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UnchainedTV: Free Captain Paul Watson! · UNCHAINEDTV'S Truth Files with Jane Velez-Mitchell

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Streaming network, Jane Velez Mitchell.
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You're about to hear a secret solution to
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the problems that plague our world.
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If you want to revolutionise your health, get
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simple choice.
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Now, here's your host, Jane Velez Mitchell.
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We have breaking news for you in the
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battle to free Captain Paul Watson.
0:27
This 73-year-old anti-whaling hero is
0:32
the subject of demonstrations around the world.
0:37
People who are outraged that the whale war
0:40
star and founder of Sea Shepherd, Captain Paul
0:43
Watson, has been imprisoned in Greenland since July.
0:47
This anti-whaling hero has applied for political
0:50
asylum in France as he fights off attempts
0:54
by Japan to get him extradited to that
0:56
nation where he could end up behind bars
0:59
for 15 years.
1:02
And he just wants to stop the gruesome
1:04
slaughter of whales that Japan is engaging in.
1:10
Activists around the world are demanding that Watson
1:13
be released immediately with protests from Los Angeles
1:17
to France, outside Danish government offices.
1:20
Watson was first arrested back in July when
1:23
his ship docked in Greenland.
1:26
And Greenland is a very, very large country,
1:30
but very sparsely populated that's part of the
1:34
kingdom of Denmark.
1:36
Danish authorities are still deciding whether to extradite
1:39
him.
1:40
And Japan is one of the few nations
1:43
that is still engaging in whaling.
1:46
We are so excited to have with us
1:51
today a man who is the CEO of
1:56
the Paul Watson Foundation, Omar Todd.
2:00
Omar, thank you for joining us live from
2:03
London.
2:04
What is the very latest when it comes
2:07
to Paul Watson?
2:09
How is he doing?
2:12
Well, thanks for having me on your show.
2:15
How is he doing?
2:17
I think now he's getting a little fed
2:19
up with the process of the slowness of
2:22
the wheels of justice that aren't turning too
2:24
quickly.
2:25
He's resolute though, strong, determined, but at the
2:31
same time, obviously he's missing his wife and
2:35
two kids and his family in general.
2:37
But at the same time, he's strong as
2:39
I've ever seen.
2:40
He's the most upbeat out of all of
2:41
us, actually.
2:43
He's a man of great courage, strength, but
2:46
he is frustrated a little bit at the
2:48
court system.
2:48
I mean, we've had now six or so,
2:52
or at least four or five now sort
2:54
of adjournments and remands continuously.
2:58
And, you know, so it's getting a bit
2:59
frustrated now from the day he was sort
3:01
of arrested back in the 21st of July.
3:04
Here's what I don't understand.
3:06
I don't understand the story at all.
3:09
Why is Denmark siding with Japan?
3:13
Japan is one of the few countries left
3:15
on earth that is still engaging in whaling.
3:19
And from what I read, there's actually an
3:21
international treaty against whaling.
3:24
So I don't get why Denmark is going
3:29
along with what Japan wants.
3:31
I would think Denmark, who's generally considered a
3:34
very progressive country, big on environmentalism, big on
3:40
sustainability.
3:41
Why would they go along with this horrific
3:45
plan by Japan to continue whaling?
3:50
And apparently they have a brand new whaling
3:51
ship that they wanna have some fun with
3:54
by going out there and killing a bunch
3:56
of whales.
3:57
What's in it for Denmark?
3:59
Well, that's a conundrum, isn't it?
4:01
That's the paradox of it all.
4:02
I mean, here you have an EU country.
4:04
We're under EU regulations.
4:07
Whaling is illegal.
4:10
Backing up a extradition request of a country
4:13
that's on the other side of the planet
4:15
that continues to whale.
4:18
And we think it comes down to a
4:19
couple of factors.
4:21
One, we don't know the real mystery, but
4:24
we can only speculate.
4:25
We think it originated from the Faroe Islands,
4:28
which is another small group of islands under
4:31
the Danish rule nearby, who you may or
4:36
may not have heard have had this Grindelup
4:37
thing where they herd pilot whales into their
4:41
little fords and kill them.
4:43
And we think they are the ones that
4:46
notified the Danish authorities that Paul was on
4:50
his way via the Northwest Passage to go
4:54
to the Pacific Ocean with the vessel, the
4:55
JPD, to interfere with the Japanese whaling there
5:01
in one way or another.
5:03
An operation was announced called Operation Kangimaru.
5:08
And because of that, because of that, on
5:10
or around in March, April, the Japanese basically
5:19
reignited an old Interpol Red Notice against Paul,
5:24
but only to the Danish government.
5:27
Based on the information, the Faroese fed them.
5:31
And when Paul landed on the JPD in
5:35
Nuuk, Greenland, there was, I believe there was
5:38
14 special forces that jumped on police officers
5:42
that arrested Paul and took him away.
5:44
So one has to ask, why would they
5:47
do this?
5:47
What's in it for Denmark?
5:50
I mean, here you have a progressive prime
5:51
minister.
5:52
She's very pro-environment.
5:56
Denmark's known to be a progressive, law-abiding
5:59
society.
6:00
And then you have this whaling issue.
6:04
And optically, it does not do them any
6:06
favours at all to continue this narrative with
6:09
holding Paul on, which by the way, the
6:14
charges, the alleged charges, which amount to malicious
6:17
damage, looting, hooligism and assault as maltreatment, which
6:23
he didn't actually do.
6:25
One of the crew members who did these
6:27
things, he's been labelled to be the conspiracy
6:31
as part of the charges.
6:34
And this has caused all this drama when
6:37
the actual allegations themselves are minor fines in
6:41
both Greenland, the Denmark, and even two out
6:46
of three of them in Japan.
6:47
So essentially, these charges and allegations are very
6:52
flimsy in themselves.
6:53
And then, so you've got Denmark applying this
6:57
extradition request for charges that are really flimsy.
7:00
And here it gets even worse, that when
7:03
we go to these court sessions to discuss
7:05
the extradition, that they won't allow the evidence
7:08
that clearly shows from the TV show, Wow
7:11
Wars, that these particular charges, particularly the aggravated
7:16
assault aspect, which is the one they're really
7:18
focussing on, it shows that where the stink
7:21
bomb was thrown, where it hits the ship
7:23
on the, I think it's this starboard side,
7:27
there was no one there, but they won't
7:29
accept that evidence in court, but they have
7:31
allowed the prosecution to show their video evidence,
7:34
but not the defence to show the evidence.
7:35
So why are they doing it?
7:38
Well, we think there must be some economic
7:41
aspect to it that we don't know.
7:43
Now, we believe the Japanese went to Greenland
7:46
in December, 2023, and perhaps there was trade
7:51
arrangements done there, obviously, and there's obviously the
7:54
aspect where the Faroese are also a whaling
7:58
nation under the Danish government.
