Blog Posts - On Human Relations with Other Sentient Beings

VIDEO: The McDonaldisation of the Animal Movement

10/7/2020

Are we watching the McDonaldisation of the animal movement? What does that mean - and should it be a concern?

This video explains the theory of the McDonaldisation of society and applies it to the animal advocacy movement. If this process has entered the animal movement, then we should indeed be concerned about it.

VIDEO: From Animal Farming to Vegan Activists

8/31/2020

This is a special video originally produced for VegfestUK's online event, Summerfest 2020. The video features my interview with Declan Bowens from Ireland, and Harold Brown from the USA.

Both Declan and Harold were born into the animal farming community and now they are prominent vegan activists in their respective countries.

I asked them about whether they still have any contact within the animal farming industries, the important issue of farming subsidies comes up, and Declan and Harold have interesting perspectives on the Covid-19 outbreaks in slaughterhouses and "meat" packing plants.

Declan runs VEGO and Back Into Daylight vegan animal sanctuary and Harold runs the FarmKind organisation.

AUDIO: Thrive Vegan World Interview

7/30/2020

Roger Yates has been an ethical vegan and rights-based animal advocate since the late 1970s.

Roger shares with us his path into the AR movement and veganism, and gives us an insight into the often overlooked radical nature of the early vegan pioneers.

We explore the confusion in the movement, and ask whether we actually have an Animal Rights Movement at all.

Roger gives his perspectives on celebrity vegan culture, large international organisations and why grassroots activism is the backbone of the movement.

From wasps to Gary Glitter, via Tom Regan, ALF and a blow to the head from a police baton, Roger talks candidly, and with a generous slice of humour.

https://thriveveganworld.libsyn.com/with-roger-yates-putting-the-rights-back-into-animal-rights-episode-11?

AUDIO: Knowing Animals Interview.

7/30/2020

This episode is from our Protecting Animals series. I am joined by Roger Yates. Roger has worked with the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and founded the Fur Action Group. Roger also has a PhD on the topic of animal rights and currently hosts the Animal Rights Show. This episode of Knowing Animals is brought to you by AASA. AASA is the Australasian Animal Studies Association. You can find AASA on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/AASA-Australasian-Animal-Studies-Association-480316142116752/. Join AASA today!

This episode if also brought to you by Animal Publics, a special Animal Studies series at the Sydney University Press:https://sydneyuniversitypress.com.au/collections/series-animal-publics
Knowing Animals is a proud member of the iROAR podcasting network. To check out more great iROAR podcasts visit the website: https://iroarpod.com

LISTEN HERE

AUDIO: Progressive Podcast Australia Interview with Nick Pendergrast.

6/5/2020

This interview with Nick Pendergrast and myself was originally published on 5th June 2020 by the Progressive Podcast Australia platform.

THIS is the original link, but the audio below is better quality.

Here's the original blurb from Nick:

Pop Culture and Animal Rights – Carnage is a Game Changer, Featuring Roger Yates
Posted: June 5, 2020

Nick is joined by Roger Yates – a sociologist, activist with The Vegan Information Project and host of The Animal Rights Show. They discuss the utopian animal rights mocku-mentary Carnage and The Game Changers Netflix documentary, on athletes eating a plant-based diet.

Tags: ableist language, Animal Liberation Front, animal rights, animal welfare, Carnage, language, neoliberalism, police racism, psychology, radical flank effect, Roger Yates, sociology, speciesism, structural solutions, The Game Changers, utopias, Veganism, white privilege

VIDEO: The Animal Rights Show (S1:E1) - Tom Regan, Animal Rights Philosopher

4/26/2020

• 0:18 Intro • 1:04 Who is Tom Regan • 1:33 Brief clip of Regan making a case for animal rights • 2:25 Key components of a rights-based (RB) position • 3:32 Necessary concepts to understand a RB position • 5:06 Should we focus on specific rights? • 8:11 Does it limit us to talk about 'treatment' in the age of neo-welfarism? • 9:04 What to expect from The Animal Rights Show • 10:59 Bloopers (A lot of them 😉) Other Resources: • 3:32 Difference between moral/legal and positive/negative rights (Starts at 8:19) https://youtu.be/iVdTSSiAwCM?t=499

Ain't That A Shame

4/26/2020

In 2015, Melanie Joy wrote an article on "shaming" on foot of her soon-to-be-husband being criticised for promoting at an animal rights conference products made mainly from eggs, among other things. It came to my attention recently (2020) that Joy is till banging the shaming drum in talks and writings about "toxic communication." I believe that poor communication is a real issue in the vegan movement, however, I thought I'd reproduce this 2015 article that I wrote for Vegfest Express to provide some context to some of the things that Joy complains about. The bottom line is this...

Criticising and “Shaming” are Not the Same Thing

Melanie Joy is best known in the animal advocacy movement for developing a concept that describes a sub-ideology of speciesism called “carnism.”

