A renegade is someone who walks away from a collective identity, such as a religion or nationality. Denmark is not strictly a renegade nation. It was a founder member of the Council of Europe and joined what is now the European Union in 1973. It remains a member of both, but has recently taken the decision to outlaw halal and kosher slaughter.
These methods of slaughter are both required by religious custom - Islamic and Jewish respectively. Both are widely perceived to be cruel. An animal in a slaughterhouse is normally stunned prior to being killed, but both of these methods of slaughter require that the animal is either not stunned or else not adequately stunned. Halal killed animals are sometimes stunned lightly so as to prevent them from resisting when their throats are cut, but they regain consciousness as they bleed to death.
I welcome this new law in Denmark not merely because I happen to oppose these methods of slaughter, but because it is a law which has been opposed by certain interest groups who tend to get far too much their own way.
Russia has strict laws about homosexual propaganda, and Uganda is considering bringing in even more strict laws about homosexuality. The Gambia left the Commonwealth last year, apparently because its president objected to the British government promoting sodomy among member states.
I care little about whether or not these various laws make sense in themselves. After all there is perhaps not one country in the world which does not have some laws I might find offensive. The important thing for me is that these countries are prepared to defy international pressure to make laws which make sense to them - or at least to their governments.
These countries are the renegades. They have walked away from international consensus, and dare to think for themselves. Maybe the United Kingdom could now do the same.
Related previous posts include:
Why only three hours Mr Putin?
Vlad, get a life.
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