Green Party Platform on Animal Rights -- Another reason to vote for Matt on Tuesday

[Guest guest]

Another reason to vote for Matt on Tuesday:

 

If Matt Gonzalez is elected Mayor of San Francisco next Tuesday, he'll be

bound to a California Green Party Platform that includes three sections on

animal rights. Thanks to the exceptional help of Greens For The Ethical

Treatment Of Animals, (a statewide animal rights group within the Green

party that I organized back in the early 90's), including wonderful work by

local activist Lindsay Vurek, Scottish Green Simon Dresner and the late,

great Bay Area activist Polly Strand, almost all of the animal rights

platform sections that I wrote were adopted by the party. The three

platform sections on animal rights are entitled Wildlife, Animal Farming,

and The Ethical Treatment of Animals (all reprinted in their current form in

full at the end of this message).

 

The platform sections include several planks that support outlawing fois

gras in San Francisco:

 

" The Green Party advocates humane treatment of farm animals. " [Animal

Farming]

 

It calls for our society to " [r]apidly phase out factory farming and the

inhumane treatment of food animals, as other countries are already doing. "

[Animal Farming]

 

And it calls for us to " mmediately end the abuse of animals, including

farm animals, and strengthen our enforcement of existing laws. " [Ethical

Treatment of Animals]

The platform also includes a plank that supports terminating the cruel

slaughter methods used at the live animal markets in Chinatown and

Fisherman's Wharf:

It calls on society to " [r]egulate the domestic transportation and slaughter

of animals to insure humane treatment, " and " [r]apidly phase out factory

farming and the inhumane treatment of food animals . . . " [Animal Farming]

Finally, the California Green Party's platform specifically supports a

vegetarian diet:

" In the interests of the environment, health and non-violence, we recognize

the value to individuals in adopting a vegetarian diet or even a strict

vegan one. " [Animal Farming]

The platform calls on our society to " nitiate public education to

encourage people to reduce their consumption of animal foods, including

information on healthy vegetarian diets. We should make vegetarian meals

available in all public institutions including primary and secondary

schools. " [Animal Farming]

If you live and vote in San Francisco and you want to see these platform

planks brought to life, don't forget to vote on Tuesday. If you consider

yourself a pragmatic centrist, not a progressive, and you make up your mind

issue by issue, don't be fooled by Newsom's " centrist " label. When it comes

to animal issues, he's out of the loop. I know that a vote for Matt doesn't

guarantee that we'll achieve our cruelty-free goals, but a vote for Newsom

or no vote at all (if you would have voted for Matt) guarantee that we won't

even have a chance when it comes to animal issues for the next four years.

Matt has already come out in favor of outlawing fois gras and he led the

drive to make animal " owners " also " guardians " in San Francisco. The latest

poll shows him ahead by 52-48%. That means that he, and the animals, can

win if, and only if, his supporters go to the polls and vote on Tuesday.

So, if you vote for the animals, whether you consider yourself right, left

or center, please vote for Matt Gonzalez for Mayor. It's going to be a

close election and every vote counts - especially yours!

CALIFORNIA GREEN PARTY PLATFORM SECTIONS: (From the California Green Party

web site)

WILDLIFE

As Greens, we believe that humanity should share the planet with all its

other species.

Our continuing destruction of animal habitats threatens an ever-growing

number of species with extinction. This not only deprives these species of

their existence, but will deprive future human generations of the enrichment

of having these species on the Earth.

For this reason, we emphasize the importance of protecting endangered

species and their habitats. All policies concerning human settlement, food,

energy, natural resources, water (fresh and saline), coastal development and

industrialization should be formulated to prevent further disruption of the

non-human ecosystems' ability to maintain themselves.

The Green Party advocates policies to defend wildlife:

Ensure the protection of native animals and plants in their natural

surroundings when planning economic developments.

Re-establish habitats for wildlife instead of practicing game species

management for maximum sustainable yields.

Reintroduce native species to areas from which they have been eradicated.

Eliminate predator control on public lands, and reintroduce native predators

where they would contribute to a viable ecosystem.

Stop any further drainage of wetlands and any further development of shore

areas.

Strengthen the Endangered Species Act, as has been recommended by the

National Academy of Science.

Educate ourselves about animal behaviors to overcome our culture's

irrational fear of wildlife, and learn techniques of co-existence with other

species.

