Episode 48: Interview with Gary Francione about veganism as a moral baseline, the importance of nonviolence, and what's wrong with keeping "pets"

This week, I am very happy to present my second interview with the animal rights scholar Gary L. Francione, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of Law and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Scholar of Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University School of Law in New Jersey. He is also Visting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Lincoln (UK). Professor Francione has been a vegan since 1982 and is well-known for having developed the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights. He is the author of many excellent books about animal rights theory, advocacy, and veganism.

In this interview, Professor Francione tells me about what happened in the 1980’s and 1990’s that led him to develop the Abolitionist Approach, and he speaks about how modern-day animal advocacy that does not hold veganism as a moral baseline perpetuates animal exploitation. Then we discuss why nonviolence is an important part of the Abolitionist Approach, why we shouldn’t bring nonhuman animals into existence to be our “pets”, and more. At the end of the interview, Professor Francione offers his advice for those who wish to work to bring about a vegan world.

After the interview, we'll hear the song "How Do I Go Vegan" by Gülce Özen Gürkan.

The essay that Professor Francione mentioned during the interview, "Reflections on Tom Regan and the Animal Rights Movement That Once Was", was published in Between the Species in 2018.

Gary Francione's websites can be found at AbolitionistApproach.com and HowDoIGoVegan.com.

You can find my previous interview with Professor Francione on Episode 32.

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/553/50656.html.
   
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-january-27-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. 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!

Episode 47: Interview with Gülce Özen Gürkan about the abolitionist vegan movement in Turkey

Welcome to Episode 47 of Always for Animal Rights!

Recently I have been reading the work of Gary L. Francione and Anna Charlton, and I've decided to focus on promoting the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights. So, with that in mind, I am pleased to present my interview with this week's guest.

This week's episode features my interview with Gülce Özen Gürkan, who is doing some incredible work to spread the abolitionist vegan message in Turkey. Gülce has been educating people about abolitionist veganism in public places and online for about eight years. In addition to doing vegan tabling, hosting vegan picnics and potlucks, hosting online events, and meeting with vegans to tell them about the Abolitionist Approach, she has created a number of songs to promote the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights. You can find her music here, and the Facebook page for the Turkish abolitionist vegan movement (which Gülce co-founded) here.

In this interview, Gülce speaks about this advocacy work and the vegan movement in Turkey. We also discuss why we should advocate for veganism instead of welfare reforms or single-issue campaigns, why corporate animal charities are counterproductive to the animal rights cause, and why she now makes videos to accompany her animal rights songs. She tells me that, since she and her partner started doing abolitionist advocacy, the number of vegans in Turkey has grown from about 20 vegans to thousands of vegans, and many vegans in Turkey are now promoting the Abolitionist Approach.

At the end of the show we will hear Gülce's song "My Vegan Friend", which is about Principle Three of the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights. It's a very interesting episode, and I hope you'll listen in! :)

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/553/50467.html.
   
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-january-13-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. 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!

Episode 46: Interview with Marianna C. Gonzalez about the Abolitionist Approach, vegan art, and veganism in Mexico

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with Marianna C. Gonzalez. Marianna, who lives in Mexico, creates art that promotes animal rights and veganism, with a focus on the Abolitionist Approach to Animal Rights.

Marianna's work has been featured by Gary Francione’s Abolitionist Approach Facebook Page, and she was featured in the book Advocate for Animals! by Gary Francione and Anna Charlton. Marianna translated Gary and Anna’s book Eat Like You Care into Spanish. Her blog can be found at EcoVeganSpirit.com.

In this interview, we discuss what the Abolitionist Approach is about, how art can be used as advocacy to make a difference in the world, why it’s important to read a text slowly in order to deeply understand it, and how the vegan movement is currently faring in Mexico.

You can find more of Marianna's animal rights artwork on her Facebook page. Thanks to Marianna for being a guest on the show!

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/553/50379.html.
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-january-6-2021.
   

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram. 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!