Ask the Makah tribe to forego the killing of whales!

The Makah, a nation of native Americans at Neah Bay, Washington, are determined to kill California Grey Whales, by shooting them with rifles, as an affirmation of their cultural rights.

---

BULLETIN! The Makah have begun killing whales, opening the Pandora's box of a return to whaling by anyone around the world whose anscestors used to whale. The USA is now officially a "pirate whaling" nation. (see ECO articles). The action request below is even more urgent now that the killing has begun. There is still time to reverse this course: the IWC has NOT granted the USA a permit for this whale kill. Time grows ever shorter, though..... and the first of the "friendly whales" of Baja has fallen to the armor-piercing .50 caliber military assault gun of this so-called "traditional" hunt....

The Makah, a nation of native Americans at Neah Bay, Washington, are determined to kill California Grey Whales, by shooting them with rifles, as an affirmation of their cultural rights.

It is impossible not to feel sympathy for the Makah position. Like all Native Americans, their lands were stolen and they were moved to a reservation. Some of the few "rights" left to them in this treaty were the rights to fish and kills whales "in common with all citizens of the United States". (There has been no whaling by the Makah in over 70 years, and of course the citizens of the U.S. no longer have the right to whale.)

GPF Advisory Board members have met with representatives of the Makah whalers (who believe the whaling must take place) and the Makah elders (who believe that the whales should not be killed.) Clearly this is not the sort of whaling which has endangered species of whales around the world.

However, the Makah and their situation is being exploited by the cynical forces of industrial whaling. Seeking to establish new whaling operations around the world to supply its markets, Japan has pushed the agenda of the pro-whaling members of the Makah. If the International Whaling Commission (IWC) grants a kill-quota to the U.S. for the Makah, it would establish an entire new category of aboriginal whaling with no "subsistence" requirement. In other words, anyone around the world whose ancestors killed whales would be able to do so again, and sell the meat.

It is ironic indeed that circumstances now cause an alignment of interests between the environmentally-conscious Makah and those - such as the Japan Whaling Association - who have cynically backed the industrial eradication of whales. As they have been for the last two centuries, the Makah are caught in the middle.

The IWC has not recognized the Makah's right to whale under its guidelines; rather, the U.S. government pulled some sleight-of-hand with the whale kill quotas of the Siberian and Alaskan native tribes, which are subsistence hunts, to grant the Makah a kill quota.

Thus, the U.S. is in the position of advocating whaling which is not condoned by the IWC. This drastically weakens the ability of the USA to be a force for conservation and undermines the global fight for whales' survival.

Greenpeace Foundation would like to ask the Makah to lead the way out of this situation. They have more in common with the world's whales than they have with the world's whalers. A people should be defined by what they are, not by what they kill. In that, the Makah have an opportunity to take a stand on behalf of the natural world and against the forces which have worked against them and the whales.

Please write a respectful letter to the Makah Tribal Council, bearing in mind that trusting the word of the USA has always proved a bad idea for them in the past. They will not be swayed by words, but the truth is a powerful thing. The truth is that if they now decide to spare the whales, and do not push the U.S. to demand a whaling quota, they will have defined themselves and their culture for the world in a far deeper way than by taking up the rifle against the whale.

The Makah Tribal Council
Hubert Markishtum,Tribal Chairman
P.O. Box 115
Neah Bay,WA 98357




Please write a respectful letter to the Makah Tribal Council