Worldlog week 12 – 2014
We really enjoy campaigning. It will be another few days before we know the result of the local elections, it’s exciting. We participate in 12 municipalities in the Netherlands and we hope that we will at least be represented in all 12 municipalities.
On Tuesday, I was in Amsterdam where we started planting a protest wood. We planted the trees together with children from a primary school! Everywhere in the capital the protest against the massive felling of trees is growing. And justifiably, because the trees in the city are of vital importance. A green city consumes less energy, is cool on summer days and keeps your feet dry when it rains hard. Children who live in a green area play more outside and run less risk of developing overweight and diabetes. That’s why the Party for the Animals says: stop felling and start planting!
Last Wednesday it was national Tree Planting Day. It’s a day that many primary schools join in with and have their pupils plant trees. All over the country as many as 115,000 children planted 200,000 trees and shrubs, which equals 80 football fields. This year I was also there to help. Together with the leading candidate in Arnhem Leo de Groot and member of the Provincial Council Luuk van der Veer (Gelderland) I went to plant trees in Elst. Before we started planting the trees, there was a youth debate with 650 children and national and local politicians. The children chose the Party for the Animals as winner of the debate. It is hopeful for the future that the children of today go 100% for animals, nature and the environment. I find it an honour that almost all children that were there called the Party for the Animals as greenest party.
The prize was an apple tree, which I then planted together with the children. The debate addressed questions such as should nature be a municipal task and should education on nature be a compulsory subject at school. The children almost unanimously agreed that lessons on nature should be given at least once a week. They also found it very important that the government and all municipalities make investments in nature because humans and animals cannot live without nature.
It was a week of awards since I also won the Power Women Award 2014 in the category ‘Politics’, presented by the listeners of the Sky Radio station. It is wonderful to have received this Power Women Award. It is 50 years after ‘Power to the People’ and ‘Power to the Planet’ has now gained acknowledgement by the listeners of Sky Radio. Clearly a different way of thinking. The Party for the Animals might grow very strong with the help of the Sky Radio listeners.
On Thursday I was also present at a protest in Rotterdam where attention was asked for the second most polluted street of the Netherlands. There is too much traffic racing through that street. On Thursday night, our leading candidate in The Hague organised an interesting night to present a very good employment plan named PROHEF, which our Party would like to have implemented. There, I elaborated on our ideas to boost the employment in the Netherlands.
PROHEF is a system whereby municipalities advance withholding taxes through budget neutral subsidies. It enables entrepreneurs to take on staff with less risk and costs. To compensate the lower government income for the loss of the withholding taxes, a levy may be implemented on the booked result, this is slightly comparable to how the VAT system works. However, this is not a ‘consumer tax’ but a ‘producer tax’ that is paid in arrears, in exchange for lower wage costs. We think that PROHEF will be very successful to solve the high employment in the Netherlands. Will surely be continued!
Greetings,
Marianne