I honestly must admit that though having heard many people talk about, sporting t-shirts of SEA SHEPHERD or saw their banners pasted all around the web I have never really spent the time necessary to get a better understanding of what this, US based non-profit marine wild life conservation organization started out in 1977 by Paul Watson (age 62 and co-founder of Greenpeace), is all about.
To enrich my personal knowledge I could take many different ways like searching through the web, stepping up to one of organizations stands at HC shows but I felt more interesting to try and caught up with someone I know and who is close to the worldwide hardcore punk scene, having been the singer for Italy's hardcore outfit TO KILL before taking up the decision to step a notch up in terms of his involvement with this organization, after years of supporting their activities and mission up on stage and during his everyday life.
I emailed to JOSH a bunch of questions, early June, just before he was gonna leave for a new Antarctica campaign and got them back in my in-box after his return and a stop-over of his ship in Melbourne before taking to the sea again. He replied about Sea Shepherd, his experience thus far, the Paul Watson controversy case, shooting a horror movie on the way back from Antarctica and, of course, HC music -I still run zine about music and hardcore scene, don't I? I really found Josh's replies very exhaustive (he's definitely a chatty dude) and drenched in the same passion he had shown in the past while talking about TO KILL and hardcore punk. And in my view the whole thing could really be a good starting point for those who wanna know more about Sea Shepherd and at the same time understand the strong connection and bounds existing between hardcore punk and real activism in opposition to the mere fashion some tries to make it into and market over cycles.
Hey Josh how're things, and where are you now?
Things are pretty good out here. I'm currently on board of the Sea Shepherd flagship the Steve Irwin and right now we are docked in Melbourne, Australia, for some maintenance work.
Okay, let's start this off with a question about you joining the ranks of Sea Shepherd. I know you've been supporting them as a musician beforehand. How did it go? When and what were some of feelings, motivations that brought you to join actively this organization.
To be honest I always wanted to join the ship but the band was always a big priority in my life. As soon as we talked and we decided to quit To Kill, I sent my application. Even before I got accepted I went to see the ship that was in Europe to start the med campaign and at the beginning I was just helping for a couple of days but those couple of days became the rest of my life till now.
I think direct action sadly is becoming the only way to accomplish a change and it seems to me that to try to save the life in the oceans, Sea Shepherd is the one of the very few direct action organization that actually does something to try to change things. That's why I decided to join.
Can you please introduce this organization to those, like me, who actually have just a basic understanding of what you do? Your goals, your mission and so on…?
Sea Shepherd is a conservation organization that uses direct action to enforce laws that exist to protect ocean wildlife but that nobody has the interest to enforce. Paul Watson, one of the co-founder of Greenpeace, decided in 1977 that he wanted to found a more radical organization and he created Sea Shepherd.
In the last year Sea Shepherd have been really popular for it's anti whaling campaign in the southern oceans, but that's definitely not the only campaign Sea Shepherd does. We have campaign to protect seals, sharks, dolphins, pilot whales, tunas and in general the wildlife in the oceans. In it's 35 years Sea Shepherd managed to accomplish enormous results becoming a nightmare for the poachers all over the world.
What are some of the campaigns Sea Shepherd is currently doing?
Right now the Steve Irwin and the Bob Barker are in port, getting ready for the next antarctic campaign. The Brigitte Bardot is doing a shark defense campaign in the south pacific. Every year almost 100.000.000 sharks are killed for their fins, main ingredient of the shark fin soup. This is driving a lot of different shark species towards extinction. If we wipe out sharks from our oceans we are going to cause a major ecological disaster that will inevitably effect the whole ecosystem they are part of, since they are at the top of the food chain of that, and maintain a really delicate equilibrium in the oceans. Since 1970 the shark population worldwide has been reduced by 90%.
We also have an on shore campaign in Taiji were a team of volunteers monitor the slaughter of dolphins.
The Steve Irwin is on her way back south after a last minute campaign
in the north west of Australia. The campaign is called Operation Kimberley Miinimbi. The area of the Kimberley is a pristine and almost untouched region of Australia where on land the bond between the traditional owners and the land is still like it was thuosands of years ago and in the portion of ocean in front of it there is the biggest humpback whale nursery in the world (Miinimbi is the name for humpback whale in the language of the traditional owners here).
