Saving Lives - One Bite at a Time -- August 2006
- World Farm Animals Day Off to Great Start
- 800 Rally at AR2006 National Conference
- Sabina Fund Reviews Scores of Proposals
- More Letters to the Editor Published
World Farm Animals Day Off to Great Start
Dozens of communities throughout the U.S. and a dozen other countries have begun planning their World Farm Animals Day event around October 2 (Gandhi's birthday)!
This year's featured event is a die-in (see photo), where activists stage group deaths to represent the animals who needlessly suffer and die every day for the dinner table. This event sends a powerful message and provides a great media photo opportunity.
Other activists are choosing the more traditional funeral marches, cage-ins, video screenings, feed-ins, lectures, library exhibits, and info tables.
Make sure that your community is represented in this global effort by visiting our website!
We provide free display and handout materials, instructions, national registry, and media liaison. You provide a few hours and a lot of heart. Several national organizations are signing on as co-sponsors. The animals need every one of us!
Each coordinator will be entitled to a 50% discount on our new $12 "Stop the Slaughter" WFAD 2006 T-shirts and may receive an original WFAD proclamation by the local mayor or governor (when available).
This year's observance marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of "The Jungle," where Upton Sinclair exposed the terrible conditions of Chicago's slaughterhouses. The book was instrumental in launching the U.S. consumer movement and enacting meat inspection legislation. But conditions for the animals (and the workers) have remained virtually unchanged.
Please visit our WFAD website soon to register your interest and to receive an Action Kit. You can always update your plans later.
800 Rally at AR2006 National Conference
800 animal advocates from throughout the U.S. and a dozen other countries rallied at the Animal Rights 2006 National Conference at the Hilton Mark Center hotel in Alexandria near our nation’s capital on August 10-14. The purpose was to observe our movement’s 25th anniversary and to map national strategy for the coming year.
Highlights of the Conference included:
* Guardian Award to famed musician and animal rights advocate Moby
* Election of Steve Hindi & Ben White to the US Animal Rights Hall of Fame
* Recognition of Chas Chiodo, Camille Hankins, and Brenda Shoss as Grassroots Animal Activists
* A debate on animal liberation tactics
* Eyewitness accounts of Katrina animal rescues, battles to save seals and whales, and the SHAC trial
* Celebration of our movement’s 25th anniversary with movement pioneers Paul Watson, Alex Hershaft, Elliot Katz, Alex Pacheco, Lorri Bauston, and Giorgio Cave
* Performances by "Bizarro" cartoonist Dan Piraro and several animal rights musicians.
The Conference featured 85 speakers representing 60 organizations from every faction of the animal protection movement. They spoke at more than 100 workshops, ‘rap’ sessions, and campaign reports.
Nearly 80 organizations exhibited their literature and merchandise. More than 50 videos documented animal abuses and movement actions.
Following the conference, a large group made the rounds of pharmaceutical company offices in downtown DC to protest their dealings with the notorious Huntingdon Life Sciences laboratories that conduct cruel animal tests. Several teams visited Congressional offices to lobby on behalf of the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act and other pending animal protection legislation.
Animal Rights 2006 was co-sponsored by In Defense of Animals, Animal Acres, Animals Voice, Satya, Veg News, Vegetarian Times, and E Magazine.
For additional details, please visit our website. Check out the 300 photos and the testimonials. Recordings are $9/12 per session/plenary and $159 for the complete set. P&H are free until September 15. Call 202-269-2000.
Sabina Fund Reviews Scores of Proposals
In the past few months, the FARM Sabina Fund received proposals to promote vegetarianism and respect for animals from nearly 100 local groups. Most are from India, Kenya, and Uganda. Others come from the U.S., Portugal, Romania, Israel, Rwanda, and Tanzania.
We would like to provide them all small grants of $500-$1,000 for their worthy projects, but our meager resources are overwhelmed by the demand.
Many of the projects display exceptional dedication and creativity. A U.S. group is planning to leaflet at dozens of Midwest colleges. The Portuguese proposal is for the country’s first ever vegetarian awareness campaign. An Israeli group is doing a joint storefront information center with local environmental and social justice groups. A Uganda society is developing a small soy milk factory. The Indian proposals are from large coalitions of local groups that stage World Farm Animals Day and Meatout events involving hundreds of people.
The Sabina Fund was launched in 1999 to honor FARM President Alex Hershaft 's mother who had passed away three years earlier.
To increase the number of proposals we can fund this year, please visit our website and make a generous contribution to the Sabina Fund
More Letters to Editor Published
In the past three months, FARM reps published nearly 400 letters to the editor on 4 topics in more than 200 papers.
The topics included the link between animal agriculture and global warming, the health hazard of barbequing meat on the 4th of July, USDA's failure to test for Mad Cow disease, and the benefit of a plant-based diet in combating obesity.
Letters to the editor are the second most read section of the newspaper after the front page. They are a most effective vehicle for bringing our message to millions of middle Americans that we don't reach in other ways.
Our letters program is estimated to generate 100 million potential viewings per year.
Please contact us to join our Letters network or to obtain the full text of selected letters, or visit our Letters page.
AR2006 Stars
This space features key supporters of FARM and the animal rights movement.
Martin Rowe is the founder of both Satya Magazine and Lantern Books, a growing publishing house that specializes in animal advocacy, health, psychology & religion. Satya was a sponsor of AR2006.
Chas Chiodo began his animal career at PETA, but he feels most comfortable promoting animal rights among local communities in the Gainesville (FL) area. He was named the Grassroots Animal Activist of the Year at AR2006.
What is FARM
FARM is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) public interest organization that advocates vegan eating and humane treatment of farmed animals. To learn more about our national programs, visit us on the web.
FARM is supported by donations from caring folks like you. Because our staffers get reduced or no compensation, our overhead is below 5%, and your donations go directly to support our programs.
Please sign up your friends to keep them abreast of our work.
Caring Gifts
For t-shirts, books, and other fun stuff, check out our gifts page.
FARM T-shirt - $12
FARM Mousepad - $4
"Animal Rights Now!" awareness bracelets in pink and burgundy - $2
Bumper sticker - $1
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