CANADA (20 June 2007) -- After Canada stripped them of their registration papers and left them without a flag under which to sail, two of the world's best-known ocean warriors found a friendly port of call in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake yesterday. The Farley Mowat and the Robert Hunter - two vessels operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Authority, a U.S. anti-whaling group - will now sail under a Mohawk flag and with papers registered with the Mohawk Traditional Council, one of Kahnawake's three longhouses. Paul Watson, a Canadian co-founder of Greenpeace, and now captain of the Farley Mowat, was presented with the papers for the two vessels, currently moored in Australia and the Galapagos Islands. At the same time, Watson received the Five Nations' Iroquois Confederacy flag - purple with white symbols depicting the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Cayuga nations. It is different from the more familiar but unofficial Warrior flag, which depicts an aboriginal bust on a red background. However, there was no consensus in Kahnawake over the community's foray into international whaling waters. Two of three longhouses on the Mohawk reserve were absent from the ceremony, reflecting political divisions within the community over the move. Still, yesterday's marriage between Kahnawake Mohawks and the international anti-whaling crusaders, others said, reflects a trend in environmental politics - mainstream environmental organizations seeking sponsorship from aboriginal nations that have not been co-opted by corporate interests. "We both want responsibility for taking care of the Earth to be in the hands of the people," Watson said of the liaison. Although some critics have charged these tactics are mere publicity stunts, legal experts and environmental lobbyists say there is considerable potential for new international precedents. For his part, Stuart Myiow of the Mohawk Traditional Council longhouse, where the ceremony took place, said he was honoured that his people's flag would be sailing on the Sea Shepherd vessels. Myiow said Watson's group is the only entity on the planet that is upholding prohibitions set by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. Since the ban, Japan, Norway and Iceland have refused to comply. | | The marine sanctuary patrol vessel 'Robert Hunter' enforces international regulations, which prohibit killing whales and other protected marine species in designated marine protected areas from Antarctica to the Galapagos Islands. Canada, the UK and Belize stripped the vessels of their registration after caving in to threats from Japanese ultranationalists and organized crime gangs. "It's our natural right as human beings to stand up and defend Mother Nature," Myiow said. The partnership is also a first step, he added, "where native and non-native peoples come together in defence of the environment, and outside government." The Sea Shepherd had been sailing under the Canadian flag for 12 years before Japan started pressuring the federal government. As a result, the Canadian government pulled the ship registration in August of last year. Following that, explained Watson, Great Britain gave the Sea Shepherd vessels registration papers, then later revoked them - again, at Japan's request. Belize similarly accorded and rescinded - all within the space of 10 days. The two ships will set sail for Antarctica in November. Joe Delaronde, a spokesperson for the Mohawk Band Council, said there's some community support for the idea, but stressed that the Five Nations' Iroquois Confederacy flag is the official flag of all five nations, not just the Mohawk. The confederacy's grand council in Onondaga, New York, is the only Five Nations' governing body able to exercise such an act of sovereignty, he said. To that, Myiow said, the Iroquois constitution not only allows for such a move but, in fact, calls upon all aboriginals to now join his Kahnawake longhouse and to do whatever they can in order to support the Sea Shepherd missions. SOURCE - The GazetteSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
