “Eco-Terrorist,” Then Shoot Him: “Sea Shepherd disrupts illegal whaling operations, harasses whalers, and sends a boarding [...]