As I nervously await the results of Canada's federal election today (if you're Canadian and haven't voted yet please read Shit Harper Did and go vote!), I thought I'd check out political parties that specifically represent animal rights. I actually wasn't aware that there were any until I started seeing Party for the Animals badges on other blogs. They've got tons of information on their website, including what you can do to help.
In Canada we have the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada (which I hadn't heard of before), Animals Count in the UK, The Animal Protection Party in England, the Animal Welfare Party of Germany, the Animal Justice Party of Australia, Partito Animalista Italiano of Italy, Spain's Party Against Bullfighting, Cruelty and Mistreatment to Animals and the Animal Rights Party USA modeled after the Dutch Party for the Animals mentioned above. Wow! Now admittedly not all parties may be currently active, but it's heartening to see different regions of the world determined to make a political impact in support of animal beings.
And I think the key IS making animal rights a global affair. Apparently a staggering two billion people (2!) watched Kate and William get hitched (in comparison to about 750 million who watched the doomed Diana and Charles ceremony), so can you imagine if approximately one-third of the world's population were to actively get involved with something as important as how we treat each other?
As for the election occurring today, I find the fact that Canada and the US don't have proportional representation bizarre, embarrassing, undemocratic and just plain stupid. I mean, if smaller countries can at least get this right, why can't we?
Update: So bummed out about Harper's Conservative majority. It's a huge loss for anyone concerned about animals, people, the environment, democracy and social justice. And it makes me discouraged about veganism because if Canadian voters don't even give a crap about the human species, then where does that leave all the others? :(
