In an amazing turn around, the local leaders of Ulsan, Korea have agreed to allow our 'Whale Embassy' volunteers to stay near the site of a planned whale meat factory - just hours after telling them to leave or face the "consequences".
We set up our Whale Embassy near the planned whale meat factory to open dialogue with the local people, call for the government to scrap the factory plans and seek assurances that Korea will not bow to pressure from Japan to resume commercial whaling.
Our volunteers received a visit from angry representatives of the Jangsaengpo Development Association. Greenpeace oceans campaigner Jim Wickens reports on what happened next - and how we must help the people of Ulsan rebuild their lives without whaling:
"It all began at 6pm. As the local development association leaders walked into the embassy, the police cars idled to a halt outside. The showdown had begun.
The local leaders spent a long time discussing the history of their community, how the number in their 'dying' community had dropped from 16,000 to 1,600 in only 10 years. They talked about how they accepted a polluting factory upwind so that they could have the whale research centre and whale museum as well. With trembling hands as they spoke, these community representatives obviously did not want to be fighting.
They explained that our Whale Embassy was okay, but the mounds with the whale tails behind were painful for them, striking an all too real chord of the past, while preventing them from embracing the future with Oceans Day and the opening of the whale museum. At that moment three coach loads of riot police arrived outside the embassy. We continued with our meeting, while the police officers listened close by. e offered to take down the mounds to show the genuine intentions of our goodwill, both to the whales and to the coastal fishing communities. They could not believe what they heard and were genuinely blown away.
We explained that we would like to help find alternative ways to economically revive the community in a sustainable but profitable way. Suddenly the president of the community group said he wanted to learn about whale watching and would welcome all the advice that we could provide.
The guy next to him said that he would like to get the children from Jangsaengpo school to come and meet us and help design banners for Oceans Day to hang from our mast.
Obviously over the moon, they added that because it was so obvious that we meant well, Greenpeace could stay until the end of the International Whaling Commission meeting in June.
We all agreed that we would meet very soon to talk about each other's concerns in more detail.
The meeting ended with a spontaneous round of applause and by the time we emerged from the embassy, the riot police had gone. And so it was that the organisation that wanted to blockade the Rainbow Warrior in Ulsan port last month and that publicly promised direct action against Greenpeace only 24 hours ago, ended up agreeing to reconnect our water, meet soon to discuss whale watching and send their children to the embassy to learn more about whales.
The feeling in the camp is great and we are having pizzas to celebrate!"
Visit our Come back whales weblog for daily reports straight from the Whale Embassy.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the "Virtual March". Check out footage and photos here.
