Arte TV recently aired a fantastic new film that examines the persecution of environmental activists as “eco-terrorists.”

“Les Insurgés de la Terre” (loosely translated: “Eco-Warriors) is a documentary by Philippe Borrel that has aired in France and Germany.

The full film is available on the Arte website in French and German. But don’t worry, if you don’t speak either of those languages (like me) there is a webpage of extended interviews, in English, from:

• Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd
• Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International
• Jeff Luers, sentenced to 22 years in prison as a terrorist
• Cécile Lecomte, a French activist in Allemagne
• Will Potter, GreenIsTheNewRed.com
• Earth First Humboldt

I’m featured in the film talking about the government’s misplaced priorities, along with the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Here’s the clip from the film (I’m right after an FBI agent and David Martosko). And below are a couple excerpts from the interview.

Diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks show that the Japanese government viewed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as a serious threat to its illegal whaling, and urged the United States to crack down on the group.

Shuji Yamada, Japan’s vice minister in charge of fishing and whaling, urged John Roos, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, to take action. According to a 2009 cable:

Yamada inquired about an investigation into the tax status of the U.S.-based NGO Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and repeated Japan’s request for the U.S. to take action against the organization, which he said created a very dangerous situation on the seas…

Another cable reveals that Sea Shepherd had been successfully impeding Japan’s whaling operations, and have “kept the fleet from reaching its quota the last few years. Yamashita said the GOJ [government of Japan] would come under pressure domestically if SSCS [Sea Shepherd] harassment continues.”

The Sea Shepherd’s have long been smeared as “eco-terrorists” by a variety of corporate and political interests. Japan has gone so far as to attack Animal Planet (host of the reality TV show “Whale Wars”) as supporting eco-terrorism. Meanwhile, other special interests, such as the Center for Consumer Freedom, have long pressured the U.S. to revoke the nonprofit status of activists groups like PETA.

These diplomatic cables are an example of how this scare-mongering works its way into official government policy.

More importantly, it is an excellent example of the “threat” posed by so-called eco-terrorist groups: in this case, Sea Shepherd was a threat because the group successfully, and non-violently, impeded the Japanese whaling industry’s ability to kill whales.

Hat tip to Yoree Koh for digging up the Wikileaks cables.

Japanese whalers have repeatedly labeled Sea Shepherd, the environmental group, a “terrorist organization” because of the campaigns to end the slaughter of whales in a whale sanctuary. They have even gone so far as to label Animal Planet terrorists because of the show Whale Wars. And the Japanese government recently announced it is pressing charges against Peter Bethune, the captain of a Sea Shepherd ship that the Japanese whalers rammed and destroyed.

In light of this, I think it would be a good opportunity to the put the actions of Sea Shepherd in perspective. In every social movement, there are a range of possible tactics, both legal and illegal, violent and nonviolent.

A reader has alerted me to a dangerous escalation of tactics on the high seas, presumably in response to the draconian actions of the Japanese government. Sea Shepherd’s actions are mild compared to the potential threat of a much more dangerous terrorist group:

Nickelback.

Check out this photo of Sea Shepherd crew members with these grenade launchers donated by the rock band. Well, they are not grenade launchers. They are t-shirt launchers that the band used at concerts. Both are deadly weapons, however: the carnage that is a Nickelback t-shirt would send even the most hardened whaler running for his dinghy.

Sea Shepherd was reportedly using the launchers to toss bottles of stinky, rotten-buttery liquid onto the whaling decks, to interfere with the slaughter and processing of whale meat. [Here is the original photo from the Institute for Cetacean Research, aka the whalers.]

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed that this is the extent of Nickelback’s involvement in Sea Shepherd’s so-called “eco-terrorism.” I was hoping that the world’s most hated band would blare some of their terrible songs at the whalers, Branch Davidian style.

The next time whalers complain about “eco-terrorism,” I hope they remember the noble restraint shown by these environmental activists. To paraphrase Dr. King, in the shadow of every non-violent activist is someone in a black mask with a Nickelback album.

New video shows Japanese whalers changing course to intentionally ram the Sea Shepherd’s Ady Gil as the high-tech ship sat idly in freezing waters.

The ship was destroyed and a Sea Shepherd crew member suffered cracked ribs, according to news reports. What’s even more disturbing is the Japanese ship, which was many times the size of the Ady Gil, refused to acknowledge a distress call from the environmental activists.

