Episode 72: Interview with Tomas Anthony about vegan outreach, the language we use to describe animal exploitation, and being a vegan in a non-vegan world

Drawing by the vegan artist Jo Frederiks.

This week, I am pleased to present my interview with the vegan animal rights activist Tomas Anthony. Tomas, who lives in Ireland, advocates for veganism by doing street outreach and giving speeches, and he runs a YouTube channel and social media accounts under the name tomasanonymous. He frequently works with Clif Grant, another inspiring vegan activist whom I have interviewed on a past episode of this show.

In this interview, Tomas tells me the story of what led him to become vegan and get involved in activism. He also speaks about his experience doing street outreach, what he witnessed at a pig farm in Ireland, how he started giving speeches about veganism and animal rights at schools, and why it’s a moral obligation to speak up for animal rights. We discuss how we can respond to some common questions and comments that we hear when we’re having vegan advocacy conversations, whether it’s a good idea to use the word “holocaust” to refer to what is currently happening to animals, how becoming vegan has impacted our lives, and the difficulty of navigating situations in which animal exploitation is still a social norm.

As we discussed on this episode, there is no ethical or humane way to "farm", exploit, enslave, and/or murder animals. Veganism is simple and easy, and it is the only ethical solution to the problem of animal exploitation.

This was a great conversation!

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/553/54911.html.
   
2.  Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-january-19-2022.
   

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!

Episode 30: Daniella and Adam speak about raising a vegan child in the UK

We have reached Episode 30 of Always for Animal Rights!

Yummy food by @uk_veganfamily

Today on the show is my recent interview with Daniella and Adam, who live in the UK and are raising their young son Jack in accordance with vegan principles. In this interview, Daniella and Adam speak about why they went vegan, what their family's favourite vegan meals are, and the status of veganism in the UK today. Find them on Instagram at @uk_veganfamily, and on YouTube.

Thanks to Daniella and Adam for agreeing to be interviewed.

By the way, July 3rd, 2020 will be the 1-year anniversary of this show! I am also excited to say that Always for Animal Rights is now a member of iROAR: The Animals' Podcasting Network. 

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/553/48250.html.
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-july-1-2020.

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; educate others! Thank you for listening to the show!

Episode 11: Interview with photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur

This week's episode of Always for Animal Rights features an interview with award-winning photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur.

 
Through her work documenting humans' relationship with other animals, Jo-Anne, who lives in Toronto, has visited nearly 60 countries around the world and was the subject of a 2013 documentary called The Ghosts in Our Machine. She is the author of two books that feature her photography and writings. This year, she founded We Animals Media, an international media agency dedicated to making the lives and the suffering of non-human animals visible to the public.

In this thought-provoking interview, we covered the following topics:

Grazing at a sanctuary in S. Australia
Credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

• Jo-Anne's photography journey and We Animals Media
• how Jo-Anne gains access to animal exploitation facilities to take photos
• the rise of effective altruism and effective activism
• the importance of sanctuaries to the animal rights movement
• how doing an internship at Farm Sanctuary helped her go vegan
• how children have responded to her humane education program
• the impact of her work, and what she hopes to accomplish in the future.

To learn more about We Animals Media, please visit WeAnimalsMedia.org.

If you are an animal rights activist looking for high-quality photos to use for your projects, you can find many of Jo-Anne's photographs at WeAnimalsArchive.org. The photos can be used for free as long as the project is intended to help animals and you cite the source of the image.

An arctic fox imprisoned on a fur farm
Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/The Ghosts in Our Machine

Pigs imprisoned at a Finnish facility
Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/Oikeutta eläimille

Elliot, a rescued sheep, at Freedom Hill Sanctuary in South Australia
Photo credit: Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals

After our interview is Queen V's song "Wearing My Blood", which is told from the perspective of a non-human animal who is imprisoned on a fur farm. The song is beautiful yet tragic.

I hope you'll take a listen to this episode!

How to listen to this episode


There are two ways to listen to the episode.

1. Listen to the episode on Archive.org or download the MP3 file at https://archive.org/details/afarnovember202019. This version contains the song "Wearing My Blood" in its entirety.
2. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/45742.html. In this version, the song "Wearing My Blood" is faded out part-way through.

You can find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram, as well!

The next episode of Always for Animal Rights will be broadcast on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa on Wednesday, December 4, 2019-- and, of course, it will be available to listen to afterwards, as well.