Animal Liberation Queensland

2013 The Year That Was, 2014 The Year That Will Be.

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As it has been nearly two months since I last wrote something for this site, I thought I would make the first post of 2014 a review of 2013, and sort of mud map for what will be happening in 2104.

2013’s Top 7 Posts

7: What Does It Mean To Be Vegan?
My thoughts on what it means to be vegan in a world that isn’t.

6: Are Animal Activists Making Things Worse For The Animals?
The article where I ask the question of whether ‘animal activists’ are actually making things worse for other animals? I gave the example of a Melbourne Pig Save protest that uses pigs from Edgar’s Mission as some sort of entertainment for passersby.

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Will Another Protest Stop Live Export?

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If you are reading this on Monday morning, and are quick enough, you might be able to take part in the combined Animal Liberation Queensland and Animal Justice Party protest at PM Kevin Rudd’s Morningside office.

This protest is to support an activist who has traveled around the countryside and collect a large number of letters.

Whilst full marks go to the activist for doing this, I do have some grave concerns about the timing and the organisations putting it together.

My concerns begin with whether Animal Liberation Queensland is actually doing anything to liberate other animals, or promote themselves.

Then there is the fledgling Animal Justice party that people are jumping up to support as if voting for this political party is going to magically release all animals from oppression.

Then there is the question as to why do it now?

As most of those living in Australia will know, there is a federal election due on September 7.

This means that the government is in caretaker mode, and nothing much can be done in the way of new legislation.

So much for his promised Inspector-General of Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports.

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Is The Animal Movement Still In Motion, Or Has It Come To A Grinding Halt?

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What are your thoughts on the Animal Rights/Vegan movement?

What sort of inroads are being made into reducing the amount of animal products consumed, and the ways that other animals are exploited?

It seems that all those individuals and organisations who are in a position to make a difference seem to be doing the opposite, or distracting everyone from what is really happening.

Those of us who are concerned about the plight of other animals are fast approaching the eleventh hour if we want to do something about their exploitation and use.

Animals Australia

Here is an organisation that has a huge advertising budget, is able to influence a vast number of people yet has deceived just as many with their flying pig and ban live export campaigns.

Live Export:
Right from the start of this campaign, it was focused more on the race and religion of the countries in question than it was about the actual use of animals.

It also seems a little bit strange that if a farmer wants to export the animals overseas, thanks to ESCAS, every part of the supply chain is the responsibility of the exporter. Yet if this same farmer wants to have their property killed domestically, all they have to do is have a look in the yellow pages for a transport company, feedlot and slaughterhouse, or just send them to a saleyard, and that is it.

It is as if Australian slaughterhouses have some sort of platinum standard in the way that they ‘process’ animals.

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There Are More Than Two Sides To Every Story

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It seems that in the days since the publication of the article titled Vegan Animal Rights Group Refuses To Promote Veganism there has been all sorts of discussion regarding the circumstances behind the event that lead to the article being written.

As can be expected there are some who have taken sides, saying party A or party B is at fault, then there are those who have taken the ‘neutral’ position of sitting on the fence because they don’t know all the facts.

Whilst on one hand, it could be hard to blame them for not wanting to get involved in something like this, especially when based on the words of an alleged trouble maker such as myself.

That being said, what you can blame them for is not asking questions.

In people’s rush to demonise me as the cause of these events, and say that I am part of the problem not part of the solution, a few important things have been overlooked.

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Vegan Animal Rights Group Refuses To Promote Veganism

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The night of Tuesday 23 April 2013 will forever be remembered as one of the most disgraceful nights in the history of the animal advocacy movement in Queensland, if not Australia.

It was the night that an alleged vegan animal rights group, aggressively ejected two individuals for wanting to promote veganism and to help other animals.

The shameful series of events took place at the screening of the movie Maximum Tolerated Dose on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The public screening was a collaboration between Animal Liberation Queensland and the Facebook group Coast To Coast Animal Friends, two organisations that a reasonable person would think would be interested in promoting veganism and educating others on where to buy products that haven’t been tested on or contain animal products.Yet this wasn’t what happened.

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Raising Awareness By Raising Your Voice and Placards, Or So They Say

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Regular readers of this site will know that over the past few weeks, I have been discussing the alleged effectiveness of noisy, placard waving protests at increasing awareness to the plight of other animals.

In a previous piece, I compared these protests to union picket lines and how they are intimidating to the worker who is crossing the line, and portrayed as extreme by the media.

March 2013 saw two totally different ‘placard’ protests on take place on Queensland’s Gold Coast, with both protesting the treatment of exotic animals in circuses. The first one was held by relatively new, Coast To Coast Animal Friends on the 10th, and the second by the more established Animal Liberation Queensland, two weeks later on Sunday March 24.

Both protests were allegedly planned to increase awareness of the plight of exotic animals in circuses, though actually did very little of that. I still stand by my belief that these events are for the sole purpose of raising awareness of the respective groups, and nothing else. Allowing them to claim that they are doing something to improve the plight of animal x, y, or z whilst accomplishing very little.

In the weeks since the protests were held there has been virtually no information published by either group as to why they are against the way that exotic animals are treated in circuses, save for the congratulatory posting of photos, and reliving their own self indulgent moments.

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Animal Liberation. What Is It Exactly?

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lib·er·a·tion noun \ˌli-bə-ˈrā-shən\ Definition of LIBERATION 1: the act of liberating : the state of being liberated 2: a movement seeking equal rights and status for a group <women’s liberation> As most of us know, other animals are being oppressed, exploited, used and abused at rates and in numbers never seen before in history. Animal … Read more