On Human Relations with Other Sentient Beings
  • Home
  • The Blog

Oh Yes, Even More on the Funding Structure of the Animal Advocacy Movement.

10/17/2020

2 Comments

 
Picture
[This is a comment I had hoped to place on the "Carnism Debunked" YT channel. If readers have problems understanding the context, I'll be happy to provide it]...

​I’ve waited a few days before commenting to review the other comments made. Thanks to Terry and Jonah who have taken the time to look at the situation and look at my position in the round and not jump to conclusions. They explain my position well: appreciated.


It’s been said that we need “more money in the animal advocacy movement.” I completely agree with that. However, setting aside that we’ll probably not have anything like the resources available to the animal user industries for a good long time, there is quite a lot of money in the animal movement. The question that begs is: where does it go – and what is the tradition of the funding structure of the animal movement?

The money has always been funnelled by and large into the large national groups and generally AWAY from the grassroots. To answer the point made about Nathan Runkle and Juliet Gellatley (MfA and VIVA!), since the 1980s I have been critical of the money train that is the national group structure. We have a power elite in the animal movement and that, indeed, is shockingly counter-revolutionary. We need an empowered and enabled mass grassroots movement of critically-thinking activists who don’t follow the rules and who don’t follow “leaders,” or “prime movers” as sociologist would have it.

In the 1980s, I helped to start the Federation of Local Animal Groups which was dedicated to critique and change the funding structure of the movement and develop and financially serve the grassroots. I don’t expect George Martin to know this because, if I’ve learned anything in my time as a vegan since 1979, it’s that participants in this social movement are wilfully ignorant of the movement’s history. I’ve seen claims – quite serious claims, apparently – that Gary Yourofsky began the vegan movement! It seems that activists’ knowledge of their own movement stretches back an impressive four to five years max, which is why the new vegan entrepreneurs are regarded as some sort of “veterans” of the movement, and Yourofsky their king.

Gary Yourofsky wasn’t born when the vegan social movement was born in the 1940s. He was two years old when Ronnie Lee (and if you are thinking, “who,” then you make my point) began to live vegan. He was nine years old when I became vegan.


So, since the 1980s, there have been critical voices about the national group structure –its waste, its duplication, its counter-revolutionary set-up. And now, apparently, 21st century vegans want to replicate all this repression within what they regard as the new grassroots of the movement.

It was said that we need media campaigns. Check out Go Vegan World and, maybe, you may find that media campaigning is already in existence. Go Vegan World was launched in 2015, so that may be ancient history for many of you. It specialises in massive billboard campaigning, ads on trams, buses, and trains, ads at bus stops, and TV ads during sports events.

Finally, I apologise with hindsight for using the term “minimum wages, maximum hours.” I clearly failed to see how it would be misread and/or deliberately distorted. I certainly did NOT mean some government version of minimum wages. There is a little history to this. Back in the day, when there were probably hundreds of grassroots “full-time activists,” the activists would fund themselves by being long-term “unemployed.” Unemployed is a grossly misleading term, however.

I have vivid memories of activists being able to ring each other at any time of the day, including in the middle of the night, if other animals were in need. I remember people like Dave Callender (“who”) of the HSA up at 4am to complete work for the Hunt Saboteurs. This is all before the ease of the internet, of course. What I am saying is that the “unemployed” activists I knew were among the hardest working people I have ever known. My own brother once remarked that I worked much harder than he did, yet I was officially unemployed and he had a job.
​

So, I get it – long-term "unemployment" is probably not feasible now. That’s why I am not opposed to animal advocates being paid. What I mean by “minimum wages/maximum hours” is that people should fairly and very honestly assess their needs, and take **no more** than they need. In the 1980s, a pensioner would regularly approach our outreach events in Liverpool. Back then, we showed videos with a large TV, VCR player, and a petrol-driven generator. She was tearful and really heartbroken on every visit, saying things like, “oh dear, is this still going on?”


She would donate a pound coin in our collection box every time and, in the 1980s, that was a lot of money. I was on the executive committee of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection then, and I, in turn, was heartbroken having to claim my £12.50 travel expenses to attend the monthly committee meetings. I would think of the old tearful woman and her pound coin donations.


So, I think of money that comes into the movement as belonging to the [other] animals and in defence of their rights and, in that sense, we should damn well be extremely careful how we use every penny – and spread as much money about within the grassroots as possible.


If people read this and still think I’m all or any of the negative, sometimes ageist, things they’ve said about me, then so be it.

