Worldlog Hafta 05 – 2009
Dünyanin her yerinden bana mail gelmektedir soru olarak “hayvan koruma partisini nasil kurdun”. Mantikli sorular, nedeni ise dünyada ilk kurulan ve Hollandada bulunan Hayvan Koruma Partisi’dir ve ayni zamanda ulusal parlementoda anlasilan ve kabul edilen partidir. Önümüzdeki haftalar Hayvan Koruma Partisinin bu güne kadar olan tarihini anlatacagim akraba olan Hollanda parlemento sistemini.Bundan sonra adim adim anlatmaya calisacagim olay Hayvan Koruma Partisini kurmak isteyenlere ve bütün dünyaya anlatmak. Bu görüsmeler bir cok yerlerde oluyor kendi ülkendeki tecrübelerini baskalariyla paylasmak istersen eger, mail gönderebilirsin !
Fikir olarak Hayvan Koruma Partisi, 1992 Niko Koffeman tarafindan atildi , o zaman yazar ve kampanya sorumlusu bulunan bu kisi cesitli hayvan koruma organizasyonlari ve ayni zamanda SP sosyalist partisinin kampanya sorumlusu idi, Hollandada bulunan politik parti.
Baskalari gibi benide cileden cikariyordu bircok hayvan korumacilarin politik görüs ve oturumlarda ve yilik lobi görüsmelerinde, saygi ve intizamli olusundan dolayi laf alisverisinden öte bir yere gelemedi.
Her ne kadar fikir Koffeman’dan cikdiysa insanlar tarafindanda zenginlestirildi, 10 yil kadar bir zaman aldi bu olayin gerceklesmesi icin.
Lieke Keller ile beraber( deri aleyhine organisasyon müdürü) ve Ton Dekker (organisasyonun heyet üyesi) karar vermem gerekiyordu, artik zamani gelmisti diger yasayan canlilarin insanlar tarafindan parlamentoya tasimak ve bu canlilari korumak istiyordum.
Sartlar aranmakta idi en azindan 70.000 Hollandalinin seslerini ve oylarini Ulusal secim birligine duyurmak ve önde gelen insan menfaatini bir kenara koyarak, ilgi ve dikkati hayvan, doga ve cevre yana olmak gerekiyordu.
Bunlardan bir kaci yerine getirilmedigi takdirde, sonuc gösteriyorki secmenlerin bir bölümü baska alana kaymaktadir insan merkezi olan politika itibarli özgür halki iyi ise yöneltmektir.
Ilgi cekici nokta ise bircok hayvan koruma organisasyonlari teredüt etmeden plani red etiler. Neden ise basarisizligin korkusu agir basmaktaydi. Ne olabilirdi bunun sonucunda eger secmen adaylari Hayvan Koruma Partisini secmemis olsa idi. Diger partilerin reaksiyonu ne olabilirdi, mümkün olurmuydu acaba lobbi heyetinin hayvan koruma organizasyonunu kabul edermiydi. Gercekci olabilirmiydi “one issue partsi”parlementoda yer alabilirmiydi ?
Güvensizliklere ragmen 2003 yilinda secimlere baslanmistir ve hatta inadina zorlayan bir bütce acigi ve ayni zamanda kampanyada bulunacak insan gücune ihyiyac oldugu halde, yinede bir milletvekili cikartmistir. Bizim düsüncemizde olan bir cok insan vardi !
Kafamizda kurdugumuz nokta ise cok iyi organize olmak ve ileri secimlere dogru gitmek. Calisma alanlarimizi büyütmek toplamak ve fon kurmak önemli gelir ise taninmis ünlü insanlardan dünya kültür ve sanat (yazar, cizer, kaberemanlar, medianin önde gelenleri ) aday listesine secmen olmamak icin hazir kisiler bulmak.
Diger sans ise kasim 2006’da geldi bunuda diger hafta yazmak istiyorum!
Haftaya görüsmek üzere hosca kalin!
I get e-mails from people all over the world asking the same question: “how do I go about setting up a party for the animals?” Quite understandable as the Dutch Party for the Animals is the first animal rights party to have been elected to a national parliament anywhere in the world. That’s why over the few weeks I will be telling you something about the history of our party in the context of the Dutch political landscape. Then I will talk you through the various steps in setting up a party for the animals in your own country. This is already happening in many places in the world and if you would like to share experiences from your own country, please e-mail me!
The idea for a Dutch Party for the Animals was first suggested by Niko Koffeman, at the time a copywriter and campaign advisor for a number of animal rights organizations and a campaign strategist for the SP, a Dutch political party. Like many others, Niko was dismayed by how animal rights activists were largely fobbed off by the political establishment with just an annual meeting with lobbyists which was characterized by little more than an exchange of courtesies and the consumption of coffee and cake.
Although many thought Koffeman’s idea had real potential, it took exactly ten years before it became a reality. Together with Lieke Keller (director of the Dutch anti-fur organization) and Ton Dekker (committee member of the same organization), I decided the time was ripe to argue for the rights of other living beings not from outside parliament but from within it.
The condition was that we could find at least 70,000 Dutch citizens who would, come election day, be prepared for a moment to put aside their primary human interests in favour of giving a voice to animals, nature and the environment. If that figure could be achieved, it would in any case be clear that a substantial number of voters wanted a departure from human-centric politics and it would provide the cause with considerable publicity.
Oddly enough, many animal rights organizations were lukewarm or even dismissive about the plan. The fear of failure overwhelmed their feelings. What would be the fallout if hardly a person actually voted for the Party for the Animals? How would other political parties react? Would they still be prepared to welcome lobbyists from the animal rights organizations? Was a “one issue party” in parliament a realistic option?
Despite the scepticism, we contested the elections in 2003 and, despite the fact that the campaign budget was virtually non-existent and campaign workers very few, we almost got enough votes for a seat. And we made a splash in terms of media attention!
That strengthened our conviction that we had to continue building the organization for the next elections. We went to work expanding the organization and attracting funds. An important aspect was finding well-known figures from the world of art and culture (writers, painters, cabaret performers, TV personalities) who were prepared to be fielded as candidates in unelectable seats. Our next chance came in 2006 – but I’ll leave that exciting story for next week!