A joint venture of corporation under the lead of the local Woodside, want to build a gas hub that would destroy both land and sea. Between the catastrophic things that this portion of sea will have to suffer: a 7km long dock, dredging of a massive area with a devastating effect on the local and, due to the tides and currents, not so local marine environment.
The Steve Irwin went up there to bring media, locals and polititians to see the amount of whales that transit and breed in the area, even just few hundred meters from the shore. And that's exactly what happened. For a week straight we saw over a hundred whales a day:
mothers and baby or male competing you could find all sort of behaviour. These are the same whales that we save in Antarctica and although this is not an action type campaign, this is the vital moment to make a change: before they start building and raping this area. If they start to work on the project then it will be too late. There are many other groups involved on protecting the Kimberley coast such as the traditional owners, the Goolarabooloo, the Australian Green party, the Wilderness Society of Australia and several other organization that since years are fighting to protect this area. Right now the ship is en route to Sydney and the fact that we left the area doesn't mean that the campaign is over. Now it's up to the citizens of Australia and all over
the world to show their opposition to the project. Sea Shepherd will
keep raising awerness and spread information about the issue.
I read the bad news on the very critical situation captain Paul Watson is currently going through and I know Sea Shepherd called an action day on May 23rd to gather all your supporters before German embassies, all over the world, and make their voices heard. Do you feel to add something on this unpleasant circumstance?
Paul Watson have a lot of enemies, like every person who tries to make the world a better place for us and for the wildlife that populates it. Really often this enemies are really rich and powerful criminals that have hooks with corrupted governments. Sometime those corrupted governments themselves consider Paul an enemy cause Sea Shepherd exposes their dark sides to the rest of the world and try to stop them. Paul Watson have been arrested for an accident happened 10 years ago and he never had a problem traveling anywhere in the world. The accident took place in the waters of Guatemala where Sea Shepherd found a fishing boat killing sharks illegally. Guatemala asked for Sea Shepherd assistance and Paul intervened to escort the ship, the Varadero I, back to the port to be persecuted. The Varadero I rammed the Sea Shepherd ship and now they are blaming Sea Shepherd for the accident.
The problem is also that the shark fin mafia has a bounty on Paul Watson's head so if he would end up in a jail in Costa Rica, he might in fact be killed. Paul also stated that no matter what happens to him, whether he goes to jail or not, Sea Shepherd will continue his campaigns to save the environment and this is not about him but about the sharks that need to be defended.
Out of this whole story Paul managed to take advantage of the situation to bring the problem of the shark murdering that happens every year under everyone's attention.
To be honest I also found really impressive how in most of the other organizations the people ending up in jail are the activists. And the same is for Sea Shepherd with the difference that the first activist and the first one paying the consequences and always in the front-line is Paul itself, and I find this really inspiring.
What campaigns did you take part actively? And what are some of your tasks you're in charge of on a daily basis?
I've done 5 campaigns so far:
2 blue fin tuna campaigns in the Mediterranean sea: the bluefin tuna is going to be extinct within very few years, some say that even in 5 years will be almost impossible to find a blue fin tune in the oceans. The problem is that the rarity of this fish brought his price insanely high making it a big target for illegal poaching activities. Another problem is that most of the elder tunas have been killed and now always younger and younger tunas have been bought not giving them the chance to increase their population. This will inevitably bring the specie on the list of the animals that no longer live on this planet.
2 anti whaling campaign in Antarctica: whaling is illegal since the mid 80's on the whole planet. Still 3 countries, Japan, Norway and Iceland, use the loophole of scientific research to keep killing whales and they say that not to waste the meat they will sell it. No valid scientific results has been brought up since this so called research programs. Beside that Antarctica is a whale sanctuary and that's where Japan every year goes with a quota of a thousand whales that they want to kill. We go there to defend those who can't defend themselves and try to stop this senseless "tradition" also the sale of the whale meat has been going down in the past years cause even people in Japan realized how senseless this is. Since Sea Shepherd has been going down the whalers have been catching always less and less whales thank to our harassment. In the last couple of years we drastically cut their quota from a thousand to 170, 2 years ago and 265 last year.