8:01
So it has to be that.
8:03
It has to be the Faroese, and it
8:05
has to be something going on in terms
8:07
of trade.
8:07
That's what our speculation is.
8:09
So if you're upset about this, as so
8:12
many people are, you can go to paulwatsonfoundation
8:15
.org, and the gentleman we're speaking with live
8:18
from London is the CEO of the paulwatsonfoundation
8:21
.org, and you can sign the petition to
8:24
demand the immediate release of Paul Watson.
8:27
I did it yesterday.
8:29
It takes literally 30 seconds.
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More than 200,000 people have signed this
8:35
petition.
8:36
And as you can see on the bottom
8:37
left, if you're watching, you can donate as
8:41
well.
8:41
And if you're just listening, you can still
8:44
do all of this.
8:45
Go to paulwatsonfoundation.org.
8:48
Once again, that's paulwatsonfoundation.org, and with the
8:52
click of a button, you can sign the
8:54
petition to demand the immediate release of Paul
8:57
Watson.
8:58
If you feel like it, you can make
9:00
a donation.
9:01
And many, many famous people, including, well, James
9:05
Bond, Pierce Brosnan, have taken photos of themselves
9:09
with hashtag free paulwatson, so you can also
9:13
do that.
9:15
We have Jane Goodall demanding, Dr. Jane Goodall,
9:21
the famous primatologist, demanding the immediate release of
9:24
Captain Paul Watson, saying, Captain Watson is simply
9:28
taking action to try to prevent the inhumane
9:30
practise of killing whales, which most countries have
9:34
banned decades ago.
9:35
In so doing, he's expressing the anger of
9:37
thousands of people in many countries who absolutely
9:41
support his moral courage in not only speaking
9:44
out on behalf of the whales, but taking
9:46
action.
9:47
So many leaders have done this.
9:49
I wanna go to Annie Abram, who has
9:53
facilitated protests in Los Angeles.
9:58
Tell us about the protests that you've helped
10:00
organise, Annie, in support of Captain Paul Watson.
10:05
Thank you, Jane, and hi, great to see
10:07
you, Omar.
10:09
Samaria, Sam Marie and Michael Fujimori, who had
10:13
been, Sam Marie had been doing it up
10:16
north, obviously, the protests, and we've been doing
10:19
it here with Michael Fujimori and my little
10:21
baby.
10:22
We're going on doing these protests.
10:26
We've done five protests so far, and each
10:29
time there was an extension.
10:30
The reason we're doing this, because this is
10:32
a planetary issue.
10:34
It's far more than just Paul Watson.
10:36
Paul Watson is the hero who had been
10:39
protecting our ocean or sea life.
10:42
By protecting sea life, he also stood for
10:44
the seals that have been killed, but the
10:47
whales themselves, I've done research.
10:49
I am shocked how amazing this man is
10:52
protecting our planet by protecting the whales, which
10:56
is protecting the sea.
10:57
As he says, when the seas die, we
10:59
all die.
11:01
Absolutely, and you can see the bloody mess
11:03
that it is involved in whaling from these
11:06
photos provided by paulwatsonfoundation.org.
11:10
It has no place in the civilised world,
11:13
and you know what?
11:15
Paul Watson, as we know from whale wars,
11:18
yes, he is in your face, and the
11:20
reason is that if you're not in their
11:24
face, you can't stop whaling.
11:27
Writing a nice letter to Japan and saying,
11:29
hey, you don't eat whale meat very much
11:32
anymore.
11:33
There's really no purpose.
11:34
We don't need to whale for fuel.
11:38
There's no reason for it.
11:40
There's no excuse for it.
11:42
There's no justification for it.
11:44
Have you tried to reach Japan itself?
11:47
Because I know the people of Japan are
11:50
compassionate.
11:51
This is the government.
11:52
This is follow the money.
11:54
Why is Japan so hell bent on whaling
11:57
in the 21st century when obviously it's something
12:00
that belongs in the dustbin of history?
12:02
Omar.
12:03
Well, it comes down to jobs for retiring
12:06
politicians, essentially.
12:08
So less than 2% of the Japanese
12:10
market that whaling whale meat is marketed to,
12:14
no one eats it there anymore, particularly the
12:16
young people who aren't interested.
12:17
So why do they have whaling?
12:19
Well, they built this $48 million Citation Death
12:23
Star, the new factory ship, you know, and
12:26
they have to justify it operating, you know,
12:29
it's been built for long range.
12:30
So we know at some stage that they
12:32
probably will go down to the Southern Ocean
12:34
again.
12:36
And why, you know, and these, if you've
12:39
actually been there, I've been there and I've
12:40
been to where the actual whaling fishing villages
12:43
originate from in a shimmery area and all
12:47
this regional coastal area, the towns are dying
12:49
there.
12:50
And essentially there's only fishing left.
12:53
And then you've got older legislators that are
12:56
retiring.
12:56
And what do they do once they retire?
12:58
Well, as you can see with the current
12:59
Japanese politics, there's a lot of scandals going
13:02
on.
13:02
They tend to essentially prop up industries that
13:05
they've got an interest in or their forefathers
13:08
or they're traditionally done, which is of course
13:10
in this case whaling.
13:12
And they go to these, they leave their
13:14
offices and then go to these particular jobs
13:16
and they get subsidised by the government and
13:18
it continues to keep them obviously employed in
13:22
one way or another.
13:23
So that's essentially why we think they do
13:25
it.
13:25
I mean, at long-term, I don't think
13:28
it's going to be something that's sustainable for
13:30
them once the younger population gets older and
13:33
realises what's going on.
13:34
But for now they have vested heavily into
13:37
it.
13:37
And obviously once they heard Paul Watson was
13:40
coming over with his vessels again, they did
13:43
everything and they could to try to stop
13:48
that.
13:48
And that is obviously why they reignited this
13:51
old warrant around the end of March, 2024.
13:56
And they're going to try to keep him
13:58
in remand for as long as possible.
13:59
I mean, he's just hit over a hundred
14:00
days now.
14:01
So we've had a 15th of August, 4th
14:05
of September, 2nd of October, 23rd of October,
14:08
and the next one's on the 13th of
14:09
November.
14:10
They've run out of excuses to hold him.
14:13
Under typical detention, you wouldn't even be held
14:17
for these charges.
14:19
So the law has not been applied here
14:21
at all.
14:21
The Japanese foreign minister about a week ago
14:24
said this is all about the law, not
14:26
about the issue of whaling.
14:27
But that's absolute nonsense because you have the
14:29
Japanese contravening the law, the International Court of
14:32
Justice ruling, the Australian Federal Court of ruling.
14:35
They're down there in the Southern Ocean, not
14:36
even in their own waters whaling.
14:38
And this is what Paul's being charged for
14:40
when we shouldn't have been down there at
14:42
the time.
