Freedom of Species

In this episode Meg interviews Rachel from Animal-Free Science Advocacy (AFSA), a not for profit organisation dedicated to advocating for the removal of animals from experimental science.  We talk about AFSA's efforts to facilitate a culture of animal free alternatives in research, experimentation and training, and how this relates to the evolution of non animal experimental models of all kinds. Join us as we talk about current technology, how AFSA is tapping into this ever evolving aspect of research, and why it's important to move away from animal models for scientific progress.  https://animalfreescienceadvocacy.org.au/what-you-can-do/ https://www.youtube.com/@AnimalFreeScienceAdvocacy https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/animalfreescienceadvocacy  External Links: https://www.whenwejustify.org/ https://www.testsubjectsfilm.com  Music  Spoken word poem by Benjamin Zephaniah: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=793396332139224&rdid=juvvSOL12iCZJnj0  Rocky Raccon - The Beatles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqA4ZiQaGtU  Song for Camp Beagle - Maria Daines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPYc2zDJhSc

Katie and Nick discuss well-known vegan spiritual figure Supreme Master Ching Hai supporting Donald Trump. We use this as a starting point to cover broader issues around connections between spiritual/wellness movements, including some vegans, and the far-right. This broader discussion draws on Naomi Klein’s book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World.  Links: We’re releasing this show as two separate podcasts. You can hear part one of this show, where we analyse the book and movie Uglies from an animal rights perspective, via our website and a range of podcast apps: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/uglies-really-dystopian-story-pop-culture-through-animal-rights-lens Supreme Master TV, New Revelations on President Donald Trump: God-Chosen Leader of America and Bringer of World Peace: https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/234322965552.html It's A Lot with Abbie Chatfield - A podcast by LiSTNR, SOLO: Divine Feminine And Masculine Is Misogyny Wrapped In A Crystal-Themed Bow: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1IIgOoTYPxTh5KAyOKJ8sY The points on US foreign policy were based on the work of politics professor Jason Brownlee. You can explore his work on this topic – article: https://catalyst-journal.com/2021/03/shadow-wars-and-corporate-welfare and podcast: https://progressivepodcastaustralia.com/2021/04/08/263/  Music: Animal Liberation by Los Fastidios: https://www.losfastidios.net/ I went out with a hippy and now I love everyone except for her by Frenzal Rhomb: https://frenzalrhomb.net/pages/music/2003-sans-souci/ Comfortably Numb by Body Count: https://bodycountband.com/

Katie and Nick analyse the book and movie Uglies through an animal rights lens. The movie is streaming on Netflix but Katie recommends the book over the movie!  We’re releasing this show as two separate podcasts. You can hear part two of this show, covering wellness/spiritual people including some vegans supporting Donald Trump, via our website and a range of podcast apps: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/supreme-master-supports-trump-conspirituality-and-vegan-movement  Music: Animal Liberation by Los Fastidios: https://www.losfastidios.net/ I Don’t Like Myself by girli: https://girlimusic.com/en-au

In this show, Meg and Caroline discuss the history of companion animals and pethood and the ethical dilemmas this can raise.   Music we played:       Strange Fruit by Billie Holliday       This is America by Childish Gambino       Gibson Girl by Ethel Cain       We also highlighted the work of  Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS). MALS is an all-volunteer organisation that provides training for protest movements, information & resources on the rights to protest in Victoria, and fields Legal Observer Teams that monitor and report on the policing of protest events. MALS train organisers and activist groups in legal support approaches and strategies, and can help coordinate activist legal support with supportive law firms and community legal centres.   MALS legal observers are always on the frontline of Victoria’s diverse and powerful social movements and have a current fundraising campaign that will allow them to produce more training and resoures to #FundtheFrontline  Please donate if you can at linktr.ee/melbactivistlegal or mals.au/donate

Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P) is a volunteer-based non-profit organization focused on veganism and food justice.  F.E.P's mission to to create a more just and sustainable world by recognising the power of one's food choices. They encourage healthy good choices that reflect a more compassionate sociert by spotlightin the abuse of animals on farms, the depletion of natural resources, unfair working conditions for produce workers, and the lack of availability of healthy foods in low-income areas. Please see the links below for further details on their work and impact for food justice. We also spoke about Plant the Land Team Gaza, a vegan food justice and community projects volunteer team based in Gaza, co-founded by Anas Arafat, a Gazan humanitarian aid activist, and Laura Schleifer, a USAmerican vegan, Free Palestine solidarity activist and Total Liberation Campaign Director at the Institute for Critical Animal Studies. Plant the Land Team buys and distributes vegan food, plants food forests, and provides Gazan farmers with seeds and planting tools. Previous fundraising projects have also included providing plant-based insulin to children with diabetes, providing medical treatment, providing warm winter coats and blankets made from plant-based materials, and our yearly vegan food fundraiser for Ramadan. You can follow Plant the Land Team Gaza on Facebook here; https://www.facebook.com/PlantTheLandTeamGaza/ Right now people are facing extreme harship and starvation in Gaza, and donations are desperately needed. Follow co-founder Anas Arafat here for updates https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008448283358  Please donate via either of the links below:   Food, water and essential items via GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mutual-aid-in-gaza?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet_ai&utm_content=amp1v3&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=whatsapp Winter appeal via Muslim Giving https://www.muslimgiving.org/G4zawinter?fbclid=IwY2xjawGU-99leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHREx6DqnNsKbUbSzjYKQr_isJpYDLXBpczroGEz9fzctnNUAY6fY6jfhfA_aem_HR9L6c5ldKu8NrDnu_Mclw  Links:   Food Empowerment Project: https://foodispower.org/  F.E.P's core work across veganism, access to healthy food, chocolate and farm workers' rights: https://foodispower.org/our-work/  F.E.P's anti-dairy campaign, One Glass at a Time https://gotcolonization.org/  Human slavery and child slavery in the chocolate industry: https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/  F.E.P's chocolate list: https://foodispower.org/chocolate-list/  F.E.P's collective organisational model https://foodispower.org/our-collective-model/  Lauren Ornelas interview with Monica Sanders on medium: How Food Empowerment Project is helping to promote sustainability and climate justice https://medium.com/authority-magazine/how-lauren-ornelas-of-food-empowerment-project-is-helping-to-promote-sustainability-and-climate-6308b4c989e1  Lauren’s TEdX talk: The Power of Our Food Choices: Lauren Ornelas at TEDxGoldenGatePark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfVA0a-CBc Music:  We featured music from Leila Hegazy and the benefit compilation album, We are the Resistance. We played three songs: War Machine, Catastrophe and Stay (cover). The We are the Resistance benefit compilation album is available on Bandcamp. All proceeds go to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). https://leilahegazy.bandcamp.com/album/we-are-the-resistance  Feedback: please contact the Freedom of Species team with any feedback via email: freedomofspecies@gmail.com Thank you for listening and supporting 3CR Community Radio.

On this show, we play the recording of a recent panel discussion, "One Year In: Reflections and the Ongoing Resistance" held on September 28, 2024 and hosted by Dr Leila Dehghan. In this conversation, the panel reflect on the televised genocide of the Palestinians, the silence within the vegan and animal rights movement, and discuss actionable steps for moving forward in solidarity. This panel discussion is available on YouTube as a video recording. If you'd like to watch that, please find it here.    Dr Leila Dehghan, doctor turned plant-based nutritionist and the Founding Director of Plant-based Health Justice. Plant-based Health Justice’s initiatives include planetary health, animal justice, human health and racial justice.  Joining Leila on the panel are: Anas Araft and Laura Schleifer, co-founders of Plant the Land, Akbar Ali, Director of Communications at APEX Advocacy and Wassem Hijazi, founder of Plant Based Arab and Vegans for Palestine.   The panel mentioned two important fundraisers that directly support Gazans with food and essentials:    Vegan for Gaza: https://4fund.com/xdh9gr    Plant the Land Team: There's a GoFundMe for water, food and essential items: link to GoFundMe here and the Gaza Winter Appeal link to Muslim Giving fundraiser here     Connect with the panellists on Instagram and Facebook:      Plant-based Health Justice:   / plantbased_health_justice        Vegans for Palestine:   / vegansforpalestine        Plant Based Arab / plantbasedarab      APEX Advocacy:   / apexadvocacy        Plant the Land Team Gaza: / plantthelandteamgaza       Music we played:       Samer - World Goes Blind       Nemahsis - Immigrant’s Tale       Dami Falasteeni - My Blood is Palestinian       Please contact the Freedom of Species team with any feedback at freedomofspecies@gmail.com     Thank you for listening and supporting radical radio via 3CR Community Radio.

We need to talk about an issue that doesn't get as much discussion as it needs. It's a particularly important topic right now with the state of the world and the exhaustion some activists are feeling.  Today we are talking about activist burnout, what it means, how we get to this point and what both the individual activist and the justice movements as a whole can do to prevent it happening and create a supportive, understanding and sustainable structure where activists can continue to do the good work while also giving back to themselves, nurturing their relationships and ensuring they don't give away pieces of themselves.  Music by Uboa https://uboa.bandcamp.com/ https://linktr.ee/Uboatheflesh Endocrine Disruptor https://uboa.bandcamp.com/track/endocrine-disruptor Epilation Joy https://uboa.bandcamp.com/track/the-origin-of-my-depression-2 Exsanguination https://uboa.bandcamp.com/track/exsanguination Full speech by Dr Melanie Joy https://youtu.be/36XFiTY3SAo?si=m3eq3OKIzR5ln8sl  Photo by Danie Franco https://unsplash.com/photos/woman-wearing-blue-v-neck-short-sleeved-top-tnxRFtXI9dI

