Worldlog week 18 – 2014

This weekend I was on Cyprus at the official start of the Animal Party Cyprus. At the congress of the Cypriot party for the animals I spoke among other things about our and their participation to the European elections, and the growing number of countries that is setting up a party for the animals. It was a highly inspiring gathering. You can watch their YouTube film here.

Seven parties for the animals in total will participate in the EU elections, including the parties recently established in Sweden and on Cyprus. Furthermore, the parties from Spain, Portugal, Germany, England and the Netherlands will participate. The fact that seven parties for the animals will participate in the European elections makes it obvious that it is a growing political movement. It is wonderful to see that these parties are still being established in foreign countries. And now on Cyprus too!

In the Netherlands, opinion pollster Maurice de Hond predicted that we have a voter potential of 3 seats in the EU elections. We will make it 4 😉

Unfortunately, the court decided last week that the cancellation of our international candidates J.M. Coetzee (Australian), Will Kymlicka (Canadian) and Tom Regan (American) by the Electoral Council remains in effect.

The court acknowledged that it is possible to put candidates from outside the EU on the candidates list for the European elections. But the Council said during the session that although the legislature may not have intended so, candidates are statutorily obliged to have a Residence Sticker General in their passport in accordance with the Identification Act. Fortunately, the British-American animal activist Ingrid Newkirk and the British author Redmond O’Hanlon will remain on the list, and we have a wonderful list with well-known Dutch people whose names are at the bottom of the list.

Thursday the 24th of April was World Day for Laboratory Animals! On that day we campaigned against the tests on monkeys. With the text Hear, see, and speak no evil? and the variation to our EU campaign poster we have asked for attention for the suffering of all laboratory animals worldwide.

Say NO to experiments on monkeys.

We want to ban all animal tests. We want to do so by quickly phasing out animal tests in combination with the development of animal-free test techniques. Great investments must thus be made in alternatives for research with laboratory animals.

Good news! The campaign against bear bile farms is successful. One Chinese state company will stop extracting bile from bears. We of course strongly oppose to this extreme form of animal cruelty. In China, bears are kept under dreadful circumstances for the production of bile. Bear bile has been part of traditional Asian medicine for thousands of years. We are of the opinion that religious and cultural traditions that harm the welfare of animals must be renewed in this respect.

A beautiful photo of Indonesian heroes that saved an Orang-utan from certain death, which was shot by poachers.

Would you like to know more about our Party? Please read the beautiful article in the Laika Magazine here. And you should certainly not miss the documentary Years of Living Dangerously about climate change! ‘Climate change is about more than data. It’s about people’

Until next week!