14:43
Well, at the stage of the Sea Shepherd
14:44
vessels, it should have been other countries enforcing
14:46
the rule of law down there, but they
14:48
didn't.
14:49
And Paul often says that if, well, we
14:51
shouldn't be in these places, someone should be
14:53
enforcing the laws that are being passed.
14:55
And if they won't do it, we have
14:58
to do it.
14:58
And here he is having to defend himself
15:01
for essentially following the law and pushing the
15:07
Japanese issue into the light of day and
15:11
being now arrested for something that they claim
15:14
is against the law based in Japanese law
15:17
on board their own vessel rather than the
15:20
international law at the sea.
15:22
That is so crazy.
15:24
They're siding with Japanese law over international law
15:28
when Paul Watson is defending the international law
15:32
against whaling.
15:34
Let's hear from Paul Watson himself.
15:36
If I die in a Japanese prison, how
15:39
will Denmark explain that?
15:40
How will they rationalise their decision if that
15:43
happens?
15:45
The extermination of entire families from unborn foetuses
15:50
to the largest whales in the pod, entire
15:54
families wiped out.
15:55
There are no survivors.
15:57
It has no place in the 21st century.
15:59
It has no place in the civilised world.
16:01
International outrage has erupted over the arrest of
16:04
Captain Paul Watson, famed anti-whaling activist who
16:08
faces possible extradition from Greenland to Japan, and
16:12
fears are growing for his safety.
16:14
Because of people like Captain Paul Watson bringing
16:17
awareness to the public about what's going on
16:20
in the Faroe Islands.
16:21
I'm hoping that all the people who didn't
16:22
sign the petition will continue to support that
16:25
cause.
16:26
So are you able to talk to him?
16:29
Have you, do you, how do you do
16:31
it?
16:31
Do you do it with FaceTime or phone?
16:35
And how is he holding up?
16:36
He's 73 years old being in jail in
16:40
Greenland, which is a very remote place.
16:43
Psychologically, physically, emotionally, this has gotta be hell
16:46
for him.
16:49
Yeah, look, initially when he was arrested, we
16:52
had some comfort knowing that Nuuk itself is
16:55
a fairly new facility.
16:57
It's a prison of about 48 or so
16:59
prisoners.
17:00
In fact, you can watch an episode on
17:02
Netflix and see what the prison's like itself.
17:05
And we thought, well, okay, it's not too
17:07
bad.
17:07
They were reasonably friendly to begin with.
17:09
We can go and visit him.
17:11
We could call him on the telephone.
17:13
And when I did go and visit him,
17:16
eventually, it was, you could ring up in
17:18
the morning and you book an employment, you
17:20
go and see him, you got a couple
17:21
of hours.
17:22
But they do, when I went inside and
17:25
had a look around, I was like, okay,
17:26
this is real jail.
17:27
This is not mucking around.
17:29
He's really in proper high security remand facility.
17:33
He's in a wing of about nine people
17:35
of which none now speak English.
17:37
So he's got no one to talk to
17:39
at all.
17:40
He's got, we have tried getting him a
17:42
typewriter.
17:42
We've tried getting him permission to get a
17:44
computer that's obviously not connected to the internet
17:46
just so we can type and write, but
17:47
they've denied all of that.
17:49
And so essentially he can get letters written
17:53
and sent to him.
17:54
And as time went on, what we discovered
17:56
is that more and more, that became a
17:58
little bit more restrictive.
18:00
So we couldn't reach him anymore until about
18:03
a couple of weeks ago.
18:04
We now can no longer call him.
18:07
Only he gets one call a week from
18:09
his family and only the registered Danish lawyers
18:12
can call him.
18:13
So that's made it super awkward and difficult
18:16
for us to have here on the outside
18:18
to try to communicate with him.
18:20
And I think that's because they have been
18:23
overwhelmed by the support he has.
18:25
And obviously maybe there's been talk behind the
18:28
scenes, making things more difficult because they don't
18:30
want him to continue to operate business as
18:33
usual in terms of the foundation or other
18:36
operations.
18:37
And I think they're just trying to make
18:38
things more difficult, isolating more.
18:41
But yeah, so he's getting a little frustrated.
18:44
We're a little frustrated.
18:45
We were assured for some time now that
18:48
against, under Danish law, this is very unusual
18:51
because there's not many precedents involved, but he
18:54
should have been out by now.
18:55
I mean, they should have made a decision.
18:56
So this is sort of how it works.
18:57
So you get the receipt of Japan for
19:00
the formal attrition request to the Danish government.
19:03
And then the case is transferred from the
19:08
Danish Ministry of Justice to the Greenlandic Police
19:10
Authority.
19:11
Then the police authority then investigate the provisions
19:14
and the extradition request to recommend whether to
19:17
exodite him or not.
19:20
At this stage, we're waiting for that recommendation.
19:23
And then the review from the Minister of
19:25
Justice in Denmark will read the recommendation and
19:28
decide or not whether to exodite Paul or
19:31
not.
19:31
If that happens, of course, we will immediately
19:34
do an appeal.
19:35
And then it goes to the Supreme Court
19:36
in Denmark, and then it goes to the
19:38
International Court of Human Rights, and it just
19:41
continues from there.
19:42
And that's gonna be a long time.
19:43
But really, we are hoping that they come
19:46
to their senses and just release him and
19:48
basically ignore the Japanese request for extradition because
19:53
it's essentially a death sentence for Paul.
19:56
And they need to understand that.
19:58
And I think that the world is trying
20:00
to make them understand that.
20:02
So, it is our hope he will be
20:04
released on the 13th of November.
20:06
But based on what we've seen so far,
20:09
we just don't know.
20:11
Yeah, and by the way, people who are
20:13
signing the petition are posting on various social
20:16
media that they're watching that they have signed
20:19
the petition.
20:20
Nilo Farr said, I just added my name,
20:23
so I'm urging everybody.
20:25
I signed last night while I was researching
20:27
the story.
20:28
It takes literally 10 seconds.
20:31
You just go to the paulwatsonfoundation.org, Paul
20:35
Watson, W-A-T-S-O-N, foundation
20:38
.org, and click to add your name.
20:41
You can also make a donation.
20:43
And Nilo Farr is also asking, what would
20:46
Japanese prison look like for Paul Watson?
20:48
They have a brutal record, not on par
20:51
with developing nations.
20:52
And we've also heard that same theme echoed
20:57
by some other activists who say that he
21:02
could really be brutalised if he ends up
21:06
in a Japanese prison.
21:07
You've said it could be a death sentence.
21:10
He's 73 years old.
21:11
Are you just saying that because of his
21:13
age or because Japan has been at war
21:16
with Paul Watson for so long?
21:17
I mean, I shudder to think what could
21:21
happen to him.
21:23
Well, essentially, if you're charged in Japan, you're
21:25
guilty.
21:25
It has a 99.7% chance of
21:29
a conviction rate.