1 pilot whale defense campaign at the Faroes islands: here is another senseless tradition that has no reason to exist. In the Faroes islands a group of people from a village goes out in small boats and start to push towards shore a pod of pilot whales. On the shore the rest of the people from the village is waiting them with hooks and knives and they slaughter them while the whales are beaching. It is a complete merciless barbaric act. Most of the carcasses of the whales will be then thrown out. Some of the meat will be used as food but every medic strongly suggests not to eat pilot whale meat cause it's really high in mercury and it's really dangerous for your health.
Right now I'm the bosun's mate on the Steve Irwin, which means I'm second in charge of the deck department. During campaign I did many things. I started as a diver, crane operator, then small boat navigator and now I drive one of the small boats. While not in "action mode" I am also the carpenter of the ship.
And what about your free time? What you normally do? Are you able to keep up with what is going on among the hardcore scene?
Well to be honest the first 2 years I never spent more than a month in a place…. And a whole month in a place was a pretty big rarity. Lately we are spending a little bit longer in port here in Melbourne, Australia and I'm catching up with what I missed. Here there are a lot of shows and I met a few kids from the HC and the vegan sxe scene. In the last year i saw very few shows but really good ones, such as Trial, Anchor, Run with the Hunted and Strike Anywhere.
When in port we also have internet that is a lot more helpful to know what's new.
What this new experience has taught you thus far?
I consider myself to be one of the luckiest persons on this planet. If I think about how my life has been till now I see that I accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to, and those things have forged me into the person I am today. Misfortunes and rocky roads are just part of the path of our life but those misfortunes and difficulties in the end are the things we learn the most from.
First being in bands and part of the HC scene taught values as unity and how to detect people I can trust on and how to count on them. It taught me perseverance, not stopping in front of obstacles or even better how to take advantage of those obstacles. Anyone who plays in a HC band can tell you how hard it is to follow your passion and yet no matter how difficult it is you just can't stop trying to reach that result. Being in a band definitely showed me how easy it was for me to adapt to any kind of situations, how feeling fatigue from an endless week of night drives was something easily deleted by a 20 unique minutes on a stage that made you ready for another week of kms ahead of you. HC taught me how passion of a few individuals is stronger than anything. A small group of people who love the same loud music, and who love to share energy with each other can create a music scene stronger than any pop music scene and can show to a complete stranger that the energy of a room with 50 passionate HC kids can crash a stadium filled with people that want to listen just good music. That's where I learned to be who I am today. That's where I learned about ideals such as veganism and where I learned how to become an activist.
After To Kill broke up I just took all of these things and found out how I could use all of them on my life outside the music scene. Now I trust my comrades in the hardest moments. I know that during an action I can count on them as they can count on me. Never like now I learned how to turn an obstacles into a step to climb over it. No matter how bad a storm can be, no matter how violent our opponents are against us seeing a whale or a dolphin or even use looking at the pristinely of the sea, so wild and uncontrolled just give me the strength to fight a titan. I saw how the passion of 80 people from a small organization, alone in a freezing ocean, weeks from any other human being, can destroy a killing machine oiled by tents of millions of dollars given them by a government ending up saving hundreds of whales every year.
When I joined I've never stepped on a ship and now I drive a 6 mt inflatable boat against a 70 mt steel ship created with no other propose than destruction. I've learned so much about seamanship, about being at sea, I taught myself carpentry, and in general how to do anything on the ship.
I learned how to look at the wilderness with deeper respect. I've seen it's beauty and it's rage and i admired them both.
And still every day for me is a lesson, this is also something else i learned here. I am thirsty. For some reason things to learn are never enough, everyday I understand something new and just can't wait to discover the next thing I yet don't know how to do.
What are some of the ups and downs you faced since joining?
For some reason I found out to be one of those people who always look at the glass as half full. Sometime when something doesn't go exactly according to plans of course I ask myself "what now? how are we going to deal with this?" but then I immediately answer those questions with positivity: "ok this didn't work. How can I avoid committing the same mistake." I found out as well that 9 out of 10 it works.
