THE VEGETARIAN BLOG

Sometimes you wonder what kind of society we live in when courts debate whether making a profit out of videos depicting animal cruelty staged for the purpose of ‘entertainment’ is legal or not.A man called Robert J. Stevens (pictured) produced videos showing gruesome dogfighting scenes. He was sentenced to 37-months in prison under a 1999 federal law that bans trafficking in “depictions of animal cruelty.” Now the Supreme Court is set to hear his case on October 6 and, believe it or not, this man is being defended by ‘free speech’ groups who are invoking the First Amendment for legal protection. The court will decide whether dogfighting videos and other videos showing animal cruelty without a serious purpose is “too vile” to be protected under the First Amendment. This definition of vileness is what removed First Amendment protection from child pornography in 1982.It is the issue of ‘seriousness’ that is bothering the free speech camp and while I support the idea of free speech wholeheartedly, I find it terrifying to see such a confused take on it. Animal cruelty is illegal, therefore staging it simply to make a profit is obviously illegal. It’s a no brainer. I think the free speech camp would put their energy to better use by fighting censorship against positive, stimulating, truthful ideas and justice in general. Wasting time defending sadics is just outrageous.I second a comment made by beemer5 in relation to the San Francisco Chronicle  article on which this blog is based:

There is no question that this man should be prosecuted. If these films weren’t making money for someone, they wouldn’t be made. What kind of society are we that we are even arguing the legality of selling these animal snuff and torture films? If it was up to me, I would go further and put Robert Stevens in with a pack of pissed off fighting dogs, and film what happens to him. I’d then use the film as a warning to anyone else that thinks that this is OK.Those who argue for this man’s ‘rights’ disgust me. Get a set of values and some compassion, for god’s sake.

Please support!WORLD PREMIERE WEEKENDPeaceable Kingdom: The Journey Homeat the Moondance International Film FestivalBoulder, Colorado - Sept. 26-27Premiere screening followed by Q&A with filmmakers Jenny Stein and James LaVeckand film subject Harold BrownDirector: Jenny SteinProducer: James LaVeckAssociate Producers: Eric Huang, Kevin SmithFeaturing: Harold Brown, Howard Lyman,Willow Jeane Lyman, Cayce Mell, Jason Tracy,Cheri Ezell-Vandersluis and Jim VandersluisMusical score: Kevin Bartlett, Joy AskewPEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE JOURNEY HOME is a new documentary by the award-winning filmmakers of The Witness. A riveting story of transformation and healing, this groundbreaking film explores the awakening conscience of several people who grew up in traditional farming culture and who have now come to question the basic premises of their inherited way of life.Presented through a woven tapestry of memories, music, and breathtaking accounts of life-altering moments, the film provides insight into the farmers’ sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also making clear the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led them to their dilemma.Interwoven with the farmers’ stories is the dramatic animal rescue work of a newly-trained humane police officer whose sense of justice puts her at odds with the law she is charged to uphold.With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives and intense family bonds of animals most often viewed as living commodities, PEACEABLE KINGDOM: THE JOURNEY HOME shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.

An article in the London Times yesterday was a perfect example of how insidious turning veganism into a ‘fad diet’ can be. Continue Reading »

Tribe of Heart has announced that it has completed Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home. The film has undergone a process of audience testing and refinement and the organization says that it has received “thoughtful and positive feedback from early test viewers”.

Continue Reading »

My apologies for not posting for a few days but moving home and blogging don’t seem to go together. Today I came across a very insightful article about veganism by Angel Flinn that covers the triple benefits of a vegan diet: animal rights, health and the environment.

From world hunger to climate change, species extinction to escalating violence, the catastrophic problems we face are clear indicators that we are in need of transformation on a radical scale. Gone are the days when we could procrastinate about necessary changes or take baby steps toward sustainability in the hope that enough small actions would collectively add up to create meaningful impact. Drastic, sweeping changes are needed, and this fundamental shift in society’s values must begin with each one of us.

For the full article, click here.

Over here, you can get read one vegan’s account of her lifestyle/ethical choice. “Vegetarians, and especially vegans, sometimes marvel at the lengths people will go in order to protect their ‘right’ to consume animals. While methane capturing technology may prove useful in some instances, livestock methane can practically be eliminated with a simple paradigm shift – to a plant based diet.”

HBO showed on Monday a hidden-camera investigation into an Iowa hog farm that has attracted a lot of media attention. The New York Times wrote a review that takes a rather benign view of animal cruelty at points and sides with the bogus notion that animal rights is about urbane people against farmers, which it isn’t. It’s a movement for justice for the animals, for the planet and for our health as well, which in practice translates into veganism.

Elsewhere, the Celebrity Café wrote: “The point of the show is to point out the cultural divide that animal rights activists have been fighting for years. To some people, these graphic images are simply not upsetting. To others, it is as important as any social movement. The divisive beliefs about the treatment of animals is the biggest obstacle that many activists face. This documentary tries to sway those on the other side of the fence.”

Popmatters also wrote a review of the program: “The farmers see their livestock as just that—commodities to be produced and sold. This premise, Pete surmises, allows them to toss the pigs like sacks into bins and against walls, pile them on top of one another, keep sows in breeding and farrowing crates for months, such that the animals cannot move and develop sores from rubbing against crate walls and suffering the unstoppable demands of their hungry litters. As Pete says on his first day of the assignment, listing the maltreatments, “This stuff looks really nasty, pigs cannibalizing each other and beating little piglets over the head, that kind of shit… I think this is gonna be some nasty nasty work.”

