Speech for the 5th National Animal Rights Day — Malta
🕊 1. Why We Gather
Friends, comrades —
Today we gather i n public space, as activists, as witnesses, as a moral force that says: enough.
We are here because the world remains built on the suffering of the voiceless. Because the cages are still full. The slaughterhouses still run. The traps are still set. The oceans still bleed.
We are here to proclaim an uncompromising truth: Animals are not property. They are not tools. They are not entertainment. They are not food. They are not here for us.
They are lives. They are beings. They are persons — in the moral sense of the word — individuals with subjectivity, with joy, with fear, with a will to live.
📜 2. The Ethical Foundation: Rights Beyond Species
Why should animals have rights?
Because rights must not be arbitrarily restricted. To deny rights on the basis of species is no different — morally — than denying rights based on race, sex, caste, religion. It is a prejudice. It is speciesism — and it has no rational defence.
The capacity for suffering, for well-being, for the pursuit of life — that is the foundation of moral consideration. And animals possess this capacity. They feel. They value their lives.
Even the law now begins to reflect this truth. The European Union recognises animals as sentient beings. But the law lags behind the moral imperative. The cages are still legal. The slaughter is still sanctioned.
But we are not bound by legality — we are bound by conscience. And conscience knows: oppression is oppression, regardless of its legality.
🌱 3. Why I Am Vegan — The Moral Minimum
I stand here as a vegan — because once one sees the truth, there is no moral justification for anything less.
Veganism is not perfection. Veganism is not an identity. Veganism is the baseline. The moral minimum. It is the refusal to participate in systemic violence.
When we consume the products of animal exploitation — we fund suffering. We sanction injustice. We betray our own values.
In a world where alternatives exist, where we can live healthy and joyful lives without harming others — the only ethical choice is to do so. Anything else is complicity.
🇲🇹 4. Malta: A Nation of Contradictions
And here, in Malta — the contradictions are stark.
We speak of love for animals — yet we force horses in karozzini to labour under cruel conditions, for tourist profit.
We sing of freedom — yet dolphins at Mediterraneo are trapped in prisons, deprived of their ocean, their families, their lives.
We claim to enforce law — yet the lions of Naxxar remain in illegal captivity, while authorities betray justice and morality. This is why we fight, why we petition, why we will not be silent.
We praise nature — yet every hunting season, our skies are pierced with gunfire, as wild birds are shot down for sport, for pride, for tradition clung to like a shield for cruelty.
These are not minor issues. They are the face of systemic exploitation. They are the manifestation of speciesism — here, in our own streets.
✊ 5. The Work — And The Struggle Ahead
This is why I helped build VeggyMalta — to normalise vegan living, to show another way is possible.
Why we created Vuci ghall-Annimali — to expose the truth, to speak when others are silent, to give a platform to the unheard.
We do not ask for half-measures. We do not ask for kinder cages. We demand the abolition of cages. The end of exploitation. The recognition of animal rights as the next frontier of justice.
History will not be kind to those who delay this. As with all movements of liberation, the arc of justice moves — and we must push it forward.
🚀 6. Call to Action — Justice For All
So I call upon you — as moral agents, as citizens of this Earth:
→ Go vegan — not tomorrow, but today. The animals cannot wait.
→ Sign the petition for the lions — demand enforcement, demand justice.
→ Boycott animal exploitation — refuse to fund cruelty, whether in tourism, in fashion, in food.
→ Speak up — become part of the voice that will not be silenced.
→ Challenge tradition when tradition is unjust. Challenge law when law is immoral.
We stand for a vision of justice without borders — not limited to nation, not limited to species.
Their lives are their own. Their freedom is their birthright. Their rights are non-negotiable.
And as long as one cage remains locked — we fight.
Thank you.
