United for Animal and Human Rights – We Demand a Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza Now!

Earthlings

OPEN LETTER

As Animal Rights organisations and individuals we are part of a global social justice movement. We commonly prioritise the fight for freedom and justice for our fellow non human animals as our goal.

However, the current genocidal war of Israel against the Palestinian people of Gaza calls for a unified response of all social justice fighters, intersecting from the same root cause of oppression, be it animal or human rights groups. Now is the moment to show the world, that we as Animal Rights activists want to expand our moral consideration to include the fight against unjustified suffering and oppression of Palestinian humans and non humans alike.

Despite the pressure the ICJ ruling put on Israel six weeks ago, Israel keeps continuing its military attack on Gaza, whilst at the same time preventing essential supplies and medical aid to enter Gaza. 1 The death toll amongst civilians in Gaza increases every day. As of March 10th it stands at 31.045 people killed, including more than 12.300 children, and more than 72.654 people injured. 2

There is a further increase in settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, with 425 Palestinians killed, including 113 children and more than 4.650 people injured, as of March 10th. 3

Nobody has been able to count the numbers of non human animal victims, but one must expect the worst, considering the circumstances.

UN agency UNWRA warns of a famine in Gaza: “The last time UNRWA was able to deliver food aid to northern Gaza was on January 23,…” 4

Sulala Animal Rescue is the only animal rescue in the Gaza strip.

Palestinian Animal League (PAL) is the leading animal protection group in the occupied West Bank. They have been a beacon of hope since their foundation in 2011, not only for occupied Palestine, but across the world, living and showcasing the very intersection of social justice by fighting for animal and human rights at the same time.

We, the following Animal Rights organisations and individuals acknowledge the injustice done to the Palestinian people and stand in solidarity with PAL and Sulala Animal Rescue, who symbolise the oppressed – humans and non humans alike – by demanding:

  1. An immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.
  2. To immediately lift the siege and allow supplies and humanitarian aid into Gaza.
  3. To de-escalate settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
  4. To start the peace process to end Israeli occupation once and for all.

ONE STRUGGLE – ONE FIGHT!

Please follow this link to sign the Open Letter.

Sources

  1. International Court of Justice, Order of 26 January 2024, Document Number
    192-20240126-ORD-01-00-EN, https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447 ↩︎
  2. Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker ↩︎
  3. Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker ↩︎
  4. UN agency warns of ‘looming famine’ in Gaza amid Israel war https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/26/no-aid-delivery-in-northern-gaza-since-more-than-a-month-unrwa ↩︎

Why Fireworks Should Be Abolished (Republished)

Editor’s note: This post has originally been posted on 12th March 2022, and has now been updated and republished.

So called silent firework displays, which are in fact not silent at all, unless they are replaced by laser shows, are increasingly praised as the ultimate solution when it comes to addressing animal welfare concerns. At the first glance silent fireworks seem to be a logical solution, as reduced noise pollution is addressing one of the best known problems in this context. However, as it is commonly the case, there is the bigger picture to consider, and that is where the controversy starts, at least for people who feel very strongly that fireworks are part of their cherished traditions and well deserved rights, and of course for people, who have some sort of financial interest in the business of producing, selling or using fireworks.

Mallard family
Mallard family

Most people would agree that we should not do any intentional harm to other sentient beings, be it directly or indirectly. Fireworks have a proven negative impact onto our shared environment, and are therefore potentially harming other human and non-human animals, who are unlikely to have given consent to being harmed, neither in the short nor in the long term. This simply means that by using any type of firework, intentional harm is being done to others, which is ethically not justifiable. Therefore we could actually stop at this point, but for the sake of the argument, let us look a bit more in detail into the threats and problems caused by fireworks.

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Why Should We Help Non-Human Animals? (Republished)

Short-eared owl Harriet
Editor’s note: This post has originally been posted on 12th September 2018, and has now been updated and republished.

Before we look at possible answers, we should try to establish an ethical baseline we all can agree on and work with. Most but not all people will accept that it is wrong to intentionally inflict harm onto others with the exception of acting in self defence. Intentionally harming other people is morally seen not acceptable. Violence is generally not regarded as normal behaviour, as it obviously can cause harm. It seems natural to most of us to help others, who have been harmed or are about to be harmed. But what drives us to help? And where does empathy and compassion come from?

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Wild Animal Suffering (Republished)

Editor’s note: This post has originally been posted on 9th April 2018, and has now been updated and republished.

Many people have a naive and rosy view of the kind of lives animals are living in the wild. Some people strongly believe, and this includes sometimes wildlife rescuers and rehabbers, conservationists and people who think of themselves as nature or animal lovers, that non-human animals living in the wild live in some kind of paradise. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Animals living in the wild live lives that are far from idyllic, and most of them have to deal with the reality of constant threat of tremendous suffering. Although many people accept the fact that animals experience suffering, the willingness to help, to minimise or eliminate suffering, remains rather an exceptional act of kindness. Also, for reasons remaining mostly unclear, many people assume that wild animals do cope better with suffering than domestic animals or our beloved pets. However, there is no reason or scientific foundation for this assumption. 1

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The Thing About Violence

Due to recent events, we feel that we should clarify a few things. There are a multitude of different kinds of people with varying intentions and opinions or ethical and moral values responding to the broad selection of topics we have tackled on our website and on Twitter, which is usually very refreshing and for which we are very grateful. Whilst we value the freedom of opinion, we have to distance ourselves from some of the comments and commenters, who seem to have at the very least misunderstood or misinterpreted, unintentionally or intentionally, certain topics, most likely to suit their own agenda.

We are all Earthlings
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