Independent Left Policy on Animal Rights

This animal rights policy is very much inspired by the goals of the National Animal Rights Association.

• We believe that animals intrinsically have rights by virtue of being sentient but that they are just not recognised socially or legally yet.
  
  We fight for changes both in social consciousness and the law.

• We encourage members to move to a vegan diet and not to use animal-derived products. Apart from the murder and extreme suffering involved, nothing that comes from an animal is ours to take. To do so would be a rights violation in itself and undermine campaigning for animal rights.

• Animals are not ours to wear. As well as it being totally unnecessary, humans have no right whatsoever to wear fur, leather, wool or silk. All of these ‘materials’ were once part of a living creature, who did not volunteer themselves to become another product.

• Animals are not ours to use for entertainment or profit. Animal circuses, greyhound racing, horse racing, zoos and aquariums are all animal-using and abusing industries that take advantage of animals’ vulnerability – merely to satisfy a perverse need to see, and make money out of, another species being degraded and exploited.

• No form of animal testing is acceptable, whether it be for cosmetic or medical research purposes. Testing on animals does nothing to further medical progress for humans – and even if it did, it wouldn’t make it morally right or acceptable to use animals in this way.

• We also recognise rights for invertebrates (e.g. crustaceans and insects). They too are living beings who deserve a life free of exploitation and suffering.

For an analysis of how farming has to change to save the planet, see the link. If you agree with this policy and with our belief that socialism and respect for the rights of non-human people go hand in hand then please consider joining Independent Left.