(from "Kujira to Inbou" (Whales and Plots), by Yoshito Umezaki, 1986)

Note:
Among names of organizations, those whose names in English were not found are marked with "?".

After the Stockholm conference adopted the resolution of a ten-year moratorium of commercial whaling, many US environment protection/conservation organizations started to handle the whaling issue. The names of the following organizations were known for anti-whaling.

Project Jonah
Friends of the Earth
Greenpeace
Animal Welfare Institute
Animal Protection Legislation Association(?)
Funds for Animals
National Wildlife Federation
American Protection Association
Humane Society of the United States
National Audubon Society
Sierra Club
National Humane Legislation Association(?)
Environmental Action(?)
Defenders of Wildlife
International Society for the Protection of Animals
Assembly of Vegetarians(?)
Explorer Club(?)
Environmental Protection Fund(?)
Environment Policy Center(?)
Zoological Society of New York
Savage Land Society(?)
Center for Research of Subsistence of Canines
Connecticut Cetacean Society

This list gives me an impression that they were scrambling for a chance. The variety of groups, such as humanism, vegetarianism, explorer, and wolves (canines) surprises me.

Except for Friends of the Earth (headed in London) and Greenpeace (Vancouver), all organizations have headquarters in the USA. All of them started anti-whaling campaigns, such as putting an advertisement of "Save the Whales!" in the New York Times and in the Los Angeles Times, or appealing for a boycott of Japanese products. Giving an overdrawn description, almost all environmental organizations in the USA got interested in whales and went into action. Therefore, they are a jumble of wheat and tares.

It was only Project Jonah which was established to protect whales. This organization branched from the Friends of the Earth in 1971 to handle only whales. Jonah is a person who appears in the Bible, and is known as a man who was once swallowed by a whale but was saved later. In February 1974, Joan McIntyre - the female chairperson of the Project Jonah - visited Japan with several pupils and appealed: "Please don't kill the poor whales." Project Jonah did not appear in the movement to boycott Japanese products. McIntyre thought that some racial prejudice was in the boycott movement, and she went action to appeal to the emotions of mothers and children in Japan.

What attracted my interest is that there are some organizations which have nothing to do with whales. Why did organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States, National Humane Legislation Association, Assembly of Vegetarians, Savage Land Society, Center for Research of Subsistence of Canines, got interested in the whaling issue? I notice deep-root background of the anti-whaling movement in the reason. The reason why people of humanism went into action must be because they regarded whales in the same light as human beings. For people who have interest in vegetarianism, savage lands, and wolves, whales must be a symbol of protecting nature and the environment. Anyway, many organizations started anti-whaling movements on a large scale.

The Sierra Club and National Audubon Society were the best brand of natural conservation organizations in the USA. They have strong social influence by their long history and results. The Sierra Club is a large organization - 135,000 members and 90 staff in the secretariat. It financially helped Project Jonah when it sent elementary school pupils to Japan. It also led the campaign to boycott Japanese and Soviet products.

The National Audubon Society has 75,000 members (275,000 members in the whole world) and 200 staff in the secretariat. Like the Sierra Club, it appealed for a boycott of Japanese and Soviet products through commercial messages on the radio.

The Animal Welfare Institute appealed for a boycott of products of Japanese companies, with concrete names of 17 companies such as SONY, Hitachi, National (Panasonic), Toyota, and Nissan. This organization is managed by Mrs. Christine Stevens. She is a tall, slender and elegant lady. Her husband is a bigwig in the financial circles of Chicago, and is a well known person who is also the chairman of board of directors of the Kennedy Center in New York. Using the name value and wide acquaintance of her husband, and also abundant funds, she became one of the leaders of anti-whaling groups of not only the USA but also the whole world.

When IWC meetings were held in London, she always stayed at high-class hotels such as Connaught or Claridge's. These hotels are known for formality and not accepting a chance customer. She stayed in a suite of rooms, which was also a headquarters of anti-whaling groups, and anti-whaling scientists, activists gathered there to plan tactics. She also has influence at IWC meetings. She always sits in the first row of observers' seats and watches the proceedings of the meeting. When the meeting breaks, representatives of other anti-whaling organizations gather to listen to her instructions.

When the 1979 meeting of the IWC was held in Cafe Royal, London, Christine directed a show which surprised attendees. On the first day of the meeting, after a representative of the UK - the host country - gave a welcome speech, she then moved to the front of the chairman's seat with a young guy holding a guitar. He was John Denver, who was a famous folk singer not only in the USA but also in the world. Denver sang a song which admired whales, grieved over the situation around them, and appealed for rescue of them.

Of course, it was not on the agenda. While the chairman and delegates from the countries were listening to the song with smiles, only Yonezawa - chief delegate of Japan - looked around the meeting room with unhappy look of "What is this all about?" John Denver's song sounded in the quiet room. Then the song ended and he left the room receiving applause.

With funds and influence to stay in a suite of rooms in high-class hotels, and to bring a famous singer to London, Christine Stevens was a queen of anti-whaling groups. Not only the Animal Welfare Institute which she leads, but other environmental organizations in the USA are quite rich financially.

Many members belong to the upper classes, many contributions come to the organizations because of strong social influence of top leaders. Also, since contributions for these organizations are tax-exempt, that is one of the reasons for their abundant financing. When they put advertisements in newspapers or magazines, forms for donations are always printed together with them. Companies and wealthy people prefer to donate for whale saving fund-raising rather than being taxed. In particular, it gives merit to companies which are causing environmental pollution, because the pollution can be winked at. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs detected facts that major oil companies had contributed huge amounts of money on the condition that oil-rooted pollution is passed over. Since a system to disclose corporate information is well-developed in the USA, information about each company's donations, to whom they donated, and the amount of money cannot be concealed.

As described above, anti-whaling organizations are quite rich partly from dirty donations, and began large scale activities by means of such funds.

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