Burma's Blood Rubies

More than 90 per cent of the world's rubies come from Burma

SEE:

Tokenism

Canada's Not So White Knight In Burma

Burma Watch

Blogs Left and Right Unite

Blogging Burma

Myanmar Ghost Dance

No Reincarnation Without Permission

The Road Out of Mandalay

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saffron revolution gems, Buddhist,, Myanmar, Burma,, rubies,, mining,

Blogs Left and Right Unite

Over Burma and the Saffron Revolution.

On those rare occasions something happens in the world of realpolitik that despite our differences the left and right in the Canadian political blogosphere unite over. In this case it's the peaceful protests in Burma and the Junta's over the top might is right response.

Our shared belief in the 'liberal' values of freedom, liberty,democracy, and human rights are affronted by the actions of these tin pot tyrants and call for our protests in solidarity.

Blogging Tories Comment:

The Monks' revolution
Daimnation!
2007-09-26 06:52:52

Jack’s Newswatch

Burma death toll may be ‘far greater’ than reported:

Dr Roy's Thoughts: Free Burma!!!!!

GayandRight

Silent About Burma

The military dictatorship in Burma must be overthrown...a comment from Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic.

Progressive Bloggers Comment.

BURMA:WATCHING BURMA:ANOTHER SOURCE OF INFORMATION:

BURMA'S SAFFRON REVOLUTION!!!! HOORAY!!!

'Support The Monks' Protest in Burma' - Facebook Group Growing Massively

Soldiers fire into crowds of protesters in Burma - Now is the time for Canada to stand up and support the protestors!

Canadian Demonstrators Protest Violence Against Monks and Civilians In Burma

Unfortunately there is a dirth of comment from the right on Burma.

Guess they had a busy week interpreting Harpers public political pontifications in the Big Apple, and reading the entrails from a week of bleeding internal Liberal Party Ides of August, etu brute and dealing with Afghanistan President Karzai's new pals; The Taliban.

Progressive Bloggers have way more comments, two pages worth. Way more than from the right who claim to be the patrons of freedom and liberty.



SEE:

Blogging Burma

Myanmar Ghost Dance

No Reincarnation Without Permission

The Road Out of Mandalay

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
saffron revolution Junta, Buddhist,, Myanmar, Burma,, resistance,, blogging burma,, insurgency

Blogging Burma

Here are some live updates provided by bloggers in contact with Burma/Myanmar and an interesting post on Chinese bloggers who are talking about the Saffron revolution occurring there.

UPDATE FROM INSIDE MYANMAR…

Killing kind compassionate beings

China: Bloggers side with Burmese monks

Some good news has come out of Burma.

Soldiers Back Down in Mandalay

Letter 'reveals dissent in Burmese army'
by Matthew Weaver and Mark Tra, The Guardian (UK), September 27, 2007
Yangon, Myanmar -- Some Burmese troops have declared their support for the Buddhist monks who have led mass protests in the first apparent sign of disaffection in the army, exiled Burmese sources said today

And the Buddhist Channel is covering all news stories on what is happening in the country as the military junta shuts down all communications, internet and cell phone connections with the outside world.

To enforce their regime of censorship they have killed a journalist. Sends a message.

At least 10 people have been killed in two days of violence in the country's largest cities, including a Japanese cameraman who was shot when soldiers with automatic rifles fired into crowds demanding an end to 45 years of military rule.

Thu 27 Sep 2007
Inside Burma

From Ko Htike Blog

Dear All,

I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the internet connection throughout the country. I therefore would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta.

I will also try my best to feed in their demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive though other means (Journos!! please don’t ask me what other means would be??). I will continue to live with the motto that “if there is a will there is a way”.

We probably need to lobby the Chinese government or UN envoy to Burma to ask the junta to switch on the Internet. Please!

Good idea here is an online petition with over 166,000 signatures!!!

To Chinese President Hu Jintao and the UN Security Council:

We stand alongside the citizens of Burma in their peaceful protests. We urge you to oppose a violent crackdown on the demonstrators, and to support genuine reconciliation and democracy in Burma. We pledge to hold you accountable for any further bloodshed.

