Pirate Captain at the Excel Centre tomorrow, and Sunday...

seeing as the east london against the arms fair lot (local opposition to the dsei) regularly picket this building

and have called for a boycott of this building

seeing as they were protesting outside the emirates embassy just last week(the abu dhabi gov owns the gaff)
seeing as hundreds of people have risked arrest etc at the disarm dsei actions at this building(including SS crew!)
seeing as all local residents will spend the next week living in a police state because of this building

seeing as every one and their cat is calling for actions-demos etc on thursday at this building

Is speaking at a money making event a week before a slap in the face to all of us Mr Watson or is your campaign somehow seperate from the rest of us (i know it isnt for your crew!!!).

Solidarity comes down to where you stand when it matters.

Solidarity between groups is a hard thing to achieve maybe you should try it.

because if you don't then maybe you should f*** off back to antartica before you become a "legitimate target"

Paul Watson was the only speaker I was interested it - the risks he is willing to take with his ship and crew are not universally admired in the diving community and his talk may be met with a mixture of praise and criticism. But from what I hear, the Dive show is even smaller than last year, both in terms of exhibitors and visitors, most of the speakers are doing the same old thing - I don't really need to hear John Bantin tell us all how wonderful he is again. There are fewer exhibitor stands and little new. And if you buy a ticket (there's always a way in without) it's over ten quid. And this is before thinking about any boycott of the building (it hosts an annual arms fair and the G20 next week), its operators and the over priced, badly kept warm beers available at its bars.

And I'd have to get up at silly o'clock tomorrow morning. Maybe not this year.

This shows exactly why the differing 'tribes' united in a common concern for positive social change need the spirit of mutual support that is the unique feature of Indymedia. This is perhaps the only forum where everyone can find out about each others issues, and link their differing campaigns for humans, other animals and the environment.

Having given practical support to (at least) four bi-annual campaigns against the arms trade fair DSEi at the Excell Centre (including a rare arrest), I can see where other contributors are coming from. Our imminent mobilisation for the G20 at Excell only heightens this position.

Despite this, and despite my regular attention to the range of campaigns detailed on both Indymedia and the Animal Rights Calendar, I have to admit that I had not noticed this Sea Shepherd / Excell connection, and sorry to say that the boycott call of Excell had slipped my mind.

However I know many Sea Shepherd supporters who would share everyone's abhorrence of the arms trade and all the other issues that Rob so rightly reminds us about (and I accept that he has acknowledged this himself).

Indeed contributors the the substantial article about Sea Shepherd at  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/02/421869.html have also contributed to many other articles on a wide and diverse range of topics.

So ... the information contained in this thread is most welcome, but a tone of mutual support rather than hostility to the less informed might generate more solidarity and, now better informed, Sea Shepherd might even express their own concerns about the venue to the Dive Show, who have shown a level of support of Sea Shepherd that would be welcomed from more socially aware activists than your average diver.

I suspect that no one will read this on a story long gone
but none the less
cheers Pat for your comment and apologies to all for my aggressive tone.

I realise that sending people “back to Antarctica” is probably not best done prior to a me having a morning coffee!

My general point still stands though and Pat I do think that there are elements within the AR movement who do consistently fail to see the validity of struggle that those of us focused on other elements of oppression are fighting.

If you are the Pat I think you are then I know very well that you have tirelessly fed those of striving for freedom for many years, and see animal liberation in the context of total liberation. But I still think that Mr Watson does himself and the AR movement a disservice by appearing to remove what is essentially a single issue campaign from a wider perspective