All posts tagged: animal rights

#556 Lovely food, spacious relaxed place, vegan restaurant Veganees, Amsterdam (NL)

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restaurant review #556 – Vegan restaurant in Amsterdam! With an Asian inspired menu. Figurine seen in souvenir shop in Amsterdam= Speciesist representation of animals in popular culture.Even if no animals are physically harmed with this mini statue, it consolidates a framing as animals existing to entertain us. Elephants are not meant to do tricks. See my presentation ‘Representations of other animals‘ at the International Animal Rights Conference. (see video below)

Celebrating 15 years of being vegan!

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I don’t have a clear vegan anniversary date, but July 2009 was when my husband and I made the ‘click’ to go vegan. This happened at the first Minding Animals Conference in Australia, an international gathering with leading activists and academics in the field of critical animal studies (I also gave two presentations btw). The atmosphere was amazing and inspiring! 🤗Veganism was considered normal, a ‘given’, which was a real eye opener, and a big contrast to the more dominant ‘vegetarian/veggie’ focus in those days (especially in Belgium). Despite having been vegetarian for more than 10 years before and being aware of animal rights issues, we realised we were still contributing to animal oppression in many ways. We wanted to change that.

My quilt ‘Like herrings in the ocean’ in the National Expo!

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My quilt ‘Like herrings in the ocean. And not in a barrel …‘ has been selected for de Nationale Expo and can now be seen (for free!) at the exhibition at the Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels!

Artivism: ‘Like herrings in the ocean. And not in a barrel …’

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I need your help! I have submitted a work to ‘de Nationale Expo’. My work has a nature conservation message.

No walk in the park … Horse drawn carriages in Bruges

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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 🙏🏼

10 year anniversary of The Bruges Vegan!

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The Bruges Vegan is ten years old today! Woohoo 🙂

VIDEO Ableism, ageism and speciesism, presentation IARC 2018, Geertrui Cazaux

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I attended the 8th International Animal Rights Conference in Luxembourg at the beginning of September. A very inspirational weekend, being together with activists from many different countries and attending many presentations on a broad variety of topics (program here). I gave a presentation about ableism, ageism and speciesism. The presentation is now up on Youtube on VeganKanal. The slides from the presentation are inlcuded. I added English subtitles to the video. Interested in hearing your feedback! The video does not include the introduction. In which I gave (among other things) an overview of the presentation: Intro: definitions and examples 1) intersections and interconnections between ableism, ageism and speciesism 2) how to reach disabled, older people 3) points to take into account to be an inclusive movement   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Geertrui (@trudi_bruges)        

VIDEO – Ableism in the vegan movement. Intro to my talk at VegfestUK – Geertrui Cazaux

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Why do we need to address ableism in the vegan and animal rights movement? This is an introduction to my talk at VegfestUK, in London, Oct 27 – 28: Ableism, bodyshaming and healthshaming, Geertrui Cazaux Transcript below. Transcript. Hello, I am Geertrui. Or, that’s Trudi in English. And I will be presenting a talk at the upcoming VegfestUK festival in London. And my talk will be about ableism in the movement. Now ableism is discrimination or prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities. So against disabled people. Now, I can immediately hear some of you think: oh, ableism what does that have to do with veganism? Why should we be discussing this at a vegan festival? It should be about tackling speciesism. About fighting for animal rights. We shouldn’t be talking about ableism or other forms of discrimination like racism and sexism, but only focus on the animals, because it’s about the animals, right? yes, of course veganism is about tackling speciesism and about the animals, but how we deal with each other as …

Anarchism & animal rights. Book: Making a Killing (Bob Torres)

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Enjoyed reading this book! I had previously read Vegan Freak from Bob and Jenna Torres, which was a very easy read, and more tongue in cheek. This book is totally different, more academic, about the connections between the oppression of humans and other animals, and on how anarchist and anti-capitalist theory can/should inform the animal rights movement. I would have loved to read more from Bob Torres, but after the termination of their very popular podcast and blog ‘Vegan Freak’ in 2009, he has not published any more on issues of animal rights and seems to have disappeared from public life. Some quotes with food for thought: p.122 “Structured as any other form of oppression, speciesism is more than a mere form of discrimination or prejudice, instead […] it has structural causes that are rooted in mutually constitutive economic, ideological, and sociocultural practices. While an anti-speciesist necessarily does not consume animals, that is not enough action to overcome the deeply rooted processes that produce vast inequality. Instead, what is needed is a movement that radically …

About criminal animals. E.P. Evans (1906) The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals

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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 …