Freedom of Species

Our political, societal and legislative landscape is changed by the information whistleblowers and activists bring to light, and in the current legal and political system, they often do this at great cost to themselves and their families.  In today's show, Meg and Trev explore what this means for the activists who collect and disseminate footage from slaughterhouses, farms and other locations within the animal agriculture industry, and how our country's current 'Ag Gag' laws actively discourage and restrict the truth of what is occuring from being made public.  ABC 7.30 report on Farm Transparency Project's footage of pig slaughterhouses: https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/farmed-animals/australias-pig-gas-chambers-receive-national-attention-on-abcs-7-30/  Music by Umbra Moon https://linktr.ee/umbramoon Army of me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNzkS_q5rGw&list=OLAK5uy_klgG4sDLBxBsx43DwJvySQxt1EHnR-jqA&index=1 It don't work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pg6Y5wBQuI Goodbye https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJJ-iME3FtA  Image by davide ragusa https://unsplash.com/photos/herd-of-sheep-in-grayscale-photo-cDwZ40Lj9eo

Today Trev welcomes new presenter Betty Melon to the Freedom of Species team. Betty shares her reluctant journey to veganism and her history of animal advocacy. We introduce the meaning of the Anthropocene, a geologic time period defined by human activity and we discuss the implications of national borders and militarisation on wildlife and nature. We finish with a discussion of American imperialism and the role of McDonald's in global geopolitics. Fact correction: as of 2024 there are 195 countries on earth and 118 of them have McDonald's.  Links: BDS Campaign: https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide  Music Played: Séimí 'Bound' https://seimi.bandcamp.com/album/bound Durand Jones & The Indications 'Morning In America' https://durandjonesandtheindications.bandcamp.com/album/american-love-call Oscar Jerome 'Give Back What U Stole From Me' https://music.apple.com/us/album/breathe-deep/1506178599

Play along and see if you can beat other listeners to the correct answers!  Please donate to Radiothon to keep 3CR Radical Radio on-air: https://www.givenow.com.au/cr/freedomofspecies?     Music played: The Decline 'Sentience or Selfishness' - https://peerecords.bandcamp.com/album/im-not-gonna-lie-to-you Vespertine 'Perfect Storm' - https://vespertineband.tripod.com/id2.html

Join a thought-provoking discussion with an activist who connects veganism to broader social justice issues. Discover how Andrew's Māori heritage informs his views on decolonialism and allyship. The conversation critiques single-issue veganism and the power dynamics within movements, emphasizing the importance of education for collective liberation. Explore the intersections of animal rights and human liberation while contemplating the implications of militarism on families. Enjoy a blend of activism, social critique, and personal stories.

Lottie, Hayden and Nick discuss the movies Okja and Chicken Run 1 and 2, plus the TV show Peep Show, through an animal rights lens. We also touch on the movies: Legally Blonde 2, Paddington and 101 Dalmatians, the TV show Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell, and the stand-up comedy show COMPANION - Interesting Comedy Special by Sam Campbell.   Links: Help Sick Baby Jamil and Family of 6 Survive – fundraiser for a family in Gaza: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-ezzeddin-family You can check out the study Hayden mentioned regarding needing 10% of the population to strongly hold a belief for it to be adopted by the majority:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110725190044.htm Daniel Andrews defends plan to cull feral horses as protesters rally outside state parliament: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/08/daniel-andrews-defends-plan-to-cull-feral-horses-as-protesters-rally-outside-state-parliament Previous FoS pop culture and animal rights shows: Vampires and Veganism: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/vampires-and-veganism Horror Movies and Challenging the Human/Animal Dichotomy: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/horror-movies-and-challenging-humananimal-dichotomy  Music: Animal liberation by Los Fastidios: https://www.losfastidios.net/ I Don’t Eat Animals – live at Carnegie Hall by Melanie: https://open.spotify.com/track/236SX5cv9sEkKgMdv0NDl1?si=4a32b13f6b4a4d9a The Animal Song by Savage Garden: https://open.spotify.com/track/5TuzQ44lPWTCKbfXbNIEXg?si=c669df09261045b7 They do it’s true by Dori Freeman: https://dorifreeman1.bandcamp.com/album/do-you-recall  Make sure you tune in to our Radiothon Trivia Show, Sunday June 16th 1pm to 2pm! For more information, check out the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/463685309410247/

