EVU! - Vegetarianism / Veganism now made illegal in France!
 |
| France's Nick Sarkozy- Nil Point - Small Y Front Syndrome? |
20 years ago we used to joke that it was considered high treason to be vegetarian in France with vegans facing the guillotine. If we met French Vegans we would joke that we didn't think there were any vegans in France, they would joke "that eez right, there eez not, I left!" . Guests at Taigh Na Mara Vegan Guest House in Scotland reported being thrown out of French hotels and pensions for cruelty to their children - (forcing their mad vegetarian beliefs on their sons and daughters)
It seems the nightmare stereotyping has become a gruesome reality in France with a new piece of legislation that makes meat eating law, forcing French meals in Schools, hospitals and old peoples homes to always contain meat and animal products.
If you needed any more proof that President of the Republic of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is
Totally Bonkers then here is the icing on the cake. The French President has made it effectively illegal to be vegetarian in France in a move to counteract Paul McCartney's Meat Free Monday initiative.
Following a law voted last year by the French Parliament(1), similar decrees will be taken shortly regarding almost all forms of catering from kindergarten to hospital, prisons and retirement homes. Vegetarianism will then have effectively been banned for a large part of the population.
A governmental order issued on October 2, 2011(2) has determined that all meals served in school canteens in France must contain animal products, and that meat and fish will be served at a certain minimum frequency. This implies that by law from now on no vegetarian can eat at any public or private school in France.
The European Vegetarian Union EVU say
The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which is binding on member states including France, holds that: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.(4)
The public debate regarding animal rights and the moral status of animals is active in France as in many other countries. Citizens are entitled to choose freely where they stand on these issues, and those who believe that they cannot, in conscience, accept to eat animals must not be discriminated against.
A government cannot settle a philosophical, ethical and political debate by restricting the rights of those who disagree with its own positions. For years, the official policy of the French government has been openly hostile to vegetarianism.(5) The French agriculture minister, Bruno Lemaire, declared in January 2010 that the government's aim in determining its public nutritional policy was to defend the French agricultural model and specifically to counter initiatives such as those of Paul McCartney calling for a reduced consumption of meat.(6)
Footnotes:
1. "Law for the modernization of agriculture and fisheries", published on July 27, 2010.
2. Décret n° 2011-1227 du 30 septembre 2011; arrêté du 30 septembre 2011.
3.
Position statement of the American Dietetic Association
4.
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, article 10.1
5.An example is the site mangerbouger.fr, where the only nutritional advice given to a teenager contemplating becoming a vegan is "By all means, do not follow that diet!" (www.mangerbouger.fr/pro/IMG/pdf/guide_adolescents-2.pdf, page 11).
6.
http://tinyurl.com/FlashLeFigaro
Perhaps now the public will take
Veggie Pride a little more seriously as it seems French vegetarians and vegans really are an oppressed and persecuted minority in France.
www.1worldday.org www.tinyurl.com/oneworldday www.one-world-day.org