If nothing else, Death on a Factory Farm got people talking about a subject that remains taboo and which many of us would rather not think about. This type of mainstream attention signals that the age of ignorance is truly over.

They do a risky, gun-wrenching job but it’s thanks to them that the the animal exploitation industry gets most of the bad press it so deserves. Undercover investigators risk their own skin to infiltrate farms, labs, kennels etc in order to collect footage of animal abuse. It can’t be easy for an animal lover to bear witness to suffering and remain passive and still record footage. I’m glad some people have the mental strength to do that.

HBO is showing a documentary on 16 March called Death on the Factory Farm, of which I wrote about here . The investigator in the case, one ‘Pete’, has been interviewed by Time magazine about his job, which most signal that interest in ‘farm’ animals is growing. Says ‘Pete’:

“My initial plan in life was to become a cop and then join the FBI. But I started to learn that the worst things I’ve ever read about humans being doing to each other — similar if not identical things happen to animals on a mass scale. I felt that there were enough people in law enforcement, but there weren’t enough people working in animal rights. In 2001, a private investigator trained me and my first job on my own was working at a dog kennel in Arkansas … I do not believe animals are here for us to exploit and I do not believe that under any circumstances we should raise animals for food.”

To see clips of the documentary, go here.

The weekend is upon us and here goes a suggestion of links for some thoughtful reading. The Missouri has a great article about the growth of animal law in academia and how cases of cruelty are being handled these days. It says:

Lewis & Clark opened the first Animal Legal Defense Fund chapter in 1992. Today it has branches at more than 115 law schools in the United States and Canada. In 2000, nine law schools had animal law studies. Today, about 100 do.

It’s a very though-provoking article for anyone interested in how animal rights activism is progressing in the courtroom.

Last year an exhibition in San Francisco that included video work showing animals being bludgeoned to death was shut down. The French artist Adel Abdessemed refused to reveal the context of the footage and so it remained unclear whether the damage done to the animals had been staged for the camera, which anyone with a hint of mercy in their blood would not condone. Now, the same artist had an exhibit suspended in Italy, for similar reasons. Doris Lin from the Animal Rights blog on About.com writes about the case.

The thing is, were an artist to deal with the theme, say, of rape, would he feel entitled to reproduce a real situation for show in a gallery? Surely not - if he or she did attempt that, he wouldn’t even get started because no gallery would touch such material.  It’s not about censorship, it’s about common sense. The same principle should apply to animals. Real violence should only be shown in documentary form, with the context very clearly marked. Otherwise it’s just sheer exploitation.

The weekend is upon us, Valentine’s Day tomorrow and lots of new going on so here’s a round up of news treats. I’ll begin with a link to some political news. According to Capitol Weekly, assemblyman Pedro Nava , D-Santa Barbara, yesterday introduced three pieces of animal rights legislation. The first would reduce the number of un-spayed/neutered animals in shelters; the second one would make it a felony to be a willing spectator at a dog fight; and the third one allow a judge to bar a felon convicted of animal cruelty from owning animals for a certain period after their release.

More legal news: The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) announced earlier this week the establishment of the “Animal Welfare Institute Abandoned Horse Reward Fund.” Under the program, individuals providing information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who abandons a horse in violation of state law will be rewarded with up to $1,000 by AWI. “We’ve heard time and time again from those defending horse slaughter that our fight to end this cruel practice has led to an increase in abandoned horses. The truth is that the number of American horses going to slaughter now is the same or higher than before the domestic plants closed under state law. In fact, killer buyers seem to be buying more horses than when the plants were open,” said Chris Heyde, AWI’s Deputy Director of Government and Legal Affairs.

A bit of fun: the LA Times’ Daily Dish blog has an interview with Post Punk Kitchen woman Isa Moskowitz, the Brooklyn-born creator of the TV website. “In an era in which so many are going vegan, vegetarian, turning to organic produce and locally grown food, what could be more useful than an online kitchen to provide you with fun, healthy, rockin’ recipes that are all vegan?”

And everyone’s favorite rock ‘n roll vegan, Chrissie Hynde gives an interview to Cincinnati’s City Beat about her new music, her vegan restaurant and, well, herself. “Chrissie Hynde moved back to Akron to care for her aging parents and quite possibly begin her own retirement. But, like so many times in her career and life, fate intervened. She opened a vegan restaurant, reabsorbed the Midwest atmosphere that defined her upbringing and then, after a six-year gap since the last Pretenders album, songs began to suggest themselves.”

Happy Valentine!

A group of more than 100 vegetarian activists staged a protest in Belém, Brazil during the World Social Forum that was taking place in the Amazon region city last week. The group, led by Vegetarians in Action (V.E.M) from Belém, staged slaughterhouse scenes on the campus of the Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, where the global event was being held. “We chose to protest this way because we believe another world is possible only if we change our diets. At a time like this when we discuss the future of the planet and the devastation of the Amazon, no one seems to remember that the main cause of deforestation is agribusiness” said Diogo Solano, spokesperson for the group. 70% of the deforestation in the Amazon region is put down to clearing for pasture and soya crops for animal feed.