Our Compass

A Series, By Anthony Marr

Gratitude #7 – to my comrades against Makah whaling

In 1998, the Makah Indian band in northwest Washington state, near Vancouver in the southwest west corner of British Columbia, began making noise of wanting to revive whaling, which had been discontinued for 70 years. In other words, three to four generations of Makahs had not needed nor honored nor experienced the tradition, so much so that they had forgotten how to butcher a whale after they had killed it.

Their clamoring for it to be reopened was for two main reasons:

1. They wanted to use the contentious issue to raise their tribal profile, and

2. Japan was providing them with financial support for doing it, to open the can of “cultural whaling”, eventually for its own use.

Between 1998 and 2000, a loosely organized band of local anti-whaling activists, including Susan Hudgens, Dian Hardy, Dan Spomer, Josh Harper, Jonathan Paul, Jake Conroy, Allison Lance, Cheryl Seiler, Lisa Distefano, the World Whale Police, and myself, among others, individually and collectively, on land and in water, fought the Makah on behalf of the Grey whales, who were endearingly trusting of humans.

I myself went to Neah Bay, the Makah’s stronghold, to try to intervene, and found myself in the unique position of being mistaken by Makah tribal members to be a tribesman from another band, and called “brother”, which gave me an inside track to tribal information and intelligence, if only for just a day.

Makah Cultural Museum in Neah Bay

And I have squared off against Tom Happynook, hereditary chief of the Nuu Cha Nulth natives on Vancouver Island, BC, and head of the World Council of Whalers, two columns each in the editorial page of the Vancouver Sun.

To make a long story short, the Makah, given the protection of an exclusion zone by the law, succeeded in killing one young female Grey whale, right before our tearful eyes.



After that, we challenged them on the issue of an environmental assessment, and this held for years.

In 2007, the Makah went out again, this time illegally, and killed another Grey whale.

And the war continues.

1998-09

PROTESTERS PLAN TO DISRUPT MAKAH TRIBE’S WHALE HUNT

VICTORIA, B.C. (AP) — Anti-whaling protesters targeted tourists in an effort to rally public sentiment against a planned whale hunt in Washington state.

Boats with the newly-formed Westcoast Anti-Whaling Society on Sunday displayed signs reading, “Stop the Whale Hunt,” and “Wounded Whales Feel Pain,” as the Coho ferry pulled into port.

The Makah tribe will begin the hunt for a gray whale — the first in 70 years — in October.

Well-known environmental activist Anthony Marr, of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, led the protest.

“Generating broad-based public opposition to the Makah hunt is pivotal in that they could open up the whale hunt in…”

1998-09-14

Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA)

ANTI-WHALING PROTESTERS TAKE MESSAGE TO FERRY RIDERS

… sentiment against a planned whale hunt by the Makah Indian Tribe … signs reading  “Stop the Whale Hunt” and  “Wounded Whales” … Environmental activist Anthony Marr of the Western Canada Wilderness … culture into a museum.

Sea Shepherd's Sirenian

Anti-Whaling | The tradition is welfare

H.O.P.E.

October 5, 1998

Alberta Report (pro-hunting)

Despite a plentiful supply, Greens vow to stop an Indian whale hunt

If nothing else, animal rightists cannot be accused of prejudice: they favour beasts over men, whether the latter are black, white or red. Indians rank high in the pantheon of political correctness, but not as high as whales. So Washington State Indians intending to kill the massive mammals for food were at a disadvantage, even before it was revealed that their “traditional” hunting method depends on a distinctly modern weapon – the machine gun.

The controversy is especially upsetting to Tom Happynook of Victoria, chairman of the World Council of Whalers, who says similar hunts are being planned in British Columbia. “We’re up against urban people who don’t even know milk comes from a cow,” he charges. “What right do they have telling us what to do Natives in coastal communities are eating corned beef hash out of cans and Kraft Dinner. We just don’t have any money.”

