We were lucky enough to attend this year’s Animal Rights conference put on by FARM. For details about this event, please go to arconference.org.

While at the conference, we took notes. Here are Elaine’s notes on the presentation  titled “Newcomers Orientation”

Speaker 1 – Michael Budkie, SAEN

• Budkie gave us his personal account of working in a lab with animals. He experienced attachment and death as well as the experimenters’ responses. They were callous and cruel. That was his first exposure to animal exploitation and helped shaped his interest in animal rights.
• Reminder:  we can make a difference. The only thing that’s going to stop animal experimentation or anythingl ike it is us
• Common problem in the animal rights movement is burn out. Activists try to do too much and wear themselves out. Prevent that by picking one topic and “living it.”

Speaker 2 – Jon Camp, Vegan Outreach

• “There is no cause greater than animal advocacy”
• Animal Agriculture has the ability to keep the public in the dark, it’s our role to bring the factory farming to the public so they know the truth
• Vegan Outreach successes: 2006- over 1 million booklets handed out, 2008 – over 2 million booklets, just this year – over 10 million
• 4 main lessons:

1. We can’t do everything. We ought to focus our energies on doing the most good.
2. How we dress makes a difference: mainstream dress send a message that this is a mainstream issue.
3. How responding to people makes a difference – win people over by being friendly, considerate, not self-righteous
4. This is a marathon, not sprint – take a sustainable approach for long-term effectiveness, integrate what you like to do with animal advocacy

speaker 3 – Erica Meier, COK

• How many factory farmers does it take to screw in a light bulb? None, they want to keep us in the dark.
• Meier’s transformation: went vegetarian as a teen, then vegan in college, became animal control officer in DC – did lots of rescue work, became aware of lack of legal protection for farm animals
• There are no federal statutes that protect animals while they’re on the farm
• 98-99% of all animal killed in the US each year are killed for food for humans — 10 billion, doesn’t includ aquatic animals
• 1 million animals killed in slaughterhouses each hour in the US
• Every day there’s something WE can do to make a difference for animals – leave them off our plates
• Oh, and another thing we can do: encourage others to choose compassion
• Leafleting – even 30 minutes a week makes an incredible difference
• Feedins – people LOVE free food, helps people enjoy vegan food and realize it’s tasty
• No matter what issue you decide to work on, do it with passion

speaker 4 – Lauren Ornelas, Food Empowerment Project

• Ornelas’ personal transition: wanted to go vegetarian at age 5, but eventually truly went veg in teens, didn’t even know what vegetarian was, instead, she explained to people, “I don’t eat meat”
• “I can’t control many things, but I could control my use of animal products” (paraphrased)
• Started out doing anti-vivisection stuff and called herself a “seasonal activist” protesting circuus when comes to town, etc.
• Food Empowerment Project deals with the intersecting oppressions of workers, consumers, animals
• Advice:

1. Stay well-rounded; focus, but not too much
2. Be kind to each other. Remember 99% of what we believe is the same – that commonality should push us through
3. Stick to the truth. There’s no reason to exaggerate
4. Personal consumption choices are a representation of personal identity
5. Try to make as much of what we do to promote justice as we can

Questions

1. Q: Should we use  disturbing images?
   A: It all depends on situation. Images are effective but depends on the person and the campaign. Use URLs, direct people to websites so they can choose to see the images or not themselves.
2. Q: Is it better to engage other movements and groups or better to focus?
   A: Embrace diversity, but not everyone gets along. Try to work together, but sometimes it just wont work. Animal advocates are already a diverse population, we simply need to remind others of that fact. We need to work together on the large campaigns; they won’t work otherwise.
3. Q: Should we use the sustainability argument for veganism?
   A: It’s not a magic bullet to use environmental issues, we should include animal ethics. We shouldn’t be too quick to assume the compassionate argument won’t work, it worked on each of us.
4. Q: Where do I fit in? where to begin?
   A: Take your time and get to know the people and the issues, something will call to you. Offer your help with what you already know; we all change over time.

Because these are simply published notes, they may not be exact quotes or entirely accurate representations of the conference. They are simply a resource of ideas.

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Sections: Vegan Resources
Topics: ar 2009, AR conference, veg, Vegan