…how many dolphins have you killed today??”
These were the most popular and probably the most effective words chanted yesterday at the anti-dolphin slaughter protest outside the Japanese consulate in Los Angeles. Around noon I joined over 100 passionate activists in downtown LA to call attention to the senseless slaughter of dolphins in the Taiji cove.
Participants held homemade signs and inflated bloody dolphins, handed out fliers to curious passer-bys, and contributed the presence of their bodies for over two hours.
In a case such as this, the act of simply being there can be enormously influential. If you’ve seen The Cove, you know that the Taiji fishermen are only able to continue this massacre because they think they are hiding it from the world. As long as Japanese citizens are able to go about their lives oblivious to the fact that they are consuming not only unethical but TOXIC (due to astronomical mercury levels) dolphin meat, the fishermen are free to go about their business, haul in their load of dolphin families, make a substantial amount of money, and be home in time to tuck their (mercury-poisoned) children into bed.
I’ve attended other animal rights protests. Usually you are there to inform the public and dissuade potential customers from walking through the doors of whatever unethical business (Ringling Bros, a puppy mill, McDonald’s, etc.) you are protesting. In the case of the dolphin slaughter, our primary objective is to be a voice. A voice of compassion, of concern, of ethics, of intelligence, of progress, of reason, of passion, and of absolute unbending dedication to publicizing and thus ending the slaughter.
Every single time you tell someone about the atrocities carried out in the cove in Taiji, Japan, you are breaking another chunk off of the enemy’s shield. You are tearing down the fortress of hypocrisy and greed that they hide behind. We will only succeed when informed global citizens step out of the apathetic shadows, boycott Japanese products, and call the Japanese embassy (if you’re in LA, it’s 213-617-6700; if you live elsewhere, a simple Google search will help you out) to demand a stop to this horror. And we WILL stop it.
So write a blog post. Contact your local embassy and your local government representative. Discuss it with your Mom next time you talk to her on the phone. Attend a protest. Or simply tell your friends and coworkers what you know about the situation. Every voice counts.
As long as we are silent and inactive, this blood is on our hands.
For more information, visit:
And to watch The Cove for FREE, simply log into Netflix (if you don’t have Netflix, I’m sure you can easily access the film elsewhere) and watch it instantly. We are their only hope.
