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Chapter 4.20 Animal Politician Be politically active for animals. Join an animal rights and welfare political party in your country or start one yourself. Think again if you presume advocating for animals is not a hot political issue. Two members of the most successful animal rights party in the world gained its first seats in the Dutch parliament in 2006. In the 2017 Dutch general elections the party increased its seats in parliament to five members. One of the party’s founders, Marianne Thieme (b 1972), said, "We want a constitutional amendment, guaranteeing animals the right to freedom from pain, fear and stress caused by humans.” The Dutch animal rights party began in 2002 when two women set up Partij voor de dieren (Party for Animals). Inevitably few people took them seriously at first. But the media gave them wide’ coverage, drawing in valuable supporters and attracting candidates to stand in all but one of Holland’s electoral districts. The party’s activists fought the elections with a tiny budget and minimal political experience, and had to struggle with their non-political full-time jobs. Elsewhere in the world other animal activists also founded animal rights political parties: in Canada (Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party), Germany (Partei Mensch Umwelt Tierschutz - or Tierschutzpartei for short), Spain (Partido Antitaurino Contra el Maltrato Animal) and Britain (Animal Welfare Party). Animal Welfare Party Forming new political parties is common in countries like Holland with proportional representation. But it is not altogether uncommon in countries with a first-past-the-post electoral system, such as the United States and Britain. Indeed, the Animal Welfare Party (previously called Animals Count) is one of the latest parties to emerge twenty-first century Britain. The Animal Welfare Party was originally chaired by co-founder Jasmijn de Boo (b 1975). She was an active member of the Dutch Party for Animals and one of their candidates for elections to the Parliament of the European Union. The overriding factor in the constitution of the Animal Welfare Party is respect for living beings. This respect is based on recognising that animals have an interest in fulfilling their lives and avoiding suffering. The Party's constitution states that humans have a moral obligation to protect the interests of animals and that by doing so will live in a more worthy human society. The aims of the Animal Welfare Party can be summed up as:
So what must you do to start a political party? First, get together with other people who share your politics and commitments. Second, follow the rules for starting a new political party in your country. The rules will likely include registering your party with the appropriate authority, opening a bank account in the party’s name, and making a formal public declaration of intent that you are forming a new political party. Your formal declaration would include:
Your Political Prognosis Your chances for gaining power are best if you live in a multi-party state with a proportional representation electoral system. Proportional representation favours many small parties getting seats in the legislature. It is unlikely you will be elected to the legislature in a state with a strong two-party first-past-the-post system. Nevertheless, if you are elected in a two-party system, the party in power might conceivably invite you one day to join them in a coalition should they become weak and desperate for your support to bolster their administration. However, you could still have a positive influence for animals even if you never get to wield power, and even if only a minority of the electorate supports you. Your mere presence could make the main parties moderately revise their policies in your direction in order to capture the vote that would otherwise go to your party. This is what happened in Holland in the run up to the elections to the European Parliament in 2004. Political commentators stated that the Party for Animals would do well, consequently mainstream parties added animal issues to their own policies to seize the animal vote. In fact, Canada’s Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party see themselves as deliberately playing this role. Rather than develop as a strong independent party in their own right, they lend their endorsement to animal-friendly candidates standing for the major parties, which is strategy you could try. Your Colour Political parties often identify themselves with a colour for easy recognition. Colours in Europe are traditionally red for left wing, blue for right wing, and green for parties that strongly support nature. Yellow and pink tend to be associated with centre parties, orange for nationalist parties, black for the far right and purple for royalist parties. Buff could be your appropriate political colour - the colour of animal disguise and camouflage. Failing that, why not a buff-green union? ›› To Entries & Home |
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