How to… Make Time for Animals?

Illustrations and article by Raffi Marhaba Welcome to a series of blog posts "How to..." In our first edition we are addressing a very common issue: time. One question we get asked a lot is, “How do you make time for the animals?” We live in a technological era which has allowed us to share so much information, so fast, that it can sometimes be overwhelming to even begin to take action once we start thinking about our own responsibilities, like remunerated work, relationships, medical issues, personal struggles, etc. How do we find time to prioritize the things we need to do over the things we love to do? Here are some tips we came up ...

Yes, Amazon Watch Watches Animal Agriculture

By Robert Jensen and Lili Trenkova In March 2015, we attended an Amazon Watch (AW) event in New York City and asked their executive director Leila Salazar-López following question: Afterwards, we spoke with Leila further and began what has since become an ongoing and productive dialogue between us and AW. AW is often clumped with environmental groups like RAN and GreenPeace, as presented in the film "Cowspiracy". So as animal rights activists, when we watched the film, we were outraged by some of featured organizations' seeming refusal to address animal agriculture as a leading contributor to climate change. While we can’t speak for ...

Direct Action is for the Privileged

By Raffi Marhaba TW: homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, xenophobia, sexism Activism, to me and I imagine to many of you, is one of the best things one can do - it’s “[...] My rent for living on the planet.” Together, we are shaping the world to be a better place. But activism, especially direct action (since the legal repercussions can be devastating) is not only a defying response to the norms but is also an act of privilege. A privilege many of us don't have. Often times we see our comrades in action but little do we know that it can take one thing to go South for a black activist to end up in jail or possibly even killed in ...

The Police Are No Friends of the Animal Liberation Movement

By Ana Hurwitz We’ve been lied to about the police. Police in the United States originated from African ‘slave’ catching patrols. And the contemporary function of the police is much the same. We can trace this historically. Early manifestations of the police force were influenced by the priorities of American capitalist expansion in the early 18th century. Namely the control of the colonized populations and the profitability of slavery. African people were considered private property and their class interests of breaking free were at odds with the interests of the US ruling class, then and today. As the first police departments were formed to ...

The Womyn’s Club: Vegan Feminism and Transphobia

by Lilia Trenkova Feminism has had a problem for a very long time. And vegan feminism makes this very clear. The problem is one of excluding from feminism women who are transgender. Trans women often tell us they do not feel safe within feminism and this is a major problem. This is a problem because we need feminism to include all women. This is a problem because we need veganism to include all women. Vegan feminism rests upon the philosophical viewpoint that the animal industry is built on the exploitation of the "female reproductive system." Stop. Pause. Think. How do you think women who are trans feel when they hear this? Do you think ...

“I’m angry. And it’s my right.”

By Raffi Marhaba with editing by Ana Hurwitz TW: Homophobia I came out when I was 13. The world before then was already vampiresque, hollow and dark to me. After coming out of the closet, it became even more apparent how angry I really was when I started to understand that the experiences I had (and was about to have) were systemic, so much bigger than me. My first contact with activism as a teenager was through the LGBTQ+ community. However back then I worked solo and not only mocked but despised and regarded most LGBTQ+ activists as conformists and tame. The thought of anyone wanting to build bridges or work with heterosexuals was beyond my ...