Why I Still Support The 269life Movement

269life was established formally in October 2012 where in which three activists from Tel-Aviv, Israel were branded with a hot iron bearing the number 269. The number was the number assigned to a dairy calf that has become the symbol of all oppressed animals – the calf has since been liberated.  When I first watched the original footage, I was amazed. Such a drastic and radical step to spread the message of animal liberation is to be applauded by all. The aim of the event was to connect people with animals and to make people think about how animals can suffer in the same way as humans – after all, we are all connected. But the underlying reason for this is so people are branded for life and thus commit themselves for life to fight for animal liberation through militant means.

Since its incarnation, 269life has spread worldwide with similar events taking place in over 80 cities and, as of now, there have been four international events all of which have received great media attention and opened people up to the suffering endured by animals on a daily basis – they have thusly created many more vegans. Despite its massive successes, people have criticised 269life for a number of things – those critics include other animal rights activists as well as feminists and human rights campaigners.

In a recent Israeli 269life demonstration, a woman (volunteer) was pulled from a crowd of onlookers. She had a baby in her arms who was taken from her; she then had her shirt ripped off and then an act that simulated a forcible milking was performed upon her (see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R6bqSzAsc8). 269life have stated that this act was done to show the horrors facing cows (and other animals) within the dairy industry – where they are artificially inseminated (raped) so they produce milk, pumped full of hormones in order to increase their milk supply, only to then have their new born babies torn from them to be used as veal or simply shot in the head. This act was deemed to be extremely powerful; however feminists and women’s rights activists – some of which are also animal rights activists – have labelled this as “misogynistic” and a “promotion of rape culture.” Their reasons for this are that the woman in question was objectified – her breasts were forcefully revealed and she was molested, thus adding a more sexual domination element to the display. Rape victims are often faced with “triggers” which invoke flash backs to the time where the assault upon them happened. Feminist activists have claimed that this has occurred whilst watching the video – thus have labelled it rape porn; they use the comments on the YouTube video to justify this claim, with comments such as, “Nice tits” and “Boner” which of course are entirely unacceptable.

My personal opinion on the matter is that 269life is not a sexist organisation, nor do they intend to make rape victims suffer any kind of discomfort. I feel that the use of the voluntary female was extremely powerful; humans and non-humans are equal, we all feel pain, we all suffer – therefore using a real human female to display what happens in the dairy industry to female cows brings home the concept of equal suffering. Furthermore, after having a discussion with those involved in said act, the masked people were in fact female themselves and the majority of the 269life movement consists of females. Therefore, I believe it is hard to claim that there is a misogynistic element to 269life.

269life is a signatory of the “Non-Humans First Declaration” (I will do an in depth post about this soon) which aims to phase out the intersectionality of the animal rights movement. The Declaration, which I must state I do not support in anyway, exists solely to allow anybody from sexists to racists into the movement in an attempt to boost up numbers. In my post “Why Am I Vegan?” I stated that racists, sexists, homophobes etc. should not be welcomed into the movement. However, the Declaration dangerously seems to allow people who will discredit the movement and use it as another platform to spout their vile rhetoric. With this in mind, 269life has been branded – no pun intended – as “anti-human” and in some extreme cases “a fascist organisation.”

As I have stated, I do not support the “Non-Humans First Declaration” and therefore I was disheartened to see that 269life was a signatory to such. I asked members of 269life why this was the case – their response was that they only focus on non-humans and do not incorporate human rights into their campaigns. It seems rather pointless for 269life to make such a statement; the majority of animal rights campaigns do not mention human rights issues – but they do not discount them. It is clear to the majority of animal rights activists that animal rights and human rights are inextricably linked – I feel that 269life needs to make their stance on this clearer.

269life has an unapologetic and uncompromising demand for animal liberation – it is a campaign that has never before been seen and that is why I still support it. It has turned many people vegan and into active animal rights campaigners – that is what we need. I do not believe that they have ulterior motives in terms of sexism or an anti-human agenda. Therefore, as of now I still support 269life.

No boarders! No cages! No Nazis!
One struggle, one fight!
Animal, Earth and Human Liberation!
TOTAL LIBERATION!

The original 269life branding video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA4q1pU957c
More about 269life: http://www.269life.com

Religious Slaughter: The Vegan’s View

The topic of religious slaughter is one of much contention for the vast majority of the public; it is not reserved solely for those involved in animal rights. A recent group/page has since come onto my radar – it claims to be the “animal rights division of the EDL” yet it only focuses on halal slaughter and nothing else. In fact it praises McDonald’s for not using halal meat.

The English Defence League (EDL) or Extremely Deluded Losers (to be more accurate) have long since focused on halal slaughter – the slaughtering of animals in conjunction with the Islamic book of faith, the Quran. Halal slaughter involves an animal being strung up by their hind legs before having their throats slit; this is done without electronic stunning. They are then left to bleed out. As one can imagine, their death is not painless. They suffer excruciating deaths. The EDL have thusly labelled this practice “cruel”, usually whilst scoffing down a bacon sandwich or a kebab.

The irony of the EDL and all other meat eaters being against halal slaughter is, basically, because a stunned animal still feels pain. Just because an animal has been stunned, does not mean that their pain receptors have stopped working. The majority of slaughterhouses do not stun animals at a high enough voltage to incapacitate them or at all. This is because the higher the voltage used, the lower the quality of the meat and therefore the wholesaler would need to sell the meat at a lower value. Numerous undercover investigations have shown that this is common practice in British slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses worldwide. Thus, when a meat eater complains of the cruelty of halal, they are in fact contributing to the same cruelty. This hypocrisy is further extended by the complete failure to mention kosher slaughter – which is identical to halal slaughter. Thus more proof that the EDL are nothing more than Islamaphobic racists. 

