Monday 19 February 2024

Episode 101: Interview with Roger Yates about the Vegan Information Project, veganism as holistic social justice, and the importance of grassroots activism

Poster from the Vegan Information Project
This week, I am pleased to present my seventh interview with the vegan sociologist and animal rights advocate Roger Yates, who has been a vegan since 1979.

Roger’s 2005 PhD dissertation focused on the social construction of speciesism. In the 1980's, he was a Press Officer for the Animal Liberation Front, and in 2013 he co-founded the Vegan Information Project (also known as VIP) in Ireland. He has a blog, social media accounts, and a YouTube channel, where he advocates for veganism and animal rights from an abolitionist perspective.

In this interview, Roger outlines the history and philosophy of the Vegan Information Project, and he emphasizes the importance of understanding and challenging cultural speciesism as vegan advocates. He also speaks about the ethical and practical issues surrounding money in the animal advocacy movement, and why vegan advocates are sometimes accused of "forcing" our views on non-vegans. We discuss the importance of viewing veganism as a movement for holistic social justice, and we share our views about some of the things we'd like to see the vegan movement do differently in 2024 and beyond.

You can listen to the episode above or on CKCU 93.1 FM's website. You can also download the MP3 file from Archive.org.

You can find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to advocate for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!


Posters from the Vegan Information Project

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Episode 100: Reconnecting with the work of Marti Kheel, author of Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective and co-founder of Feminists for Animal Rights

Over the past several months, I've been exploring the old newsletters of Feminists for Animal Rights, a group that was active in the United States from the early 1980's to the 2000's. As they stated in their literature, Feminists for Animal Rights sought to "raise the consciousness of the feminist community, the animal rights community, and the general public regarding the connections between the objectification, exploitation, and abuse of both women and animals in patriarchal society." In addition to producing a newsletter, members of Feminists for Animal Rights tabled at events and conferences; gave presentations and workshops; created opportunities for like-minded women to connect, study, and learn from one another; and participated in a variety of other activist initiatives. The group was quite influential within the animal rights movement at the time.

One of the co-founders of Feminists for Animal Rights was the vegan ecofeminist scholar and activist Marti Kheel, who developed the FAR slide show and wrote a number of important essays about ecofeminism. She was the author of the 2008 book, Nature Ethics: An Ecofeminist Perspective. Sadly, Marti passed away in 2011.

On the show this week, we'll be listening to an abridged version of an interview with Marti that was originally broadcast in 2009 on the show Hear Me Raw, based at Joy Radio in Australia. In this episode, the interviewer, Sue, asked Marti to describe the key principles of ecofeminist philosophy. They also discuss the limitations of mainstream environmentalist theory, why feminists should embrace veganism, how vegaphobia is related to homophobia, and what’s wrong with using sexist tactics in animal advocacy.

Marti's insights are very much worth listening to and considering. I hope you'll listen in!

At the end of the show is the song, "Vegan World", by the vegan musician Katie Veg.

You can listen to the episode above or on CKCU 93.1 FM's website. You can also download the MP3 file from Archive.org.

You can find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to advocate for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Thursday 19 October 2023

Episode 99: Interview with Lee Hall about vegan ethics, the history of the American vegan movement, self-rewilding, and being vegan in a non-vegan world

This week, I am pleased to present my second interview with the author and public speaker Lee Hall, who has been a vegan advocate since 1983. Lee is the author of On Their Own Terms: Animal Liberation for the 21st Century, the creator of the blog Vegan Place, and a writer for CounterPunch. Lee previously taught immigration and animal law at Rutgers University in New Jersey and now holds a Master of Laws in environmental law with a focus on climate change.

In this interview, Lee speaks about the history of the vegan movement in England and the United States. In particular, Lee highlights the significance of the annual Vegan Summerfest to the American vegan movement, as well as the abandonment of integrity by corporate animal advocacy groups such as PETA. We discuss the importance of viewing veganism as an ethic rather than just a diet, why Lee has decided to stop driving a car this year, and what it means to re-wild ourselves. Then Lee outlines how vegan menus are inclusive for everyone, gives advice for vegans who struggle during non-vegan holiday celebrations, and discusses how we can find hope even during difficult times.

This was an excellent discussion!

At the end of the episode, we'll hear the new version of the song "Vegan World" by Katie Veg.


You can listen to the episode above or download the MP3 file from Archive.org. This episode will be broadcast on CKCU 93.1 FM in two parts over the coming weeks, starting on Wednesday 25 October at 4:30 pm Eastern. The entire episode is also now available on CKCU's website.

Additional links:

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You can find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to advocate for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Wednesday 13 September 2023

Episode 98: Let's bring about a peaceful vegan revolution (featuring Sherry Colb, Roger Yates, and Bob Linden)

Drawing by the vegan artist, Maria Tiqwah.
It's important to remember that veganism is not a diet. Rather, veganism is a philosophy, way of living, and social justice movement based on non-violence, non-exploitation, respect, and empathy. Living vegan and respecting animal rights means that we refuse to participate in animal use and that we oppose violations of the rights of any sentient being, nonhuman or human.

