Worldlog week 10 – 2014

We were in recess last week, so we had time to campaign for the municipal elections on 19 March. Last Sunday, I took part in a playful protest against the felling of 100 trees in Oostpolder.

Trees constitute the lungs of the green heart and, therefore, of the municipality of Gouda. Trees deserve our protection, whether they are located in the Brazilian rainforest or in the Oostpolder of Gouda. Gouda has a minimal number of trees per resident and that number won’t be improved by felling trees.

Today, we presented the European election programme ‘Reply to Brussels’ and our candidate for the European elections in May this year.

We are strong advocates of international cooperation, but we are critical of the current undemocratic form of the EU. Like us, many people feel uneasy about the EU’s influence on our country. Democratic international cooperation can generate improvements for people, animals, nature and the environment, but this is hardly the case at this point in time.

In today’s Europe, massive numbers of animals are locked up in mega stables, plant and animal species are wiped out, the seas are plundered and eco systems are disrupted worldwide. For many years, agricultural and fisheries subsidies have been the major cost items for the EU. With these subsidies, the broiler sector conducts its promotional activities and bullfighting is maintained. At the expense of tax payers, the seas are overfished and developing countries get into trouble because European products are dumped on to their markets. Meanwhile, Europe suffers from the consequences of the implementation of the euro as well as the reckless expansion with countries that were not ready for that. All this is happening while Member States are increasingly losing their powers to Brussels without consulting their citizens.

If powers are transferred to the EU, citizens should first be consulted by way of a referendum. If the costly agricultural and fisheries subsidies were abolished, Europe could be half as cheap!

Last week, colleague Esther Ouwehand asked Parliamentary questions about the Japanese whaler attacks of a Dutch ship of Sea Shepherd. This month, in the waters of Antarctica and in the south of New Zealand, a Japanese whaler attacked the Sea Shepherd ship. Japanese whalers damaged the Dutch ship so much that it became difficult to navigate the ship.

We believe that attacks by Japanese whalers seriously endanger maritime safety and we want the Minister of Foreign Affairs to lodge a complaint against the Japanese whalers! Read it here.

A nice phrase to end with: A winner is a dreamer who never gives up ~ Nelson Mandela.

Until next week,

Marianne