Change in Serbia starts with compassion and animal rights
Serbia needs a political movement for animal rights, our planet and all its inhabitants: a political party that is guided by compassion for all planet inhabitants, instead of violence and division. That message was given by the Dutch Party for the Animals in the Serbian capital Belgrade last weekend, where the party brought young planet and animal protectors together from the region to attend a training. The Party for the Animals’ Senator Christine Teunissen also gave a lecture in Belgrade City Centre on the vital importance of plant-based food. It is clear that this subject appeals to many people in Serbia, because the seats for the lecture were occupied quickly.
Lecture by the Party for the Animals’ Senator Christine Teunissen.
Nikola Tesla, an inventor and lateral thinker with Serbian roots, already said: the cruel slaughter of animals is not just destructive for animals but also for our morals and our health. Tesla believed that eating animals was a barbarous habit that needed to be stopped quickly. It would help us to make our entire community less violent.
The Serbian community also faces violence, corruption, intimidation, and politicians who are not there for humans, animals, and our planet but rather for their own ego. During the training, the Party for the Animals showed the young activists from Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia that a different type of politics is possible. Politics that is not about egocentric thinking, but about ecocentric thinking. Politics where politicians protect all that is vulnerable - nature, animals, humans, environment - instead of destroying it.
During the conversation between the young activists and the Party for the Animals it became clear that over 50% of the Serbian population does not vote. The Party for the Animals’ Senator Christine Teunissen sees parallels with the Netherlands: “The Dutch are sick of politics too and don't trust politicians at all. That is why the Party for the Animals does not only attract people who care about animals and the environment, but also people who are sick of the political establishment. People who long for a healthier, more caring society. Meanwhile, the Party for the Animals has 80 people's representatives.”
Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian animal and climate protectors together.
Teunissen argued during her lecture in Belgrade that such a caring society, where we protect each other and our living environment, starts with acknowledging the rights of animals and plant-based foods. “Our consumption of animal products causes huge pollution, destroys our nature and causes climate issues. Serbia also faces the effects of this, such include drought and flooding. Research by Oxford University shows that we can reduce up to 73% of agriculture-related emissions and can give back 76% of our agricultural lands to nature by changing to a plant-based diet. More plant-based agriculture will help us to provide more people with healthy food with much less ground. If we stop killing animals, we will not only help animals but also humans. Yugoslavian hero Nikola Tesla was already aware of this.”
Senator Teunissen's lecture was organised in cooperation with the Climate Save Movement in Serbia. Two young Serbian animal and planet protectors gave an introduction at the lecture.
Last year, Teunissen held a lecture in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and it was also evident there that many people are interested in politics guided by compassion. These days, the international political movement for animal rights and the environment consists of several political parties for animals, which are politically represented in Australia, Germany, Portugal, and the United Kingdom among other countries.