The culture clash erupted in August, when the 1,400-strong Makah tribe of Neah Bay on the Olympic Peninsula announced they will hunt up to five grey whales each year starting October 1 under an agreement authorized by the International Whaling Commission and the U.S. Commerce Department.

The grey whale suffered near-extinction in the 1920s, but today is no longer on the U.S. endangered species list; more than 20,000 swim up and down the West Coast twice yearly.

Keith Johnson, president of the Makah Whaling Commission, said that resuming his tribe’s historic October hunt “is a link to the past and it validates us, who we are as a people and a culture.” He added that the hunt will bring badly needed food to the dinner tables of his people, who along with non-natives have suffered job losses in local logging and fishing industries because of environmental sanctions.

No sooner was the announcement made than Project Sea Wolf, an anti-whaling offshoot of California’s Sea Shepherd Society, staged a protest meeting in Victoria on August 29. Eco-pirate Paul Watson, the society’s founder, was scheduled to speak but was replaced at the last minute by understudy Michael Kundu of Seattle. He told 70 sympathizers that the Makah does not require freezers full of whale meat and should go to Seattle if they want “amenities.” “They get government subsidies,” he argued. “They don’t need this to survive.”

Mr. Kundu then played a video of a protracted whale killing. He insisted that if the hunt is allowed to proceed, it would set a precedent and encourage more whaling around the world. He revealed his group intends to prevent the hunt by positioning a dozen boats, including a 32-foot submarine owned by Mr. Watson, off Neah Bay. The vessels will broadcast killer whale sounds to scare the grey whales into altering their migration route. “All we need is for them to swim a mile offshore,” said Mr. Kundu, adding that the Makah’s 18-foot dugout canoes will not be able to survive the rough waters farther from the shore.

Mr. Kundu also said that his band of eco-warriors will, if necessary, throw themselves between the harpoon-armed natives and the cetaceans. Given the current climate of tension between natives and non-natives over treaty claims, Mr. Kundu’s remarks strike Mr. Happynook as ill advised. “He is deliberately and needlessly trying to cause bad feelings,” he declares. “The reality is that people can still go whale-watching, do research, whatever, but somewhere in this equation the whalers are going to fit in.”

The dispute escalated September 13 when an ad-hoc group called the Westcoast Anti-Whaling Society consisting of a fishing boat, several whale-tour operators and other boaters congregated in Victoria’s Inner Harbour with placards reading “Wounded Whales Feel Pain.” Leading the protest was Western Canada Wilderness Committee campaigner Anthony Marr, who in the past has lobbied to end bear and tiger hunting.

Mr. Marr accused the Makah of being inhumane, claiming the whales die a lingering death after being first secured by a hand-thrown ceremonial harpoon and then riddled with bullets. “Five hundred rounds might be pumped into a whale as per the Russian Chukotka natives with their own Grey whales. It can take a whale 30 minutes to two hours to die,” he said. Not so, says Makah member Jimmy Thompson.

“What we intend on doing is using the machine gun to sever the whale’s spinal cord, which will kill it instantly unlike in the past when a whale could tow our canoes around for days on end,” he explains.

Mr. Thompson echoes the sentiments of other Indian hunters by remarking, “People like Marr are not interested in us evolving, they’re just trying to assimilate us. That’s been tried before, and we won’t allow it.”

Last week, spectators were allowed onboard Mr. Watson’s ship Sea Shepherd, which was docked in Seattle, to view his two-man sub, which is painted to resemble a killer whale. Meanwhile, Washington State Republican Congressman Jack Metcalf and animal activists from the U.S., Britain and Australia have filed a lawsuit to prevent the hunt; they claim the federal agencies which reviewed the Makah case erred when they declared it environmentally safe. They are requesting Federal Judge Franklin Burgess to send the case to the National Marine Fisheries Service for a full environmental review. He will make his decision this week.