According to the Japan Times:

Watson, speaking from aboard the ship Steve Irwin, also said Sea Shepherd put out a mayday distress signal “but the Japanese fleet refused to acknowledge that and just kept going. It was a hit and run.”

The Japanese whalers have long been attempting to label the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as an “eco-terrorist” organization because of its campaigns to directly intervene in the illegal slaughter of whales. They have gone so far as to call Animal Planet a terrorist organization, for airing a TV program about the group called “Whale Wars.” And even when they shot Captain Paul Watson, they still maintained that it was the environmentalists, not the whalers, who were the “eco-terrorists.”

This is perhaps the most disturbing incident to date of the reckless violence of the whalers, not only against the whales but against anyone who tries to halt them. They directly threatened the lives of non-violent activists, destroyed their ship, then left them in freezing waters and ignored a distress call.

Which is the terrorist organization, again?

From EcoRazzi:

And so it begins: Earthrace, one of the fastest powerboats on the planet, has been given a full Sea Shepherd makeover. From kevlar body armor to undetectable broadband radar, nightvision systems, Iridium openport comms, and a new paint job that actually scatters radar signals and provides additional stealth. If Earthrace was badass before, it’s now firmly somewhere in the ninth circle of hell giving Satan a hard time.

Sea Shepherd’s Operation Waltzing Matilda against the Japanese whaling fleet begins this December.

Um, if the Japanese whalers thought Sea Shepherd was a “terrorist organization” before (and so was Animal Planet, they said), I can’t wait to hear what they have to say after seeing Captain Paul Watson in control of this beast.

No word yet whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be investigating Bruce Wayne for violating the “material support” terrorism provisions of the Patriot Act.

Last year, Canadian police arrested Sea Shepherd’s First Officer, Peter Hammarstedt, and Captain, Alex Cornelissen. In Canada, it is illegal to witness or document the slaughter of the seals. They were charged with approaching, witnessing and documenting the killing.

They were interrogated for 4 1/2 hours, during which time they said absolutely nothing, refusing to even acknowledge the police in the room. They went into the room following the legal advice that “Nobody talks, everybody walks.”

In this clip from the interrogation of Peter Hammarstedt, the RCMP compare Sea Shepherd to “Palestinians” with bags full of bombs, and at one point the cop says, “…unless I got ya all wrong and you’re planning a 9/11 or something here.”

It’s not surprising that the Canadian government deported the two for life rather than allow the PR nightmare of them standing trial. Given the caliber of questions we see in this video, a trial would have been quite entertaining.

Of course, this kind of terrorism rhetoric isn’t an isolated instance, it is government policy. Find out more about how environmental activists became the “number one domestic terrorism threat” at the Green Scare background page.

Operation Bite Back is a great new book by Dean Kuipers on the life of Rod Coronado, one of the most influential figures in the modern animal rights and environmental movements. Coronado is perhaps best known for a string of Animal Liberation Front actions, the namesake of the book, targeting the fur industry. He also had a pivotal role in the growth of the Sea Shepherds (I’m still waiting for the next “Whale Wars” disc on Netflix) and the ideological development of radical environmental groups like Earth First! and the Earth Liberation Front.

That’s a grossly abridged look at this man’s life. Regardless of how you feel about direct action and the animal rights and environmental movements, Rod Coronado’s story is one that demands to be told.

Kuipers has done just that, and well. Of course, some folks are up in arms that he is telling the story, period. Fur industry folks have slammed the book, not because of the content, but because it was written. Kuipers had a great response to an Amazon review:

“Platt [of the Fur Commission] has strong opinions about these issues and I don’t take them lightly. They’re represented in the book. But maybe she could have given me two stars for writing well!? Ah, the writer’s ego, another bourgeois vestige …”

• Please check out the book and leave a review on the Operation Bite Back Amazon page.
• Actually, BUY the book. As a writer I think I need to make this across-the-board pitch for other writers: buy their work. If a writer is dead, yeah, who cares, go to your local used book store, borrow from a friend, go to the library. But if the writer is alive? Well, they’re trying to pay their bills by doing what they love–something this culture undervalues–and if you don’t support them they can’t pursue their craft.

So it hasn’t been verified, but it looks like Al Qaeda released another video today, attacking Barack Obama and warning of future terrorism and bloodshed. You might be asking yourselves such questions as: If Obama “pals around with terrorists,” why don’t these terrorists want to pal around with him? And what ever happened to that guy Osama bin Laden? Oh, and if this terrorist network was chased into caves in Afghanistan after 9/11, how are they still producing and distributing videos around the world SEVEN YEARS LATER?