2 Comments
None Given
10/18/2020 01:31:54 pm

I might downplay the element of activists being sponsored by the government as it will only encourage the right wing to squeeze benefits even more and put animal activists under the microscope! In the UK, I'm fairly sure they already know it, hence the pressure on reducing it to unliveable levels even for those with genuine need of them, however, perhaps in more civilised nations they are not so aware of it.

Reply
adam
12/26/2020 08:08:30 pm

Its disheartening to look at organizations that have tried to take a lead in the animal rights movement and see their employees making close to $200,000 a year. I don't think anybody needs this sort of money and that it could only be spent in a way that is wasteful and indulgent in some form or another. The answer charities give is normally some variation of rewarding people for their work as if the reward was not in the service to animals and their rights.

Your observation of the money as belonging to the animals and being entrusted to humans for the animals benefit would, if deeply considered, make us very parsimonious and cognizant of its importance in being spent wisely.

Its refreshing to meet people who aren't overly concerned about money and still motivated to work hard. They have been an inspiration in my life. Thanks for all of your work and for sharing your observations on this problem.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Roger Yates

    Dr. Roger Yates is a rights advocate and sociologist

    Archives

    March 2023
    October 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    September 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All
    1980s
    Aaron Yarmel
    Ableism
    Ableist Language
    Abolitionising Single Issues
    Abolitionising Single-issues
    Alliance Politics
    Always For Animal Rights
    Amnesty International
    Anarchy
    Andrew Linzey
    Angela Barnes
    Angus Taylor
    Animal Aid
    Animal Equality
    Animal Liberation
    Animal Liberation (book)
    Animal Liberation Front
    Animal Pity
    Animal Rights
    Animal Rights Conference (Luxembourg)
    Animal Rights Movement
    Animal Rights Philosophy
    Animal Rights Show
    Animal Rights Zone
    Animals Property & The Law (book)
    Animal Welfare
    Anna Charlton
    Anthony Giddens
    Aph Ko
    AR2012
    ARCNews
    Arthur Ling
    ARZone
    A Sociology Of Compromise
    Autobiography
    Avoiding Unpleasure
    Award
    Backlash
    Barbara DeGrande
    Barbara McDonald
    Barbara Noske
    BBC
    Being Dogmatic
    Bernard Rollins
    Bloom Festival
    Bob Linden
    Bob Torres
    Brian Kateman
    Bristol
    Bruce Friedrich
    Buddhism
    Calf Food
    Capitalism
    Carl Cohen
    Carnage (film)
    Carol Adams
    Case For Animal Rights (book)
    Chris Powell
    Christie Davies
    Christopher Lasch
    CIWF
    Claims Making
    Claims-making
    Commodore
    Consequentialism
    Counterforce
    CRC Radio
    Critical Theory
    Cruelty
    Cultural Speciesism
    C Wright Mills
    Dave Callender
    Dave Wetton
    David DeGrazia
    David Lee
    David Nibert
    Declan Bowens
    Defending Animal Rights (book)
    Dehumanisation
    Depersonalisation
    Direct Action Everywhere
    DIY Politics
    Donald Watson
    Dorothy Watson
    Dr. Koichi Tagami
    Dublin VegFest
    Earthlings Experience Dublin
    Eden Farmed Animal Sanctuary
    Elizabeth Collins
    Elsie Shrigley
    Emotional Lives Of Farm Animals (film)
    Encouraging Vegan Education (EVE)
    Erik Marcus
    Ethical Vegetarian Alternative
    Eva Batt
    Fairness (concept)
    Farm Kind
    Faye K Henderson
    Federation Of Local Animal Rights Groups
    Frankfurt School
    Freshfield Animal Rescue
    Freud
    Friedrich Engels
    Friends Of The Earth
    Funding
    Funding Appeal
    Fur
    G Allen Henderson
    Gandhi
    Gary Francione
    Gary Steiner
    Gary Yourofsky
    Geertrui Cazaux
    Geertui Cazaux
    Gender
    George Herbert Mead
    George Paton
    Gerry Kelly
    Ginny Messina
    Go Vegan Radio
    Go Vegan World
    Govinda's
    Grassroots
    Hannah Arendt
    Hans Ruesch
    Harold Brown
    Harold Guither
    Hazleton Action Group
    Hazleton Laboratories
    Henry Salt
    Herbert Marcuse