— Robin Brunet



Whale Rights Come First

The Vancouver Sun

DATE: Fri 09 Oct 1998
EDITION: Final
SECTION/CATEGORY: Editorial
BYLINE: Anthony Marr

An environmentalist argues that no one, neither Norwegian nor Makah, has the right to kill any of this intelligent species, whether it be for commercial or ceremonial reasons

I respect aboriginal rights, but I respect even more the right of the whales to live, and live in peace and harmony with humans.

Grey whales annually migrating up and down the North American coast, as well as those that live in our waters, have been living in peace and harmony with humans for more than 70 years.

They’ve come to enjoy human company and allow us the privilege of touching them. Whales and dolphins have been documented as saving drowning humans.

I have no doubt that whales are not only sentient but intelligent. Even small cetaceans like dolphins have brains larger and more convoluted than our own. They have sophisticated social and behaviour patterns, complex languages and even distinct dialects. The songs of the humpback change from year to year.

The Japanese and Norwegians are strong backers of the Makah’s “right” to kill whales. They have given at least $10,000 US for the Makah’s whaling campaign.

These pirate whaling nations are not acting out of interest in the Makah as a people or respect for aboriginal rights. They are using them as a can opener to restart whaling for “cultural need.” Once the Makah succeed in taking their first whale, the Japanese and Norwegians can then claim the right to whale for “cultural needs” of their own.

Tom Happynook, a Makah relative and figurehead of the World Council of Whalers, says the Japanese are justified in continuing to kill whales and dolphins for so-called “scientific” reasons in the face of a global whaling ban. Maybe he can tell me how much science is involved in consuming a plate of whale sushi.

Perhaps the Makah whalers are not aware that they are being used as pawns in a high-stakes global game, or perhaps they don’t care. They claim no commercial interest, but before engaging their current public relations team, they said that each grey whale would bring them in excess of half a million dollars US.

The Makah whalers-to-be also say, “It’s not a hunt, but a gift from the ocean.”

I would accept this if it refers to a group of whales that beached themselves in spite of human efforts to return them to the sea. But for people to go out and kill them by a means more cruel than the explosive-tipped harpoon is sheer pillage and murder.

The proposed “traditional hunt” involves the use of a steel-headed harpoon first– to satisfy the “ceremonial” clause within permit parameters — then a .50-calibre, anti-tank gun to finish the job.

In the Makah Manifesto published in a Seattle newspaper, the whalers assert that death will be instantaneous. But the Russian Chukotka native band, using similar methods and weapons, has been known to fire more than 500 rounds into whales that still take up to two hours to die.

This brings forth the issue of what Canadian authorities would and should do if a wounded whale enters Canadian waters. The policy is to allow hunters to pursue wounded whales to finish them off, which is tantamount to welcoming an assailant to enter your house to finish off a wounded friend who came for protection.

The whalers charge anti-whalers of being racists whose agenda is to put their cultural tradition into a museum. The opposite is true. Living traditions evolve with the times. It is they who are sticking with the treaty of 1855, signed when whales were thought to be fish, and before Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species was published.

Although it was as late as the 1950s that orcas were still shot on sight, we have evolved since then. Today, we would be appalled if orcas were fired upon. Why then should grey whale shooting be condoned?

As a Chinese-Canadian, tradition to me is not sacred. It often stands in the way of human intellectual and spiritual evolution. As the campaign director of the BET’R campaign, the first thing I did was to challenge the Chinese tradition of using bear gall bladders and tiger bone for medicine.

I urge everyone to examine their traditions and shed those elements that are no longer consistent with today’s environmental and humane principles. I ask those within the aboriginal communities to follow the lead of the Makah’s Alberta Thompson and voluntarily forego the whale-killing as a treaty right.

Finally, I must make one thing clear. I am against killing whales, period. Even one whale killed is one too many, for any reason, by anyone, be they Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, or Makah.



PREMIER VOWS TO IMPEDE WHALE HUNTING IN BC

1999-05-18
The Vancouver Sun
by Craig McInnes and Doug Ward

[S.I.S.I.S. note: The following mainstream news article may contain biased or distorted information and may be missing pertinent facts and/or context. It is provided for reference only.]

