Lecturer in Law. Animal Rights, Human Rights, All views expressed are my own. RT's are not necessarily endorsements.
Feb 15, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
The electorate of the canton of Basel in Switzerland decline to give fundamental rights to non-human primates. A thread. swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/v…
First of all, congratulations to @sentience_ch@ch_blattner and everyone involved in getting this question on the ballot. It took years of court battles just to give voters a chance to endorse this proposal. That is a hard won victory in itself.
Jan 25, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Today the Scrap Factory Farming Campaign (@ScrapFactFarm) headed by Michael Mansfield Q.C is applying for judicial review of DEFRA’s support for factory farming before the High Court.
They argue that factory farming violates the rights to life, freedom from inhumane treatment and privacy under the Human Rights Act. Factory farming contributes to environmental destruction, zoonotic disease risks and antimicrobial resistance - threats that undermine these rights
Jan 23, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I watched Andrea Arnold’s ‘Cow’ yesterday. One the most effective animal rights documentaries I’ve seen. Thread. variety.com/2021/film/revi…
First, the movie is not about ‘cows’ as an amorphous, undifferentiated mass, it’s about a particular ‘dairy’ cow called Luma and to a lesser extent her calves and fellow members of her herd. In this respect, Cow is in the same wheelhouse as Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda.
Sep 9, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
"Dutch politicians are considering plans to reduce livestock numbers... the highest Dutch administrative court found in 2019 that the government was breaking EU law by not doing enough to reduce excess nitrogen in vulnerable natural areas." 1/5 theguardian.com/environment/20…
This shows that making the link between animal agriculture, environmental damage and human rights violations is going to be critical moving forward. 2/5
Jun 28, 2021 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
A few thoughts about 'animal welfare' as a discourse. In the past my view was that, as a discourse, 'animal welfare' was historically a welcome departure from the earlier language of 'anti-cruelty'. THREAD
The reason I thought this was because 'anti-cruelty' discourse is often associated with the 'indirect duty' view that harming animals is only wrong in so far as it also harms humans (e.g. moral corruption etc.). Animal welfare, by contrast seems more directly animal focused.
