Avaaz Responds To Kristján Loftsson

Iceland’s chief whaler may consider online activist network Avaaz a “joke”, but they have their own opinions of him, too.

A petition from Avaaz – World In Action is calling upon the island of St. Kitts to strip one of his whaling ships, Winter Bay, of its flag of convenience. At the time of this writing, they have amassed over a million signatures.

Kristján Loftsson, – who is the director of Iceland’s largest whaling company, Hvalur hf. – has been none too pleased with the petition, dismissing them as “a joke” and accusing them of inflating their petition with fake signatures.

Avaaz, seeing Grapevine’s story on the matter, contacted us. Danny Auron, the campaign director for Avaaz, had a response for Loftsson:

“Kristjan Loftsson may think that over a million people around the world calling for an end to his butchery of whales is a ‘joke’, but no one else is laughing at his brutal trade. Loftsson may wish otherwise, but the Avaaz petition is real, the outcry at his whale-killing is real, and so is the fact that he can no longer conduct his blood-stained business in ports around the world.”

In point of fact, the Guardian called Avaaz “the globe’s largest and most powerful online activist network”. Kristján may also have reason to worry about Avaaz, as in 2013 they successfully convinced the Dutch government to stop letting ships carrying whale meat from docking in Holland.

Related:

Whaling Company Loses Money From Whaling