Copy of Representatives
of the Jangsaengpo Community reconcile with
Greenpeace activists at the Whale Embassy.
26/05/2005 — Yesterday our Whale Embassy
Activists, on the ground in Korea, received
a visit from angry representatives of the
Jangsaengpo Development Association in the
city of Ulsan. Our campaigner Jim Wickens
tells the story of what happened next - and
how we must help the people of Ulsan rebuild
their lives without whaling.
"It all began at 6pm as promised. As
the local development association leaders
walked into the embassy, the police cars idled
to a halt outside. The showdown had begun.
What followed was a rollercoaster of a meeting
with a wonderful result.
The local leaders spent a long time discussing
the history of their community, how the number
in their ‘dying’ community had dropped form
16000 to 1600 in only 10 years. They talked
about how they accepted a polluting factory
upwind so that they could have the whale research
centre and whale museum as well.
With trembling hands as they spoke, these
community representatives obviously did not
want to be fighting. They explained that the
embassy was okay, but the mounds with the
whale tails behind were painful for them,
striking an all too real chord of the past,
whilst preventing them from embracing the
future with oceans day and the opening of
the whale museum. At that moment one of the
crew ran into the meeting to whisper in our
ear that three coach-loads of riot police
had just arrived and parked on the ground
outside the embassy. After sending climbers
up the mast, we continued with our meeting,
while the police officers listened close by.
The whale tail mounds at the Whale Embassy.
We explained that the whale tail mounds were
erected by us to illustrate the certain demise
of whales and whaling communities if whaling
is ever resumed. We offered to take down the
mounds to show the genuine intentions of our
goodwill, both to the whales and to the coastal
fishing communities as well. They could not
believe what they heard and were genuinely
blown away. We explained that we would like
to help find alternative ways to economically
revive the community in a sustainable but
profitable way.
Suddenly the president of the community group
said he wanted to learn about whale watching
and would welcome all the advice that we could
give him on this. The guy next to him said
that he would like to get the children from
Jangsaengpo school to come and meet us and
help design banners for oceans day to hang
from the mast. Obviously over the moon, they
added that because it was so obvious that
we meant well, that Greenpeace could stay
until the end of the IWC, and if we have any
problems, then we should get in contact with
them immediately. After a brief discussion
of whale watching history in Australia, we
all agreed that we would meet very soon to
talk about each other’s concerns in more detail.
The meeting ended with a spontaneous round
of applause and by the time we emerged from
the embassy, the riot police had gone, disappearing
as mysteriously as they had arrived. And so
it was that the organization that wanted to
blockade the Rainbow Warrior in Ulsan port
last month and that publicly promised direct
action against Greenpeace only 24 hours ago,
ended up agreeing to reconnect our water,
meet soon to discuss whale watching, send
their children to the embassy to learn more
about whales and insist on having a group
photo together before they left.
We have now opened up a dialogue and potential
friendship with the most historically pro-whaling
community in Korea, and a group who are pushing
for the whale factory as a means of reviving
the community. We now have a month to create,
persuade and help sell an alternative future
for the community of Jangsaengpo.
The feeling in the camp is great and we are
having pizzas to celebrate!"
