Campaign "An Animal Is Not a Thing"

Research laboratories, stockbreeding farms, slaughter-houses, hunting grounds, circuses and zoological gardens are all places which, in our culture, we have determined as appropriate for animals.

The cruelty, ruthlessness and the large-scale character of these activities are the major reasons from which the protection of "our smaller brothers" became one of our basic tasks carried out since the beginning of Klub Gaja. We started from preparing an exhibition on the place of animals in our culture. The exhibition which has been shown since 1989, is accompanied by the motto "Why?"

We started our campaign "The Circus is Funny, but not for Animals" in 1991. Due to the activities of this campaign, in 1995 Bielsko-Biala became the first town in Poland and in Central and Eastern Europe in which circuses featuring the taming of wild animals are forbidden.

In our circus campaign the target is to introduce a ban on taming of wild animals for entertainment.

Also in 1991, Klub Gaja participated in a dramatic and spectacular obstruction of a bullfighting show at the Silesian Stadium. After this action any further bullfighting shows were cancelled, and so far, nobody in Poland has organised similar shows.

In 1994, we began making preparations for the publication of "The Anthology of Animal Rights". This was to be the first book in Poland presenting the history and philosophy of the movement, describing specific methods of taking unfair advantage of animals and the possibilities and consequences of social activities. The book was published in 1995.
On the 24th of October 1995 Klub Gaja started the national Polish campaign "An Animal is Not a Thing".

On this day the largest action for the recognition of and protection of animal rights that has ever been organised in our country took place.

In several dozen towns (about 50) there were informative campaigns, which focused on the need to pass a new bill "On the Protection of Animals" as soon as possible. People could sign the letter to the Chairman of the Polish Parliament concerning the issues. In this campaign we obtained a petition of 600,000 signatures, the second largest petition in Polish history.

Within this campaign and at the suggestion of Klub Gaja, the first coalition for the rights of animals was created in Poland. Work relating to the changing of this bill including, for example, raising awareness of issues relating to animal rights through the Klub Gaja "An Animal is Not a Thing" Exhibition, led to a new law relating to Animal Rights to come into force on the 24th of October 1997.

The force-feeding of ducks and geese is now banned in Poland. This lobby was one of the strongest in blocking the law on animal rights from coming into force.
Since January 1999, we have been conducting a new chapter of the national campaign "An Animal is Not a Thing" in co-operation with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).

We are conducting action on the transport of live animals for meat, mainly the transport of horses. We want to protect many thousands of animals from suffering during transport through the ban on the transport of live horses  for meat.

The problem is the export of live horses for meat, mostly to Italy, but also to France. Every year, from our country, we export about 100,000 horses.
Let us cite the excerpts of NIK (Main Control Chamber) from May 1998 confirming the cruelty of the practice:

"After the check it was settled that, in every fourth of the checked units no proper sanitary conditions were guaranteed. In 95% of transports the load capacity was exceeded. Proper transport conditions to avoid the risk of traumas and wounds were not guaranteed by 40% of the companies. Holes in the floors, metal edges, leaking roofs. In some of the vehicles the animals could have fallen out during the transport."

In Poland, horses have special status, they are special animals. In our history, horses were part of many important events such as battles and national ceremonies. There is no tradition of eating horses in Poland.

Horses are bred mostly in the eastern, agricultural regions of Poland where people are poor. In Poland in 1999  there were 36 companies which exported live horses.

We export live horses to Italy and France where they are slaughtered.

The Polish law is good at European level. The problem is that, in the most part, this law is not well respected by those who have to implement it.