VICTORIA — B.C. will not sign any treaty with native Indian bands that includes the right to hunt whales, Premier Glen Clark declared Monday after the Makah tribe of Washington state made their first kill. Clark said whaling falls under federal jurisdiction, but it would be “outrageous” if a band were to be allowed to kill a whale.

The Makah killed a grey whale Monday morning, first harpooning it, causing the mammal to dive, then firing at least two shots into it at close range from .50-calibre rifles when it resurfaced several minutes later.

Two B.C. coastal native groups have claimed a hereditary right to hunt whales.

“We will use whatever leverage we have at the bargaining table and the treaties to ensure that there is no whale hunt in British Columbia.” Clark said he was repulsed by the killing of the whale Monday, a reaction he believes most people will share.

But Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gordon Wilson was less certain that B.C. natives could be prevented from whaling. “It may well be that the rights that they have under Sparrow with respect to salmon may have similar application to harvesting of whales. That’s something we have to look at,” Wilson said. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1984 that Reginald Sparrow, a member of the Musqueam band, had an aboriginal right to fish for salmon that superseded the right of the federal government to regulate the fishery.

Wilson said the current position is to refuse to approve any treaty that includes whaling, but if natives go to court to establish a right to hunt whales, that could change. “One obviously has to respect the law, but it’s purely hypothetical at this point.” He stressed that no band claiming a hereditary right to hunt whales has yet brought the issue to the treaty table. “Our view is that they don’t, they’re going to have to prove that they do and if they choose to pursue it, I guess they’ll have to do so in the courts,” Wilson said.

Liberal leader Gordon Campbell called the whale kill “an appalling, senseless, wasteful, disgraceful act.”

“I certainly don’t want it happening in British Columbia for any purpose, whether it’s commercial or ceremonial or customary.” Campbell said he had legal advice that natives do not have an aboriginal right to hunt whales. “I think it’s a brutal and archaic practice. I think that it should be stopped.”

Clark’s remarks were criticized by Nelson Keitlah, co-chair of the Nu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council, which represents 13 bands on the central and north coast of western Vancouver Island and wants to negotiate whaling rights in its treaties. “Colonialism hasn’t really left us, has it?” said Keitlah. “He [Clark] is saying what we should eat and what we shouldn’t eat.”

Keitlah also said that it was improper for the premier to determine which issues will be on the bargaining table in the Nu-Chah-Nulth treaty talks.

“We are in treaty negotiations and that is one of the issues that will be there. It’s not on the table. But upon our insistence it will be.”

Keitlah said that whaling is important to his people for food but also for cultural reasons. “It’s part of reaching for that epic where capturing a whale is the ultimate for any of our hunters.” Keitlah said that members of his band are proud of the whale killing carried out by the Makah. “This is a historic day for our people. We want to send our congratulations to the Makah nation. It’s been 70-80 years since it was last done.”

Keitlah, who is based in Port Alberni, said it was whaling by white men that seriously reduced whale stocks — not whaling by native people.

“We had nothing to do with their [the whales’] demise. But all of a sudden people are upset when we want to take one.”

The Ditidaht and Pacheedaht bands, located about 120 kilometres northwest of Victoria, also have significant cultural ties to whaling.

Anthony Marr of the Western Canadian Wilderness Committee, said the anti-whaling campaign is not aimed at aboriginal rights. “We are not pointing fingers at the native people. We are just against whaling.” Marr said it was “ludicrous” to describe Monday’s whale killing as a revival of tradition. “How traditional is a power boat, or a .50-calibre gun?”

Marr said that the Makah’s whale hunt has little to do with the band’s food needs. “It’s something they’ve chosen as a vehicle to assert themselves as a self-determined people.

“If they want to do that — all power to them. But if they do it at the expense of a whale, they should first of all consider the self-determination of the whales.”