And of course its all about oil.

Democracy, democracy, no it is oil, oil in Myanmar

Myanmar is one of the world's oldest oil producers, exporting its first barrel in 1853. Rangoon Oil Company, the first foreign oil company to drill in the country, was created in 1871. Between 1886 and 1963, the country's oil industry was dominated by Burmah Oil Company (BOC), which discovered the Ychaugyaung field in 1887 and the Chauk field in 1902. Both are still in production.

China is Burma's biggest oil and gas partner. But Burma also has partners in oil and gas with France (Total), South Korea (Daewoo), India, Thailand in partnership with Oman and Malaysia. And with Unocal, the American company China wanted to buy, and who once had Hamid Karzai as a director.

We noted two years ago that oil deals were lubricating the India-Burma rapprochement, which resulted in a brutal crackdown on ethnic guerillas seeking independence from India, who had theretofore been using Burmese territory as a staging area.

The US firm Unocal recently had its own interests in construction of a pipeline across Burma to Thailand. In 2004, Unocal settled in a case brought under the US Alien Tort Claims Act charging the company was complicit with forced labor and other rights abuses by the Burmese regime. (Radio Free Asia, Dec. 18, 2004) In 2005, Unocal's French partner Total agreed to compensate victims to the tune of 6 million euros ($7.2 million), paid into a fund for humanitarian projects. (EarthRights International, Nov. 29, 2005) The Yadana pipeline is functioning today—and being protested by global ecologists for its impacts on the sensitive rainforest regions it cuts through. (Qatar Gulf Times, Sept. 4, 2007)

But now that Burma is integrating with India—which is, in turn, seeking a new gas pipeline with Iran—the Rangoon junta has manifestly outlived its usefulness to the US elites.

Protests should be aimed at these countries and their companies as well.

In 2007, nine foreign oil companies (Myanmar Petroleum Resources Ltd, Focus Energy Ltd, Westburne, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China National Petrochemical Corporation, Sinopec, Essar, Goldpetrol and a representative of the Kalmik republic) are involved in 16 onshore blocks to explore new areas (EP blocks), to enhance recovery from existing fields (IOR blocks), to reactivate fields where production has been suspended (RFS blocks) and to produce (PSCs).

For the offshore area, Total, Petronas Carigali Myanmar, Daewoo, PTT-EP, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China National Petrochemical Corporation, Essar, Gail and Rimbunam (Malaysia) are exploring and/or developing 29 blocks

Maybe George Bush could lecture his allies on their principles.

South Korea's Daewoo International Corp (047050.KS: Quote), which leads a multi-billion dollar energy project in Myanmar, will not alter its investments there following a violent government crackdown on protests, the company said on Friday.

Daewoo operates Myanmar's large A-1 and A-3 natural gas fields, South Korea's largest overseas energy project, which hold 4.53-7.74 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable reserves.

"We have gas fields under production and three other fields under exploration, which are all long-time investments. They can't be easily changed because of domestic issues," said Cho Sang-hyun, spokesman for Daewoo International.

"Politics is politics. Economics is economics."

In December, South Korean prosecutors charged 14 defense industry executives, including some from Daewoo International, with illegally exporting to Myanmar equipment and technology for making tens of thousands of artillery rounds.

Unlike Daewoo, Total is already aware of its vulnerable position as it has a whole website devoted to its Burma operations. About how important it is that they invest in Burma so as to improve human rights in the country.

Despite international condemnation of the Myanmarese government, competition for oil and gas will likely limit pressure on it from China and others in the region.

"A humanitarian catastrophe might shift Chinese behavior, but right now Beijing probably believes that access to Burma's energy potential and its strategic location still outweigh the political costs," said Roberto M. Herrera-Lim, an Asia analyst at the Eurasia Group in Washington.

Total and Unocal (now Chevron) made headlines in 1996 when Myanmarese nationals brought a case against Unocal for human-rights violations related to the Yadana Project, in the Gulf of Martaban. Cases were also brought against Total.

Both companies maintain interests in Myanmar.