21:29
And the reason being is if you're charged,
21:31
you're guilty.
21:32
Now, the process to fight those charges, whatever
21:34
they are, is long and quite exhausting.
21:37
You'll usually take up to two years before
21:38
you see a judge to fight your case.
21:41
And of course, the honour system there prevents,
21:44
the prosecutor will be questioned, why is this
21:47
person defending himself in the first place?
21:50
So there's that part of the Japanese rule
21:52
of law.
21:53
There's plenty on YouTube and Netflix about the
21:56
Japanese rule of law and how brutal their
21:57
justice system is.
21:59
And then you have a look at, okay,
22:00
he's got his age and then it's Paul
22:02
himself.
22:03
So the moment he gets extradited there, essentially
22:07
he'll be poorly treated in much more discomfort
22:10
and he won't break.
22:12
He won't break.
22:13
So what are they gonna do with someone
22:15
who won't break?
22:16
Well, they'll keep him there and they'll make
22:18
it uncomfortable for him as possible.
22:20
And that's what we're facing.
22:22
And I know he won't, he will never
22:23
capitulate.
22:24
He will never do anything that will compromise
22:27
his stance and his views because that's the
22:29
sort of man he is.
22:31
He sticks to it.
22:32
So that means there's no way out for
22:35
him.
22:36
And if that's no way out, then he
22:39
will be suffering up to 15 years of
22:41
jail, which is what this alleged charge can
22:43
possibly carry up to.
22:45
And as a 73-year-old man, well,
22:48
you do the sums.
22:50
Well, once again, if you're just joining us,
22:53
Omar Todd, the head of the Paul Watson
22:54
Foundation is joining us live from London.
22:58
And we are so honoured to speak with
23:00
him.
23:01
Paul Watson has been behind bars for more
23:05
than 100 days.
23:07
And this is creating just a global sense
23:10
of outrage.
23:12
I'm wondering if it could backfire.
23:15
And in his own way, this sort of
23:18
martyrdom of Paul Watson being the best thing
23:22
that ever happened to the whales.
23:24
I mean, it's not in the news day
23:27
in and day out.
23:28
Unfortunately, the news media doesn't cover these issues.
23:31
Our seas are dying, as he has pointed
23:34
out.
23:35
The most important thing we can do is
23:36
preserve our seas.
23:37
When the oceans go, we go.
23:39
Could this wake people up, given that so
23:43
many famous people, Jane Goodall has spoken out,
23:47
Rick O'Berry has spoken out, Pierce Brosnan,
23:52
007 has spoken out.
23:55
It's a lot of people.
23:57
Could this have an unintended effect and backfire
24:01
on the Japanese, Omar?
24:05
Well, look, Paul often told me that what
24:09
we do, we don't do for anyone else.
24:12
We don't do it for humans.
24:13
We do it for the whales.
24:14
We do it for the clients.
24:15
And the clients is the ocean, the seals,
24:17
the dolphins, the whales.
24:19
So his view would probably be along the
24:21
lines of, look, I'm sitting in here and
24:24
this has turned in itself a campaign.
24:25
This campaign of him being inside prison now
24:28
has brought more awareness back into whaling than
24:32
it may have done if we had campaigned
24:35
with the ship over in the Pacific Ocean,
24:37
engaging Japan.
24:38
So he views this as always in a
24:41
positive light.
24:42
And he feels that this has brought attention
24:45
to an issue which was sort of dying
24:49
down the last few years.
24:50
And some people said, oh, Paul is an
24:54
elderly statesman now.
24:55
He shouldn't be out there.
24:56
And perhaps it's his twilight.
24:59
Well, we discovered it's not his twilight years
25:01
at all.
25:01
He's bigger than ever.
25:03
He's more important than ever.
25:05
And as much as it could backfire, we've
25:08
seen the European Parliament discuss the possible extradition
25:10
of Paul and the majority are against it.
25:12
We had just 21 ministers of parliament in
25:14
the Australian parliament last week sign a letter
25:17
to the Danish prime minister advocating for Paul's
25:19
release.
25:21
The Great Escape Festival just withdrew from the
25:24
Faroe Islands recently in protest and Paul's just
25:28
been given the Perfect World Foundation Award for
25:31
2025.
25:32
So in his view, that this has brought
25:35
the issue back into the light.
25:37
And we often get people to sign waivers
25:40
when they join our crew.
25:41
If you join with us, the Captain Paul
25:44
Watson Foundation, are you prepared to die for
25:47
a whale?
25:48
Because that's essentially what people volunteer for.
25:50
And if they're not, then they shouldn't join
25:52
our crew.
25:53
So Paul's leading that front and centre and
25:56
saying to the world, well, look, I'm in
25:57
here for a reason.
26:00
I shouldn't be here.
26:01
The world should do something about it, but
26:03
I'm here for a reason.
26:05
So he doesn't think past that.
26:08
He's there for a reason, for the position
26:11
he stands for.
26:13
And it's up to us as a society
26:16
to do something about it and react in
26:18
the right way.
26:19
Now, whether we win against Japan in this
26:21
case, we don't know, but it doesn't stop
26:23
us trying.
26:23
And we think you've got to do something
26:25
anyway.
26:26
You can't just sit back and compromise your
26:29
views if it gets hard.
26:31
Nothing worth doing is easy.
26:33
And Paul will be the first to say
26:34
that.
26:34
And so, hat off to the guy.
26:37
He's sitting there, he's doing, he's holding this
26:39
entire campaign on his shoulders, everything.
26:43
So the least we can do is try
26:44
to get him out.
26:45
And that's what we're going to continue to
26:47
do.
26:49
Well, anybody who's ever seen whale wars should
26:52
know that this is not the type of
26:55
guy to crumble and go, oh, I give
26:57
up.
26:58
I mean, he is one of the fiercest
27:01
activists.
27:02
And again, for those who might say, well,
27:04
you know, he's fighting them on the high
27:07
seas.
27:07
Yeah, because that's the only thing that's going
27:10
to save these whales.
27:11
It's not asking nicely.
27:14
Everybody's asked nicely.
27:15
If writing letters and asking nicely and being
27:18
polite would save the whales, we wouldn't be
27:20
here right now.
27:22
If several people are saying that they've signed,
27:24
I'm urging everybody to do what I did,
27:27
sign.
27:27
It takes five seconds.
27:28
Just go to the paulwatsonfoundation.org.
27:32
Let us know if you've signed.
27:34
And just put it on social media.
27:38
paulwatsonfoundation.org, it's right there.
27:40
You can't miss it.
27:41
It just says, sign the petition, click.
27:43
You can also donate.
27:44
So people are saying, Pete, please post the
27:46
link.
27:47
There it is, right there.
27:48
The link is paulwatsonfoundation.org.
27:52
It is a website, paulwatsonfoundation.org.
27:56
By the way, it has extraordinary articles and
27:58
a slew of videos about this.
