Standing Against the Slaughter of Whales
Dear friends,
There is little in this world that is completely ethically clean or does not fall into some murky gray areas that we struggle to understand. There are some issues however, that have lighted the way for our movement, and these principles should be fought for and adhered to as best we can. These are the things that have broken much ignorance and galvanized good people to fight a better cause.
I put it to you that the plight of whales has been such a thing.
I am an animal activist, and am running my congressional campaign as such. My goals are to educate and inform and to get people to start thinking that each and every animal is a unique being that feels joy and pain, and suffers as we would when harmed. They are all worthy of our defense and compassion.
I understand that this concept lies clouded to many, and my life is dedicated to dissipating that mist. But is there not some common ground that has been fought for, some line, somewhere, that has been redrawn? I say yes, and that within this border of compassion, whales found the understanding that they so richly deserve.
But not to all. Such is the situation with the Makah tribe, and the reinstatement of whale hunting in our country. As an activist, as a man, my heart shattered when I read the news of whales being torn apart and dying off our shores.
This is not an issue of Native American rights, for many Makah hold the whale sacred and were offended by their tribes' hunt. Some even paid a price for their protest against this slaughter. This is an issue of profit and greed, of blood and machine gun bullets, of death and suffering.
It has also become an issue of the Green Party, and how we act on this will speak for our morals and commitment to our base cause.
The following is taken from a press release from the WASHINGTON CITIZEN'S COASTAL ALLIANCE:
"Green Party vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke stated today to anti-whaling activists that "she has made it clear that she supports the Makah's right to take whales under their treaty rights." Winona LaDuke is the running mate of presidential candidate Ralph Nader."
How can I, as a Green Party candidate for Congress, not stand against this? How can the Green party itself not stand against this? Was not the slaughter of whales, and those that fought for them, the vanguard for the environmental movement?
If we have somehow lost ground on the issue of whales, then it must be retaken and fortified. We must reach out to Winona LaDuke and seek to bring her to the whale's defense, but more importantly, we must take a clear, hard stand against the killing of whales.
Sincerely
Stuart Chaifetz
Green Party Candidate
4th Congressional District, New Jersey
As a Green Party candidate for Congress, and as a man who has fought for the rights of animals, I was compelled to speak when I heard that the Green Party Vice-Presidential candidate came out in favor of the Makah's right to hunt and kill whales.
Since I made that statement, I have received a number of letters from those who feel that the argument should be centered on the treaty rights of the tribe. To this it is added that only one whale was killed, and further, that this hunt will not lead to the extermination of the species.
Could my message have been so unclear? If so, then let these new words form my motives and sculpt my meaning in sharp crystal.
The issue of hunting whales
centers solely on the whales themselves
for they are the focus, the goal and the victims of it
This issue was solely defined when that first harpoon pierced
that first whales' flesh
She was a babe and she died by hands she would have rather stroked
her skin with gentle caresses
Her given name, given by a
Makah elder, whose grief stole from her body and became a word,
is Yabis;
It is the Makah word for beloved
Who launched that harpoon,
who rained razor death into Yabis' body, is a blur;
It is a factor that can give no weight to the scale of justice,
for the scale has fallen and broken under the heavy burden of
the soul that was, in such an abused way, torn loose from its
earth bound body
My voice too is feathered,
light, and transparent when put parallel with the final cry of
this innocent child
For it is within that sound that this debate is bordered and judgment
passed
The question of hunting whales
is written with a broken quill, dipped in blood spilled unnaturally
It is mourned by those who have opened their hearts to that great
life, and to the mother Yabis will never swim with, never sing
too, never touch again
To this grieving soul do we
ask forgiveness, even for those who do not seek it
We will not forget that it is to her that the greatest loss has
been given
We will not forget that a heart that beats within gray skin breaks
as ours would when memories of a child destroyed floats through
it
The fight against the slaughter
of animals is embraced in the name of honor
It is fought to give voice to the slain, and the yet to be slain
It is fought so that it never happens again
It is fought for one single whale
It is fought for Yabis
Stuart Chaifetz