"Total's decision to stay in Myanmar, unlike a number of Western companies that have withdrawn, was a deliberate choice, but it does not signal approval of any regime. Rather, it expresses the Group's deep-seated belief that economic development and human-rights progress go hand in hand," stated Total on the company Web site.

Complicating interests further, the Yadana Project now provides Thailand with one-third of its gas, according to Herrera-Lim. And gas, in turn, fires the plants that generate approximately 70 percent of Thailand's electricity.

Like the human rights of this foreign worker from Singapore who was attacked by Burmese military forces.

Below is an actual of what had happen yesterday on 27/9/07.

I am a Singaporean working in Myanmar for the past 11 years. I was on my way to office( near Thuwana area) at around 4 to 4.30pm when the riot police block the road near "Super one, ILBC area". I stop my car with my wife and walk out. suddenly riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and start firing shots at the crowd. we quickly ran to the side and squat down near the wall.

The soldiers came down and start to shoot at us. I was shot twice but i did not know what hit me. My both leg were bruised. the soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them.

We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 mins and gather by the into a group.
A commander came and gather his troops and drove off to Tamwe direction.
After that ,i looked at my injures and and found injures on my left and right legs.
My wife found the "40mm riot control munnition" empty cartridge that the soldiers shoot at me.

I would like the embassy and media to know the actions of this army.
We are just ordinary citizen going to work and they just shot at us for no reason.
Imagine what they would do to the protesters!

I would like the Singapore government would make a strong stand against this violence crack down on the monks and people.

attached is the photo of my injures .
I have been attended by a private doctor on my injures.
The doctor said i was very lucky that the shot missed the groin area.

Another blogger from Singapore writes; The World Is Responding ... ... At Last

The current protest movement needs to be put in context. It first arose from public protests over increased prices, and from a long term assault being made by the Military City on the Hill against the people of Burma.

Shoot on Sight
The Ongoing Military Junta Offensive Against Civilians in Eastern Burma

Background: Since August 19, 2007 there has been a series of peaceful protests across Burma as monks, activists and ordinary citizens challenge misrule and repression.

Meanwhile, in eastern Burma, a 45-year catastrophe has reached one of its worst moments, as the country's military junta escalates its attacks against the area's ethnic minorities. The government's efforts to assert control over ethnic border areas have emptied over 3,000 villages in a decade, an average of almost one village each day over the past ten years. The forces of Burma's military junta, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), are mortaring villages, looting and burning homes to the ground, and destroying crops in an effort to obliterate the livelihoods of rural communities. Burmese soldiers are ordered to shoot civilians on sight.

JUNTA IN THE JUNGLE

Myanmar's secretive military government has allowed foreign journalists into its new capital of Naypyitaw, which is being built from scratch in the jungle.

The military leadership moved Myanmar's capital (more...) upcountry to a construction site in a jungle town of Naypyitaw, 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of Yangon, in late 2005. Government employees were given no warning and were expected to relocate with their families immediately.

The reasons for the sudden move are not clear. Some say the military was paranoid after the United States invaded Iraq, while others blame astrological forecasts. Another theory is the junta is following the example of former Burmese kings who liked to move capitals to mark a new era.

The jungle city now has half a dozen hotels, which were fully booked by diplomats and other people attending the ceremony. Access to the city is still limited -- there are only three flights a week from Yangon, while the journey by car takes seven hours along a two-lane highway.

Western journalists reported Myanmar's new seat of government to be eerily quiet, with dusty hills dominating the horizon and few people on the city's eight-lane highways.

"It's bizarre," a senior Western diplomat in Yangon, who asked not to be identified, told DER SPIEGEL last year (more...). "It wasn't designed to be a workable city. It was designed to isolate. ... This is a country that's trying to close itself in."

Myanmar's generals build their 'Xanadu' By Larry Jagan BANGKOK - For months Yangon has been rife with rumors that the country's military rulers were planning to retreat to the hills in central Myanmar for fear of a foreign invasion from the sea. But according to the blueprints for the new military complex, it is actually going to replace the inland port city of Yangon, with its famed shimmering pagodas, as the country's capital. "This is typical of [military ruler] Than Shwe's pretensions to be the new Burmese monarch. Like the Burmese kings who ruled before him he is building a new palace-capital for posterity," said Thailand-based senior Myanmar analyst Win Min. But according to diplomats and government officials in Yangon, the real reason for the relocation inland to Pyinmana, 400 kilometers to the north, is for safety from possible outside intervention.

