On Invitations, Legislation and Victories

Imagine that you (or people you know) spend day and night working to end speciesism and our
domination of the rest of the sentient world. It’s exhausting,
frustrating and often depressing. It’s thankless, but doing anything
else isn’t an option because of the grave injustices we perpetrate
every second by exploiting other sentient beings. There’s no money in
it, that’s for sure. But that doesn’t matter because your conscience doesn’t allow for standing on the
sidelines while billions of nonhuman animals are having their children
yanked away from them, their freedom replaced with captivity, and their
lives brutally ended.

You open your mail and you see this (courtesy of James and Jenny):

 

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Right now, think of five people who have given their lives in the service of nonviolence and social justice–in the service of the voiceless.
How about writing them an e-mail or calling them this weekend and letting them know that what they’re doing counts and is appreciated? As we all know, these are pretty scary times for those wanting to see an end to the exploitation of nonhuman animals. Let’s at least find a moment’s solace in stepping outside ourselves to give our own version of "Special Recognition," whatever that might look like, to others for the difficult paths they have chosen and thank them for what they do.

Next, when I asked who would support a foie gras ban (as in, would that be something worthy of your time), Nick provided a couple of ideas of other legislation that might be useful or possible for us to pursue.

1. Stop subsidizing corn and soy, which are mostly used to feed "livestock," not humans.
2. Place a tax on all animal products.
3. Label animal products as dangerous, the way we currently label tobacco and alcohol.
4. Fund programs to teach vegan nutrition.
5. Subsidize farmers of vegan foods. (I don’t know if this is such a good idea, but it’s worth considering.)

I know that PCRM attempted #3 with some restaurants that serve grilled chicken, and I thought it was a great idea.

What do you think?

Finally, Roger pointed me to an article called "Foie Gras Protesters Score Another Victory," the first two sentences of which are:

Animal rights activists have persuaded a French restaurant to take the controversial delicacy foie gras off its menu.

But the owner of the Beaujolais bistro says he will still serve the dish if a customer requests it.

So they don’t serve it, except for when they do. But wait, there’s more:

. . . they wanted to persuade Bath and North East Somerset Council to declare the city a foie gras-free zone.

"We are collecting as many signatures as possible which will then be sent to the council at a later date.

"A lot of other places in the country have already gone cruelty-free."

Meanwhile, these other places serve chickens, salmon, veal, eggs and dairy. Not sure where the cruelty-free part is.

Check out the three pages of comments, including the rumor that just won’t die–that Hitler was a vegetarian–as well as the Holocaust analogy and other valid comparisons. I liked this one by Moe from Bath:

[A]re you denying the right to public protest except against illegal causes? Foie gras is legal; protesting is legal. Live with it. Protesting raises awareness, public opinion changes business practices. . . [several are mentioned]. However all these things are entirely within the law; hence people protest instead if they want to change things. If it transpired that Sainbury’s were selling coffee produced using child labour, would you object to public protest on that issue? Would you be so vocal in defending Sainsbury’s from this intimidation?

Speciesism. The real problem.