    Herbivores
    Horse Ripping
    House Of Fun
    Howard Newby
    HSUS
    Humanitarian League
    Human Liberation
    Human Rights
    Human Rights Watch
    Humour
    Internet Age
    Intersectionality
    Interviews
    Introduction To Animal Rights (book)
    Irish Times
    Jackson Katz
    Jake Conroy
    James Rachels
    Jeremy Hess
    Jill Phipps
    Jim Mason
    Joan Dunayer
    John Bussineau
    John Fagan
    John Robbins
    Jon Hochschartner
    Jordan Wyatt
    Josh Harper
    Julian Groves
    Jurgen Habermas
    Justice
    Karin Ridgers
    Karl Marx
    Kath Clements
    Kathleen Jannaway
    Kay Henderson
    Keith Akers
    Keith Mann
    Keith Tester
    Keith Thomas
    Kim Stallwood
    Knowing Animals
    Language
    Lauren Ornelas
    League Against Cruel Sports
    Leslie Cross
    Let's Rage Together Podcast
    Linda McCartney
    Lynne Yates
    Macka B
    Mainstream
    Mammals
    Marjorie Spiegel
    Mary Midgley
    Mass Media
    Matt Ball
    Matthew Cole
    Maureen Duffy
    Max Weber
    McDonaldisation
    McDonald's
    Meat Free Monday
    Meat-free Monday
    Meat Reducing
    Media
    Media Sociology
    Melanie Joy
    Mercy For Animals
    #MeToo
    Michael Dello-lacovo
    Milk
    Milton Mills
    Moral Baseline
    Moral Maze
    Movement Crisis
    Movement For Compassionate Living
    Movement History
    National Animal Rights Association
    National Anti-Vivisection Society
    Neil Lea
    Neil Robinson
    Neville The VIP Van
    Newsjack
    News Quiz
    Newstalk Radio
    "New Welfare"
    Nick Fiddes
    Nick Pendergrast
    Norman Fairclough
    Numbers
    NZ Vegan
    Palm Oil
    Patreon
    Patriarchy
    Patrice Jones
    Paul McCartney
    Paul Sauder
    Paul Watson
    Paul Willis
    People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals
    PeTA
    Peter/Brigitte Berger
    Peter Singer
    Philosophy
    Piaget
    Piers Beirne
    Pigeons
    Pippa Evans
    Plague Dogs
    Plamil
    Podcast
    Poetry
    Pornography
    Poverty Of Ambition
    Power
    "professionals"
    Progressive Podcast Aus
    Prostitution
    Purity
    Rachel Carson
    Racism
    Radicals & Revolutionaries
    Radio 5 Live
    Radio Debate
    Rain Without Thunder (book)
    Real Veganism
    Reducatarianism
    Reducetarianism
    Resilience Of Orthodox
    Richard Adams
    Richard Gale
    Richard Ryder
    Rights (legal)
    Rights (moral)
    Rights (natural)
    Robert Garner
    Ronnie Lee
    Rosemary Rodd
    RSPCA
    Ruhama
    Ruth Harrison
    Sandra Higgins
    Scandals
    Sea Shepherd
    Sebastian Joy
    Sexism
    Sex Roles
    Sexual Politics Of Meat (book)
    Sex Work
    SHAC
    Simon Amstell
    Simon Redfearn
    Siobhan O'Sullivan
    Slaughterhouse
    Slaughter Of The Innocent
    Social-change
    Social-constructionism
    Socialisation
    Social-justice
    Social-movements
    Social-movement-theory
    Sociology
    Speciesism
    Stacia-leyes
    Stanley-cohen
    Stanley-milgram
    States-of-denial-book
    Stephen-clark
    Stephen-clarke
    Stephen Nolan
    Steve Best
    Steve-christmas
    Steve-kangas
    Steven-sapontzis
    Subjectsofalife
    Sue-coe
    Tavs
    Teagan-kuruna
    Ted-benton
    Thanksgiving
    The-animals-film
    The Bloody Vegans
    The-case-for-animal-rights-book
    The-now-show
    The-species-barrier
    The-vegan-magazine
    The-vegan-news-1944
    The-vegan-society
    Thrive Vegan World
    Tik Tok
    Tim-barford
    Tina Cubberley
    Tobias Leenaert
    Tom Regan
    Tom Warby
    Total Liberation
    Trafficking
    Turkeys
    Unnecessary Fuss
    Utilitarianism
    Vegan
    Vegan Buddies
    Vegan Education
    Vegan Education On The Go
    Vegan Information Booths
    Vegan Information Day
    Vegan Information Days
    Vegan Information Project
    Veganism
    Vegan Outreach
    Vegan Pioneers
    Vegan Pioneers Rock!
    Vegan Radio International
    Vegans
    Vegan Social Movement
    Vegan Society
    Vegetarianism
    Vegfest Express
    VegFestUK
    Victoria Moran
    Victor Schonfeld
    Video Talk
    Violence
    Wayne Hsiung
    Wendy McGovern
    World Vegan Summit
    You Caring
    Zami
    Zoos
    Zygmunt Bauman

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.