The English Family Anderson is a new vegan comic for children about a family embarking on the adventure of a vegan self-sufficient life. We are counting down to the publication of the first episode 🙂
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) is one of the best known British abolitionists. He was a Parliamentarian, writer and social reformer.
He was a close friend of William Pitt, the youngest Prime Minister in British history.
Wilberforce campaigned for health care, educational and prison reform and legislation to prohibit the worst forms of child labour. However, his greatest political efforts concerned the abolition of the slave trade and slavery.
In 1788-1789 he presented his Abolitionist Bill before the House of Commons for the first time. In a moving speech, he recited the horrific facts of slavery for three hours and ended with the words: “having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way but you can never again say that you did not know”.
Despite Wilberforce’s efforts the bill did not pass. Year after year, he re-introduced anti-slavery motions but to no avail. Finally, in 1807 the Abolition Bill was passed with 283 votes to 16, making the slave trade illegal on all British ships. It was an emotional day in Parliament and Wilberforce, having campaigned so strenuously, broke down and cried.
However, despite this victory, slavery itself remained intact and Wilberforce soon turned his attention to the emancipation of slaves in the British colonies. In 1823, he published the influential pamphlet “Appeal on Behalf of the Negro Slaves”. It led to the formation of the Anti-Slavery Society, which headed the emancipation campaign.Wilberforce retired from the House of Commons in 1825 and leadership of the Parliamentary campaign passed to Thomas Fowell Buxton. The Emancipation Bill slowly gathered support and was approved on 26 July 1833. On that day, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.
What they probably won’t tell you is that he was a:
Even as the slavery issue dominated his personal and political life, Wilberforce found time to champion the cause of animal protection from the moment it first surfaced. He was present for and involved with every Parliamentary debate on cruelty issues, from the first failed proposal by Sir William Pultney in 1800 to the watershed breakthrough of Martin’s Act in 1822. Over those 22 years, moreover, Wilberforce remained faithful to the cause, against objections that the subject of cruelty to animals was not suited to the dignity of a legislature.
He said “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”
He produced perhaps one of the most famous equations ever: E = mc² (energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared).
Einstein won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on theoretical physics.
He worked on many other influential theories and projects including: the deflection of light by gravity, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, Brownian motion, an explanation for capillary action and much more.
What they don’t often tell you is that towards the end of his life:
“Well consider the word ‘people’, for example. If I asked someone what the word ‘people’ means they would probably say: “It’s the plural of ‘person’ and a person is a human being.””
“Ok, I’m with you so far …”
“but I think that definition is incomplete.”
“How do you mean?”
“To my mind, the definition of ‘a person’ is anyone with an individual personality. Like you Chiksa, you have your own distinct personality don’t you?”
“Absolutely!”
“And you’re not like every other chicken in the yard?”
“Certainly not! I’m not bossy like Henny-Penny, or painfully shy like Henrietta.”
“So you see my point. You are not human but you have a personality and that makes you a person. That makes all animals people.”
“That’s the logical conclusion to draw, yes.”
“Which brings me to my next thought: why do people think it’s ok to eat people?”
Venus works hard trying to clean up the rubbish in the ocean in order to save the animals who are being poisoned and ensnared by it. But since 80% of the rubbish in the oceans originates on land, it’s impossible for her to keep her beloved sea clean. So, the rest of us need to make sure that all our rubbish is properly disposed and not littered. More than that, we need to actually pick up other people’s litter in order to protect wild animals and help Venus.
Yuck! That sounds like a dirty job, and it’s important to take care not to pick up anything dangerous like broken glass or needles (ask a grown up to deal with that stuff) but if we don’t do it, who will? Of course it would be better in the long run if we stop buying things that don’t degrade harmlessly in the environment – namely plastic – and then this nasty litter problem might be solved.
Anyway, I’ve invented a board game that you can make for yourself and all you need is paper; something with which to draw or paint; stones or buttons or whatever little things you’ve got lying around to use as counters; and a dice pinched from another game.
1. Paint an aerial view (map-type) picture of Venus’s home town (it doesn’t have to be the same mine, you can use your imagination 🙂 )
2. Add places to visit, like shops and cafes
3. Then add ways to score points like picking up litter; refusing to buy plastic items; recycling what you’ve found or bought; and freeing animals who have been trapped in cages.
4. Finally add stepping stones which link all these places on your map.
Now your picture should look something like this:
IF YOU CLICK ON THIS PIC YOU WILL MAGNIFY IT SO YOU CAN SEE IT BETTER
NOW YOU’RE READY TO PLAY!
Imagine you have come to visit Venus and are staying at the campsite (place all the counters at the campsite to start). But Venus is out diving, cleaning up the rubbish in the sea, so while you’re waiting for her you can explore the town.
Each person rolls the dice and the one with the highest score starts.
When you roll the dice you move that number of spaces (stepping stones) from the campsite. You can go in any direction but you can’t change direction in the middle of one roll.
The idea is to go around the town, accumulating points by landing on the award-giving spots. You have to roll the exact number to land on the award-spots (and that doesn’t mean the stepping stone next to the award-spot – you actually land on the award-spot).
You can go around the town as many times as you like and land on the same awards more than once, but if you go back to the campsite the game will be over.
In other words, the game can last as long as you like. As soon as the first person gets back to the campsite, the game is over and you add up all your points. The person with the most points is the winner (not the first person back to the campsite). So, you need to be aware of when you are in the lead on points and then get back to the campsite as quick as you can before someone else overtakes your score.
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