CNN Student News

 FancyEnglish         Protesting Whaling          课件首页

        March 4, 2008

(CNN Student News) -- March 4, 2008 Protesting Whaling - Watch activists clash with a Japanese whaling ship in Antarctic waters. Protesting Whaling LLOYD: Shifting from land to sea now. An incident between two ships in the Antarctic Ocean is drawing attention to Japan's whaling practices. The country's hoping to gain support for it's program, but conservationists have been clashing with whale-hunting vessels. And as Kyung Lah tells us, they're trading more than just words. Teachers, we ask that you please preview this segment, as it contains some content that may not be appropriate for some students. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KYUNG LAH, CNN REPORTER: Defying an order warning them to back off, anti-whaling activists aboard a Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boat hurled package after package at the Japanese whaling ship. Inside those four dozen brown paper bags: what the activists described as a foul-smelling acid. They say the chemicals are harmless, but the Japanese government says four of its crewmen suffered minor injuries. LAH: This is harassment and terrorism, charged the Japanese government. But the activist group calls Japan's whale hunt intolerable. International law allows the yearly hunt of up to 1,000 whales because Japan says the aim is science. For months, the Japanese fleet and a sea shepherd ship have faced off in the Antarctic waters. In January, two Sea Shepherd crewmen, unannounced, jumped aboard the Japanese vessel, forcing the hunt to stall. This isn't Japan's only problem, Australia launched its customs ship to monitor the whale hunt and released this emotional video of whalers hauling aboard what the Australian government described as a mother and baby whale. Japan said they were not mother and calf; but a larger whale and a smaller one. Now, trying to turn the tide of international opinion, Japan is lobbying 12 officials from Africa and Asia who are gathered in Tokyo. The Japanese government wants the officials to support its position when the International Whaling Commission meets in London later this week to address global whaling rules. Greenpeace activists greeted the officials with an inflatable whale and a picture of Japan's prime minister on a dollar bill, and accused Japan of trying to buy the support of Whaling Commission officials: JUNICHI SATO, GREENPEACE OCEANS PROJECT LEADER: Japan is using foreign aid to influence the countries' politics, which is something ethically that should not be done. The country's politics needs to be decided by the people's of the country's decision. PIERRE COUSSEY, GHANA, SPECIAL ADVISOR: They haven't paid us to be here. You know, we're here on our own volition. I don't think people are brought into things. They have an argument, somebody should listen. LAH: Listening is something Japan says it isn't getting from activists or governments, who oppose the country's whaling activities. Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo. (END VIDEO CLIP)

    

百科知识 视频下载