All posts filed under: campaigns / activism

Tofu never screams! Handlettering for the animals

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Nice handwritten posters or memes, with a great composition, witty slogans! One sees them everywhere, on a chalkboard outside a shop or restaurant, as online memes, on shopping bags or other merchanise. I saw a post on instagram from Silke who had received a handbook on handlettering as a present. I had no idea there are even books about it, and also facebookgroups, and then found loads of information online (well, in retrospect, of course there are books and Facebookgroups and workshops about it, like there are about just anything!). A couple of weeks ago, I ordered two books, some pens and paper, and tried some basics. I find it extremely relaxing and it clears my head. A great way to get rid of stress! So far I have made these, vegan inspired handlettered posters.Ā I know there’s room for improvement (any constructive feedback appreciated šŸ˜‰ , but I hope to be learning along the way šŸ™‚

Why I don’t buy a goat for Africa

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A couple of weeks ago I saw this messageĀ in my Facebook Feed. It is from the Belgian NGO Dierenartsen zonder Grenzen (DZG = Veterinarians without Borders). The post calls to buy a goat. At that point, the counter stood at 127 purchased goats (meanwhile more than 300). On the website koopeengeit.be (buy a goat) I find out that the collected funds are meant for the purchase of goats in Africa. “Buy a goat for 50 euro, a small herd forĀ 200 euro or a larger herd for 500 euro and give African families a future.” On the FB page, I read that the organisation DZG “combats hunger and poverty in remote African areas, by improving husbandry“. The goats ‘give milk and manure‘ and are being eaten, because the population ‘eats a lot of goat meat’. The goats are ‘an assetĀ that becomes profitable over time and are easily transferred into money‘ and ‘thatĀ can be a first step to cattle farming‘. For underpriviliged African families, they can be ‘a means to step out of poverty‘, it says on …

Sea Shepherd in Antwerp: a look on board the Sam Simon

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One of Sea Shepherd’s ships docked in Antwerp a couple of weeks ago. The Sam Simon anchored near Antwerp’s city museum MAS and during thatĀ couple of days crew offered guided toursĀ on the ship. Sea Shepherd is international marine wildlife conservation organization. They use direct action tactics to protect marine life, for example disturbing whale vessels and seizure and destruction of drift nets. I visited the ship with aĀ DutchĀ friend. It was fascinating! Some information that was shared during the tour: there are a lot of signpostsĀ with Japanese language on board the ship, that’s because the ship was originally a Japanese vessel new volunteers start out as sailors, cleaning, doing the simple on board tasks and can later on take on moreĀ responsibilities life on board is taken very seriously, no fooling around, and no alcohol on board. If you fool around you leave at the next harbour! The Sam Simon has participated in several operationsĀ (see the stickers) The Sam Simon isĀ named after American television producer and writer Sam SimonĀ (co creator of the Simpsons), who donated the money …

I won the lottery! Dinner with Sea Shepherd crew and Tom Waes on board Sam Simon, Antwerp

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Sea Shepherd is international marine wildlife conservation organization. They use direct action tactics to protect marine life, for example disturbing whale vessels and seizure and destruction of drift nets. One of their ships, the Sam Simon, embarked in Antwerp for a couple of days and was open for public visits. I visited the ship with aĀ DutchĀ friendĀ earlier in the week (review with many more pics of the Sam SimonĀ will follow here). On that visit, I gave a donation to Sea Shepherd, and as suchĀ entered the lottery to win a dinner for two on Saturday evening on board the ship, with the crew and Tom Waes.Ā As it is with lotteries, one never expects to win … But this time, I did! šŸ™‚ I got a call on Saturday afternoon and of course I gladly accepted the dinner invitation for two. We had the opportunity to talk to the crew and some volunteers fromĀ Sea Shepherd Belgium.Ā And we also met Tom Waes (Belgian actor, director and TV-presentor), who is an ambassador for Sea Shepherd and Captain Alex Cornelissen (CEO …

Animal activism with photos. An evening with Jo-Anne McArthur.

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On Saturday October 17th,Ā Belgian vegan organisation BE Vegan organised and evening with CanadianĀ photographer Jo-Anne McArthur.Ā In the vegan or animal rights community, Jo-Anne McArthurĀ is wellĀ known for her work on the project We Animals, which resulted in a book with the same title. We Animals is a series ofĀ portraits ofĀ animals in the human environment: animals used for food production, clothing, experiments and companionship. We Animals is not just meant to be a series of portraits, there’s also a moral message. Taken from the We Animals website: We Animals aims to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat non-human animals as objects and not as beings with moral significance. The objective is to photograph our interactions with animals in such a way that the viewer finds new significance in these ordinary, often unnoticed situations of use, abuse and sharing of spaces. The photos are meant to make us question what is normal, and show it from the perspective of the animal. Some of her photos were also featured in the exhibit ‘Het …

I spotted someone with this shopping bag in Brighton!

