animal justice party...

it's state election time here in victoria, and there's a new party on the political scene - the animal justice party...

i haven't voted in so long - there hasn't been any one or any party that offered any hope for change - but i knew with the arrival of the ajp that i needed to make my voice heard for the nonhumans today...

it's not the perfect solution to the horrors perpetrated against them, but it shows me there is a growing awareness that animal nations are not here for human use, abuse and 'benefit' - they are sentient beings that deserve to be treated with respect - they are equal to us, not less than - and they need a voice in government...

the ajp is standing 25 candidates across victoria, and even if one of those representatives gets voted in, it's a start - it won't change things overnight - but it's finally a voice for the voiceless of this speciesist society... this is their very first election and i hope for the nonhumans that they make an impact...

"immorality sanctified by tradition is still immorality" ... bernard e. rollin

raising awareness through art...

when jo frederiks paints, she does it with passion and purpose... she has a compelling message to share, evident in this video of her recent exhibition - 'the animal holocaust' - opened by phillp wollen... the art is stunning, breathtaking, heartbreaking, and the words powerful...

while looking for information about jo, who grew up on a remote queensland 'cattle station', became a passionate animal rights activist and a vegan advocate, i came across an interesting article by 'age' columnist sam de brito - 'confessions of a vegan' - in which he shares his vegan awakening (along with some of jo's artwork)...

"Once the light goes on and you realise the food you so blithely eat actually causes massive, life-long, completely avoidable suffering to billions of animals, it’s not an easy epiphany to un-think.

A supermarket never looks the same, butcher shops become very dark places. The perversity of using smiling anthropomorphised animals to advertise packages of their own body parts grows almost chilling."

i find it encouraging, inspiring, uplifting to read of more and more people making the connection, acknowledging the atrocities humans perpetrate against other sentient beings, moving forward, embracing vegan philosophy and sharing what it means to be vegan in mainstream media... veganism is a truth whose time has definitely come...

“In their behavior toward creatures, all men are Nazis. Human beings see oppression vividly when they're the victims. Otherwise they victimize blindly and without a thought." ― Isaac Bashevis Singer