NEWS RELEASE about Direct ActionEducationEnvironment posted on April 19, 2011 by Roslyn Cassells
The NDP and Green Party on Animal Issues
Don't be fooled by the smoke and mirrors!
I salute you
The NDP always seem sympathetic to animal issues. Their record however is another matter. While they, like the Greens, are concerned about so-called endangered animals, they have done nothing to alleviate the suffering of "common" animals...chickens, cats, crows, seals, squirrels...not high profile enough for them to get off the "jobs come first regardless" plank.
Don't forget, seal killing is a "job" and that will come first for the NDP. Seals are not "endangered" so the Green Party will not do anything. In fact, I find there are a fair number of pro-hunting types in the Green Party.
Don't be fooled, the NDP is a species-centric party...and humans, no matter how horrible, will always come first for them.
Green Meanies as I call them, will support a seal hunt if it is "sustainable" and all that shite.
Political hypocrisy has invaded all the parties, as has self-serving attitudes at election time and beyond. Look to who has been working on the issues between elections. I see only one group consistently doing so, the Animal Alliance Environmental Voters Party. A few Greens as individuals have done some good for animals, but don't think their leader won't smack them down good if they get out of line with the mainstream.
And I speak as the first elected Green in the country, and one ejected from the party for following true green principles....et je ne regrette rien!!!
Roslyn Cassells is a BC based social justice activist and Canada's first elected Green. She is an ardent animal and human rights activist, and writes, teaches and campaigns for positive social, economic and ecological change everywhere. @roslyncassells on Twitter, Action for UVic Rabbits facebook and Roslyn Cassells facebook
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Comments
Green Party Animal Welfare Policy
Is Roslyn Cassels actually knowledgeable about the Green Party's Animal Protection Platform or their stand on the seal hunt? This article seems based on a "they aren't as pure as me" attitude rather than anything solid. There are very few Canadians who have the privilege to make the lifestyle choices Ms Cassels seems to deem required to be a true animal activist or environmentalist.
As for the picture, right back at you.
Re Green Party Animal Welfare Policy
The Green Party of Canada's "Animal Protection Platform" is available online at http://greenparty.ca/vision-green/p3.10 It is largely a re-stating of popular Animal Welfare jargon which, as Ms. Cassells suggests, would result in little more actual animal "protection" than already exists today. Yes, certain *practices* might be banned but when you get right down to it, all welfare regulations throughout the last 200 years have served only to ensure protections for the animal users and greater economic efficiencies extracted from such uses.
Animals will continue to be exploited as long as we, as a society, continue to perceive them as our *property*. We must dispense with this speciesist notion and come to the understanding that nonhuman animals are members of the moral community and are allowed to exist for their own purposes, not ours. This shift in thinking must come from the you and I. It cannot be expected to come from any Government. Needless to say, the Green Party will only play along with present social mores, which includes continued animal use. Any modifications in "treatment" of the animals we subjugate will be so minimal as to be inconsequential for the animal in question.
There is only one completely effective way to guarantee total respect for animals and that is to stop eating, wearing, and otherwise using them. It appeals to everyone's innate sense of moral justice. It's called being Vegan. And it's easy. There is a wealth of information for your further understanding at Professor Gary L. Francione's website http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/ including books, searchable essays, audio, and video. Please check him out if your care about justice.