28:01
Antonio Diaz says, I signed, Ilofar has signed.
28:05
Yes, Tiffany Brunelli has signed.
28:09
So please sign, that's super, super important.
28:13
And people are saying, well, he's 73 years
28:17
old, but that's young for a vegan.
28:19
I just wonder how they're dealing with that
28:22
as well.
28:22
I mean, just the food that he might,
28:26
I've heard many stories of people who are
28:28
plant-based being in prison and behind bars
28:31
and basically, oh, here, you want vegan food?
28:35
Here's a roll and that's it.
28:37
Or here's a piece of toast and that's
28:40
it.
28:40
And they're not even given sustenance, as it
28:44
were.
28:45
I mean, on that basic physical level, is
28:48
he holding up?
28:49
Yeah, so in this particular prison, which again
28:52
is why we were all things considered, happy
28:54
we was in that particular prison, was they
28:57
get to go shopping on a Wednesday once
28:59
a week in a little internal shop and
29:02
he gets to pick out his own food.
29:03
So he gets to cook for himself in
29:05
a communal kitchen, two to three times a
29:07
day, although he's just going for breakfast and
29:09
dinner at the moment.
29:11
And he has lost weight, but he's eating
29:13
vegan food there and he's happy to prepare
29:15
his own food.
29:16
So that's one of the pros, I guess.
29:19
But look, the place is very remote.
29:21
It's like going to the moon.
29:22
I mean, Newt Airport itself had its international
29:25
airport status revoked recently.
29:28
You know, you got to go there on
29:29
a dash eight.
29:30
It's complicated.
29:31
There's always weather problems.
29:33
It's a very expensive place to go.
29:35
So he's very isolated there.
29:37
So we try to keep a revolving door
29:40
of people heading his way there.
29:43
You know, and also Seaship of France, which
29:45
is one of the original Seaship entities that
29:48
Paul is still part of here.
29:50
They've been first and foremost, front and centre
29:54
in the defence of Paul as well.
29:56
And France has been a great advocate for
29:59
that with President Macron pushing, as you said,
30:02
for his release.
30:03
Plus Paul's applied for political asylum and naturalisation
30:08
now.
30:09
So we'll see how that goes and we
30:10
hope that goes in a positive direction.
30:12
So all these things add up pressure, but
30:13
he is isolated, but he's fine.
30:16
He is eating the food, the right food,
30:18
but you know, the communication is difficult.
30:20
The place is difficult and he shouldn't be
30:22
there.
30:23
And I think over 120 days, he then
30:26
exceeds his prior detention time in the past.
30:31
And after that, he'll be longer in jail
30:33
than any other time in his life.
30:35
So all for an allegation of a country
30:40
for essentially finable offences in any other jurisdiction.
30:43
I mean, this is crazy.
30:45
I mean, here you've got Interpol, right?
30:46
Interpol's a system that has a constitution.
30:48
If you look into it, it's not supposed
30:50
to be used for political detention, but quite
30:54
a few people on the Interpol Red List
30:55
are there for political persecution and he's one
30:59
of them.
30:59
And so I think Interpol has questions to
31:01
answer as well, as well as how this
31:05
happened, as well as, you know, Japan answering
31:07
questions, but Japan won't answer any questions, but
31:09
certainly we're putting pressure on the Danish to
31:11
explain themselves.
31:13
So, you know, if you're a Denmark citizen,
31:16
you know, write to your local ministers and
31:18
ask why is he held.
31:19
If you're obviously in France as well, you
31:21
can also try to get hold of Interpol
31:24
because Interpol's based in France.
31:25
So we're following that up ourselves as well.
31:28
I have to say, I was completely ignorant
31:30
of Greenland until about an hour and a
31:33
half ago when I started to say to
31:35
myself, you know what, I should look up
31:36
Greenland and see where it is and there
31:38
it is.
31:39
I was stunned by how big Greenland is.
31:42
I mean, look at the United States on
31:43
the left and Europe on the right.
31:45
So I found out that Greenland is the
31:49
largest island in the world, by the way.
31:52
It's a self-governing territory of Denmark, the
31:57
12th largest country in the world by size,
32:00
almost four times the size of France and
32:03
slightly more than three times the United States
32:07
state of Texas.
32:09
So three times the size of Texas.
32:12
I mean, it's massive, but it's very sparsely
32:16
populated.
32:18
In 2015, it was just like 57,000
32:23
people or something really crazy small.
32:26
So I'm wondering if the politics of this
32:30
particular region played into it.
32:33
I do know that politicians sometimes use the
32:40
indigenous culture as an excuse for whaling.
32:44
And that does not mean the indigenous people
32:46
themselves are saying, go out and do this.
32:48
It means that cynical politicians turn around and
32:52
they use whatever levers they can to justify
32:55
and follow the money.
32:58
Can you weigh in on that, Omar?
33:01
Yeah, so when he was originally arrested, we
33:04
had a discussion amongst ourselves on, should we
33:07
focus the pressure on Greenland or the Danes?
33:10
And we decided in the end, it was
33:12
the Danish government that we had to apply
33:16
pressure on, mostly because the prosecutor and the
33:19
14 federal police came from Denmark.
33:22
And the Greenlandic people themselves, when we arrived,
33:25
were very friendly and have been continuously being
33:27
friendly.
33:29
So, and certainly I'll give you one little
33:32
bit of story that Paul's inside and initially
33:36
we were quite concerned that with the indigenous
33:38
and sort of anti-whaling views Paul would
33:42
have, that he might be seen as public
33:44
enemy number one inside.
33:45
So we were quite concerned, but as it
33:46
turns out, they actually have heard of him
33:49
and he's the most well-recognised person and
33:52
celebrity that they've ever had in there.
33:54
And that we actually got them copies of
33:56
Wild Wars and they all started watching it.
33:57
And so Paul walks around inside and actually
33:59
gets a lot of people shouting out that
34:02
they support him.
34:03
So even though they can't speak in English
34:05
or anything else, they support him.
34:06
So I don't think, I think Greenland's moving
34:11
on.
34:11
When I was there, what I didn't notice
34:13
was an enormous amounts of construction work going
34:16
on.
34:16
They're even building a new airport.
34:19
So I think, you know, with the event
34:20
of climate change, which we all know is
34:22
happening, I think there is possibly policies behind
34:27
the scenes that we can't quite see on
34:29
the front end that are mostly economic and
34:33
based, perhaps with the Japanese, as I mentioned,
34:35
were there with trade agreements being signed back
34:39
in December, 2023.
34:40
So there's definitely something going on.
34:44
And it was particularly peculiar, even though the
34:47
prosecutor was from Copenhagen, the judge himself, who's
34:51
making the current rules to remand Paul is
34:53
a local judge.
34:55
And each time Paul's been remanded longer, we
34:58
have immediately appealed to the high court, which
35:00
is done via email in Greenland, oddly enough.
