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The dispute over state support for the Norwegian vegan community continues. Now both the FRP and the Center Party want to change the law to turn off the money tap.
– They urinate on Norwegian farmers, all meat eaters and also all Norwegian dog owners, when they compare animal husbandry to cruelty and animal abuse, says Jenny Klinge Center Party policy.
The temperature in the debate over the Norwegian Vegan Society (NVS) does not appear to be dropping.
The organization arrived last week with the news that it has registered as a philosophical community, after the Ombudsman for Equality and Anti-Discrimination recognized it as a philosophy in 2015.
According to NVS, they expect to receive NOK 500,000 in state aid in the first year and have an ambition to reach NOK 1.5 million in state aid in two years.
Therefore, vegans will be able to receive state support on an equal footing with the Church of Norway.
Read more: Vegans want state support: – A group of meat-hating fanatics
– Nudists later?
The proposal receives no blessing from either the Center Party or the FRP, who want to change the law to prevent vegans from receiving support.
– I think the rules for religious and philosophical support need to be changed if this newly established philosophical society for vegans has the right to support itself with the current rules, says Jenny Klinge, adding:
– There must be a way in which we spend taxpayer money, he tells Nettavisen.
He wonders what the next step will be, whether nudists can register with a philosophical society to apply for state support.
– Not that I have anything against nudists, but still, he says.
Reminiscent of the Antonsen team sketch
FRP’s cultural policy spokesperson, Himanshu Gulati, agrees with Jenny Klinge and believes that everything is reminiscent of a Team Antonsen sketch.
– You have to allow them to get involved and form associations for any cause they want, as Team Antonsen did for, among others, spectators, people with moles or with eternal grimaces. However, it shouldn’t be the case that all sorts of associations get tax money just because they call themselves philosophical communities, says Gulati and laughs.
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ODM: – Sit on the ham
But MDG has little left for what Sp and Frp are proposing in this case, and thinks Jenny Klinge should “have a bowl.”
– Now Klinge must sit on his buttocks and breathe with his stomach. You clearly need to look up from the meat counter and see the overriding principle of diversity of opinions and views on life as part of the backbone of Norwegian society, says MDG MP Kriss Rokkan Iversen.
She believes that it is an issue of fundamental importance that organizations like the vegan community can receive support, and that it has become more difficult to have opinions outside the majority of Norwegian society.
– I myself am not vegan, but I think that it enriches society that different views of life are supported to share their worldview. Therefore, I would like to congratulate the Norwegian Vegan Society which has now been registered as a Philosophical Society and I hope they will receive state support and access to the teaching of philosophy in Norwegian schools, says Rokkan Iversen.
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She believes we have a lot to learn from vegans to reduce our meat consumption for the sake of the climate.
The article continues after the measurement.
– Bad signal
Newly elected leader of the Norwegian vegan community, Steffen Tretvoll Althand, reacts to Sp and Frp’s proposal.
– It is a bad sign that politicians want laws that violate human rights. It has been done before. I hope more than vegans are upset hearing this, he tells Nettavisen.
Tretvoll Althand thinks it is foolish for SP policy Jenny Klinge to accuse them of “bothering Norwegian farmers”, but emphasizes that they want to phase out animal husbandry.
– It is no secret that we want Norway to phase out all animal husbandry and switch to purely plant-based agriculture. As soon as practically possible, she says.
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Will change the law
But FRP politician Himanshu Gulati is not happy with the Center Party’s efforts in the case. This spring, the Storting’s culture committee considered a proposal for a new religious community law. There, the Progress Party proposed to toughen the law to prevent organizations like NVS from receiving state support.
– The problem is not the vegan community, but we have a system that allows everything and everyone to request philosophical support. There are several others receiving such support, who I think should be asked critical questions about whether it can be characterized as a religious community, says Gulati, pointing to the Aceh Refugee Association, which also receives support as a religious community.
He believes that Klinge and the Center Party did not follow up on the case when they had the opportunity to change the law.
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– Jenny Klinge of the Center Party sheds crocodile tears. When the Law on Religious Communities was discussed in the Storting this spring, Sp did not lift a finger to cut off support for such associations. FRP was the only party to come forward with proposals, he says.
Klinge believes that Gulati is completely wrong.
– They wanted to exclude all religious and philosophical communities. They weren’t in this case. They could hardly predict that Norway will have its first Norwegian vegan society. We had it ready to process. That was totally wrong. Now we have to deal with reality now. But this bunch of vegans. They want teaching of faith and philosophy in school. So I think Gulati should join forces to change the rules, Klinge tells Nettavisen.
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