Worldlog Tjedan 44 – 2013
Prošlog se tjedna u Zastupničkom domu održalo jesensko zasjedanje. Nije bilo rasprava, no i dalje se radilo. Postavila sam, između ostalog, nekoliko zastupničkih pitanja koja su proizašla iz jedne izjave ministrice Vanjske trgovine i razvojne suradnje. Ministrica je mesarima i prerađivačima mesa obećala da će poduprijeti daljnji razvoj međunarodne trgovine stokom. S obzirom na recentne prehrambene skandale smatram ovo obećanje nepovoljnim. Naime, mesna se industrija već dugo nosi s nizom prehrambenih skandala, poput slučaja mesa zaraženog fekalnim bakterijama, te slučaja odstranjivanja otopljenog, pljesnivog i smrdljivog mesa koje se potom prodavalo kao svježe. Trenutno se istražuju rizici nizozemskog mesnog sektora. Nastavak slijedi!
Prošlog je tjedna izašao francuski dokumentarac Encounters with an Egalitarian: Yves Bonnardel. Ovaj se dokumentarac oslanja na ideologiju Yvesa Bonnardela, francuskog aktivista za životinjska prava. Njegovo se ime pojavljuje uz mnoštvo radova koji se uglavnom vežu za zapadnjački suživot ljudi i životinja i načine na koji koristimo životinje. Na http://egalitariste.com/ nalazi se tridesetminutni dokumentarac s engleskim podnaslovima.
Još samo tri dana traje potpisivanje peticije za Europu bez kozmetike testirane na životinjama! Na web stranici http://www.stopvivisection.eu/ nalazi se preko milijun sakupljenih potpisa koji bi trebali nagnati Europsku Uniju da promijeni stav spram testiranju na životinjama. U Europi je moguće s milijun potpisa pokrenuti takvu inicijativu. Dobro je što se uspjelo skupiti milijun potpisa, no što više potpisa, to veća šansa da će se krenuti u istraživanje alternativa za one pokuse za koje se sad koriste životinje.
Poslušaj ovu prekrasnu pjesmu “Say no”, sa snažnom porukom protiv trofejnog lova u Afričkim zemljama.
Zgodna novost: dvanaestog i trinaestog listopada Animal Politics Foundation (APF) organizira internacionalni kongres o životinjskim pravima u Istanbulu. APF je udruga s kojom Stranka za životinje usklađuje svoje internacionalne aktivnosti. Cilj APF-a na spomenutoj konferenciji je primijeniti političke teorije političkog predstavništva životinja u praksi, ali i obrnuto. APF se nada da će konferencija dovesti do bolje suradnje ljudi koji su upleteni u ovaj politički pokret! To bi sigurno bilo lijepo!
Što se tiče jačanja suradnje među različitim strankama za životinje, početkom siječnja odlazim za Lisabon i Madeiru kako bih porazgovarala s lokalnim predstavnicima PAN-a. Na Madeiri PAN ima jednog predstavnika u parlamentu, a odnedavno se jedan predstavnik nalazi i u Lisabonu. Lijepo je i korisno vidjeti kako je PAN u Portugalu i na Madeiru uspio oformirati političku stranku za prava životnja.
Do idućeg tjedna!
Marianne
Last week was Autumn Recess in the Lower House. There were no debates, but work continued as per usual. I worked at such things as asking parliamentary questions as a result of a ruling by Minister Ploumen of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. The minister committed to providing her support to a meat processor and calf slaughter in promoting the international veal trade. Given the recent food scandals, I think this commitment is inappropriate – the livestock and meat industries are contending with a series of scandals, such as meat that contains faecal bacteria and trimming away thawed, green and smelly meat to sell as fresh meat. Research into the risks in the Dutch meat sector is currently underway. To be continued!
The French documentary Encounters with an Egalitarian: Yves Bonnardel was released last week. The documentary explores Yves Bonnardel’s philosophy. He is a French animal rights activist and has many publications to his name that chiefly detail the place we give animals in Western society and the various ways we use them. Go to http://egalitariste.com/ for a 30-minute French language documentary with English subtitles.
There are just three days left to sign the petition for a laboratory animal-free Europe! The http://www.stopvivisection.eu/ website has collected more than one million signatures to push the European Union into making different choices when it comes to research that involved laboratory animals. One million signatures makes it possible to join in on the European discussion so it’s fantastic that they’ve reached that goal, although the more signatures they obtain, the more likely Europe is to look at other options as far as research that uses animals is concerned.
Listen to this incredible song ‘Say No’. It contains a strong argument against trophy hunting in African countries.
Some cool news: The Animal Politics Foundation (APF) is organising an international conference on 12 and 13 December on animal rights and animal politics in Istanbul. The APF supports the Party for the Animals in its international activities. The APF will use this conference to translate political theories on political representation for animals into practice and vice versa. The APF hopes the conference will lead to more contact between the people involved in this political movement. That would definitely be a good thing!
I am going to Lisbon and Madeira at the start of January next year speak to the local PAN representatives, as part of my work to promote ties between the various Parties for the Animals. Madeira has one PAN representative in parliament and Lisbon voted one in recently as well. It’s wonderful seeing PAN give shape to a political animal rights party in Portugal!
See you next week!
Marianne