The concept of “humane slaughter” is often sold to us. This is done through many mediums such as “free range” and the RSPCA’s Freedom Foods. When in reality, slaughtering an animal for no reason other than for profit and to satisfy the human taste buds can never be humane. These animals spend their lives living in squalid conditions just to then be killed. How can this ever be justified?!

The reality of the situation is that all animal slaughter is murder, all animal slaughter is wrong and all animal slaughter must be stopped. The EDL and other racists do not care about animals, granted there are probably some that like animals, and like most people if they saw an injured animal they would probably help them. But the EDL only reject halal slaughter because they associate it with Islam and Arabs. They are not animal rights, nor are they even animal welfare – they are just looking for another platform to spout their vile rhetoric. 

I believe that being against religious slaughter isn’t exactly wrong – by all means it does seem like a more winnable campaign, from a “welfarist” point of view. However one must be extremely careful with matters of religion, otherwise people may get the wrong idea about you and animal rights activists in general. In terms of a welfare issue, there is certainly an argument for the banning of religious slaughter – not just halal slaughter, but all religious slaughter. However, studies have shown that most animals aren’t stunned enough to render them unconscious or even stunned at all. Therefore, it seems to be a rather pointless way of spreading a message of animal liberation as the majority of people against religious slaughter eat meat. The only way to end such practices and to not contribute to any animal suffering is to go Vegan. 

The EDL and other racists will not ever do this, they are too thick to even realise that what they are saying is hypocritical. They do not care about animals; they only care about furthering their racist agenda. They should not be welcomed into animal rights and we should be extremely vocal about our rejection of all discrimination.

No boarders! No cages! No Nazis!
One struggle, one fight!
Animal, Earth and Human Liberation!
TOTAL LIBERATION!

Here’s your “humane slaughter”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32IDVdgmzKA

Total Animal Liberation: Why am I Vegan?

 

Firstly, why did I become Vegan?
I became Vegan after realising the pain and suffering caused to the animals inside the food industries. I had been Vegetarian for two years prior to this after seeing ‘Meet Your Meat’. I was talking to campaigners in my local town centre who were giving out leaflets regarding the egg industry. After a long discussion and a lot of Vegan cake, I went home and researched the disgusting egg industry – and then the dairy industry. From that moment on, I vowed never to consume, use or wear any animal product; I was Vegan from that moment on (3 years ago) and will be forever.

But it goes deeper than that – let’s take it back it bit.

When I was fourteen I became involved in anti-racism and anti-fascism campaigning with thanks to a certain teacher of mine. I have always rejected the idea that humans are superior to other humans and I have always found racism abhorrent and vile. As a result of this, I became involved in various other human rights campaigns; mainly Palestine and campaigns for the abolition of child slavery and sweatshops through a campaign known as the War on Want. The underlining reason for all of this is that I rejected the idea of people being superior to others. I believe that we are all equal – no one person is higher or better than another, therefore one has no right to exploit another.

When I turned sixteen, I began to think about this more and more – after I watched ‘Meet Your Meat’ I decided that I could no longer fund an industry that kills animals for no reason; it was evident that these animals feel pain and that they suffer for no reason other than to satisfy the human taste buds, and therefore I became a Vegetarian. Now, with my belief that no human is more superior then another human – I applied this to animals; why are animals considered lesser beings than humans? After all, it was Einstein who said, “Division is an illusion.” Biologically, humans are animals thus the concept of human supremacy and dominion over animals is a farce.  A year or so passed before I stumbled upon a film called ‘Earthlings’, it took me about three times to actually watch it the entire way through. It played on my heart and resulted in me becoming Vegan – any exploitation of animals is wrong and should be opposed by any decent human being. I reject the idea that humans are the “top of the food chain” and that animals are here to serve us. To this day, I stand against speciesism – I believe that humans and non-humans are equal are therefore should be treated as such.

At the age of eighteen I started to become active for animals after becoming Vegan. I began campaigning against various industries that exploit animals – from food industries to vivisection to entertainment. Animal rights has become the most important issue to me, I spend most of time campaigning for animals but that does not mean that I have forgotten the human-animals that suffer – whether it be those that suffer from the institutionalised racism that exists within society, those who are hated on for escaping their war-torn countries or the children in third world countries that are exploited for the benefit of those of us in the Western World.

It is evident that animal rights and human rights are linked. I, personally, believe that once humans start treating each other with respect and equality in mind, they will also start treating animals as equals. One of the most compelling cases for the link between animal and human liberation is that over 70% of all grain used to feed livestock in the West is grown in third world countries – this grain could be used to feed those that need it in those countries. Therefore, more Vegans would equal less starving people in the third world.

I will always reject the idea that racists, homophobes, transphobes or any other fascist should be welcomed with open arms into the animal rights movement. If we are to achieve animal liberation, we must also achieve human freedom. Total liberation is the ultimate goal for most animal rights activists – that includes me. None are free until all are free.

No boarders! No cages! No Nazis!
One struggle, one fight!
Animal, Earth and Human Liberation!
TOTAL LIBERATION!

Veganarchyliberation: What is it?

Here I will post about numerous issues facing the world today. This will predominantly consist of animal rights issues – such as the plight of the animals in everyday life and also veganism. It will mostly consist of facts as well as my views on certain matters. Not only this, I will also discuss Anarchy and drove me to become an Anarchist.

Topics I will write about: – Why am I Vegan?
– The topic of Religious Slaughter
– The intersectual revolution
– Capitalism: How it affects animals most.
– Marxism: The affect on animals and the Earth.
– The 269 Movement.
– Can you have Anarchy without Veganism?

I will also write about things that happen to occur. If it is a talking point within the animal rights movement, I will most likely write about it.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy what I have to write about.