Advice on what to do about Sea Shepherd talk

[sleepyowl]

With the Pagan group I run, we try & get a talk a month & one of my group who like me is very much into his animal rights put me in contact with a guy he met at a vegan or possibly vegetarian festival who is involved with the Sea Shepherd, well the guy from my group up until recently didn't have the internet & from the literature that was given to me sounded all well & good so I went ahead & contacted the guy from the Sea Shepherd & organised a date for the talk. The talk is due in a months time but I have had it brought to my attention that their practices are a little dubious to say the least, but have only been able to find reference to said practices on unregulated websites so it may not be true. I have contacted Greenpeace but they so far have not bothered to contact me back.

So A) Do people know of any sites where I can look up exactly what they do that is regulated or if you know of any veryfiable knowledge of wrong doing by them?

B) Do I cancel the talk? Do I let it still go ahead but do a no questions barred kind of thing? Do I keep my mouth shut & let everyone pounce if he makes a slip up?

C) Am I paranoid everything is fine & la di da & this thread is a load os fuss over nothing

[mrsflibble]

I'm slightly confused.

[sleepyowl]

The Sea Hepherd took over from the Rainbow Warrior

[mrsflibble]

oooooooooooooh. now I get you.
still no clue about how to help with your predicament though. have you tried news websites?

[Rod in Japan]

They've sailed dangerously close to ships of the Japanese whaling fleet, thrown bottles of corrosive chemicals at Japanese ships, and boarded them without permission. Those are all against various laws, and were all clearly documented on film taken by the whalers. But I don't see why that should stop you listening to what one of them has to say, and engaging him in debate.

[hedgewitch]

Don't cancel the talk!
Use it as an opportunity to learn the facts first hand from this man.
If I were you I would do as much research as you can before and prepare a few questions you would like to ask.

[Rod in Japan]

Update on Sea Shepherd:

The Japanese government has put out international arrest warrants for 3 members of Sea Shepherd, 2 Americans and 1 Briton. One of the Americans is accused of throwing a (caustic) smoke cannister onto a Japanese whaling ship, while the other 2 are accused of trying to ensnare the screw of one of the ships in rope trailed from a rubber motor boat.

The action by Sea Shepherd over the summer has been remarkable. I support the online actions of Greenpeace in protesting whaling, but until this year, whaling has not been on the national news at all. Sea Shepherd put it there by their actions. Obviously they were reported as the most appalling sort of terrorists, but I'm sure some thoughtful Japanese have been stimulated to think about the issue. I wonder if your fellow is one of those sought on the international arrest warrant. (Sea Shepherd have countered with their own arrest warrant.)

I'm interested to know what sort of ethics Pagans would bring to bear in this situation...

[Rosendula]

Do people know of any sites where I can look up exactly what they do that is regulated or if you know of any veryfiable knowledge of wrong doing by them?

I haven't heard of them but there is a charitable organisation of this name which I found on the Charity Commission's website http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/re ... no=1110501 The charity commission lists all the registered charities in the UK, and you have to be pretty serious in order to go through the extreme amount hassle involved in setting up a charity before you get your name on their list. That doesn't, of course, mean they are good

Don't cancel the talk!
Use it as an opportunity to learn the facts first hand from this man.
If I were you I would do as much research as you can before and prepare a few questions you would like to ask.

I think this is good advice, but I would keep at the forefront of my mind the advice that Rod in Japan is giving you. On the charity commission link I gave you, above, you can get hold of a phone number of the charity correspondent if you want to give him a ring and discuss any concerns before the talk.

[Ratty]

Its Dan Bebawi from Nottingham who is on Japan's arrest warrant now

Please don't cancel the talk. What is legal in one country is not in another. No one was injured and who are we to judge what they did as wrong? Give the guy a chance to talk.

[hedgewitch]

Thought you'd be interested in this

Part One...

Part two...