1. Warszawa, 8 June 2008 - 129 email invitations sent on 5 June 2008. Furthermore, 51 invitations sent via fax. Friendly reminder sent to 129 addresses again on 6 June 2008. The happening was covered by the following media representatives: Radio TOK FM, Polish Radio IAR (Radio News Agency), TVP Warsaw, Radio ESKA, and Radio Niepokalanów. Radio TOK FM run the story a day before on Saturday, 7 June 2008.
2. Katowice, 10 June 2008 - 58 email invitations sent on 6 June 2008. Furthermore, 18 invitations sent via fax. Friendly reminder sent to 58 addresses again on 9 June 2008. The happening was covered by the following media representatives: Radio Katowice, Radio EM, Antyradio, Daily Newspaper "Gazeta Wyborcza", AF Edytor, Radio ESKA, Forum Agency, TV Katowice, Radio CCM, TV Silesia, TVP 3, Express, Radio TOK FM.
3. Hel, 1 July 2008 - 11 email invitations sent on 27 June 2008. Friendly reminder sent to 11 addresses again on 9 June 2008. The happening took place in the main promenade near the Hel Town Hall .
4. Gdynia, 2 July 2008 - 11 email invitations sent on 27 June 2008. Friendly reminder sent to 11 addresses again on 29 June 2008. The happening took place at the Kościuszko Square. It was covered by a journalist from Radio Gdańsk.
5. Hel, 4 July 2008, Klub Gaja organized additional performance of "The Story of a Golden Fish" on the grounds of Marine Station of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of Gdańsk. It was covered by the journalists from the Internet News Portal - Wirtualna Polska. The story was published under the portal's project called "Poland is cool" ("Polska jest fajna").
6. Kolobrzeg, 12 July 2008 - 13 email invitations sent on 8 July 2008. 108 addresses were included in the email sent again on 10 July 2008. The happening took place near the  lighthouse. Press releases included: 11 July, in Gazeta Kołobrzeska and Daily City („Dziennik Miasto”), 11-13 July in Gazeta Kołobrzeg. The happening was covered by Miasto – Gazeta Kołobrzeg, Gazeta Koszalin, Gazeta Kołobrzeg, Radio Koszalin.

Project Cross-border cooperation of animal welfare NGOs in Visegrad

• coordination of the project
• Meeting of Visegrad partners, Wilkowice, Poland, January 2008. The aim of the meeting was to update on work carried out so far and plan the second part of the project including the press conferences.10 participants from the Visegrad groups. A press conference also took place, the following media were present: TV Bielsat, TVP Katowice, Radio Bielsko, Radio Katowice.
• Preparing and publishing 24 page colour report “Searching for responsible retailers in Eastern Europe. The Visegrad's "Egg Survey" in 4 languages - Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian. An English version of the report is in electronic form on the groups’ websites.
• Press conference Warsaw 17.04.2008. Media coverage: National media: Radio dla Ciebie, Radio Jozef, Samo zycie, Polskie Radio 1, Biokurier, Poradnik Domowy. Warsaw media: Radio TOK FM, Radio ESKA, Polskie Radio, Gazeta Wyborcza.

1. Vanessa WARSAW, Poland (AP) _ With three carp squirming in a plastic bag, Kazimierz Oleksy rushed home from a busy Warsaw market Thursday to put the fish in his bathtub and keep them fresh for a traditional Christmas Eve dinner. Like carp lovers elsewhere, Poles believe that the gray, fatty fish taste better if they're killed at the last minute before being fried, baked or boiled. But the custom is under attack this holiday season from animal-rights activists. The live fish often suffer during transport on ice and in plastic bags before reaching short-lived respite in buyers' bathtubs, said Jacek Bożek, head of the Polish animal rights group Klub Gaja. "An end must be put to this suffering as quickly as possible," he said. Bożek's group took its message to 33 Polish cities this season, stopping people on the streets and asking them to give the freshwater fish the gift of freedom for Christmas by buying them and putting them back into lakes. The campaign is having an effect, he said. While the most enthusiastic support comes from young people, all kinds of people have contacted the organization this year to confess that the slaughter somehow dampened their Christmas cheer. "People remember when they were young and the situation with live carp in the bathroom when daddy killed the carp, and they have decided: No more live carp in the house," he said. "They still eat fish, but they don't want to be part of the suffering." But interviews with shoppers at the Hala Mirowska market in downtown Warsaw suggested there's quite a battle ahead to stamp out a tradition that is as much a part of the holiday as Christmas trees and midnight Mass. Oleksy, 70, said he planned to kill his fish on Friday by knocking them out before slicing their heads off. "It's tough," he said after buying fish from vats filled with slimy carp struggling for oxygen. "But it's the tradition and there's no way around it." On Thursday, Poland's oldest animal rights group accused supermarkets and shops of violating animal protection laws in their handling of carp.   "Vast numbers of fish are kept together, which prevents them from moving and getting enough oxygen to breathe," the Polish Society for the Protection of Animals said in a statement. "Animals are not objects and people should treat them with respect." Bożek, whose group has 3,000 members across Poland, acknowledges that he's picked a hard battle. But he stresses that he's not asking Poles to give up the traditional fish dinner altogether. "This is my dream _ that in Polish shops there will be only dead carp, like any other fish," Bożek said. "Not live carp."                                    Vanessa Gera