SEE:

Myanmar Ghost Dance

No Reincarnation Without Permission

The Road Out of Mandalay

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
saffron revolution Junta, Buddhist,, Myanmar, Burma,, resistance,, insurgency

Them and Us

According to King Stephen the Conservatives don't have time for protesters. Which we knew.

And the reason is that he claims protesters are not ordinary Canadians, or in this case Quebecois, but a new profession. Basically a 'rent a crowd'. They are not Canadians or Quebecois like you and me or the Conservatives.

"Dear friends, remember always that this is how we can measure our progress as a political movement: bring true results, work for the well-being of families and taxpayers, for truckers, the cashier, the retired person, the salesman, the farmer, the entrepreneur--for people who work hard, and who don't have the time to protest, or have the money to hire protestors.

But who support their families--Quebeckers of the middle class, the enlarged middle class, who were largely ignored for too long, by the political class.

The Conservatives saw them, the Conservatives heard them, the Conservatives have understood them, because we are they [i.e. the middle class]."

Gee someone tell that to the professional protesters at the Fraser Institute, of which Jason Kenney, Rob Anders and Ezra Levant are graduates of. Or the professional protesters of the NCC Lobby, which Harper once spokesman of. Or the professional protesters of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Or the professional protesters opposed to the Wheat Board. Or the professional protesters at REAL Women. Or the professional protesters who demand Childcare Choice. Or the professional protesters who lobby for traditional marriage. Or the professional protesters who oppose Native Rights and Land Claims. Or the professional protesters of the Canadian Medical Association. Or the professional protesters who celebrate Red Friday.

Apparently they are no longer welcome in Harpers New Conservative Party of the 'enlarged middle class'.

Harper defines this mythical class as; 'truckers, the cashier, the retired person, the salesman, the farmer, the entrepreneur'. Now other than the the retired person and the cashier; who is a wage slave, the rest are gainfully defined as 'self employed' which is the classic definition of middle class; self employed professionals. Who were once called the petit-bourgeoisie

After liberal ideologue Daniel Bell declared the end of class war, sociologists defined the middle class as the great American melting pot which included blue collar workers, white collar workers, service workers, professionals and the self employed.

It was not based on the Marxist defined 'relations to the means of production', but on their salaries. No one was working class anymore, that was passe instead we all became a nation of the great unwashed 'middle class' we were now all 'consumers', not producers.

Now given that one would think with all those protesters who makeup the Conservative Party base, that Harper would have enlarged his middle class to include professional protesters and those who have the time and money to hire them. What he is saying is that the hard working Canadians and Quebecois who oppose him are simply in the pay of.....whom? Commies? Trade Unions? Maude Barlow?

In true animal farm fashion he has defined some protesters as more Conservative than others. They are the Special Interests. 'Them' to Harpers 'Us'.

Of course what he really is saying is that by his definition Thomas D'Aquino and his clique of Canada's CEO's are not a special interest group, but the mass of folks who protested last weekend at summit in Montebello are.

We have heard it all before, the protesters are 'commie dupes', and their fellow travelers in the media and blogosphere are 'nattering nabobs of negativity'.

And typical of right wing populism Harper again appeals to being one of the people; "because we are they" ignoring the political reality that his Party is not only a Minority Government but a minority political view amongst Canadians and Canadien's.



SEE:

The Peasants Are Revolting!

Police Black Block

Day In Wonderland

Jelly Bean Summit


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
contientalism, integration, economic integration, Canada, Stephen Harper, Quebec, NAFTA, SPP, North American Union, capitalism, labour, left, left nationalism, Quebec, Canada, labour, environmentalists, union, labor, police agents, QPP, RCMP,

Day In Wonderland

Stockwell Day expands on the Humpty Dumpty syndrome of the Harper government, and becomes the Red Queen for a Day,

The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

By justifying the Police use of undercover agent provocateurs to incite violence and justify the use of riot police at the SPP protests in Montebello.

Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, meanwhile, continued to brush of questions about a call for a public inquiry. "The thing that was interesting in this particular incident, three people in question were spotted by protesters because (they) were not engaging in violence," Day said Friday in Vancouver. "Because they were not engaging in violence, it was noted that they were probably not protesters. I think that's a bit of an indictment against the violent protesters."

An undercover cop carrying rocks encouraging violence and acting as an agent provocateur is an indictment against the police and idiots like Day.

"They were being encouraged to throw rocks and they were not throwing rocks, it was the protesters who were throwing the rocks. That's the irony of this," said Day,

You see the cop was not being violent he was just carrying a rock. A rock he had handed to him only moments before, and he was going to drop it, but union protesters surrounded him and didn't give him a chance.

So still carrying his rock, he walked towards the riot cops to show them his evidence. And so they pretended to bust him so they could dust the rock for fingerprints for the identity of the real violent protester who handed him the rock.

And all those other rock throwing protesters? Well none seem to have been arrested. In fact they all seem to have disappeared.

On Wednesday, the mayor of Montebello thanked police and protesters, praising the fact that there wasn't a single report of damage during the two-day summit.

In the Wonderland that is Ottawa, Humpty Dumpty logic continues to dominate the mindset of the Harpocrites.

“When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone,
"it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.”

SEE:

Police Black Bloc



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contientalism, integration, economic integration, Canada, US, Mexico, NAFTA, SPP, North American Union, capitalism, labour, left, left nationalism, Quebec, Canada, labour, Stockwell Day, union, labor, police agents, QPP, RCMP,

Seal Woes

Never too late to discuss the seal hunt now that the season is safely past and months after the controversy over Belgium and the EU plan to expand the seal hunt ban.

Both the Liberals and Conservatives defend the seal hunt in this discussion last week in the House. My how nice of them, after the protesters have all gone home.

39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION

EDITED HANSARD • NUMBER 173

CONTENTS

Monday, June 18, 2007

Fisheries and Oceans

Hon. Gerry Byrne (Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

Members of the European Union are putting a squeeze on Canadian fishermen through an illegal ban on seal products. In a flagrant violation of international trade law, Belgium has now banned Canadian seal products on the basis of domestic public concern.

Action must be taken by the government before other EU members consider enacting similar bans due to a perceived lack of consequences.

Will the minister and his colleagues formerly commit to launching WTO actions against EU members that are illegally banning Canadian seal products?

Hon. Loyola Hearn (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member's question is actually a pretty good one.

First, let me ensure that everyone knows the EU itself has not banned or will not ban seal products. It has admitted that the seal hunt is conservationist. Second, it is looking now at the humaneness of the hunt, and we hope to be able to prove that also.

Individual member states, some of them including Belgium, have banned seal and seal products. This is a serious precedent. We cannot put up with it and we will take action.

Meanwhile here is an interesting fact: Norway is the largest importer of Canadian seal pelts, but it is not an EU member.

The anti-seal campaign focuses on Canada and our seal hunt quotas, but overlooks the fact that the Greenland hunt also hauls in as many seals as Canada does. Though in the case of Greenland the hunt is conducted by indigenous natives, while in Canada it is conducted by the descendants of Ireland and Scotland.

What gets overlooked in this whole debate is that the seal hunt is sustainable, and that quotas can be reduced. That would be the environmentally sound thing to do. However those who oppose the hunt offer nothing but a complete ban on the hunt, which would have just as negative an impact as an uncontrolled hunt.

An Enviro's Case for Seal Hunt

Cuter than cod

Opponents prefer sentiment to sustainability.

By Terry Glavin
Published: March 7, 2007

The Newfoundland seal hunt is transparently and demonstrably sustainable and humane. There are roughly half a million people in Newfoundland and Labrador, and nearly six million harp seals, which is almost three times as many seals as when I was a kid.

