Bartlett lauded advocates for animals as ethical pioneers, noting the rise of laws and court decisions recognizing nonhuman animals as legal persons in India, Argentina, and elsewhere.Īs we celebrate this victory for our fellow creatures, though, we should recognize how much work there is to be done. Councilman Ben Bartlett recognized the importance of animal rights as an issue of social justice during the discussion of the fur ban. Now, Berkeley is leading the way on animal rights. South Berkeley pioneered recycling before it was the household norm, the Berkeley City Council paved the way for nationwide marriage equality, and even today Berkeley leads the way in pushing for racial and immigration justice. Berkeley’s Center for Independent Living has been the heart of the movement for disability rights.
#Zacc groff free#
During a decade of student activism around civil rights and the war in Vietnam, Berkeley’s Free Speech movement was a defining event in the 1960s.
This move fits within a history of Berkeley leading the way on issues of social justice. Scientists left little doubt that these animals are sentient when an international group of neuroscientists and biologists signed the 2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness affirming animal sentience. The fur industry’s principle concern is to maximize profits animals’ interests do not factor into fur farms’ calculations.
#Zacc groff skin#
Fur farms are filthy places that intensely confine animals, skin animals alive, and electrocute animals to kill them. There is good reason for Berkeley to ban fur: the fur industry commits violence against animals who, there is little doubt, are sentient. It enshrines the social consensus in our city’s laws. Berkeley’s landmark legislation ensures that no comeback for violence will happen here in Berkeley. The activist group that I am a part of, Direct Action Everywhere, held a 100-person march to support the ban. In recent years, though, there have been signs of a fur comeback, with fur-trimmed hoods and Canada Goose stores popping up in American cities.īerkeley residents, organized through Berkeley Coalition for Animals, organized to have Berkeley take a stand for justice. Since the early 1990s, a growing wave of public protests and outreach nearly ended the fur industry as members of the public came to see killing and torturing animals as contrary to basic values. It’s now time for other progressive cities to end this form of oppression against animals and for Berkeley to continue to work until all animals are protected from harm.īerkeley’s legislation cements a social consensus. The historic legislation puts Berkeley at the forefront of the social justice movement to end violence against animals. Last week the Berkeley City Council made history as Berkeley became the second - and biggest - city in the United States to ban the sale of fur.
0 kommentar(er)
