Crying Over the Wrong Seals

   For the second time in this year's Seattle International Film Festival, my previously held, but not carefully considered beliefs have been challenged by a movie. This time the movie, entitled, "Angry Inuk," is about seal hunting. The film is made by an Inuit woman as part of their campaign to lift the ban on seal products in the EU and elsewhere.

 According to this eye-opening documentary, groups like Greenpeace and the Humane Society have been campaigning to protect seals long after their victory to protect the little white-fur harp seal babies in the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Those baby white seals are the poster pets and big money makers for the various animal rights groups, who keep "saving" those white pups, even though they are already saved.

 The result is crushing to the Inuit, who are indigenous to the Arctic regions of the world. They have always hunted ringed seals. Almost all "commercial" ringed seal hunting is small scale, done by the only people who really live in those remote frozen regions, the Inuit. They've always hunted seals. They eat the meat, and either sell the hides, or use them to make clothes or other items. By banning all products of "commercial' sealing, the EU, in particular, has closed the door on the Inuit people selling the only thing the Inuit have to sell; seal hides. How can the Inuit buy flour or manufactured goods like pots or pans unless they make a little money somehow.

 These indigenous people sit atop mineral and oil-rich areas, but they'd rather continue to hunt rather than sacrifice their territories to extractive industries. Seals, they point out, are not endangered.

 Part of the problem is that governmental bodies and save-the-animal organizations apparently decided what was best for the Inuit People without ever asking the Inuit. And according to this film, using the already-saved image of the little white seal pups draws millions of dollars in donations to groups like Greenpeace, Sea Shepard, and The Humane Society. Seals may be all the indigenous people of the frozen north have to sell, but saving the little white seal babies, which is a different issue, proved to be so profitable that these groups have continued "saving" all the other seals, using the image of the little white ones. The impact on indigenous communities was inconvenient, and didn't seem to matter. According to the film, Greenpeace finally apologized to the Inuits. But the EU ban on seal products continues.

 I've stomped my foot right along with the "save the baby seal" folks. It turns out those seals have been saved for many years. The Inuit, who hunt for different kinds of seals, are not. At one point in the film, an Inuit delegation to an important international meeting present their case to the voting members. An animal rights group showed up to pass out adorable little white fluffy stuffed seal toys to each official as they filed into the chambers, even though the topic of conversation was entirely different types of seals and methods of hunting them. By an overwhelming majority, the Inuit lost the vote. How can they, the poorest communities in Canada, compete with the well-funded animal groups? Before I saw this movie, I would have automatically been on the side of the animal lovers.

 I don't know how much crow I'm going to have to eat on this one; a lot, I'm guessing, but I LOVE having my preconceptions challenged, and I'm willing to admit being wrong. If you're willing to be exposed to a persuasive perspective you have probably not appreciated before, then be sure to catch "Angry Inuk" at SIFF. It screens twice, Sunday 5/28/17 and Monday 5/29. Go to SIFF.net for more info.

2 SIFF films to watch for

The SIFF press screenings have started and I have two films I want to direct your attention to.

Food Evolution

http://www.foodevolutionmovie.com/#home

Featuring at one point Bill Nye the Science Guy, with Neil deGrasse Tyson as narrator, this documentary takes on the question of GMO food. Like most of you, I've generally been--without much real thought to the issue--on the side of the anti-GMO crowd, mostly because I'll never forgive Monsanto for the use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam. Then, at the recent Science March, I noticed signs that lumped the anti-GMO crowd with anti-vaccine and climate change deniers. That got my attention, so I've been meaning to think the topic through a bit. 

Today I saw a VERY persuasive movie on the subject. Some of the beauties of science are its insistence on basing theory on verifiable facts and its ability to change when confronted with new evidence. In that spirit, I'm siding with the Science Guy and Neil deGrasse Tyson on the GMO controversy. After watching this very good film, I am admitting that I got sucked in by the "Anti" crowd. If folks like us insist that we should "heed the science" on the question of climate change, then we really ought to do the same on the issues of vaccines (hello--no polio!) and, yes, GMOs. I can just hear your eyes bugging out as you read this, so I want to mention one thing I DO have experience with regarding GMOs. 

