Worldlog 15 February 2016 - Hoofdinhoud

I would like to start with some fantastic news. Last week we had a major breakthrough in the Lower House. Ever since the start of our party we have been fighting for animals in the livestock industry. As well as for calves in the dairy industry, which are cruelly separated from their mothers upon birth and are put into so-called individual pens. In nature, calves stay with their mothers for 6 to even 12 months.

Dairy cows have to give birth once a year to continue producing milk. The majority of those calves are a ‘by-product: little bulls do not give milk and do not grow fast enough to turn them into steak. After at most 8 months, they are slaughtered to produce veal meat.

The Party for the Animals believes that calves have the right to grow up with their mothers, and a majority of the Lower House now agrees! I am delighted that our motion to keep calves with their mothers for a certain time has been accepted. We must respect natural processes such as the rearing of young animals.

The mother party, calves are allowed to stay with their mothers. Vote for the Party for the Animals!

The majority of the Lower House agrees with the government’s decision that the Netherlands is to start bombing in Syria. A highly dangerous decision. For that reason we have voted against it. Peace organisation Pax, Red Cross and Amnesty International have called for caution, but the majority of the Lower House just ignored that advice. The bombing will not contribute to increasing the safety in the world, will not contribute to increasing the safety in Syria, and will not contribute to increasing the safety in the Netherlands.

On the contrary, participation in the bombings will lead to direct and indirect risks. It can, for example, lead to retaliation in the Netherlands and contribute to further radicalisation.

Anyone who wants to make peace with violence will achieve the opposite.

Last year, 28,000 people signed the petition for vegan-friendly options of the popular Ben&Jerry’s ice cream. Ben&Jerry’s has currently announced that the new vegan-friendly flavours will start to be sold in the United States in February of this year. It is great to see that this type of actions has a positive effect.

Research by the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau in the Netherlands has demonstrated that Dutch people increasingly do shopping in a more conscious manner by boycotting certain products and that the number of flexitarians in the Netherlands is growing. If it was up to me, those vegan ice flavours should also be introduced in the Netherlands!

Two people recently died in Ireland from swine flu. See the chapter ‘Zoonoses’ of our documentary ‘One Single Planet’ to learn more about the relationship between the livestock industry and public health risks. Make your environment aware of these risks too: therefore share this animation film on social media. In ‘The Meatrix Relaunched’ it is briefly, yet clearly, explained what problems the large-scale livestock industry brings us.

Kind regards,

Marianne