Updated IWC Lexicon
Volume LXI · No. 2 · Madeira, Portugal · Tuesday June 23, 2009
Acrobat .pdf of issue
Exclusively for our ECO readers, we have provided the following lexicon so you can understand some of the up-to-the-minute rhetoric coming out of the US delegation.
The Way Forward – A future IWC that protects and kills whales simultaneously.
The Future of the IWC – A way forward for the IWC that protects and kills whales simultaneously.
Win-Win – Protecting and killing whales simultaneously.
Accommodation – Allowing Japan to kill whales in their coastal area commercially, thus giving away the 20-year-old moratorium on commercial whaling, while allowing Japan to kill hundreds more whales under scientific permits in the Southern Ocean, all while claiming to oppose commercial whaling and “scientific” whaling. (See also Doublespeak.)
Packages – Secret deals that apparently nobody agrees with or wants to claim ownership of, but are still there chock full of “accommodations.” Used as a noun, a verb, and a substitute for thought.
Civil Society Involvement – NGOs can observe the meetings of the Small Working Group from now on, but cannot observe meetings of the Small Support Working Group, and of course, can observe nothing at all during “executive sessions” of IWC.
Whales – Large mammals that can be divided up into “the quick” and “the dead.” Also known as “lunch,” “natural resource,” “sources of scientific data,” “fisheries eaters,” and as excuses for expensive junkets to beautiful Atlantic island resorts.