The Party for the Animals: Forging a Political Food Revolution, Part 1 of 2

In 2002 the Party for the Animals was formed in the Netherlands to establish a voice for the people of the animal kingdom through a dedicated political party. Rather than considering only the short-term interests of humans, the Party focuses on the long-term goals of the whole planet and all of its inhabitants.

The Party for the Animals has been forging what they call a “Food Revolution,” calling for, among other things, the closure of all animal-people factory farms, and a shift to the organic plant-based lifestyle. On today’s program we’ll meet two elected members of the Dutch Party for the Animals, The Honorable Christine Teunissen, a member of the Netherlands House of Representatives, and The Honorable Dr. Anja Hazekamp, a member of the European Parliament.

“We step out of putting our own species in the center and instead put different species in the center of policy. And that is a fundamentally different way of practicing politics. It's fundamentally different from the egocentric way of thinking to the ‘eco-centric’ way of thinking.”

The Honorable Christine Teunissen explains some of the benefits of switching to a vegan lifestyle. “Reducing consumption of animal products can therefore reduce zoonoses, reduce biodiversity loss, reduce the risk of climate breakdown, and of course, it's better for our own health.”

During her speech at the Party for the Animals Food Revolution conference, The Honorable Dr. Hazekamp explained why a change in our food system is necessary. “I'm going to talk to you about food, because our food system is broken. It is a ticking time bomb. And industrial animal agriculture and intensive pesticide-using monocultures are driving high greenhouse gas emissions higher, are polluting our soil, they are contaminating our water, they drive biodiversity loss and they are absolutely compromising animal welfare. And all these things combined undermine the critical ecosystems that all life on this planet is dependent.”

“For the first time ever the European Parliament recognized the impact of our current food system on climate change, on biodiversity, on spreading of zoonotic diseases like COVID, on public health, on nature, and called for systematic reform of our food system.”