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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Around the world Muslims mark the Festival of Sacrifice on the 10th day of the holy month of Dhu-al-Hijjah. It honours Abraham’s willingness to slay his son Ishmael at Allah’s bidding. The killing did not happen. Apparently the angel Gabriel appeared and declared that God was so moved by Abraham’s devotion that now he could kill a goat instead.
Such a frightening story. First, it has been lifted wholesale from the Christians. The story is known as the Akedah in Judaism and originates in the Tora, the first book of Moses (Genisis, Ch. 22) and Ishmael is originally Isaac.
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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
The day that the COVID testing team (I have no idea where they came from. There are so many astronaut like creatures floating about from so many different departments, governments, hospitals, testing centres, that I stopped wondering a long time ago and now just meekly submit to sticks being poked into my nose and throat, and blood taken) declared I had the virus, my thoughts went immediately to death. So many people I know have died. Two died when I was on the phone trying to get oxygen for them. Another was admitted by me into hospital after begging the owner. Every morning a person I know turns into a memory.
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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Some months ago Anoushka, Abhishek, Sarthak, Garvita and Rishabh wrote to me from Thapar Institute and Technology, Patiala college in Patiala, requesting guidance with an animal welfare group they had started on the campus called Puppers Helpers Tiet.
This gave me a new idea – of starting animal welfare groups in every college campus. So we put yet another Anushka, who came to me as a legal intern, in charge of this. If any of you would like to start a group you can contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. She already has 30 college units, and my target is 50,000.
Read more: Why is it Important to Have Animal Welfare Groups?
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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Islam is not a primitive culture and spirituality. It is the culture of Islam that has led to many of the advancements in human knowledge, that are now synonymous with civilization itself. In India it is the Muslims that have kept the arts and crafts alive, and the language, Urdu, is the most gentle, mellifluous, cultured means of communication.
But at the end of the day it is Eid, and the barbarism of that day, that mould popular opinion that Islam is a culture/religion of violence, a people who define themselves by the eating of other beings, impossible to communicate with, illiterate and permanently angry.
Read more: Time to Stand up for the Universal Standards of Justice and Compassion
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- Denis Giles
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Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
I am hopeful that, in my lifetime, I am going to see a disruptive change in the eating and wearing of animal flesh. It is coming fast : the largest slaughter companies, and the largest investors in the world, have invested in laboratory created real meat (called clean meat) and milk. These meats are already in the market in countries like Singapore. Perfect Day, which makes milk cells, is on the market with yoghurt (under the label Smitten) that is made of animal free dairy. The Netherlands and Israel are far ahead in meat grown from in-vitro animals’ cell culture, instead of from slaughtered animals. Indeed, if clean meat would replace intensive farming as an industry standard, the benefits for the environment would be immense. As consumers, we would also have “cleaner” meat, meaning a product that doesn’t have the antibiotic residues and bacterial contamination that come with slaughtered meat. We would also save the lives of over 56 billion animals yearly. Yes, that’s the number of animals that are eaten every year by humans.