A modern guide to vegan living

Get LAIKA in your inbox

Thursday, April 10, 2014

An Audible Voice for the Animals: Marianne Thieme

1

SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY IS HAPPENING AT THIS VERY MOMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS. There is a political party with two seats in the Dutch parliament. But it’s not what one might expect… Their agenda? To end the treatment of animals as economic product, to abolish factory farming, and to achieve a better society. The party is the Dutch Party for the Animals (PvdD), and it’s led by Marianne Thieme. Since co-founding it in 2002, she has spearheaded unprecedented breakthroughs— from the enforcement of stricter video monitoring in slaughterhouses to securing public funding for the development of meat substitutes. The party won two seats in parliament in 2006, after four years of campaigning. Not only have they influenced the other political parties in the Dutch parliament to become more animal-friendly, but their success has inspired the formation of 13 more animal parties around the world, including the United States.

(more…)

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Leading with Love: An Approach to Advocacy

“DIVERSITY OF TACTICS” IS A PROMINENT EXPRESSION IN SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISM. There is no singular solution yet, and there is no handbook on the most effective strategy for creating change. A wide range of approaches is essential. But what if the common denominator in the multitude of methods is—love? It may seem radical at first, or perhaps too idyllic. But, what if? What if a perceived enemy is an ally yet to be made? What if a closed mind is just a mind that hasn’t been opened yet? What if we view those we cross paths with as fully capable of kindness and goodness? And what if instead of condemning, we take a chance and forge a connection? On the afternoon of September 10th, 2013 in Toronto, Canada, Kathy Stevens, founder of Catksill Animal Sanctuary, did just that when she approached a group of locked out* slaughterhouse workers at St. Helen’s Meat Packers during a Cow Save vigil (an arm of the Toronto Pig Save, a grassroots animal rights organization that holds weekly vigils at Toronto slaughterhouses, and in other parts of the world ).

(more…)

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

A Closer Look: The Ghosts in Our Machine Documentary

In the new documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, we are asked to look directly at what society routinely averts its gaze from—the lives of the animals we share this planet with. In reality, of course, as this film shows—”sharing” is inaccurate. With over 150 billion animals killed for human consumption annually, and billions more killed for fashion, in vivisection, and exploited for entertainment—”dominating” is a more fitting description of our relationship with our fellow earthlings. Nearly every global industry profits off of the bodies of animals. The film urges the viewer to consider the pain behind ubiquitous things like a pair of leather shoes; the container of milk at the supermarket; a household cleaning product; the circus tent, or the aquarium.

(more…)