The whale kill was also attacked by animal-rights activist Peter Hamilton of the Vancouver-based Lifeforce. “Anyone who enjoys subjecting an intelligent, sentient whale to an agonizing, slow death is a bloodthirsty savage,” said Hamilton. “I don’t know how these whale murderers can live with themselves.”

2000-04-03

Earth First Alert

Let Greenpeace oppose Japanese and Norwegian whaling. That is fine and we support them in that. Greenpeace is a HUGE organization, so let them save the thousand or so whales slaughtered by Japan and Norway.

We are not Greenpeace. We are free agents, and are free to oppose whatever we want. We are not huge, so let us try to save the 20 ear-marked for the Makah and kindly do not try to talk us out of it. If Greenpeace wants to help out, fine. If not, we’ll do whatever we can.

Each whale is sacred to us, and one killed is one too many. That Japan kills 1,000 does not justify the Makah killing one.

Please do not be so naive to believe that Makah whaling is subsistence whaling. Not even the Makah themselves believe that. Only Greenpeace believes it, or at least say they do. If whaling is for subsistence for the Makah, then after 70 years not having whaled, they should have long starved to death. Subsist, when they’re drive 4X4s and modern motor watercraft? Give me a break!

The Makah have been talking with the Japanese for years about trade potential. Tom Happynook of the WCW, who is also a Nuu Cha Nulth chief, openly talked about interest in commercial whaling in newspapers last year (Vancouver Sun, for one), and has been travelling the world inciting similar “subsistence” whaling in other aboriginal cultures. The Nuu Cha Nulth – Makah relatives – are pushing for reopening whaling themselves, resulting in the unprincipled Canadian government to consider condoning the marketing of grey whale meat. With the Makah as can opener, Japan is looking into grey whale “harvesting” themselves.

In 1997, the Makah did NOT secure permission from the International Whaling Commission to resume subsistence whaling, say some key people of the IWC itself.

Re. The Makah being a sovereign nation, what is the US Coast Guard doing in the middle of it? They use that label expediently, then hide behind the US skirt when the heat is up. Shame, shame.

I’m not an American, so can view that 1855 treaty with some circumspection. 1855 is 4 year BEFORE Charles Darwin even published his Origin of Species. Whales were still considered fish and the treaty uses “fisheries” to cover whaling. Come on, grow up! No treaty should last until the end of time, just the end of the times. The times for whaling is dead and gone.

Anti-whaling does not need to be single focussed. If YOU want to focus on Japanese and Norwegian whaling, fine, and I wish you and Greenpeace success, sincerely. But leave the Makah whale hunt to us, thank you very much.

Finally, I’m not Caucasian, but a Chinese Canadian. So call me racist. I’ve been called worse.

Anthony Marr

International approval lacking for whale hunt now under way

Times Colonist (Victoria) | Tue 25 April 2000

by Anthony Marr

Contrary to popular belief, the Makah do not have the approval of the International Whaling Commission to hunt grey whales, and therefore their whale hunt is illegal.

In 1998, Dr. Ray Gambell, secretary of the International Whaling Commission, said,  “The IWC has specifically not passed a judgment on recognizing or otherwise the claim by the Makah Tribe, since
the member nations were clearly unable to agree.”

The Australian delegation said, “The Australian delegation made it clear that it accepted the Chukotka Natives’ request and claim that they clearly met the requirements … whereas the request and claim of the Makah people did not. This view was endorsed explicitly by a clear majority of the delegations. After a lapse of some 71 years of whale hunting by the Makah … the requirements of the amendment are not met, nor have they been met on cultural grounds.”

And on the United States’ claim that the commission has adopted a quota that allows a five-year aboriginal subsistence hunt by the Makah, “The Australian delegation explicitly rejects these claims as false and giving an entirely erroneous interpretation.”

To qualify for subsistence whaling, continuance is a crucial factor, which Makah whaling clearly does not have. The IWC has not changed its position.

