Johns
Hopkins spares pigs
Has
Hopkins learned a lesson of humility and humanity?
I cheered when I saw the headline, "Hopkins ends training on live animals" (May
19). The day before the article appeared in print and for at least two decades,
a group of peace and justice advocates have handed out "peace
diplomas" at the Johns Hopkins University's commencement.
Our peace diploma highlighted the university's military
contracts, which are tax dollars wasted on weapons of war. Hundreds of millions
of military research dollars would be better spent in Baltimore rebuilding our
infrastructure and providing jobs for those in need. The diploma urged
graduates and families to work for peace and justice and called on the
university to end its addiction to military research. Also Johns Hopkins was
urged to end its investments in fossil fuel companies.
Having been involved in the anti-apartheid movement, I and
others urged the university to divest from companies profiting from the racist
rule in South Africa. So I am aware of the difficulty in convincing the school
to do the right thing, as we were unable to convince Hopkins to divest.
Many congratulations should be showered on the students and the
faculty who worked so hard on the issue of using animals in medical training. It
is difficult to believe this statement in the article: "While students
were huge fans of the course, it felt like it wasn't absolutely
necessary." I cannot comprehend how a medical student who believes in
"do no harm" can torture a pig for the "betterment" of
humanity. That is a classic example of speciesism.
I will continue to read The Baltimore Sun hoping to soon see
that the university reads the writing on the wall and divests from fossil fuel
companies. Can I dream that soon thereafter Johns Hopkins University will
renounce all military contracts and instead focus on humanitarian research?
Max Obuszewski, Baltimore
Copyright © 2016, The Baltimore Sun
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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