Editor's Note: This is a recent e-mail written by Breach Marine Protection. I thought the "Yellow Peril" scare and racial epithets like "Jap" had died 50 years ago with the end of WWII but as you can see, these sentiments are still very strong among some people yet today. CERTAIN in no way condones or endorses this statement but has posted it as yet another example of the ongoing racism in this segment of the Animal Rights community.
JOIN THE BMP 'JUNK A JAP' PROTEST In response to declared Japanese whaling intentions in the
North Pacific, and their killing of whales within the Antarctic Whale
Sanctuary, BMP is encouraging local volunteers across the UK and the rest
of the world to hold 'JUNK A JAP' day in their town. The scheme now
encompasses a public demonstration of the scraping of Japanese products,
and the signing of a pledge not to buy another Japanese manufactured item
until Japan stops killing whales.
Breach Marine
Protection Escalates Its Japanese Product Boycott
Under the scheme, the public is
invited to bring and throw a 'Made in Japan' or Japanese company
manufactured item into a large rubbish skip. Each participant is then
asked to sign a pledge which states they will buy no more of Japan's goods
or services until Japan recalls - and scraps - its whaling fleet. These
products, such as televisions, hi-fis, walkmans, cameras etc. are then
transported to the local scrap yard and ceremoniously dumped. Photographs
of the event should be sent to your Japanese Embassy or Trade Mission and
local Japanese companies with an explanation of why these 'JUNK A JAP'
events are being organised.
Stickers to place on new, in-store
Japanese goods; and posters for pasting on Japanese product retailers
store windows which encourage people not to buy, are currently being
produced. Bumper stickers designs - one which says I wont buy a Japanese
car until Japan stops whaling, and another (for Japanese cars) which
apologises for buying this car, but pledges not to buy another - will also
be available soon. These designs will be available to any group or person
who organises a 'JUNK A JAP' demonstration.
To mobilise a 'JUNK A
JAP' event, all you need is a public place (park, community ground; or
better still, a town centre), local media help, some leaflets explaining
what your event is all about, pledges and a camera. Banners with a good
slogan would help too. Either hire a skip truck (the value of the scrap
collected may pay for this) or ask your local scrap dealer to supply one
in return for the items discarded. Ask your local media to publicise the
event and request massive public support.
Please send copies of
your photographs to Breach Marine Protection, who will include them on a
special web page to be launched soon.
Please, organise a 'JUNK A
JAP' event in your area soon: together, we can stop the barbaric, inhumane
slaughter of whales by Japan once and for all.
Best
regards,
David Smith
Campaigns Director
Breach Marine
Protection
BACKGROUND.
Four Japanese whaling vessels sailed
for the Northwest Pacific Ocean on the 29 July. Their intent is to
slaughter 160 endangered whales (minke, sperm and Bryde's), the meat from
which will be sold in expensive Japanese restaurants. Japan already
slaughters hundreds of whales and dolphins annually, despite the
condemnation of the International Whaling Commission, many governments and
millions of people world-wide. Japan has always blatantly ignored the 1986
international moratorium on killing whales and to date, it has paid no
heed to these protests.
This plan to extend Japan's whaling
activities, from killing minke whales in the Antarctic whale 'Sanctuary'
and many dolphins and whales off the Japanese coast, has already been
condemned by Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister, Helen Clark, New Zealand's
PM and the US President Bill Clinton. US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright held a meeting Japan's Foreign Minister Yohei Kono on the 31 July
at which she called on the government to return the vessels to port,
saying whales are protected under US law. Albright stressed that the US
would take sanctions against Japanese products unless their fleet was
recalled.
Japan has retaliated, saying that the United States would
stand to lose a legal battle if it moved ahead with any retaliatory
action. "If the United States takes unilateral action, it is almost
certain that Japan will win in the World Trade Organization (WTO)," a
Japanese trade ministry official told Reuters. "But it is all up to the
United States as to what kind of punitive measures to take. We must wait
and see," he said.
David Smith, Breach Marine Protection's
Campaigns Director said today "We congratulate these countries for taking
a stand, but the international community must not wait for 'punitive'
action by the United States. Many whales will be dead and many Japanese
businessmen's bellies will be full of whale meat before any of measures
will have an effect. Japanese business is the only thing that will
persuade their government to stop its long, bloody history of whale
slaughter, and the only thing they understand is the almighty Yen. If
everyone stops haemorrhaging money to Japan by not buying their products,
they will stop killing whales."
More:-
David Smith
Breach
Marine Protection
3, St. John's Street, Goole, E. Yorkshire, DN14 5QL,
UK
Tele: +44 (0)1405 769375
Fax: +44 (0)1405 769439
24hr.: 0973
898282
e-mail: BreachEnv@aol.com