2000-05

CKNW

CANADIAN ACTIVISTS TURN UP THE HEAT

Activists are keeping an eye on the Makah natives in Washington state again. They have resumed their hunt for a grey whale

today, the first time the Makah’ve been on the water since May the 12th.Anthony Marr of the group HOPE-GEO is concerned the Makah may try to avoid using a harpoon and the canoe as they try to kill a grey whale. “The monitoring by on-the-water groups like Ocean Defence International and World Whale Police has become even more important than before because there is no TV coverage today. The Washington state TV stations have been saying that they were running out of helicopter money. Without media scrutiny, the whalers would be sorely tempted to bypass the canoe and the harpoon, which have proven ineffective so far, and go straight for the .50 calibre rifle fired from a motor craft, and the whales wouldn’t have a chance.”

Marr says that the Makah appear to be violating their own guideline of not targeting resident whales or mothers with calves in their migration to the Bering Sea.



2000-08-14

Candidate criticized for backing whale hunt

By Ross Anderson

Seattle Times staff reporter

Animal-rights activists are pressuring the Green Party to drop its vice-presidential candidate, a Native American who supports the Makah Tribe’s treaty right to hunt whales. But there are no signs the party plans to do so.

In letters and e-mails to the party, critics argue that Winona LaDuke, an Ojibway Indian from northern Minnesota, should withdraw from the Green Party ticket because she supports Makah whaling.

“If we have somehow lost ground on the issue of whales, then it must be retaken and fortified,” said Stuart Chaifetz, a Green Party congressional candidate in New Jersey. “We must take a clear, hard stand against the killing of whales.”

For many Green Party members, Makah whaling presents a conflict between two tenets of liberal politics: Native American treaty rights vs. protection of wildlife.

During the past two years, the Makahs have resumed their hunt for gray whales, a treaty right they had not exercised since the early 1900s. The tribe has killed one whale in that time. The Makah right to continue whaling was part of the tribe’s 1855 treaty, in which it gave up claims to vast lands on the Olympic Peninsula.

Green Party leaders in Washington, D.C., did not return phone calls. But a spokesman for LaDuke has said she “supports the Makahs’ right to take whales under their treaty rights.”

Animal-rights activists, some of whom are involved with the party, say LaDuke’s stance essentially reinforces “premeditated murders of whales” and warn that her stance could clear the way for more kills by other traditional cultures.

Green Party leaders in the Northwest concede the issue is difficult, but they insist it is not causing any rift in the party.

“I’ve heard no reports of people leaving the Green Party because of this issue,” said Robin Denburg, campaign manager for Green congressional candidate Joe Szwaja.

Szwaja, he said, “is a strong supporter of environmental protection and of Native American treaty rights,” so takes “no position” on Makah whaling.

The issue has been pushed largely by Anthony Marr, an animal-rights activist in Vancouver, B.C. The Canadian insisted that LaDuke take a stance against Makah whaling and is determined to hold her accountable for it.

“By putting a human concern over an animal concern, the Green Party is not living up to its name,” Marr said. “The party is taking a lot of flak on the issue. But they’re trying to keep it quiet, and I can understand why.”

Ron Brandstetter, a Green Party spokesman in Portland, said most members wish the Makah Tribe would stop whaling. But the latest party platform actually strengthens its support for Native American treaty rights, he said.

“People of goodwill can come down on either side of this issue. And I guess that’s why party platforms tend to be a little vague on some things.”

Seattle Times



2005-10-23

Peace, Earth and Justices News

Left Coast Events

Heal Our Planet Earth presents the Compassion into Action campaign-lecture tour by Anthony Marr…

When he was asked why he was going on the road again, Anthony Marr replied: “There is an overabundance of compassion and a dire shortage of action, while animals scream and Earth burns. I aim to unleash the dammed-up compassion into passionate and effective action across the land.”

Anthony Marr is a world known wildlife preservationist, a vegan animal rights activist, a dynamic campaigner and inspirational public speaker (see http://www.HOPE-CARE.org), as well as a highly respected scientific philosopher and author. He has dedicated his life to action on behalf of the animals and this planet, and to further civilizing our species, and has been extraordinarily successful in these regards.