35:04
And each time they've upheld the court's decision
35:06
to keep him in remand.
35:07
Now that's on Greenland.
35:09
So why is that judge holding Paul?
35:12
Why is that judge not allowing us to
35:15
look at the evidence from our side, which
35:17
instantly exonerates Paul, instantly.
35:21
Like you just can't go, okay, well, he
35:23
didn't throw it.
35:24
And even his crew member who threw it
35:25
didn't hit anybody.
35:26
So that's the allegation.
35:28
There's not enough evidence.
35:29
What's the bottom line allegation that he threw?
35:32
The bottom line allegation is that he threw
35:34
some kind of firebomb or somebody threw a
35:37
- So another crew member called Pete Bethune,
35:41
who had his ship rammed and sunk called
35:44
the Yardigill in one of the first encounters
35:47
back in 2010, wanted to present an invoice
35:50
essentially to the Japanese vessel, that captain, for
35:56
his $2 million vessel that had been rammed
35:59
and sunk by the Japanese whaling vessel at
36:02
the time.
36:03
They were out of, the Yardigill was out
36:04
of fuel.
36:05
It was just sitting idle.
36:06
And the Japanese vessel came from the bow
36:10
and came up and just basically ran straight
36:12
through it and cut it in half and
36:13
then just drove off.
36:14
And there was no repercussions for the Japanese
36:16
at all.
36:17
Incidentally, a New Zealand investigation later released that
36:21
the Japanese were at fault, but that aside.
36:24
So that was the reason why Pete Bethune
36:27
wanted to jump on board on the whaling
36:31
vessel to present an invoice to the captain
36:32
and say, hey, look, you've damaged my vessel.
36:35
Paul famously said on a Whale Wars episode
36:38
that he recommended you don't do that.
36:40
And you should go back to Australia to
36:41
do media about his vessel being run over
36:43
because that would probably garner more attention.
36:45
But Pete Bethune decided to go anyway.
36:48
So in this particular moment, so there's a
36:50
number of moments that matter.
36:53
So in this particular case, he went over
36:55
there, they cut, he cut the net, which
36:59
is the property damage allegation, jumped on board.
37:02
Yeah, jumped on board.
37:04
Which was the trespass allegation.
37:07
And then he presented the invoice to the
37:09
captain.
37:10
Of course, they took him back to Japan.
37:12
And that's when he was held for a
37:14
number of months before he eventually, so under
37:17
the Japanese justice system, he was interrogated daily.
37:21
He was basically, you know- And this
37:23
is not Watson.
37:25
This is somebody else.
37:26
This is, that's right.
37:26
This is one of the, you know, the
37:29
Pete Bethune who was, well, he was a
37:31
captain of his own vessel.
37:32
So he worked with us at the time,
37:35
but he was a captain of his own
37:36
vessel that was run over by the Japanese.
37:38
He wanted to present the Japanese with an
37:40
invoice.
37:40
He did so.
37:41
And then he got hauled back to Japan
37:43
to face these charges.
37:44
Now, what they made him do after some
37:46
months is they got him to sign a
37:49
affidavit blaming Paul Frodell.
37:51
Then that's where you have the conspiracy aspect.
37:55
And he signed that to get out of
37:57
there.
37:57
Now he since signed an affidavit after he
37:59
got out saying that he was forced to
38:01
sign that inside so he can get out
38:03
because he, you know, he wasn't, he was
38:05
just going to be stuck there forever.
38:08
And so that's part of it.
38:10
And that's where the trespass, the property damage,
38:14
and those particular allegations, which are by the
38:16
way, all just finable offences under Japanese, Greenlandic,
38:21
and Danish law.
38:22
Okay.
38:23
Then on another time, just before Pete jumped
38:25
on board the vessel, he was harassing the
38:28
whalers with a potato spud gun, which essentially
38:33
shot out some stink bombs.
38:35
And the stink bomb hit the side of
38:37
the vessel one time, broke apart, and the
38:41
Japanese were saying, well, that's what caused an
38:45
injury to one of the crew members.
38:47
And they got a little bit of a
38:47
rash under their eye.
38:49
And that's what they regarded as the more
38:51
serious allegation of assault.
38:53
Now, here's the thing.
38:54
We've got footage, and they've got footage of
38:56
that incident.
38:57
And what we see is the Japanese who
39:00
had pepper spray guns at the time, spraying
39:02
into the wind, which then backfired and went
39:05
into their face, which is what caused the
39:07
damage, if any.
39:09
And then when Pete Bethune launched his spud
39:11
gun, it hit a part of the vessel
39:13
that there was no one at.
39:15
And that's the crunch of the allegation that
39:18
they say someone was there, they got injured.
39:21
That's years ago, years ago.
39:24
Yeah, yeah.
39:24
And we say that- How long ago
39:28
did all this happen?
39:28
Well, this is all back in 2010.
39:31
2010?
39:32
I mean, this is- Yeah, 14 years.
39:34
This is so crazy, so crazy.
39:37
Michael Fujimori says, as a Japanese American, I'm
39:40
disgusted and ashamed by Japan's attempts to destroy
39:43
Paul Watson.
39:45
Wanna go back to Annie Abram.
39:47
Annie, you're very, very moved by what's happening
39:54
to Captain Paul Watson.
39:57
If you could speak to him and say
40:02
anything, what exactly would you say to Captain
40:07
Paul Watson?
40:10
Oh, that's hard.
40:12
There's so much I would love to say.
40:13
I would say, thank you so much for
40:16
dedicating 50 years of your life.
40:19
When you've had your journalism career and you
40:23
saw the urgency in our ocean life, what's
40:27
happening, which in return will destroy our planet
40:32
survivor, the survival ability.
40:36
So thank you for being our hero.
40:39
Thank you for dedicating your life, 50 years
40:42
of your life.
40:44
You need to be honoured.
40:46
And I appreciate you endlessly.
40:49
We owe you our life, our oxygen.
40:51
55% of our oxygen comes from the
40:54
ocean.
40:55
He's been protecting this by protecting the whales.
40:58
And I'm ashamed to say, I recently learned
41:00
about the whales, that each whale contains 1
41:06
,500 mature tree carbon, each one whale.
41:11
This is a forest.
41:12
We're talking about Amazon, that people break hell
41:15
for it.
41:16
We're talking about each whale, 1,500 mature
41:20
tree carbon sequester.
41:22
And their poo and pee is food for
41:25
the phytoplankton, sea moss and seaweed.
41:28
Phytoplankton is what we need for the oxygen,
41:30
comes from the ocean.
41:33
And it's amazing, amazing how much he's been
41:36
doing.
41:37
Can't thank him enough.
41:38
Thank you.
41:39
Thank you.
41:39
And let me ask you, Omar, to that
41:42
point, how important are the whales to our
41:47
survivability?