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WeĀ spent a couple of days in Brighton earlier this Summer. It’s a small but touristic town in the south east of England. We chose to go to Brighton, asĀ we read there are so many options to eat out for vegans. And there surely are! It was great. I will be posting reviews of the restaurantsĀ we visitedĀ later! On our stroll through the city center, we spotted a lady with this shopping bag from Veganz (German vegan organisation/supermarket). Pigs are awesome Cows are cool Please don’t eat them ’cause they rule! Great! I just impulsively went up to here, told her that I loved the bag and asked if I could take a photograph. Must have been very odd that a complete stranger suddenly comes up to you to ask to photograph your bag šŸ˜‰ But I thought it was very cool to spot this and see likeminded people šŸ™‚ We had a very short chat. She had bought the bag in Berlin, but if I remember correctly she was from the UK herself. Anyway, thank you …

Impressions from the photo exhibit ‘The Forgotten Animal’ in Bruges

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Anyone who’s going from the station in Bruges to ‘t Zand in the coming week cannot miss this. There are about a dozen big bords with a photo on each side of a ‘forgotten’ animal in the food industry, with next to each photo a description of the fate of the animal. The photo exhibit is originally made by the Dutch organisations Varkens in NoodĀ (Pigs in distress) and Dier en RechtĀ (Animal & Law) and we already saw it in Amsterdam in 2013 (see our impression on our Dutch blogĀ here). At that point, we wrote ‘Would this be possible on the Burg in Bruges or next to theĀ Saint-Baafscathedral in Ghent?’. And now the exhibition is actually in Belgium, and in Bruges even! Fantastic! šŸ™‚ The exhibit uses the same images as the ones that were used in the Netherlands, but the texts are adapted to the BelgianĀ context. The Forgotten Animal is brought to Bruges by a cooperation of different organisations*, and can be seen for a week in theĀ Albertpark. Ā 

Vegan baking for the Vegan Challenge

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I haven’t posted many entries on The Bruges VeganĀ lately, because I was busy posting a series a vegan baking recipes on our other blog veggieleven.be. InĀ April 2015, I posted a vegan baking recipe daily, to matchĀ the Vegan Challenge (a campagne of the Dutch organisation NVV). So all in all 30 recipes for pies, cookies and muffins! We’ve been vegan for quite some years now, and I’ve baked many goodies in that time, so I thought it would be a good occasion to show newbie vegans or those trying a vegan lifestyle that baking pies, cupcakes and cookies without animal ingredients is … easy as pie!Ā šŸ™‚ Some of the recipes were already posted on the Bruges Vegan, and some other are favourites of mine or recipes which I consider to be good introductions into the world of vegan baking. You can see the overview of allĀ recipes in this blogentry on veggieleven.be. Here are some more pictures.       I’ll be posting some of the vegan baking recipesĀ here too in the upcoming months!

About smoking doctors and milk indoctrination

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Last week, several articles in Belgian and Dutch media reported about the positive effects of drinking (cow) milk. One of the main Belgian newspapers, De Standaard, had this headline ‘Professor debunks myth. Milk is required. Milk is good for you.’ (Prof ontkracht mythe, melk moet, melk doet je goed). These articles followed a press conference organised by the Belgian Confederation of the Dairy Industry, in which itĀ wanted to invalidate several ‘myths’ about drinking milk. These ‘myths’ clearly referred to the statementsĀ of health organisations and animal rights organisations that milk is absolutely not necessary for humans. In recent times, scientific researchĀ has shown that milk is absolutely not necessary for healthy bones (on the contrary even, some studies lead to suggest that consumption of milk might enhance osteoporosis). We can getĀ all nutrients found in cow’s milk, from plant based foods. Furthermore, a large part of the humanĀ population is even lactose intolerant. Humans do not need cow milk, just as they do not need camel milk, dog milk or elephant milk. Not to mention the negative impact of …

Meat is murder as a ‘meaty’ song for Radio 1

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At the start of the Campaign Days without Meat (Dagenzondervlees), in which participants engage to leave meat and fish of their plates as much as possible, Belgian Radio 1 sollicited meaty songs to air during their show Monschau. ‘To keep your diet in balance, Monschau is serving you lovely meaty songs’Ā it says on their website. Yes, really. We thought this was the perfect occasion to set Meat is murder, (The Smiths – with frontman Morrissey) in theĀ spotlights and requested this song. ‘Meat is Murder’ is from 1985 (30 years old!), although onfortunately still very applicable to the present day situation.Ā Love him or hate him (Morrissey), but it’s a classic. Apparently Radio 1 did play the song (although I wasn’t listening myself). In between the songs about sausages and pork ribs … LyricsĀ –Ā Meat is murder Ā – The Smiths (1985) Heifer whines could be human cries Closer comes the screaming knife This beautiful creature must die This beautiful creature must die