Success and failure in animal welfare campaigning

It is exactly 20 years now since I founded Klub Gaja, a Polish independent organization dealing with animal rights and environmental protection. Back then I had no idea whether the so-called real socialism would ever collapse, allowing us citizens of Central and Eastern Europe a chance to live in free, democratic countries. What I wanted to do was to make a difference in the world and I was willing to put at risk all of my life as it was at that time, without knowing where that choice would take me. Looking back now, I can say I am one of those who have succeeded. I have built an important organization in my own country which also works successfully in the international arena. How was it possible? Did people and organizations within the former Soviet bloc share similar experience? At the end of the 1980's and in early '90's, many things seemed simpler than they really were. As citizens of these countries, our ideas of the free world were yet to be confronted with the economic transformations, unemployment, political ploys and clashes, as well as ruthless competition. We were very slow to realize that the revolution which brought us freedom was not completed yet but still going on, on the cultural, educational, world-view and even consumer-attitude levels. As it turned out, in our newly recovered space, a lot had yet to change and we had to face circumstances that were entirely new as we continued to work for the future. On the other hand, NGO's arising in the early nineties and their leaders did not yet know how to work professionally or what it takes. To say nothing about money, which was extremely hard to raise for independent activities e.g. in the animal welfare field.

So what is our situation at present?
It varies from country to country and even from region to region within a single country. It certainly has to do with the people's level of affluence, their knowledge and understanding of the issues in question, as well as favourable or hostile attitudes among local authorities and politicians of diverse persuasions. Leading an organization in Warsaw, Budapest or Prague is very different from leading one in Wilkowice, a small village in Southern Poland where Klub Gaja is seated.

Resources we have or have not access to are of tremendous importance. Thus, when it comes to the campaigners, the questions are: do they speak languages, do they know how to talk with the media, how to raise funds and how to work with other people? Do they have their own financial resorces to dispose or are they entirely dependent on project monies which have to be spent on particular programs? Last but not least, do they have enough knowledge to achieve it, to make positive changes where possible and to grow? It must be stated clearly that there is hardly an organization in Central and Eastern Europe that can afford one employee to solely deal with the media, another as a fundraiser, yet another as a campaign officer etc. Typically, everybody does everything, which entails some advantages but also numerous weaknesses. Research on the non-governmental suggests that many of the organizations are no longer making progress, and a great many have disappeared altogether as they failed to keep their employees or to act in professional ways. It is also significant that local and national governments do not understand animal protection issues.
They do not support non-governmental organisations or their campaigns. Very often we are left completely alone and can only count on ourselves. On the other hand, there are examples of very good joint actions, e.g. in the Visegrad countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). The Klub Gaja led project „Cooperation of Animal Welfare NGOs in Visegrad” funded by the Visegrad Fund and implemented by NADACE ochranu zvirat in the Czech Republic, Sloboda Zvierat in Slovakia, and Fauna in Hungary, indicates the potential inherent in our organizations and communities. The cooperation was possible thanks to the support of Eurogroup for Animals as well as experts from older member states.  I am not saying that it was easy, but we have made a huge step forward. However, financial and content-related assistance is needed to support such activities.

To summarize, I believe a great deal of work has been done. We have built the essential bases for several significant organizations in Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and the Baltic nations. However, due to sociopolitical circumstances, they often lack stability in financial, human-resource and strategic aspects, which may affect their future activities. One opportunity for us is to work together on the European level or among the Visegrad countries. To establish coalitions and to create partnership between strong Western organizations and ourselves. To enter a closer cooperation with environmental NGOs that count with a lot of resources, knowledge and public support.

Jacek Bożek