Last Antarctic campaign we found out that the harpoon ships elaborated a countermeasure for our prop fouler. And this was a perfect example. First reaction was "oh man this is bad. We are not going to be able to do anything against these guys" but then it's all about finding a solution, and a solution we found. We managed to stop one of them for some time we managed to give them hell and send them home with like 1/4 of their kill quota. So as you see somehow you manage to turn a down into an up really often. Of course there is that 1/10 moments but those are the impossible ones. Like you are in a 10 mt swell storm. Standing is impossible. Sleeping is impossible. Eating is out of the question. In those moments you just have to seat and wait. The upside of it is that this become days off for my department cause it's really impossible to do any work. On those days I like to go to the bridge and hang out there give a hand if they need. Keep them company as I don't really suffer from sea sickness, in those moments most of the crew is knocked out by it and the ship become a ghost ship.
In April I saw on your facebook a gruesome picture you were sharing and a post saying “some time on the way back from Antarctica you just have to make a horror movie”. Would you mind talking about this “Crew's movie”?
In the past a couple of other movies have been made by the Sea Shepherd crews on the ships. One on those is actually what inspired all of us. That one was called "Dead At Sea" and it was a zombie movie. This year both the Steve Irwin crew and the Bob Barker crew made a movie. The one from the Steve is called "Custom of the Sea" and it's about a nuclear war that have affected life on land and we and the bob barker being at sea are safe but time passes by and food and provisions starts to run out. Some of the crew creates an alliance to survive at all cost… that cost is the flesh of the other crew members. The Bob movie is called "Blood Latitude" and is based on the Wolf Game, a game that we play a lot on the ships. Essentially there is a serial killer on the ship and the whole movie is to try to find out who that person is while the crew is becoming smaller and smaller. They are both really well done. While "Blood Latitude" has some kind of funny theme every now and then, "Custom of the Sea" is full on disturbed, full of swearing etc... looking at it after we finished it some thought we went a little too far sometime also with the gory details;)
In the last interview I did to you when To Kill were still around you told me about the some of the feelings you had before getting up on stage at Fluff fest. If you had to compare those feelings with the ones you have before taking action with the Sea Shepherd crew, what would you say?
Every action I do with Sea Shepherd is unique and even if we plan to do something that we have done in the past we know that it's inevitably going to be something completely different. There are a million of facts that could change and some of them are non human and uncontrollable, from the sea condition to the boat response. Also there is always to remember that we are going against someone that hates us and despises us. We had a lot of proofs that they are willing to hurt us and stop us.
For every campaign an action create in me some excitement of course, as I'm about to do something that is going to have a direct impact. I feel the responsibility towards the animals we are out there defending. If we fail to stop some poachers or a whaler, the ones who are going to pay the higher price is not us, it's them with their life. This is a pretty big weight on our shoulders. I know some people looking at the footage and the pictures think this is something funny, and don't get me wrong you find the fun in it too, but it is something huge and the result has a major impact on someone else's life. During the last Antarctic campaign, Operation Divine Wind, I was one of the small boat driver. That changes completely the way I live the action. Now I know that also the safety of those on the boat with me, is my responsibility. Now more than ever I have to make sure that the action happens and that it is as effective as possible. This year they throw flash granadees at us. Grappling hooks in the boats, they tried to run us over, they hit one of the crew in my boat, straight in the face with a pole and they hit me on some sort of part on the hip. Stuff like this can go terribly wrong and it's not an exaggeration to say that someone could actually die. It is definitely a different range of emotions compared to play a show. Of course those emotions are still in me as somehow the hours before going in the water are like before you are playing in front of a large crowd on a big festival.
How much being part of hardcore community influenced your choice of joining Sea Shepherd?
Every action I do with Sea Shepherd is unique and even if we plan to do something that we have done in the past we know that it's inevitably going to be something completely different. There are a million of facts that could change and some of them are non human and uncontrollable, from the sea condition to the boat response. Also there is always to remember that we are going against someone that hates us and despises us. We had a lot of proofs that they are willing to hurt us and stop us.
