A cartoon depicting Caribbean nations as Japan’s black “lap dog” sparked charges of racism against the environmental groups that published it for the International Whaling Commission.
“Caribbean nations were deeply distressed and offended by the racist editions of the extreme anti-whaling publication,” said a joint statement by Caribbean representatives at the commission meetings in Berlin, which ended yesterday.
 Cartoon appeared in environmentalist newsletter |
The cartoon appeared in a special newsletter for the meetings called Eco, published by more than a dozen non-profit groups, including Greenpeace, the Humane Society, the Cousteau Society and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
It depicted a man with slanted eyes holding a black dog in his lap with yen symbols in a bubble above its head. The caption said: “His Excellency the lap dog! Millions of the master’s yen buy many votes.”
The accompanying article accused Japan of buying votes from Caribbean nations in its effort to resume commercial whaling, charging that over a period of 13 years, more than $160 million in fisheries aid for that purpose was pumped into Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Nevis and Kitts, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The conference chairman issued a complaint about the newsletter Wednesday after holding an emergency meeting.
The statement called for an apology, but the newsletter’s sponsors replied they could not address the issue because the commission “failed to identify even one specific complaint.”
“It is not the duty of Eco or any free press to apologize to any government or international institutions for publishing the truth or honest opinion, however much that may offend,” the sponsors said.
Later, individual groups issued apologies for any offense that may have occurred, stressing they were not involved in the newsletter’s editorial content.
Sorry if offended
Kitty Block of the Humane Society of the U.S. told WorldNetDaily her group decided along with the others “that we would essentially apologize if it offended some delegates, but we didn’t say that anything published was untrue.”
While the complaint referred broadly to two editions of the newsletter, privately, she said, the cartoon was identified as the source of the offense.
Does the Human Society think the cartoon is offensive?
“‘Offensive’ is a subjective term,” she said. “If those countries felt it was offensive, that is something we are sorry for.”
Block is special counsel to the society’s United Nations and treaties department.
Greenpeace said it was “not involved in composing, editing or reviewing any material” contained in the newsletters published Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Had we been aware of the contents of the material it would not have appeared in that form,” the group said in its statement.
The World Wildlife Federation also said it had nothing to do with the material, but said, “WWF is deeply, troubled, however, that threat of expulsion or censure is being used to elicit formal dissociations by [nongovernmental organizations] of material published in ECO.”
“We feel such sanction is incompatible with an open press and the freedom of expression that are essential to democratic accountability in international fora,” the federation said.
The Eco newsletter does not identify its editorial staff but mentions its availability from the Earth Island Institute, an environmental group in San Francisco.
A worker at the institute said Dave Phillips, executive director of the affiliated Marine Mammal Institute, is co-editor of Eco.
Phillips was on his way home from Germany and not available for comment. Conference commissioners WND tried to reach also were not available.
Meanwhile, Japan said today the efforts to block its request to resume commercial whaling might result in its withdrawal from the International Whaling Commission
“We will make a judgment on a comprehensive basis after studying the reports from the delegation,” said Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. “We must act after giving consideration to various options, including the question of dropping out.”
