AnimaList No. 13

‘Tiere haben rechte, Fleisch ist mord!’ was heard across the streets of Vienna when over 150 activists marched through the city starting out from St. Veit-Gasse No. 25, whistling, drumming, trumpeting and shouting. But before we report with more details on the Animal Rights Congress, let’s see the topics of this issue.


Blood Drive

Our member Nina Coric, who is vegetarian and a blood donor, gave us the idea to call all vegetarians, all our members and all other citizens to join the blood drive on 9 September 2004. Many studies have repeatedly proved the connection between a meat based diet, and other animal products, with illnesses which take human lives daily. Vegetarians are healthier, live longer and don’t burden health services which results in a lower need for blood and more healthy blood donors. Even though we expected a greater number of people, the staff of the Croatian Institute for Transfusion Medicine was pleased, and besides professionalism and kindness, every blood donor got a vegetarian meal.


Milk is okay, but not animal milk!

How much the myth about health and the necessity of animal milk took root among our citizens is best shown by their reactions on our action held on 18 September 2004. As we expected, passers-by were intrigued with the text on our banners. One was about antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, blood and pus contained in animal milk, and the other said that milk isn’t natural to man, so we had a great opportunity to argue on that topic. Some of the passers-by commented upon how great it is to speak out about the hazards of milk for health and the environment, and about the great suffering of cows and calves in the dairy industry. Plant based milk and derived ‘dairy’ products such as cheeses, spreads, creams, yoghurts and vegan cakes that our activists prepared for the occasion, were grabbed eagerly from our stand. We also handed out thousands of leaflets.

We are happy to say that visitors who tasted the products on our info stand weren’t facing any of the illnesses that can develop as a result of the consumption of animal milk, such as prostate and breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. And children weren’t in danger of getting acne, diabetes, allergies, caries, infectious diseases…

Our body doesn’t need milk, but we don’t have to stop using dairy-like products. Instead of supporting the marketing lies of the dairy industry, every one of us can stop using unnecessary and hazardous animal products and prefer tasty and healthy rice, soy, oat or any other plant based milk. More information on dairy at: www.vegekit.com, www.milksucks.com, www.notmilk.com.


Animal Rights Congress in Vienna

From Sept. 16 to Sept. 19 in the Austrian capital Vienna the Tierrechts Kongress Wien 2004 took place. The congress offered a rich and interesting programme on animal rights and veganism. Most of the participants were German speaking activists from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, but there were also several visitors from UK, USA and Russia, and three representatives of Animal Friends Croatia. Forty lectures, over 50 video projections and numerous workshops occupied activists every day from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. Info stands with promotional materials of participating organizations, inlcuding our info stand, were set in the lobby. Besides excellent and useful lectures and discussions, we took part in two demos, one against the fur industry held on Friday afternoon, and the other against McDonald’s that started the next day at noon. All activists participated in both protest marches holding hundreds of banners, proudly marched and shouted out making such noise that made the Vienna streets rattle. Literally there was no activist without a banner, and there were four banners in the Croatian language which confused passers-by. It’s practically impossible to describe the atmosphere on the demos and the congress itself, so we can only wish to make something like that happen in the streets of Zagreb and other Croatian towns.

A bit of the atmosphere at the congress organized by Vereien Gegen Tierfabriken (VGT) and the Vegan Society can be seen at www.tierschutz-videoarchiv.de/wien. The congress enabled us to acquire much useful information and to meet and contact many dedicated activists who encouraged us to work even harder for the animals.


Eternal Treblinka soon in Croatia

The controversial book of Charles Patterson, Ph.D., the author of many books, will soon, after being published in the English, Czech, Polish and German language, be published in Croatian too, thanks to the publisher Genesis and Animal Friends Croatia. Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust introduces us to the origins of Nazi genocide and enslavement and slaughter of non-human animals in modern society. The book details American support for human eugenics and forced sterilization and the role that their advocates played in contributing to Hitler’s Final Solution. This is the very book that started off the world famous campaign Holocaust on your plate, which our organization conducted earlier this year (more at: www.MassKilling.com).

According to Dr. Karen Davis from United Poultry Concerns, Eternal Trebklinka ’… promises to be one of the most influential book of the 21st century,’ and Albert Kaplan from Laidlaw Global Security states, ‘This book is going to change the world.’


News and announcements

🙂 Animal Friends Croatia continue to hold lectures in schools, so we presented our organization and rolled two short video projections in the School of Art and Design in Zagreb.

🙂 Activist from our branch in Karlovac, and some members of PCAP International, held an info stand, on 17 September 2004, and educated citizens and media about the necessity of spaying/neutering companion animals and strays.

🙂 The Bill banning fox-hunting and hare-coursing outraged the bloodthirsty ones and resulted in dozens of injured in the clashes between the police and hunt supporters. The law shall be introduced in 2006 and it represents an important step in further development of the animal rights movement.

🙂 This time again we want to recommend two web pages: a totally new design of PETA’s web page www.peta.org, and www.VegePets.info, web page on vegetarian diet of dogs and cats.

🙂 Jenny Gage from the UK wants to creat a Vegetarian Centre on the island of Brac in Croatia! In order to realize such a great idea, she needs your help, too. Namely, a spacious flat is offered to a couple keen to help her in creating this center near Supetar. Knowledge of fruit and vegetable growing would be helpful, and all interested can contact us on our e-mail for further information. For those living in the UK, Jenny’s phone number is: 00441792 472473.

🙂 On Saturday, 16 October 2004, a protest against McDonald’s will be held under the slogan ‘McDonald’s Sows Death.’ A protest march will start at noon in front of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, and its route will be: Frankopanska street, Ilica Street, Ban Jelacic Square to McDonald’s in Jurisiceva Street.


Before parting, we would like to present you with a sweet recipe for Bajadera with which our activist Mato delighted visitors of our ‘anti-milk’ educating stand. Ingredients: 400 gr of sugar (or less if you prefer), 250 gr of walnuts (almonds, hazelnuts), 250 gr of dry sweet biscuit, 250 gr cooking margarine, 10 spoons of water, 100 gr dark chocolate. Grind the walnuts, crush the dry sweet biscuits. Put water on a low heat, add sugar and mix until it is warm. Add margarine and when it melts mix in the walnuts and biscuits. Cook for a few minutes on a low heat and pour out half of the mixture into a mould and spread it level. Into the rest of the mixture add half of the melted chocolate, then spread this mixture levelly over the mixture in the mould. When the biscuit is cold, turn it over and add chocolate icing.

We thank you all for the attention and time you spend working for the animals, and for your support to our common fight for the animals.

For the animals, Animal Friends Croatia