For every campaign an action create in me some excitement of course, as I'm about to do something that is going to have a direct impact. I feel the responsibility towards the animals we are out there defending. If we fail to stop some poachers or a whaler, the ones who are going to pay the higher price is not us, it's them with their life. This is a pretty big weight on our shoulders. I know some people looking at the footage and the pictures think this is something funny, and don't get me wrong you find the fun in it too, but it is something huge and the result has a major impact on someone else's life. During the last Antarctic campaign, Operation Divine Wind, I was one of the small boat driver. That changes completely the way I live the action. Now I know that also the safety of those on the boat with me, is my responsibility. Now more than ever I have to make sure that the action happens and that it is as effective as possible. This year they throw flash granadees at us. Grappling hooks in the boats, they tried to run us over, they hit one of the crew in my boat, straight in the face with a pole and they hit me on some sort of part on the hip. Stuff like this can go terribly wrong and it's not an exaggeration to say that someone could actually die. It is definitely a different range of emotions compared to play a show. Of course those emotions are still in me as somehow the hours before going in the water are like before you are playing in front of a large crowd on a big festival.
How much being part of hardcore community influenced your choice of joining Sea Shepherd?
I first heard about Sea Shepherd when Ignite released a benefit 7" in the mid 90's. Since then I read a few articles on some fanzine etc... but since internet started to be the new way of being informed I have been following Sea Shepherd trying to support them as much as I could etc... but as you see HC is once again at the root of everything.
The artwork and title of To Kill farewell record "Antarctica" seems now to me to point to the direction you took in life. Is this just a case?
I wasn't the one who proposed the title for the record, but when Jai (drummer) proposed it and told us why, I just loved it.
I've been wanting to join the Sea Shepherd for a long time, I was thinking about maybe asking the other To Kill to take a few months break and join for a campaign but in the end To Kill was so busy all the time and I just decided to wait for that chapter of my life to be closed to put myself into it as much as I could. Only regret is that the 2 things in the end overlapped and there never was a closure with To Kill.
What are some suggestions to those who may think of getting really active like you, and what are some of other ways one can support the organization?
I think being an activist is incredibly important nowadays. The planet is dying and we are the ones killing it, so taking responsibility and trying to stop ourselves from this madness is the most important thing to focus on right now for my opinion. Joining Sea Shepherd (seashepherd.org) is something you can do. Try to apply on the website, if the ship come around where you live go out and help on whatever they need. If you live on the other side of the world you can still find a way to help rise awareness on the subject and money for the organization. This is a direct action organization and almost everything that gets donated goes into the campaigns. But Sea Shepherd is just one of the option. The issues around are so many and every one is worth fighting for. During our last campaign we had activists from the Forest Rescue, which is an organization that fights to protect the old forests from being logged, helping us boarding one of the whaling ships. So you see that everything is connected. We are all fighting the same war in the end.
If you can't be in the front-line there is still so much you can do. Internet gives us a potential nowadays to find out what we can do. To coordinate each other and find ways we can act. And act is what is important. Even in your everyday life start to think on what you consume, of ways you can make a difference. Don't be afraid of being alone cause you are not. Just look around you and you'll see that the people ready to become an activist are more than you can think of.
I guess you expected this question to come. Do we will have any chances of seeing To Kill back on track in the near future?
As for now i would definitely say no. as for the future, I have no crystal ball.
And talking about this, what's your view on the current reunions of many hardcore punk bands?
I'm not opposed to reunions. Sometime the fact that a band stop playing doesn't necessarily means that they can't start again. Maybe they stopped cause they just couldn't cope anymore with all the trouble that people have while being in a full time band. Sometime you just feel it's the right moment to stop. But as I told you HC as some sort of unique energy that can bring back life things that were dead, such as bands. I think if their heart and their propose is still in the right place, it can only be positive for the scene. I'd rather have bands like Trial or Verse coming back together and bring some inspiration back to a scene that I fear is becoming emptier and emptier in values and creativity, than having them just on my iPod cause they broke up and it's forbidden to get back together and play. And even bands that maybe don't have a political message, if the spirit of HC is still burning inside of them and they are doing it with and for that spirit, I say welcome back!
