Runi Nielsen is passionate about
ending the grinds, but as a
Faroese himself, he understands
only too well the negative impact
that direct verbal and written
attacks on individuals involved in
the grinds - and very often,
aggressive attacks on the entire
Faroese population - can have.
research and great caution in taking whole
pods of whales. What does this mean for
their total gene pool? What other threats
are impacting on these animals?
Do the mercury and other polutants make
the whales sick, and to what extent? Does
is effect their ability to reproduce? These
are all questions that could and should be
answered using non-lethal research methods.
The following advice from Runi is
These three points are all valid arguments
a 'must read' for any non-Faroese
and the more they are used, the more
environmentalists.
headway we can all make towards ending
The best advice I can give is to engage in
one-to-one, respectful private messaging
with the Faroese. Be respectful and listen,
and I guarantee they will also listen to you
when you bring up your concerns.
The cuteness factor and the non-human
persons argument doesn't fly in the
Faroes. It will close ears and close doors,
as will aggressive insults, vitriol,
obscenities and threats of retaliatory
violence.
the grinds.
Anti-social networking
Social networking, although often a
powerful and positive element in the
activists' toolbox, can all too often have an
opposite and negative effect when posts
are clouded with anger and
frustration.
The public displays of hate-filled emotions
will do nothing to open the minds of
whalers in the Faroese to the possibility of
the grinds coming to an end.
Whilst you might feel better after an
Instead, use these three points, which the explosion of grief on facebook at the news
Faroese whalers respect:
of another grind, in reality the ranks of the
Faroese whalers will close and anything
1. The whalemeat and blubber is heavily you have to say will fall on deaf ears.
contaminated with Methyl Mercury, PCB's
and POP's. Use the recommendation by People that write factually incorrect comFaroese Food Authorities and the findings ments or articles, use wrongly captioned
of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Pál and out-of-date photographs, or post
Weihe and
Executive Doctor Høgni photographs showing children participatDebes Joensen.
ing in grinds to deliberately whip up a
2. The killing method is tangent to animal
cruelty, since you can't always secure
perfect killing conditions within the
elements of nature. There are also
concerns about too large pods being killed
on beaches with lesser capacity.
frenzy of anti-Faroese fervor, as well as
those who promote unrealistic (usually
fund-raising) campaigns aimed at stopping
the grinds, are doing the whales no
favours whatsoever.
Sharing and promoting things like these
through social networks also sim ply adds
3. Insufficient knowledge about the to the notion amongst the pro-grind lobby
situation of the population of the North that there is no effective opposition in
Atlantic Long Finned Pilot Whale calls for place.
15
The Faroe Islands has a population of
50,000 individuals. Be aware that it is by
no means the entire nation that takes part
in grinds. The numbers of those that do
are in the hundreds, not in the thousands.
There is a growing movement against the
grinds within the Faroese people so to
attack the entire population is dangerously
counter-productive.
Stick to the correct facts, by all means say
you don't agree with what happens there
but say it politely without personal attacks,
and most importantly, understand and
know that while change is coming, it will
come from the Faroese people
themselves.