Is the Anti-Whaling Campaign Racist?

While Japan is not the world's only whaling nation, the highly-visible confrontations between Japanese whalers and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Animal Planet's Whale Wars draws a lot of attention to their annual whale hunt. Japanese whaling ships are also responsible for killing more whales than any other nation.

In a recent article in The Japan Times, Dougal McNeill accuses Sea Shepherd's campaigns of being tainted with racist undercurrents. He paints a picture reminiscent of old right-wing nationalist anti-Asian political rallies: Captain Paul Watson, "dressed in all black and flanked by two imposingly large New Zealand flags."

First of all, Captain Watson always wears black, no conspiracy there. Watson goes on to dispel the nationalist claim: "If I was flanked by two large New Zealand flags, it may have had something to do with the fact that I was standing in front of the New Zealand Parliament building. My crew were not holding the flags." In fact, Sea Shepherd boasts an international crew and has no affiliation with any nationality.

But, wait ... this is just the beginning of the racist accusations lacking context. Additional evidence of "imagery from the Pacific War," is the campaign named Operation Waltzing Matilda after "the unofficial national anthem of Australia." What he neglected to mention was that, as an historian, Paul Watson has also honored campaigns with Japanese names, like Operation Musashi, after Miyamoto Musashi's strategy of combining confrontation with education.

Perhaps my favorite absurd part of the article is where McNeill asks the readers to compare quotes as proof of blatant associations between Sea Shepherd and anti-Asian, anti-immigrant politics:

• Quote #1: "We in Australia confidently approach our task. We stand ready, with freedom in our hearts ... we shall throw the Japanese back where they belong."
• Quote #2: "Throw the Jap back where he belongs."
• Quote #3: "There is only victory or defeat for the whales, and we do not intend to see the whales defeated, nor do we intend to let the murdering barbarian butchers win."

If you thought we were supposed to be playing a round of One of These Things Is Not Like the Other, so did I. The last quote — the only one actually attributed to Captain Watson — is the only one that doesn't mention nationality and clearly takes a stand for whales. But we played wrong; we were supposed to see the "obvious echoes" of the first two quotes in Watson's anti-whaling statement.

McNeill says, "My point here is not to do with the arguments around whaling itself but, rather, to do with the context in which those arguments are made." And therein lies the problem with the accusations of racism: The only context for Sea Shepherd's statements and campaigns is whaling.

Whalers are identified as Japanese when they are Japanese, but the campaigns never condemn an entire country, race or culture. Sea Shepherd is equally opposed to Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and any other individuals who hunt whales. It has nothing to do with nationality and everything to do with actions.

Watson says, "The one thing aside from whaling they all have in common is the constant accusation of racism against anyone who opposes their whaling."

In this day and age, whaling is almost universally panned in the international court of public opinion. But many people have even less tolerance for racism, so whaling supporters toss the accusation out there, hoping to harpoon some public sympathy.

It's a good reminder for all animal advocates that cruelty is perpetrated by individuals, and though often sanctioned by tradition or government, entire nations or cultures are not to blame. When you're fighting for a compassionate world, there's no place for racism.

Photo credit: Captain Paul Watson by guano