Canada's Annual Seal Slaughter

Michael Werbowski
Prague, Czech Republic
March 14, 2007

Meanwhile, a mini trade war is brewing. It looks to be more than just a minor spat. Over a week ago, outraged by the seal hunt, the German minister of agriculture proposed to bring a bill in front of the Bundestag banning the importation of sealskins or any related products from Canada. Sure enough, as the ice beings to melt, Ottawa took immediate counter-measures.

A Canadian member of parliament from Newfoundland, the province that benefits the most from the seal trade, now seeks to forbid the importation of German boar and dear meat. This diplomatic tit for tat is unlikely to stop the seal hunt. However, the issue is nevertheless a very hot one in Europe. Germany, as mentioned above, is considering a ban on seal products; Belgium has already banned them. And Britain is pushing for a European Union wide ban.

Britain blasted for backing seal ban

Canada reacts angrily to UK's support for full boycott of animal products on eve of cull

Juliette Jowit in Newfoundland
Sunday February 11, 2007
The Observer

Canada has attacked Britain's 'moral' decision to support a Europe-wide boycott of all seal products, as hunters prepare for the annual cull of around 300,000 baby seals.

At present Europe bans only products made from seals under 12 days old, known as 'whitecoats', but the UK is putting pressure on the rest of the EU to join Belgium and Italy, as well as the United States and Mexico, in introducing a blanket rejection of the industry, which is worth £22m to Canada. The Canadian government is frustrated that the British position is based on 'public morality concerns' rather than scientific evidence.

Greenland to Challenge Belgium If Sealskin Is Banned (Update1). Bloomberg (2007)

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Greenland will sue Belgium if ``fanatics'' there succeed in banning sealskin imports, a move that would violate European Union law and cripple the livelihood of Inuit hunters, the foreign minister said.

The island has set up a taskforce with Denmark to stop sealskin bans in the EU, the Danish foreign ministry said today. If Belgium passes such a law, Greenland's foreign minister said he'll ask the European Commission to take legal action against the country for violating the law of the internal market.

Greenland's indigenous population, the Inuits, kill about 180,000 seals each year for meat and skin. The island's hunters mainly kill adult seals and use rifles rather than clubs. Sealskin is one of a few exports other than fish and shrimp for the semi- autonomous Danish territory.

``Belgian politicians are afraid of strong animal welfare activists and fanatics, and that will harm an innocent country,'' Josef Motzfeldt, Greenland's minister for finance and foreign affairs, said in a telephone interview late yesterday from the capital city of Nuuk. ``If Belgium passes this law, many other EU countries might follow.''

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM--( 25 Jan 2007) - In a landmark unanimous vote, the Belgian Parliament has banned the import of all seal products.

"We applaud the Belgian Government for taking this historic step and reducing the demand for seal products derived from a cruel and unnecessary commercial seal hunt," said Lesley O'Donnell, IFAW EU Director.

"We hope the Belgian example will encourage other European nations to adopt their own national bans, closing the door on the trade in seal products."

Across Europe there is a groundswell of opposition to Canada's commercial seal hunt.

The German Parliament voted unanimously on a motion urging the government to ban seal products, just one month after the EU Parliament passed a Written Declaration in support of an EU-wide trade ban.

"There is a clear message being sent to the Government of Canada," said Olivier Bonnet, IFAW Director, Canada.

"It is time the Canadian Government stopped propping up an industry which has no future.

"In light of this ban, and the Government's own scientific data showing the current hunt is unsustainable, the commercial seal hunt must end."

A Victory for Seals in Europe | Humane Society International - Canada

September 8, 2006

By Rebecca Aldworth

Strasbourg, France—Today is a truly historic day for the seals. On Sept. 6, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling upon the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, to ban all trade in harp and hooded seal products. This is a crucial step towards the passage of legislation that will save millions of seals from a horrible fate.

The pups are killed for their fur, most of which is traded in European fashion markets. When the European Union bans the trade in all products from harp and hooded seals—regardless of their age—it will eliminate a market essential to Canada's commercial sealing industry. Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands are already in the process of implementing their own bans.

