Santander´s
Declaration against
animalism

Santander´s Declaration

The signs of identity of the civilization are created from a set of beliefs, traditions, shared history, cultural manifestations or economic activities.

We in the western culture regard the human being at the centre of these elements that forge identity, in a respectful balance with animals and nature, a relationship that has shaped a relevant part of our ecosystems, economy, culture, gastronomy and traditions.

In recent times, however, an animalist ideology has been gaining ground, attempting to forcibly alter our rich heritage and identity by presenting a supposed equality between animals and humans. And a new, even more radical ideology, called anti-speciesism, is trying to impose itself, promoting an extravagant comparison between animals and humans, reducing both to the category of “sentient beings”, thus eliminating the ethical and conscious dimension of human beings and degrading them by not recognising the specificities that make them unique beings endowed with inalienable dignity.

Animalism and anti-speciesism are ideologies that do not seek the best for animals, an aspiration to which we are all committed, but rather to make them equal to humans, contrary to the nature of both and their different dignity.

The implementation of these ideologies would have catastrophic results, as it would mean the end of our cultural identity, as well as condemning any of the innumerable activities related in some way to animals.

For all of the above reasons, and in the face of the advance of animalism and anti-speciesism ideologies, we declare:

• That the culture and identity of civilization are shaped by its people, without external impositions, being human rights and fundamental freedoms the only limit, in accordance with the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

• That we are against animalism and anti-speciesism ideologies and their attempts to standardise thinking, trying to impose a new cultural, economic and social reality.
  

• That we urge the authorities to legislate in favour of the preservation of the plurality of traditions, cultural and economic elements and ecosystems organised around our relationship with animals.