Of course there is also a reverse of the medal. Some bands get back together only for fame and money and let me tell you this: fuck that! I still am trying to understand for example what moved Refused to get back together if it's the flame of the punk and independent music or if it's something else.
What do you see yourself in the your future?
I see me keep fighting. We are getting ready for the next Antarctic anti whaling campaign. I can tell you that the Steve Irwin is doing amazing and it's going to be in tip top shape for it. I know we are getting a 4th ship this year donated by one of the Simpsons creators, Sam Simon, and I think this will be a campaign changing tool. Yeah to be honest I don't see my future too different from my present.
That's really all I had to ask. Thanks so much for taking the time. Do you wanna add something?
I always wanna add something;) Go Vegan!
The artwork and title of To Kill farewell record "Antarctica" seems now to me to point to the direction you took in life. Is this just a case?
I wasn't the one who proposed the title for the record, but when Jai (drummer) proposed it and told us why, I just loved it.
I've been wanting to join the Sea Shepherd for a long time, I was thinking about maybe asking the other To Kill to take a few months break and join for a campaign but in the end To Kill was so busy all the time and I just decided to wait for that chapter of my life to be closed to put myself into it as much as I could. Only regret is that the 2 things in the end overlapped and there never was a closure with To Kill.
What are some suggestions to those who may think of getting really active like you, and what are some of other ways one can support the organization?
I think being an activist is incredibly important nowadays. The planet is dying and we are the ones killing it, so taking responsibility and trying to stop ourselves from this madness is the most important thing to focus on right now for my opinion. Joining Sea Shepherd (seashepherd.org) is something you can do. Try to apply on the website, if the ship come around where you live go out and help on whatever they need. If you live on the other side of the world you can still find a way to help rise awareness on the subject and money for the organization. This is a direct action organization and almost everything that gets donated goes into the campaigns. But Sea Shepherd is just one of the option. The issues around are so many and every one is worth fighting for. During our last campaign we had activists from the Forest Rescue, which is an organization that fights to protect the old forests from being logged, helping us boarding one of the whaling ships. So you see that everything is connected. We are all fighting the same war in the end.
If you can't be in the front-line there is still so much you can do. Internet gives us a potential nowadays to find out what we can do. To coordinate each other and find ways we can act. And act is what is important. Even in your everyday life start to think on what you consume, of ways you can make a difference. Don't be afraid of being alone cause you are not. Just look around you and you'll see that the people ready to become an activist are more than you can think of.
I guess you expected this question to come. Do we will have any chances of seeing To Kill back on track in the near future?
As for now i would definitely say no. as for the future, I have no crystal ball.
And talking about this, what's your view on the current reunions of many hardcore punk bands?
I'm not opposed to reunions. Sometime the fact that a band stop playing doesn't necessarily means that they can't start again. Maybe they stopped cause they just couldn't cope anymore with all the trouble that people have while being in a full time band. Sometime you just feel it's the right moment to stop. But as I told you HC as some sort of unique energy that can bring back life things that were dead, such as bands. I think if their heart and their propose is still in the right place, it can only be positive for the scene. I'd rather have bands like Trial or Verse coming back together and bring some inspiration back to a scene that I fear is becoming emptier and emptier in values and creativity, than having them just on my iPod cause they broke up and it's forbidden to get back together and play. And even bands that maybe don't have a political message, if the spirit of HC is still burning inside of them and they are doing it with and for that spirit, I say welcome back!
Of course there is also a reverse of the medal. Some bands get back together only for fame and money and let me tell you this: fuck that! I still am trying to understand for example what moved Refused to get back together if it's the flame of the punk and independent music or if it's something else.
What do you see yourself in the your future?
I see me keep fighting. We are getting ready for the next Antarctic anti whaling campaign. I can tell you that the Steve Irwin is doing amazing and it's going to be in tip top shape for it. I know we are getting a 4th ship this year donated by one of the Simpsons creators, Sam Simon, and I think this will be a campaign changing tool. Yeah to be honest I don't see my future too different from my present.
That's really all I had to ask. Thanks so much for taking the time. Do you wanna add something?
I always wanna add something;) Go Vegan!
Pic by: Barbara Veiga
No comments:
Post a Comment