On today's show, we will be listening to a short speech that was recently presented online by the vegan sociologist Roger Yates. Roger has been a vegan animal rights activist for more than four decades and is the lead organizer of the Vegan Information Project in Ireland. In this talk, Roger speaks about the values of the vegan social movement, past and present.

We'll also hear an excerpt from an interview with the legal scholar and vegan advocate Sherry Colb. In the interview, which was originally aired in 2014 on Go Vegan Radio with Bob Linden, Sherry spoke about her then-new book, titled, Mind if I Order the Cheeseburger? And Other Questions People Ask Vegans. Last year, I had asked Sherry if she would like to be a guest on my show, and I was pleased when she agreed. Tragically, however, Sherry passed away shortly thereafter. Since we were unable to conduct the interview, I've decided to share Bob Linden's interview with Sherry from 2014 in the hope that it will inspire listeners to read and think about her work.

At the end of the show, we'll hear the song "Revolucion Vegana" by the vegan musician, Chucho Merchan.

“Veganism is about nonviolence: nonviolence to other sentient beings; nonviolence to yourself; nonviolence to the earth.”
Gary Francione, animal rights philosopher

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

  1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/61990.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-september-13-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Wednesday 26 July 2023

Episode 97: Interview with animal rights author Joan Dunayer about speciesism and language

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with the writer and animal rights advocate Joan Dunayer, who has been a vegan since 1989. Joan is the author of two books: Animal Equality: Language and Liberation, published in 2001, and Speciesism, published in 2004. Additionally, a number of her essays about speciesism and language have appeared in anthologies and other publications, including the books Critical Animal and Media Studies (edited by Núria Almiron, Matthew Cole, Carrie P. Freeman) and Animals and Women: Feminist Theoretical Explorations (edited by Carol J. Adams and Josephine Donovan), among others.

In this interview, Joan tells me about what led her to become a vegan and write her first book. She describes what speciesism is, how it manifests in everyday language use, how we can challenge speciesism through language, and how speciesism and sexism are connected through derogatory language. She also speaks about the moral status of insects; speciesist attitudes within the animal advocacy movement; and the legal rights that she advocates nonhuman animals ought to have.

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

  1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/61427.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-july-26-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Bonus episode: Vegan sociologist David Nibert's 2016 speech, "From Genghis Khan to Wall Street: Oppression of Other Animals, War, and Capitalism"

Recently on the FM airwaves, we listened to a talk by the long-time activist, sociologist, university professor, and author David Nibert. David presented this talk, which is titled, “From Genghis Khan to Wall Street: Oppression of Other Animals, War, and Capitalism”, at the World Vegan Summit & Expo in 2016. The topics that he spoke about in this speech are covered in greater detail in his third book, Animal Oppression and Human Violence: Domesecration, Capitalism, and Global Conflict.

At the end of the episode is the song "What if..." by the abolitionist vegan advocate Gülce Özen Gürkan.

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

  1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/61315.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-july-18-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!

Wednesday 21 June 2023

Episode 96: Interview with Laura Schleifer about total liberation, post-scarcity veganarchism, and why human rights are relevant to veganism

"Embracing the Future"
by the vegan artist Jo Frederiks.

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with the writer, theatre artist, educator, and activist Laura Schleifer. Laura is the Total Liberation Campaign Director with the Institute for Critical Animal Studies and a co-founder of Plant The Land Team, a vegan food justice group based in Gaza, Palestine. She is also a veganarchist and communalist who writes and gives presentations about the interconnections between human, other animal, and earth liberation. A number of her essays will be published as book chapters in forthcoming anthologies. She is currently writing her own book, titled Liberating Veganism.

In this interview, Laura describes what led her to become vegan and get involved in Critical Animal Studies, and she tells me about a concept that she has been developing called post-scarcity veganarchism. Laura explains how the oppression of other animals enables and reinforces the oppression of marginalized human groups. She also outlines the concept of total liberation and examines whether or not it’s appropriate to make comparisons between animal exploitation and the Nazi Holocaust. Then Laura speaks about the histories of and entanglements between animal liberation and human liberation struggles in Israel and Palestine; she gives her response to those who would prefer to ignore the atrocities and crises taking place around the world; and she describes some of the best things about being vegan.

Here are some additional links, based on what we discussed in the episode:

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

  1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/60993.html.
  2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-june-21-2023.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you'd like to receive an e-mail every time there is a new post on the AFAR blog, feel free to enter your e-mail address into the appropriate box in the right-hand sidebar of this site.

Go vegan, stay vegan, and let's remember to stand up and speak up for animal rights today and every day. Thanks for listening to the show!