Worldlog week 46 – 2013

The Australian Animal Justice Party (AJP) intends to participate in the next national elections! They are going for at least 100,000 votes. It would be great if a party for the animals could hold one or more seats in Australian parliament. Political parties in Australia pay little or no attention to issues related to animal welfare, and a hard fight must also be put up for nature preservation in Australia as well as a healthy environment. I understand from the AJP that minor changes do occur in Australian politics, for instance, talks are being held about imposing a ban on cosmetics testing on animals. It has already been banned in Europe, so hopefully Australia will follow soon.

If you know anybody who lives in the state of New South Wales in Australia, ask them whether they would like to become a member (for free) of the AJP. With 850 members in NSW, the AJP will have a chance to participate. Go for it, AJP!

The international symposium of our Animal Politics Foundation increasingly begins to take shape. What a wonderful and impressive list of speakers, for instance, Tom Reagan, Will Kymlicka and Maneka Gandhi. For comprehensive information on the speakers and on how to book tickets, see www.partyfortheanimals.nl/InternationalSymposium. I look forward to seeing you all in Istanbul on 12 and 13 December!

Last week, in the parliamentary group of the Lower House, I had one of the most important and busiest weeks of the year when discussing the budget of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (which also includes Agriculture). The State Secretary of Agriculture made a few interesting statements, such as: ‘It is a fact that meat constitutes the most environmentally harmful component of our diet’ and ‘Climate change will have major consequences for the Netherlands’. We can do something about that!

A small fragment from my contribution reads as follows:

All lights were green when the State Secretary took office at the beginning of this year. My expectations were – and are – high. At last, a state secretary who has no ties with the traditional agricultural lobby. But my expectations are also high because the State Secretary has turned out to be a pioneer with ideals from her youth up. So, the State Secretary had the opportunity to make the Netherlands greener. But what did she do? She sold out nature to the highest bidder. And when the Party for the Animals mobilised citizens to redeem 100,000 square metres of nature, the State Secretary merely scorned “… that it would become clear how costly it is to maintain that piece of nature.” Thankfully, however, she stopped selling out for the time being due to the social unrest it had invoked. I am proud of that. We organised that social unrest. I predict the State Secretary there will be much more unrest if she misses the green opportunities with an empty goal.

Last week, unfortunately, Spanish parliament officially designated the gruesome bullfighting as part of cultural heritage by law. It is unbelievable how they want to keep up such a barbaric ‘tradition’. Early June, our parliamentary group of the Lower House still carried a motion calling the Cabinet to fight against subsidies for bullfighting in Europe. We will continue this fight!

The new mayor of New York is a true animal rights lawyer, he also raises his two children as vegetarians. Congratulations Bill de Blasio! Hopefully, his policy will generate beautiful things.

This artist makes wonderful works of art of (fallen out) bird feathers!

I would like to conclude with a beautiful quote by Margaret Mead: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Until next week,

Marianne