With this post, though, I wanted to alert you all to another terrorist recruitment video. The evil minds behind this propaganda are airing it on their own network. You might have heard from crazy right wingers that Al Jazeera is terrorist TV. But that’s nothing. There’s a network that is even more powerful, even more freedom hating.

That’s right. Animal Planet.

In addition to radical programming such as “Puppy Games” and “Meerkat Manor,” Animal Planet is now also airing “Whale Wars.” It’s about the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and their fight against illegal whaling. Sea Shepherd has done things like ram whalers, launch rancid crème pie filling onto whaling ships, and generally raise hell any (nonviolent) way they can.

If that children’s movie Hoot is “soft core eco-terrorism for kids,” well, this is the real freaky deaky stuff.

Or at least that’s what we’re hearing from the Institute of Cetacean Research (read: whalers). Check out this sound bite from Mr. Minoru Morimoto, Director General of ICR:

“It is difficult to understand why a mainstream network would stoop so low as to produce a series that glamorizes and thereby gives support to ecoterrorism. Sea Shepherd’s criminal actions last year in the Antarctic were encouraged directly through the presence of the Animal Planet film team. Animal Planet is responsible for inciting this increased violence and aiding and abetting an international criminal organization.”

Remember, these are the same folks that held activists hostage and shot, yes SHOT, Captain Paul Watson, then called the group “eco-terrorists.” They’ve since responded with a series of points about why there was no shooting (some of which seem plausible, especially given Sea Shepherd and Watson’s penchant for theatrics) and a denial of any hostage taking (my favorite justification that the activists boarded the ship with toothbrushes in their possession… which I guess means that it’s ok to hold them at gun point).

Perhaps the “Institute of Cetacean Research” would well to check out this latest Al Qaeda video. They might get a better idea of what real “terrorism” looks like.

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.”

Two anti-whaling activists that have been held hostage by Japanese whalers were released today, after the Australian government intervened.

The activists, members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, had boarded the Japanese whaling ship Yushin Maru No.2 on Tuesday to deliver a letter. According to Environment News Serivce, the letter read in part:

“I am not boarding your ship with the intent to commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship. My reason for boarding is to deliver the message that you are in violation of international conservation law and in violation of the laws of Australia. It is my intent to deliver this message and then to request that you allow me to disembark from your vessel without harm or seizure.”

(As background, if you’ve heard of Sea Shepherd you know this wasn’t a touchy-feely symbolic letter. The group has rammed whaling ship, tossed debris into rudders, fired cream-pie cannons onto their decks, all in the name of obstructing what they say is illegal killing of whales).

Benjamin Potts, 28, and Giles Lane, 35, were transferred to an Australian vessel, the Oceanic Viking. According to a statement (and the video above), they were roughed up a bit when they boarded but otherwise weren’t harmed.

Gabriel Gonzalez, a spokesman for The Institute of Cetacean Research in Tokyo (the whalers, gotta love the misleading name) told The Telegraph that the two were initially tied up because they might have been carrying bombs or weapons.

“This is a terrorist organisation, let us be clear of that, and if they respond with aggressive tactics, who knows what might happen,” he said.

So let’s get this all straight. Two activists board a ship, with a letter of intent, because the whalers refused to respond to radio communications. Whalers rough them up, tie them up, and then Yasuaki Sasaki, the captain, makes a series of demands, including activists must stop filming the whalers’ activities and not come within 10 nautical miles of the whaling ship.

But the anti-whaling advocates are the terrorists?

This hypocrisy isn’t new (on a related note, a union called Greenpeace “terrorists” for using non-violence civil disobedience, and whalers have also rammed anti-whaling ships. But this case truly reaches new heights. Paul Watson summed it up pretty well in this interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation:

ALI MOORE: If, of course, it does appear if the Government or the ‘Oceanic Viking’ does get in contact with you, you are prepared to cooperate?

PAUL WATSON: Oh, absolutely.

ALI MOORE: Whether or not the Japanese have attached conditions to that transfer?

PAUL WATSON: Oh well, I’m not going along with any conditions.

ALI MOORE: So if the previous condition that you halt all protest action is attached to this transfer via the ‘Oceanic Viking’ it’s not happening as far as you’re concerned?

PAUL WATSON: I don’t acquiesce to terrorist demands and that’s what that is. Holding hostages and making demands is a terrorist tactic.