Sometimes if we take a look at how animals were percieved in the past, it can give us new insight into our perceptions of animals today.  Join Meg and Trev to discuss how people in Medieval times in Europe perceived animals wild, domesticated and fantastical. We look at how the dominant paradigms of the times (Paganism and Christianity) affected how different animals were treated, the unique relationships peope of the time had with animals, how the different classes of people viewed animals, and take a look at human art from the Medieval period in the form of colourful depictions of animals in books known as Bestiaries, animals in music and also animals in stories and legends of the time.  Can we say for sure that Medieval times were more brutal for animals than they are now, or is this a myth? What unexpected animal was closely associated with Christain divinity in the Middle Ages? How did people's perceptions of animals change as Christianity became the dominant religion? What animal pulled the Norse goddess Freya's chariot? These questions and more will be answered in this history based show.  Gone Medieval podcast episode: Fantastic Beasts of the Middle Ages  https://shows.acast.com/gone-medieval/episodes/fantastic-beasts-of-the-middle-ages Exeter Riddle 15 (modern English translation by Dr Megan Cavell) https://theriddleages.com/riddles/post/exeter-riddle-15/ Aberdeen Bestiary https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ Music by Ensemble Dragma from their album Song of Beasts: Fantastic Creatures in Medieval Song https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/song-beasts-fantastic-creatures-medieval-song Un Pellegrin Uccel - a madrigal by Paolo da Firenze circa late 1300s/early 1400s Una Panthera - a three-voice Italian madrigal by Johannes Ciconia circa 1390s Fenice Fu - a madrigal by Jacopo da Bologna circa 1300s  Image from the Aberdeen Bestiary circa 1100s

Katie, Lottie and Nick go through common characteristics of cults and whether any of them apply to veganism. For those that do, we also discuss if they apply just to some vegans, or are inherent to veganism. Throughout the show, we draw on Katie’s childhood experiences in a cult, Amanda Montell’s book Cultish and the podcast episode ‘The Cult of Veganism’ by Sounds Like A Cult.  Links: Amanda Montell’s book Cultish: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9780062993151/cultish/ The podcast episode ‘The Cult of Veganism’ by Sounds Like a Cult: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qpFLQnkE4uonawnCnmWcF?si=E9t7L658Q8ysJdWUMIYCbQ&t=2206 Our previous Freedom of Species show ‘Post-Veganism: Creating a Systemic and Inclusive Animal Liberation Movement’ covered somewhat related themes to this show: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/post-veganism-creating-systemic-and-inclusive-animal-liberation-movement  Music: Animal Liberation by Los Fastidios: https://www.losfastidios.net/ Hillsong of the Damned by The Decline and Jay Whalley: https://thedeclinemusic.bandcamp.com/album/magical-misery-tour Melbourne by Mia June: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjQAc1VwIq0 Home Sweet Home by Eddie Ink: https://eddieink.bandcamp.com/album/daydream-at-nighttime

Julia, Lottie, Trev and Nick discuss effective altruism – donating to organisations that do the greatest good. We cover animals being sidelined in some EA resources and we evaluate the evaluations of the most effective animal charities.  Links: Animal Charity Evaluators: https://animalcharityevaluators.org/blog/recommended-charity-fund-update-july-2024/ Effective Altruism Australia: https://effectivealtruism.org.au/best-charities/ The Life You Can Save: https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org.au/ Give Well - https://www.givewell.org/ Giving What We Can - https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/ The Good It Promises, the Harm It Does – Critical Essays on Effective Altruism: https://academic.oup.com/book/45591 Plant The Land: https://www.planttheland.org/ Food Empowerment Project: https://foodispower.org/ A previous Freedom of Species show ‘Zane McNeill on animal rights advocacy and addressing anti-carceral veganism’ covered relevant themes of corporate/foundation funding of non-profits: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/zane-mcneill-animal-rights-advocacy-and-addressing-anti-carceral-veganism Nick’s blog post summarising his PhD research on the financial aspects of social movements: https://faunalytics.org/little-effort-paradigm-asking-people-less-sustainably/  Music: Animal liberation by Los Fastidios: https://www.losfastidios.net/ Under the Garden by No Use For A Name: https://open.spotify.com/track/3H4YgNUdGSKFBCWnJYhwMP?si=8b0dc3b39c454b5a Invasion by Chumbawamba: https://open.spotify.com/track/4MkmrBfnm96reUnT0nJtnr?si=4e5f3f6909f44b80 How To Get Your Band On TV by Chumbawamba: https://open.spotify.com/track/28krH5U2ijrNVffWSuVIzY?si=9a7b9f0b5225485d