On this new tour, Anthony Marr offers 4 action-oriented campaign-lectures. Don’t miss this tremendous opportunity to have him speak in your community.

1. Compassion Into Action – for budding and veteran activists alike. One of the plenary sessions in the AR2005 conference (www.FARMUSA.org) was titled Compassion Into Action. Anthony Marr was one of the speakers. Afterwards, he received considerable encouragement to expand his 15 minute speech into a full length presentation, complete with workshop, plus write a book on the subject. He has done both. In this lecture Anthony shares his experience gained from his successes and failures in a decade of dedicated and relentless activism (see Campaigns in Pictures below and www.HOPE-CARE.org), on how to: become a 24/7-full-time activist, use direct, indirect, overt and covert actions, conquer fears, take calculated risks, lead project teams, launch expeditions, conduct speaking tours, handle confrontations, endure ridicule, engage media, captivate children, forge coalitions, act abroad, raise funds, all in all the DOs and DON’Ts of effective campaigning. (An illustrated lecture + post lecture discussion and action – needs LCD projector and screen.)

2. Wild Tigers Forever – Anthony Marr has given this presentation to over 150,000 people on three continents. His tiger preservation work includes cleansing of all traditional medicines with endangered species ingredients from the Chinatowns of North America, leading three tiger-saving expeditions into deep rural India, and extensive educational outreach in urban areas of various nations (see Campaigns in Pictures below and see www.HOPE-CARE.org). He is alarmed at some recent developments – China lifting the tiger-bone-trade ban, burgeoning of Tibetan demand for tiger skin for their traditional garbs, escalation of poaching throughout tiger range countries, including the total eradication of all tigers in India’s Sariska Tiger reserve. The tigers cannot save themselves and Asia cannot save them. North American intervention is urgently needed for the tiger’s last stand. The tiger is among the most revered of all animals on Earth. If we couldn’t save even the tiger, what can we save for our children? (A multi-media presentation featuring Anthony’s work in India and elsewhere, followed by strategizing and planning session – needs TV/VCR and screen.)

3. Know Thy Enemy – “Know yourself and know your enemy, and in a hundred battles, you will have a hundred victories,” wrote Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Who is the enemy? Consider this: an adult human brain averages about 1,400 cc; and an adult bottlenose dolphin brain averages about 1650 cc. Dolphins have never been known to harm humans, but have in fact saved humans from farm, but humans are killing dolphins, by very cruel means, in large numbers, for meat. Hundreds of dolphins are also captured every year for human entertainment and lives of isolation and captivity (see www.SeaShepherd.org). Last winter, Anthony went to Taiji and Futo, Japan, to investigate the dolphin slaughter and to save dolphins. He returned with far deeper insights to share, on the strategy, tactics and actions required to terminate the Japanese dolphin slaughter (23,000/yr), as well as the Canadian seal massacre (325,000/yr), once and for all. He plans to return to Japan next year, and will be recruiting volunteers for the venture. (A 500-image PowerPoint presentation, followed by action event – needs LCD projector and screen.)

4. Integrative Transcendence of Planet Earth – the role of the AR, Peace and Veganism movements in the imminent opening of Cosmic Egg Earth. Its timing is meticulous, considering that the cover article of the 2005 Special Issue of Scientific American is “Crossroads for Planet Earth – The human race is at a unique turning point.” Will we choose to create the best of all possible worlds? Anthony’s lecture is based on the Omniscientific Cosmology as presented in his book Omni-Science and the Human Destiny (see http://www.Omni-Science.org). He conceived of this new biocentric model of the Universe when he went camping solo in Africa in 1977. It has been hailed by over 30 diverse scholars of 5 universities, including Stanford and UC Berkeley, as formidable, powerful, masterly and cogent, thought-provoking, ground-breaking, immensely logical, a beautiful synthesis, an extraordinary intellectual undertaking, a serious, well-founded vision, intended to have moral import, have implications of great depth and breadth for the future course of human actions, incomparably edifying and too important to ignore. This lecture can and will change your whole outlook on life, and you cannot guess what it is. (A chalk talk lecture – needs large white/blackboard.).

