Chimps have feelings and thoughts. They should also have rights

Chimps have feelings and thoughts. They should also have rights



這是一篇有關動物權的演講，
Steven Wise，
數十年來，
為動物發聲，
不遺餘力，
已漸漸看見一些曙光。
他首先區別
legal things和legal persons。
legal things包含物品、nonhuman animals或甚至一些人類
legal persons指的是人類，但是也有例外，例如，美國的很多corporations，
也是legal persons。又如New Zealand的一些河流，也被承認為legal persons。
http://www.nonhumanrightsproject.org/are-you-a-legal-person-or-a-legal-thing/
他指出兩者，在法律前的地位和保障全然不同。
So for centuries, there's been a great legal wall that separates legal things from legal persons.
*legal things
...legal things are invisible to judges. They don't count in law. They don't have any legal rights. They don't have the capacity for legal rights. They are the slaves.
*legal persons
...legal persons. Legal persons are very visible to judges. They count in law. They may have many rights. They have the capacity for an infinite number of rights. And they're the masters.
他也指出humans和 legal persons並非是同義字。
他舉出Somerset vs. Stewart案例，
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_v_Stewart
講述一奴隸如何在多人聲援下，
由legal thing，穿越攻不可破的藩籬，
成為legal person，
終獲自由，
走出法庭。
這要感謝明智又有勇氣的法官Lord Mansfield，
他認定...slavery was so odious，
乃為法所不容。
Steven Wise和團隊目前致力於
the Nonhuman Rights Project。
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonhuman_Rights_Project
他們的目標：
...To draw a line in order to enslave an autonomous and self-determining being like you're seeing behind me, that that's a violation of equality.
他們的第一個法律訴訟在New York提出，
他們選擇的原告是數隻chimpanzees。
原因為
...the extraordinary cognitive capabilities that they have, and they also resemble the kind that human beings have.
例如，
*They were conscious.
*They have some kind of moral capacity.
*They are numerate.
*They can engage in language.
*They have culture.
等等研究結果證明chimpanzees有autonomy和self-determination，
以為其爭取自由。
這些為chimpanzees提出的訴訟還在進行，
他說這是 a long-term strategic litigation campaign.
他有信心。
他也引用Winston Churchill的話，
鼓舞自己：
...they're not the end, they're not even the beginning of the end, but they are perhaps the end of the beginning.
真是用一生捍衛動物權的人。