Our TOS International Secretary engages in a lot of TOS-related correspondence but doesn’t spend all her time with her fingers glued to the computer keyboard!  Like many of us, Diana spends time out defending causes that reflect her theosophical convictions.  We bring you photos of some of her actions in France in recent months.

One of Diana’s passions is green politics. She has been demonstrating against the use of nuclear weapons and power for decades and recalls the very long period when France was testing bombs at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific and when the French people were quite indifferent or even hostile to protest action in the streets.

To the left, we see Diana at a march that took place in Paris on June 11 2011, exactly three months after the terrible accident at Fukushima. She was accompanied by her husband, Michel, who is President of the TOS in France.

Media interest at the latest anti-nuclear action in which Diana participated would seem to indicate that attitudes are evolving in France. She spoke to Reuters, Agence France Presse, Swiss and Japanese television crews and a number of journalists for French radio. 

Asked by the Japanese interviewers what message she had for the Japanese people, she said: “France and Japan have something in common: their citizens have been programmed over the years to believe that they cannot live without nuclear energy.  And yet we know that we have no choice but to make our way out of dependence on nuclear energy by consuming less energy and finding renewable sources.  French citizens are finally waking up to this imperative. They are deeply concerned for the Japanese people at this distressing time and they send their loving support.”

Diana’s principal area of activism, however, is animal protection.  After the anti-nuclear march on June 11, Diana ran to a nearby area of Paris just in time to join the annual “Veggie-Pride” march.

To the left we see Diana. A vegetarian since birth, she has been a vegan for well over 20 years. She says she finds it easy nowadays to find plant-based protein.  

In campaigning for the use of alternative methods of research to vivisection, costumes are sometime used. While some people snicker at such costumes, Diana and her fellow campaigners find that acting out dramatic scenarios in the street generally attracts sympathetic attention.

This action was designed to increase awareness of the cruelty involved in the production of duck-liver pâté, considered a delicacy in France.

Children and adults alike love friendly interaction and during World Vegetarian Day activities respond joyfully to Michel’s humorous costumes. So far, the Parisian public has enjoyed him dressed as a rabbit, a carrot, a flasher and a repentant butcher!

When particularly dynamic and successful animal welfare campaigners in Austria were jailed for three months in 2008 and unjustly charged with criminal activity, a great deal of effort went into supporting them until they were exonerated this past May in a trial lasting over a year.

Diana’s poster says “You can’t cut the wings off angels”.

No sooner were the Austrians acquitted than twelve Spanish animal rights activists were arrested and charged with criminal activity.
 

Human rights for Spanish animal rights activists!

The campaign in defence of the Spanish will undoubtedly continue to take Diana’s time in the months to come.  We wish her every success….