Anthony Marr’s presentations are based on his experience drawn from the following campaigns (see photo gallery below):

1977-1987 – conceived the Omniscientific Cosmology, and conducted a 5-university maiden lecture tour;

1995 – Chinatown Undercover campaign, 1995 – international media campaign resulted in the banning of all endangered species medicines in all Chinatowns of North America;

1996 – led the 1800-volunteer Ban-Grizzly-Bear-Hunting campaign in BC as campaign director of the 25,000-member Western Canada Wilderness Committee; hailed as “Canada’s highest profile animal defense campaign in 1996” by the Global & Mail, Canada’s premium national newspaper. This campaign contributed to the government declaration of a 3-year moratorium in 2000 – a first in the anti-trophy-hunting movement;

1997-2000 – led three Tigers Forever campaign expeditions in India, in the background of an extensive educational outreach campaign covering three continents;

1997-present – active participation in the international anti-Canadian-seal-hunt movement;

1998 – honored as the ?Champion of the Bengal Tiger? in the award-winning 60-episode TV wildlife documentary Champions of the Wild, aired in 20 countries;

1999 – founded Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE),

1999 – active participation in the international anti-Makah-whaling campaign;

2000-2003 – endangered species educational outreach in Canada;

2003 – published Omni-Science and the Human Destiny;

2003-2004 – designed the Compassion for Animals Road Expedition (CARE tour – 40-states-in-7-months ) and conducted it with Brenda Davis and Cory Davis;

2004 and 2005 – served as speaker in the AR 2004 and AR 2005 conferences;

2004 – conducted anti-dolphin-slaughter expedition in Japan;

2004-2005 – conducted CARE 2 (Jun-Sep 2004 – BC, WA, ID, MT, WY, CO, KS, MO, TN, GA, FL, SC, NC, VA, MD, DC, NY, PA) and CARE 3 (May-Aug 2005 – BC, AB, SK, MB, MN, WI, IL, MO, AR, LA, TX, NM, CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA, OR, WA).

If you would be so generous as to host an event in your city and provide free lodging, Anthony Marr will be there. An honorarium is appreciated, but not required. Tel 604-222-1169, toll-free 1-866-822-1169. Email Anthony-Marr (at) HOPE-CARE.org, Anthony_Marr (at) yahoo.com.



2009-07-13

Whale Hunt Update

by Wendy Kobylarz

This is a somewhat convoluted issue, I think. I just finished reading a book of essays called “Sightings,” about the pacific gray whales and a number of essays focused on the Makah hunt. I can’t pretend to know enough about sovereignty rights of first nation peoples, but I don’t think anything can justify the hunt. From my reading, in fact, a lot of Makah were opposed to the hunt, as were other northwestern Pacific nations, such as the Quileute (the irony here is that while many people of all races were opposed to this hunt, a good number were fishermen who didn’t think it particularly nasty to bait and kill and fish).

Anthony Marr has done some impressive research on this hunt, actually, and between his work and the essays I’ve read there seems to be a lot of implication that the Makah hunt was more of a smokescreen for Japanese commercial whaling interests than any return to a spiritual and traditional life for the Makah…

I guess as a white person I don’t fully understand on a deep level the issue with treaties. I guess I tend to see humans as more capable of standing up for themselves than non-humans, and I see more groups working for human and native rights, rather than helping animal rights. I can tell you, and this isn’t completely comparative, I’m sure, but as a lesbian also I would always put animal rights before lesbian and gay rights. I mean, if it were a question say of legalizing marriage *or* stopping the fur trade, there’s no question of what’s more important. But I understand this isn’t equal to the subjugation of other races by Europeans. Still, because animal exploitation is not solely the province of Europeans or people of European descent this can get to be a tricky issue…



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