No walk in the park … Horse drawn carriages in Bruges
Bruges is a beautiful city, but this is a tourist attraction that I would love to see come to an end :-(.Tourists, please don’t take a ride on the horse carriages.
All posts filed under: animals in society
About animal resistance and human saviourism. Presentation at IARC 2021, Geertrui Cazaux
Stories of animal resistance. About human saviourism and not so-voiceless animals – Geertrui Cazaux Other animals resist their oppression, by escaping, retaliating, and acts of everyday resistance. Centering other animals and sharing their stories helps us move away from a human saviourist framing and is an expression of solidarity with them. They are not voiceless and we are not their saviours but their allies.In this presentation, I will document stories of animal resistance.
About the pornography of Meat, Carol J. Adams
This new edition of The Pornography of Meat by Carol J. Adams just arrived. Very richely illustrated with examples of how women are seen as ‘meat’ and how ‘meat’ or animals raised to be eaten are portrayed as ‘feminine’, sexual, wanting to be consumed. See also the earlier work of Carol J. Adams: The sexual politics of meat. This updated edition of The Pronography of Meat includes a photo from me: a truck from a hatchery company (that ‘incubates’ the eggs and the chicks are sent of to egg-laying companies). The truck shows a cartoon like drawing of three anthropomorphised and female sexualised chickens, with next to them the slogan ‘Girl Power’. Yeah, being forcefully kept indoors, having to lay 300+ eggs a year and being sent of to slaughter when ‘production’ drops is really empowering these female animals. I really cringed when I saw this truck on the highway, and was determined to get a good photo! Luckily, the truck took the same exit as me, so I was able to stand still next …
She was a person
She was a person. She wanted to live ❤ One of the 15 million mink who are currently being murdered (euphemistically called ‘culling’). Running for her life, wanting to live, wanting freedom 🙁 #animalresistance #dierenverzet Denmark is killing (not ‘culling’, that’s a euphemism) 15 million mink in an effort to prevent a mutant of the coronavirus from spreading. The conditions in animal factories (thousands of animals confined together) in the meat and fur industry again and again lead to the outbreak of zoonoses (bird flu, swine flu, Q-fever, …) , and in some cases also spreading to humans (like now). Don’t contribute to this system in which animals are seen merely as disposable products. Don’t buy fur or other animal products. For the animals, your health and the environment #vegan
About vegan turkey and voiceless animals. Geertrui Cazaux (IARC 2019)
A couple of weeks ago, I was at the 9th International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg. This conference is held every year at the beginning of September. I attended for the first time in 2018, and then gave a presentation about ableism and ageism in the movement.This year I gave a presentation about Representation of other animals. About vegan turkey and voiceless animals.
About criminal animals. E.P. Evans (1906) The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals
I have been adding some books that have been inspirational to me to an album on my facebook account, and I will be adding them here as well. Some are books that I have read a long time ago, some are more recent works. I also want to note that it’s not because a book is featured here, that I agree with everything that is written in it . Or that I find all books equally good! This is an oldy (1906). Historian E.P Evans gives a detailled account of cases throughout history where animals who had ‘murdered’ or attacked humans, or animal ‘pests’ or infestations, were prosecuted (sometimes even with an appointed lawyer), and when found guilty, executed or excommunicated. I used this book in my doctoral research and wrote a chapter about ‘criminal animals’ in my PhD (2002, Anthopocentrism and Speciesism in Contemporary Criminology). Many people dismiss the prosecution and execution of animals as a bizarre and outdated practice from medieval times. But it is still practiced today, although not formally recognised as such. Other …
Yield
Pinnacle of speciesism: when an animal is reduced to her function or yield Animals are not ‘egg’, ‘bacon’, ‘wool’ or ‘milk’, but each and every one sentient feeling beings, who can suffer pain, each with their own individuality. Spotted in a shop in Valkenburg (the Netherlands)
Vegan brownie at Cat Café Dreamcathers, Ghent
Dreamcathers is a cat cafe in between the city hall and the Vrijdagmarkt, in a small alley. It is not far from vegan lunch bar Mie Vie. There are a couple of resident cats who are up for adoption. Dreamcathers work together with the organisations Dierenasiel Gent (shelter Ghent) and Kat Zoekt thuis (Cat looking for a home). Dreamcathers has vegan cakes and brownies and also offers drinks to enjoy while being among the cats (I think all the cakes are vegan, but not quite sure). Cats and vegan cake: a great combination! 🙂 I was here a couple of weeks ago with a friend, after our lunch at vegan cafe Mie Vie. Dreamcatchers works with timeslots. It is advised to make a reservation, but you can always try to inquire on the day itself to check availability. So I did (telephoned beforehand) and it was no problem to come over. The entrance fee is 3 euro per person (if you become a member, which is 10 euro, the entrance fee is reduced to 1,5€). …
Bombed, shot, shell shocked and killed. Animals in War Memorial, London
On our last city trip to London last Summer, we visited the Animals in War Memorial. It is located on the upper East side of Hyde Park at the Brook Gate. On our previous visit to London (for the Intersectionality conference at VegfestUK, Nov 2016) we barely got a glimpse of the monument as we passed by with a cab on busy Park Lane, but a large truck in the lane next to us was unfortunately blocking our view on the Memorial. The memorial was designed by English sculptor David Backhouse to commemorate “all the animals that served, suffered and died alongside the British, Commonwealth and Allied forces in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century” (quote from Animals in War Memorial). It was unveiled in November 2004*. I have very mixed feelings about memorials and monuments dedicated to animals who have ‘served’ for law enforcement, as soldiers, as bomb sniffers or protection guards. One the one hand, it is heartwarming to see so many people care about the animal victims of war, and commemorate them …
About ‘whole’ chickens and ‘humane’ milk
Two interesting stories about animals in advertising, but coming from a whole different background. First, the poster from GoVeganworld.com, a British vegan organisation. It states that humane milk is a myth, and asks you not to buy it. It shows a cow behind barb wire. Underneath the eyecatching quotes, the text reads: I went vegan the day I visited a dairy. The mothers, still bloody from birth, searched and called frantically for their babies. Their daughters, fresh from their mothers’ wombs but separated from them, trembled and cried piteously, drinking milk from rubber teats on the wall instead of their mothers’ nurturing bodies. All because humans take their milk. Their sons are slaughtered for their flesh and they themselves are slaughtered at 6 years. their natural lifespan is 25 years. I could no longer particpate in that. can you? The dairy industry complained that this poster painted an inaccurate and misleading picture of dairy farming. However, the Advertising Standards Authority has backed the accuracy of the vegan message, and finds that this ad – that lets …