Clearly, Canada's Fisheries minister, Loyola Hearn, understands the enormity of such a ban. Last week he traveled to Belgium, attempting to convince that country to reconsider a prohibition on the import of seal products. In a statement that drew some criticism from his countrymen, Hearn said that Belgium's ban would take "the livelihood away from a number of Canadians whose family members left their blood on the fields here in Belgium, Flanders fields and other places" during World War II.

See:

A Word From Our Sealers

Not So Cute Seals

Seals Threaten Fish

Royal Newfoundlanders Died For the Seal Hunt

Your Anti-Sealing Donation At Work

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
seals, sealing, seal-hunt, anti-sealing, Newfoundland, Canada, Watson, HSUS, IFAW, Nova Scotia, cod, fish, grey seal, fishers, fishermen,

Mother Nature Ends Seal Hunt

Those that oppose the seal hunt can say thanks mom, and the rest of us can pray for the sealers. Of course the anti-hunt activists skedaddled off the ice, leaving the fishers to fend for themselves.We're just sealers, not savages

CTV.ca

Sealing vessels remain stuck on ice off NL
CTV.ca - 47 minutes ago
ST. JOHN'S, NL -- As many as 100 sealing vessels remain stuck in pack ice off Newfoundland's northeast coast and southern Labrador, amid concerns of shrinking food and fuel supplies.
Crushing ice imprisons sealing ships Globe and Mail
Crews evacuated from ice-gripped vessels St. John's Telegram

Crushing ice imprisons sealing ships
Globe and Mail, Canada - 6 hours ago
The sealers were homebound after last week's hunt, an event that draws animal lovers from around the world to protest against the annual slaughter. ...
Sealers put on ice Guelph Mercury (subscription)
Canadian Seal Hunters Trapped by Ice Forbes

CTV.ca

Protesters pull out as poor ice slows sealers off Nfld. Globe and Mail, Canada - 17 Apr 2007 Sealers and animal-welfare activists had been bracing for potentially violent confrontations on the ice floes, but poor ice conditions and a lower harp-seal ... Anti-Seal Hunt Activists Go Home All Headline News

See:

Attacking the Fishers

A Word From Our Sealers

Not So Cute Seals

Seals Threaten Fish

Royal Newfoundlanders Died For the Seal Hunt

Your Anti-Sealing Donation At Work

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
seals, sealing, seal-hunt, anti-sealing, Newfoundland, Canada, Watson, HSUS, IFAW, Nova Scotia, cod, fish, grey seal, fishers, fishermen,

Attacking the Fishers

The annual seal hunt has begun and so has the propaganda war of the Anti-Seal Hunt foes.

The opponents of the seal hunt belittle and demonize the Fishers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Forgetting that native fishers also hunt seals.

Once again the Green NGO lobby against the seal hunt focuses on attacking workers not the government. And in attacking the fishers they attempt to make them appear less than human, less moral, less concerned about the environment than the nice folks who oppose the seal hunt.

In other words shameless propaganda that hopes to appeal to the reader to show what a backward dull witted people the fishers are.

As a fashion writer who has campaigned against the resurgence of fur on the catwalk, the scenes I witnessed during my time in Canada sickened and appalled me.

I really don't know how this practice can be called a "hunt". (At least foxes can run: seal pups can't even crawl.)

And actually, when I speak to one of the fishermen, he calls it a "harvest".

"Seals are like fish," he said. "There is no difference."

This is plainly ridiculous.

Seals are intelligent, inquisitive creatures. Watch them through a hole in the ice and they do a double-take when they spot you, and return, moments later, to stare with inquisitive eyes.

One seal claws at the ice as it tries to escape

Yet to the fisherman around the coast of Newfoundland, they are simply a threat to local fish stocks; a menace to be eradicated by any means possible.

I wish I could say such callous indifference was surprising. But even before I had been flown over the ice, the hypocrisy of the Canadian government had already prepared me for what lay ahead.

See:

A Word From Our Sealers

Not So Cute Seals

Seals Threaten Fish

Royal Newfoundlanders Died For the Seal Hunt

Your Anti-Sealing Donation At Work

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
seals, sealing, seal-hunt, anti-sealing, Newfoundland, Canada, Watson, HSUS, IFAW, Nova Scotia, cod, fish, grey seal, fishers, fishermen,