ANIMAL FARMING

Animal farming must be practiced in an ethically and environmentally

responsible way.

The current treatment of animals on American farms is unacceptable for

ethical, environmental and health reasons. More than half of the water used

for all purposes, and 80% of all the grain grown in the U.S., is consumed by

livestock. Animal farming is a major contributor to water pollution and the

greenhouse effect through the vast amounts of animal waste and methane

released into the environment.

Grazing on public lands - called " welfare ranching " because it is largely

subsidized by taxpayers - is causing serious damage to ecosystems throughout

the western states. The factory farming of cattle, sheep and poultry is an

extremely cruel, wasteful, unhealthy and polluting form of agriculture.

Animals are kept in overcrowded, unnatural and unsanitary conditions,

causing severe physical and psychological suffering. These conditions also

cause diseases, so the animals then have to be given antibiotics. Animals

are also given hormones to induce rapid growth.

American consumption of large amounts of animal products causes much of our

society's cancer, heart disease and other degenerative diseases. In the

interests of the environment, health and non-violence, we recognize the

value to individuals in adopting a vegetarian diet or even a strict vegan

one.

The Green Party advocates humane treatment of farm animals:

Rapidly phase out factory farming and the inhumane treatment of food

animals, as other countries are already doing.

Prohibit feedlots and the routine use of hormones, antibiotics and other

chemicals, such as genetically engineered compounds like BVT for cows.

Ban the genetic manipulation of farm animals.

Ban the exportation of live animals for overseas slaughter.

Regulate the domestic transportation and slaughter of animals to insure

humane treatment.

Transfer the responsibility for enforcing animal welfare laws from the

Department of Agriculture to an agency specifically created to protect

animals and the environment.

Eliminate all government subsidies, including water subsidies, that go to

the meat, poultry and dairy industries.

Terminate permits that allow livestock grazing on public lands.

Initiate public education to encourage people to reduce their consumption of

animal foods, including information on healthy vegetarian diets. We should

make vegetarian meals available in all public institutions including primary

and secondary schools.

ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS

As Greens, we replace the traditional western belief that our species is the

center of creation, and that other life forms exist only for our use and

enjoyment, with an ethic that reveres all life. We don't believe that our

species has a right to exploit and inflict violence on other creatures

simply because we have the desire and power to do so. Our ethic upholds not

only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of

species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of

individual animals.

Throughout history, humanity has exploited other animal species with

enormous brutality. We have rationalized this through the belief that the

rest of creation has been placed here only for our benefit.

Animal experimentation is an unnecessary, ineffective, and inappropriate

research method which must be terminated. For too long, our society has

accepted the medical establishment's claim that animal experimentation is

necessary, but volumes of evidence shows that not only do alternative

testing methods exist, but they might, in fact, be safer and more effective

in promoting human health.

The Green Party advocates humane treatment of animals:

Rapidly phase out all animal experimentation.

Rechannel the billions of dollars disbursed annually by the National

Institutes of Health for animal experiments into direct health care,

preventive medicine and biomedical research using non-animal procedures such

as clinical, epidemiological and cell culture research.

Immediately outlaw the use of animals for consumer product testing, tobacco

and alcohol testing, psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and

dissections, weapons development and other military programs.

Mandate clear labeling of products to tell whether they have been tested on

animals and whether they contain any animal products or by-products.

Establish procedures to develop greater public scrutiny of all animal

research. The areas to be controlled should include the welfare of

laboratory animals, and a halt to wasteful public funding of unnecessary

research, such as duplicative experiments.

Immediately end the abuse of animals, including farm animals, and strengthen

our enforcement of existing laws.

Immediately outlaw all commercial fur ranching and trapping, and the use of

goods produced from exotic or endangered animals.

Prohibit large scale commercial breeding facilities, such as " puppy mills, "

because of the massive suffering, overpopulation and ill health such

facilities produce.

Subsidize spay and neuter clinics to combat the ever-worsening pet

overpopulation problem that results in the killing of millions of animals

every year. Where unwanted companion animals are being killed in shelters,

we advocate mandatory spay and neuter laws.

Ban the exploitation of animals in entertainment and sports, such as dog and

horse racing, dog and cock fighting, fox hunting, hare coursing, rodeos,

circuses and other such spectacles.