Readers in Council,
The Japan Times,
5-4, Shibaura 4-chome,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023
The October 4, 2013 Japan Times story “Russia charges 14 Greenpeace ‘pirates’” made me think, “Good!” I am instinctively unimpressed by the more aggressive tactics of activist groups - Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherds in particular - and if they want my understanding, sympathy or support then illegally boarding ships on the high seas, trespassing and damaging private property on land or at sea like a troop of unsupervised juvenile delinquents is not the way to do it. I care very much about environmental and wildlife conservation. But at the same time I care very little for others telling me what to think. I’m happy to do my own thinking, thank you.
Now the Dutch government has stepped in claiming the fault is the Russians’ (“Dutch protest Greenpeace arrests,” Japan Times, October 6, 2013), but I am less interested in the Dutch than I am in the Russians who have jurisdiction for the time being. If the Russians choose to inflict the severest penalty imaginable I will pardon them and watch the show. Since the most egregious behavior looks like terrorism I suggest handling the activists as terrorists.
I can’t help but draw comparisons with New Zealand skipper Peter Bethune who was prosecuted in Japan, convicted and then swiftly deported in July 2010 for his February 2010 butyric acid attack on and illegal boarding of the Shonan Maru No. 2 whaling ship in the Southern Ocean (“Bethune gets suspended sentence,” Japan Times, July 8, 2010). Clearly Bethune was/is a terrorist in need of a court supervised life for the rest of his days. I greatly regretted that he was released with a suspended sentence, and spared the opportunity of correcting himself.
Published on Thursday, October 10, 2013 as “Activists who act like terrorists.”