AR-News: Voting against vivisection

Sat Mar 27 11:14:21 EST 2004

Voting for Animals - A statement from Uncaged

A recent statement from BAVA correctly identifies the need for anyone
concerned about animals, public interest or environmental protection to seek
to end Blair's grip on power. However, the proposed alternative - voting
Tory - is, with respect, way off the mark and would be a further backward
step for all the causes identified. So we would urge BAVA to review that
aspect of their statement.

Conservative policies on animal issues are very weak. Parliamentary motions
receive very little support from conservative MPs - we know this from our
experience with the Diaries of Despair campaign. While there are a very few
backbench Conservatives who support animal issues, generally speaking the
Party's core position, which would dictate its policy should it be in
Government, is not even in the 20th Century, never mind the 21st.

Uncaged have already identified the fundamental problem posed by Blair and
New Labour, and we have researched and published an analysis of the
positions of the various parties and the implications for how we should vote
in the next general election, given the current first-past-the post
electoral system: http://www.uncaged.co.uk/pranimals.htm

On the question of the Conservatives, we state:

"Pro-animal issues receive very little support in parliament from
Conservative MPs - and the party is violently pro-hunting. Fundamentally,
Conservative policy has traditionally given no consideration to the welfare
of animals, never mind their rights. A Conservative Government would be a
disaster for animals."

The Tory party is fundamentally pro-business and pro-establishment. All the
policy areas of concern (animals, health, environment) would be subsumed
under a pro-business economic policy, just as they are under New Labour.
Blair has simply continued the Tory legacy.

In fact, the governing clique of New Labour is closer to the Tories than
they are to their own backbenchers and grassroots. We receive a great deal
of support from backbench Labour MPs, but they have little or no influence
over Government policy. It is a shame for them personally, but voting Labour
in an election will vote in the New Labour Government, despite the personal
qualities of the particular MP. Perhaps if this was brought home to them
then they might feel motivated to reclaim their Party from the New Labour
clique, and Labour might once again offer a slightly more optimistic
alternative to the Tories?

Instead we suggest that where possible vote Green - the Greens are the only
party with a pro-animal rights policy and a manifesto pledge to ban
vivisection. They are also pushing the GLA to open a centre to develop real,
non-animal research in London and have achieved their aim to establish an
animal protection officer. The Green Party is growing and they will probably
do quite well at the forthcoming Euro Elections (held under a PR voting
system) that will affect how important animal-related issues are dealt with
Europe-wide, particularly vivisection and live exports.

With the first-past-the-post system for General Elections, Greens are in a
weaker position, though in some constituencies they are genuine contenders
(e.g. Brighton Pavilion) However, there is a plausible argument that in the
medium to-long term, the only hope for increased Green power is through a
hung Parliament with the Lib Dems holding the balance of power, which could
open the door for PR. So, if you don't have a green candidate then voting 
Lib
Dem would probably be the best alternative. You may even think that for
tactical reasons, it’s worth voting Lib Dem as a first choice if the Greens
are not serious competitors in your constituency. Not voting at all is, we
have to say, like sticking your head in the sand and hoping the current
power structures will simply go away. They won't, and positive change is
always incremental and takes hard work and persistence.

Lib Dems 'animal' policies are not perfect by a long way but they are miles
better than the Tories, and they will try to bring in Proportional
Representation. (They were also the only main party to express concern over
the Iraq war). PR is the only way to break the dead lock of either New
Labour or the Tories. While ever we have one party ruling it will be easy
for big business to monopolise power, and the voices of ordinary people, the
weak and the vulnerable will never count or be represented.

Angela Roberts & Dan Lyons

Note:
Dan has a degree in Politics and Philosophy, and is conducting postgraduate
research into the determinants of vivisection policy, such as the the way
animals are valued in the context of the various parties' overriding
economic and political strategies.

Animal experiments have:
a 63% failure rate when detecting human carcinogens
a 75-95% failure rate for detecting drug side effects
a 70% failure rate for detecting drugs which cause birth defects
Success rates lower than those achieved by uneducated guesswork.

This is not science!!

Recommended website: The Absurdity of vivisection
http://vivisection-absurd.org.uk/

Information on animal research available free by EMail from 
vivisectionkills at hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Sign-up for a FREE BT Broadband connection today! 
http://www.msn.co.uk/specials/btbroadband

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/ar-news/attachments/20040327/bc2a5579/attachment.html