41:48
Now, I personally believe whales are entitled to
41:51
their lives, and it doesn't matter what they
41:55
provide in terms of carbon capture or whatever.
41:59
These are sentient beings who have a right
42:01
to live in our ocean.
42:03
And we have, as a species, declared war
42:06
on them.
42:06
And thank God, most countries have stopped killing
42:11
the whales.
42:12
But to Annie's point, for those who may
42:16
not be motivated by compassion, why should we
42:19
care?
42:21
Well, if you'd like to breathe air, you
42:24
should care.
42:25
Essentially, it's the ocean that provides the oxygen
42:28
we breathe, more than anything else.
42:30
A healthy ocean and the biodiversity that goes
42:33
with it, which includes whales, which are the
42:34
farmers of the sea.
42:35
They poop out a lot of poo that
42:38
goes down with a lot of iron content,
42:41
the phytoplanktons and the krill, everything eats all
42:43
that, and then it goes in a circular
42:44
fashion and creates the oxygen we breathe.
42:49
In fact, more or less more recently, if
42:53
we didn't have whaling as an issue, which
42:54
Paul wants to finish in his lifetime, wants
42:57
to make sure it goes away in his
42:59
lifetime, the next sort of things we're gonna
43:01
be looking at is making sure krill and
43:03
phytoplankton are protected in the oceans, because that
43:07
is really the lifeline to our species.
43:10
I mean, you can like whales or not
43:13
like whales, but we all like air to
43:14
breathe.
43:15
So essentially, it's part of our lungs.
43:18
The whales are the farmers of the sea
43:20
that protect and farm oxygen for us to
43:24
live as a species.
43:25
Now, if you can't find that important enough,
43:27
well, we're doomed.
43:29
So essentially, that's my argument that we need
43:32
to make sure that we have oxygen to
43:36
breathe, and they are the ones that filter
43:37
it out.
43:37
Plus, as you mentioned earlier on, they're carbon
43:40
sequesters as well.
43:41
How are the whales doing?
43:44
Obviously, they were hunted for centuries, used for
43:48
fuel, used for...
43:50
At one point, humans ate them.
43:52
That's no longer the case, almost entirely eliminated,
43:56
which makes this Japanese whaling campaign so idiotic,
44:01
let's just say.
44:02
But how are the whales doing?
44:05
Are they on the verge of extinction?
44:09
Does it depend on which species of whale?
44:13
Can you give us the, yeah, the update
44:16
on that?
44:17
Yeah, the indication is that whale populations have
44:19
recovered somewhat, somewhat.
44:22
They're certainly not at their all-time highs
44:24
before whaling started, but they've recovered.
44:27
I mean, certainly, yeah, there's more fin whales
44:29
up north now.
44:31
There's more whales in the Antarctica, which of
44:33
course is going to be the Japanese argument
44:35
if they do go down there.
44:36
There's plenty more whales down there.
44:38
So they're recovering, but at the same time,
44:40
we've got so many other mixtures of complexities
44:43
adding to this now, you know, plastics in
44:45
the ocean.
44:46
And what they're discovering is, is whales have
44:48
digested more plastics than ever.
44:50
And that has an effect that we're not
44:52
sure about.
44:52
It's probably like the equivalency of, you know,
44:55
people starting to figure out in the 60s
44:57
and 70s that maybe smoking is not bad
44:59
for you.
44:59
But then later on, we discover it was
45:01
catastrophic for cancer problems.
45:03
While we think that plastics in the oceans
45:05
affecting a growing whale population, you know, maybe
45:08
down the road going to cause us problems
45:10
we can't even foresee yet.
45:12
So there's, you know, and there's also the
45:15
fact that, you know, the fish stocks are
45:17
still being depleted.
45:18
So the imbalance of things is the problem.
45:22
So whale populations might be on the recovery
45:24
in comparison to before whaling started.
45:26
But when you add plastics and you add
45:28
whale stocks, are being depleted still, which means
45:31
the whales have less to eat, which means
45:33
the whale population will hit a ceiling quicker
45:36
on population levels than they would have say,
45:38
a couple of hundred years ago.
45:40
These other mitigating circumstances that may stop whale
45:43
populations recovering totally.
45:45
So while there's signs of positivity, there's also
45:50
a lot of red flags ahead, I think
45:52
that we have to keep an eye on.
45:54
So again, for those joining us, we're talking
45:57
to Omar Todd, the head of the Paul
46:00
Watson Foundation, who's joining us live from London
46:03
while we're here in Los Angeles about the
46:07
imprisonment of Captain Paul Watson.
46:10
Now he has asked France for asylum.
46:15
He wrote a letter directly to President Macron.
46:18
What's happening with that?
46:20
I know there's protests in France.
46:22
There's also protests in Belgium.
46:24
Is there any chance that President Macron of
46:26
France will grant that asylum?
46:30
Well, one of the ministers on television a
46:33
couple of days ago, I think it was
46:34
a minister of immigration.
46:36
I think it was that.
46:37
He actually said he wouldn't be positive if
46:40
Paul got naturalisation.
46:42
So we think it's a strong possibility.
46:48
We hope that's the case.
46:50
We don't know the answer yet.
46:53
Lamia Somali, the president of the ship of
46:55
France, has been heading that up.
46:59
They've pulled out all the stops in France
47:01
to get Paul released.
47:02
They've used diplomats.
47:04
They had the former diplomat to Denmark involved
47:07
on the highest level.
47:09
They've been petitioning Denmark continuously from all the
47:13
different departments.
47:15
So the pressure is very high from France.
47:18
And Macron's also made positive statements about Paul's
47:22
situation.
47:23
So fingers crossed.
47:24
His family's currently resigning in France as well.
47:28
So that'd be a perfect place for him
47:30
to return to.
47:31
And in France, Paul's very well respected.
47:36
I mean, he's well known.
47:38
He's done a lot of TV appearances there.
47:41
And the French have got the second largest
47:44
jurisdiction of ocean management in the world.
47:46
So there's some big positives, Paul going to
47:51
France.
47:51
But of course, he's obviously a US and
47:54
Canadian citizen too.
47:56
So we hope it will lead to something,
47:59
but we don't know yet.
48:00
And we are eagerly, eagerly waiting for an
48:03
answer on that.
48:05
Here's what James Cameron, the famed film director,
48:07
has to say.
48:08
The people who defend our life support system
48:10
should be celebrated, not arrested.
48:12
The legendary activist, Captain Paul Watson, has stood
48:15
up for the oceans for decades.
48:17
He goes where no one else will to
48:19
enforce international conservation law and protect the sea
48:22
life that holds our planet in balance.
48:25
Captain Watson was arrested by Danish authorities.
48:28
This was posted a while ago in Greenland,
48:30
where he waits a decision on whether he
48:32
is extradited to Japan for sentencing.
48:35
I'm joining the international community and calling on
48:38
Denmark to issue his immediate release.