In the early years of my nursing career, patients with insulin dependent diabetes used insulin that was extracted from the pancreas of either cows or pigs. Doctors orders for insulin were often denoted with which type was to be used, because you couldn't just switch back and forth. Patients would build up a resistance to the cow or pig component of the insulin and require ever greater doses of the stuff to get the desired effect, among other problems. Then somebody here in Seattle genetically modified a yeast so it would generate insulin in the lab. This "Humulin" insulin does not have the beef or pig component. During the first years of its use, nurses had to be careful because we'd get patients who would come in getting whopping doses of beef or pork insulin and we could easily overdose them by administering the same dose of humulin. Nowadays, I think pretty much all insulin is humulin, with no escalating tolerance, much more consistent dosing, and for vegetarians, no sacrifice of a sacred cow. There can be no question in my nurse's mind that humulin insulin, one of the early practical uses for a GMO, was a great invention. I'm all for it, without any hesitation. Oddly enough, although I knew well the story of humulin insulin, I never translated that support over to the food GMO contoversy. I unthinkingly went along with the anti-GMO craze, partly because of my aforementioned disregard for Monsanto Corp, and mostly, I guess, because I was swayed by the WTO protesters (Vandana Shiva and others). This isn't the first wrong road I've been down but just like navigation, once you realize you're going the wrong way, what choice is there but to correct course. I don't relish admitting I was such a shallow fool, but that's what I'm doing now.

OK that's the end of my confession, go see the movie that inspired it. 

Chavela

If you are a fan of the Mexican style of music typified by the song "La Llorona," or true stories of the lesbian lover of (among others) Frieda Kahlo, or ready to be inspired by a very strong Mexican singer who in her later years was promoted by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, then this doc is for you. Incredible music, amazing story, about a woman I had heard, but never heard of. I couldn't get enough of this film, and encourage you to enjoy it too.

The Face of America

About a week ago a young man was working in his own front yard when a white man came up, started yelling, pushed him to the ground, and then shot him. "Go back to your own country," the attacker snarled. The victim is Sikh, whose religious customs require wearing a turban. They are often mistaken for Muslims. The victim survived and was able to describe the attack. The attacker, a complete stranger, has not been identified or found. Authorities are treating the incident as a hate crime.

This happened in Kent, WA, two or three towns south of Seattle. It wasn't the only incident lately. Just a couple days ago, a synagogue on the north end of Seattle had rightwing graffiti spraypainted on it. A couple months back, my stepson, Jamar, told me that where he works the two guys who share the office next to his are Mexicans. Since Trump's election there have been multiple incidents where white male customers have started shouting at his co-workers. In the five years they've worked together, this never happened until the election.

After the synagogue was defaced, a supportive neighbor hung a sheet over the paint, but the synagogue took the covering down. They want people to see what's going on. I'm reminded of Emmett Till's mother, insisting on an open casket funeral for her son. Don't look away, see what hate has done.

So when our neighbors told me there was going to be a rally down in Kent in response to the shooting of the Sikh, Kay and I carpooled down with them. Leaving Seattle, we felt like we were heading for the hinterlands. We talked on the way down about how glad we were to be going to a political event somewhere besides the Seattle core.

The rally was held indoors, in a Lutheran church. That was nice, because it was raining. About 500 people showed up. It was an assembly of every sort of religious garb, and every sort of ethnicity. There were young, old, men, women--every demographic and angle. It turns out that Kent, according to the mayor, when she addressed the crowd, is the 5th most diverse city of its size in America. I think she said students in the Kent School District speak 130 different languages at home.

One of the speakers remarked that in the old days in Kent, Swedes and Norwegians refused to live next to each other. Now, the city prides itself on its diversity, and the way they all get along. Speaker after speaker reaffirmed that "an injury to one is an injury to all." You'd have thought you were in the Longshoremen's union hall.

One minister put forward that the backdrop for all this is a battle between monopoly and equality. Other speakers repeated that theme in various ways. A black minister in his 50s was eloquent and articulate: "I'm the demographic most likely to be shot, either by some enraged white guy or by the police!" There was fire and outrage, but the event was overwhelmingly positive, the closing of ranks on the high road. It was all about the founding values of our country.

Years ago, when I was making videos of the Somali struggles in Seattle, I learned a humbling fact. Immigrants believe in the American Dream far more than the native-born. After all, they had to claw their way to our shores, and the dream that kept them going, through whatever they had to endure to get here, far exceeds any sort of economic opportunity. They came to be part of America the Beautiful, America the secular, the tolerant. They seek a life of freedom and security, and by their very presence here, we know they're not quitters. That reality was on full display down in Kent. Nobody appreciates or loves America more than the recently arrived.

At a certain point in the program, a representative of the Church Council of Greater Seattle read and presented a letter signed by 200 or or more clergy in the region, all of whom presumably thundered out the call of unity to their respective congregations over the weekend.

I'm sure that the City of Kent is not alone as it rallies to defend the full flavor of life in this country. No doubt all across the land events just like this are blossoming forth. People get ready, there's a train a comin'. As we drove back to Seattle, I remarked that I went down to Kent to give them a little solace, and found, instead, that I was the one uplifted. Best afternoon I've spent in quite a while.