She recently wrote a blog entry about “vegans shaming other vegans.” She was angered that a small non-violent protest occurred at the International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg, where she was speaking along with colleagues Sebastian Zösch [now Sebastian Joy], the managing director of the German Vegetarian Association (VEBU), and Tobias Leenaert, founder of a government-funded vegetarian organisation in Belgium.

Two activists disrupted Zösch’s talk.

One held up a banner reading: “Animal Rights NOT Animal Profit. VEBU: Effectively Wasting Veganism,” while another made an announcement about what many vegan advocates seem to think are problematic elements of VEBU’s activities. From what I can gather, the protest was entirely non-violent, although one source suggested that the body of a chicken had been thrown during the protest.

The activist’s main complaint seems to be that Zösch’s organisation is working with those they describe as the “worst animal exploiters.” I was subsequently sent this picture of a VEBU approved product which is 71% made from hens’ eggs.

Melanie Joy claims that this action amounted to “vegans shaming vegans” and called for the establishment of a “shame free culture.” She recognises something that is reflected in social movement theory: that discussion is important in social movements but urges that, “we approach our disagreements with curiosity and compassion.”

This all seems fairly reasonable – but I fear that Dr. Joy is confusing “shaming” with criticising and protesting. This action appeared to “fit” into the long tradition of non-violent direct action and, let’s not forget, it took place at the International Animal Rights Conference which is overwhelmingly vegan in orientation and is attended in the main by animal activists from all over Europe and beyond.

Rather than even being surprised by this protest and its alleged “shaming” content, perhaps the question is more fundamental: how appropriate is it that vegetarian organisations present at animal rights events?

Melanie Joy, Mr. Zösch, and Mr. Leenaert are leading figures in an ongoing backlash against consistent veganism, criticising the concept of veganism being the “moral baseline” of the movement, trying to reduce the philosophy of veganism to a diet and, in the case of Zösch and Leenaert, being involved in a crude social construction of consistent vegan advocacy as the product of robotic people who may be mentally ill.

Given this context of the current backlash against the philosophy of veganism, perhaps the non-violent protest at Luxembourg was to be expected and, moreover, who is shaming who?

VIDEO: The Animal Rights Show with Jeremy & Roger (Pilot Show)

3/25/2020

In this first ever Animal Rights with Jeremy and Roger Show, we explore the corona pandemic through the lens of animal advocacy.

Topics include:

• 1:36 Is self-isolating similar to living vegan?

• 4:31 How we can help the vulnerable and evolve our animal advocacy through corona

• 9:06 What to expect from the Animal Rights Show

• 11:26 Should vegans talk about the connection between corona and animal use?

• 13:11 Link to Jake Conroy's (Cranky Vegan's) video that was mentioned: 3MT: Joey Carbstrong + Paul Bashir, Coronavirus + Activism: https://youtu.be/3K7CORJWHEU

[We are working on the quality issues - especially on my (Roger's) side!]

Encouraging Vegan Education with Ronnie Lee

3/5/2020

The last (for now) of a series of short videos introducing a number of blog entries on Vegfest Express about the vegan movement pioneers.

This time, Ronnie Lee, vegan activist since 1972. When Ronnie Lee joined the Northampton hunt sabs in the 1970s, he quickly discovered that he was the only vegan in the group.

Ronnie learnt that it was much the same situation in the other groups that he had joined. "These organisations which campaigned against animal experimentation, against the fur trade, and against hunting - the people that ran these organisations were meat eaters. They’d hold up a placard in one hand...eating a chicken sandwich in the other."

THIS is the link to the original Vegfest Express article.

Macka B Talks Veganism on Karin Ridgers' House of Fun

2/23/2020

Karin Ridgers is a phenomenon. Single-handedly, she absolutely blows away the myth that vegans are dour and without a sense of humour. She's been vegan for 25 years, which is awesome in itself.

In this clip from her House of Fun radio show, Karin interviews the wonderful Macka B, also a vegan of 25 years. If you want to hear the entire show, click the link above - the Macka B section is on the player below.

This is Karin's show blurb about her guest: "the Grandfather of Reggae Macka B joins us for a chat too. Macka B tells us about his performances all over the world….. his famous fans including Beyonce’s mum and what he had to rush off for after performing to Nelson Mandela. Macka B’s original "Cucumber" rap has had over 44 million views and shared all over the world. Passionate vegan Macka B also shares what he puts in his daily smoothie!"

Brilliantly, she ends with Macka B's awesome track, "Never Played A 45" which really speaks to a certain generation. Karin talks about that experience - probably lost now - of going into a record store, buying some vinyl, looking at the disc on the bus back home, imagining what magic the tracks will reveal!

This clip ends with Karin playing Easy V's "Vegan Girlz."

Check it out!