48:41
So what is Denmark doing about the overwhelming
48:49
international disgust over their situation?
48:54
There's been protests in LA.
48:56
There's been protests in Paris.
48:57
There's been protests in Belgium.
48:59
Famous people like James Cameron and Dr. Jane
49:03
Goodall and Piers Brosnan and the leaders of
49:07
rock bands, the lead singers, I mean, people
49:10
are outraged.
49:12
I don't understand why Denmark, which I think
49:16
values its reputation.
49:18
I mean, just, I've been to Denmark and
49:21
their recycling will blow your mind.
49:24
I wanted to take photos of how incredible
49:27
their recycling process was to bring back here
49:30
and tell people, let's get with it, people
49:32
on the recycling.
49:34
It seems like Denmark is so progressive.
49:38
It strikes me as bizarre that they are
49:40
taking this stance.
49:42
I don't, I still don't quite get it.
49:44
Omar, is there something I'm missing?
49:48
No, we've had countless discussions amongst ourselves on
49:51
the optics of this.
49:53
The optics is very bad for Denmark.
49:55
The longer they hold him, the worse it
49:56
looks for them.
49:57
And the repercussions on their reputation is going
50:00
to catch up to them if they continue
50:03
to hold him.
50:03
If they extradite him, that'll even be worse.
50:07
The best thing they can do to make
50:08
this problem go away is to release him.
50:11
And I am stunned that they haven't yet.
50:14
I think it's, whoever's in charge, I think
50:17
it's a poor decision.
50:18
I mean, I watch, I see the President
50:21
Met's Instagram account and you have a look
50:23
at it, right?
50:24
It's progressive, you know, she supports minority groups.
50:28
She's very environmental and conscious.
50:30
What are they thinking?
50:32
And in Paul's essentially, in the hands of
50:34
this young 30s plus year old minister of
50:38
justice, his hands at the moment, who for
50:40
whatever reason can't make his mind up, which
50:43
should be a very, very easy decision to
50:45
make.
50:46
You know, they don't have to follow this
50:47
extradition request.
50:48
It is a request.
50:49
It's not a demand.
50:51
So why are they doing it?
50:53
Good question.
50:54
I wish I knew.
50:55
And again, they're siding with Japanese law against
51:00
international treaties that say that whaling is a
51:05
big no-no.
51:06
So that strikes me as really bizarre.
51:10
And I keep seeing the phrase Faroe Islands
51:13
pop up.
51:14
I want to confess, I'm not exactly sure
51:17
where it fits in with this story.
51:19
Can you give me the 30 second elevator
51:21
on that?
51:23
Well, the Faroe Islands are northwest of England.
51:26
There are small group islands, one of the
51:28
highest GDPs in Europe.
51:31
They're a protectorate again, under the Danish government.
51:34
So if you look on that map there,
51:36
you can see England there.
51:38
And there's this tiny little dot up north
51:40
of England on the sort of northwest, just
51:43
between Iceland and England.
51:46
And that's the Faroe Islands.
51:48
Beautiful islands, amazing territory in terms of views
51:52
and, you know, cruises stop by there.
51:55
Very modern society.
51:56
But what they do all year round is
51:59
they have this effectively a blood sport.
52:02
They would argue it's for sussicence, you know,
52:05
like an Indigenous sussicence for food, which is
52:08
ridiculous.
52:09
But they hear about some whales coming in,
52:12
you know, to the area.
52:13
And then they get these little boats and
52:14
herd these, you know, 100 to 60, 70,
52:17
100, 200 whales into their ford.
52:20
And then they basically all run down there
52:23
and slaughter them with these corkscrew devices, knives,
52:29
and they get the kids to come down.
52:30
They all turn up in their brand new
52:32
Mercedes and BMWs.
52:34
And it's illegal to intervene.
52:37
Now, Sea Shepherd UK, Sea Shepherd France, and
52:41
now obviously the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, we've
52:44
been in opposition for that for years.
52:46
And this is another really peculiar little country.
52:49
And the Faroe Islands are controlled by Denmark?
52:53
They are part of Denmark?
52:55
It's an independent, autonomous country again.
52:59
But if you go there with your...
53:02
Yes, if you go there to defend the
53:05
whales though, it's the Danish Navy that will
53:07
turn up.
53:08
Okay, so that's why Denmark is doing it.
53:12
Correct.
53:12
So you've got a Danish Navy defending whale
53:14
killers that under Danish law is illegal.
53:17
And yet the Faroese get all the benefits
53:19
of an EU country that's in the EU,
53:22
but not in the EU.
53:23
So they get all the subsidies to build
53:25
all their tunnels and infrastructure and stuff.
53:27
It's a complete disaster.
53:28
And it's optically looks very bad for Denmark.
53:32
And I don't know why Denmark doesn't do
53:33
something about it, all to keep a few
53:35
people in their blood sport happy.
53:38
And it's very few people.
53:38
We can't point the finger at another country
53:40
when here in the United States, you're in
53:43
England.
53:44
I know there's been a big reduction in
53:47
hunting, but still there are fox hunts.
53:50
And I see the news all the time
53:52
on people, they're called hunt saboteurs.
53:55
They try to stop the hunting.
53:56
And here we have, people love to use
54:01
guns and say, well, we don't want to
54:05
kill people.
54:06
And we certainly don't, but it's okay to
54:08
kill animals.
54:09
And I don't believe that for a second.
54:14
So before we point fingers at another country,
54:16
we would have to look in the mirror
54:17
and say, what's our country doing?
54:20
And unfortunately, blood sport is part of the
54:24
human condition at this point.
54:26
Let's hope we evolve past it.
54:29
This has been such a fascinating conversation.
54:33
I want to say, Omar, I know you're
54:35
a very busy man and you are working
54:37
around the clock to free Captain Paul Watson.
54:40
And I want to thank you for taking
54:42
the time to tell our American audience, bring
54:46
us up to date on this horror show
54:49
and tell people what to do.
54:52
Please, if you are listening or watching, or
54:55
both, go to the Paul Watson Foundation.
54:58
It's paulwatsonfoundation.org.
55:01
The easiest to remember, paulwatsonfoundation.org and sign
55:05
the petition to demand the immediate release of
55:08
Paul Watson.
55:09
I did it last night.
55:10
It takes literally 45 seconds.
55:12
And I also want to thank Annie Abram,
55:16
who has organised several protests here in Los
55:18
Angeles to speak up for Paul Watson outside
55:25
Danish government offices here in Los Angeles.
55:29
And that's happening around the world.
55:31
So I very much appreciate all of your
55:36
efforts.
55:37
Everybody together, I think we can free Captain
55:40
Paul Watson.
55:42
And as far as what we do here
55:45
at Unchained TV, I really urge you to
55:49
download our app.
55:51
We are the only vegan animal rights streaming
55:54
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56:00
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56:02
also go to unchainedtv.com.
56:05
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56:07
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