Laura Schleifer is the Institute for Critical Animal Studies Conference Director, Program Chair at Promoting Enduring Peace, and co-founder of Plant the Land, a Gaza-based vegan food justice/community projects team. A lifelong “artivist” and graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she’s performed throughout the Middle East with a circus troupe, taught in China, Nicaragua, and at Wesleyan University’s Green Street Arts Center, performed off-Broadway, and arts-mentored homeless youth. Her screenplay, The Feral Child, was a Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab finalist. Her essays appear in New Politics Magazine, Forca Vegan, and multiple anthologies, including "Expanding the Critical Animal Studies Imagination; Essays in Solidarity and Total Liberation" (Peter Lang, 2024), "Kropotkin Now! Life, Freedom and Ethics" (Black Rose Books, 2023), "Neoliberal Schooling of Selfishness and Exploitation: Rubricization and Corporatization of Higher Education", (Peter Lang, 2022) and "Fever Spores; William S. Burroughs and Queer Letters", (Rebel Satori Press, 2022).Links:Plant the Land Team Gaza is 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. Follow Plant the Land on social media on Facebook and YouTube:https://www.facebook.com/PlantTheLandTeamGaza/  and https://www.youtube.com/@plantthelandteamgaza3395  Animal Liberation and Social Revolution by Brian A. Dominick (free download) https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/brian-a-dominick-animal-liberation-and-social-revolution Institute for Critical Animal Studies https://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/ Promoting Enduring Peace https://pepeace.org/  Expanding the Critical Animal Studies Imagination: Critical Essays in Solidarity and Total Liberation, edited by Nathan Poirier, Sarah Tomasello and Amber E. George. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1298884  Kropotkin Now! Life, Freedom and Ethics, edited by Christopher Coquard. https://blackrosebooks.com/products/b-kropotkin-now-b-br-christopher-coquard-ed  Music we played:Public Enemy: Fight the PowerRebel Diaz: 1-800-GenocideLowkey: Palestine will never die 3CR's Radiothon is coming up for the month of June and this year's theme is Sound on for Solidarity. We need your help to keep fierce and indepenendent radio on the airwaves. Please consider donating if you can.Ways to donate:Online: www.3cr.org.au/donate (Note: you can nominate your favourite shows in the form)By phone: Call 03 9419 8377 during business hours (Monday - Friday 9-5pm) to pay by credit card.Come to the station: Drop by the station during business hours and pay by cash or EFTPOS. 21 Smith Street,Fitzroy.Thank you for your support. We welcome your feedback on our shows and would love to hear from you at freedomofspecies@gmail.com

On this show Meg and Trev discuss the recent auroras, earth's magnetic field and the way solar storms that create the phenomena can affect animals including whales, turtles, bats, and bees. There is science, space and lots more! Music Hold your own Kae Tempest https://soundcloud.com/pan-macmillan/hold-your-own-kate-tempest People's Faces Kae Tempest https://youtu.be/mvCKSuPq8o8?si=GAIlfaRgN6Og_vP6 Grace Kae Tempest https://youtu.be/xAQ0oTEB-Ws?si=kd5BWy5HtyWr5PIE  Photo by v2osk https://unsplash.com/photos/aurora-borealis-Ovn1hyBge38

This show aired on Mother’s Day today in Australia and our discussion covers heavy topics such as violence, death and the genocide in Palestine. We recognise that trauma is widespread and that many listeners may have experienced traumatic events in their lives, and so mention these topics up front. Mother’s Day:We discuss issues of speciesism around animal mothers and talk about the story of Clarabelle the cow and her baby Valentine who are living together at Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary.  https://edgarsmission.org.au/animal/clarabelle-and-valentine/Video story https://vimeo.com/415803158 Families for Palestine on Instagram carousel Honouring Palestinian Mothers https://www.instagram.com/familiesforpalestine/  269 Liberation Animale:  aims to raise awareness about the animal cause and to inform people about the non-necessity of living animals. It works to take into account the fundamental interests of sentient beings: the right to life, to liberty, to dignity. She is anti-speciesist and abolitionist, and organises street theater based on the reality of what humans do to other animals.  Benefit compilation for (by Total Liberation Records) for 269 Liberation Animale, an activist collective targeting speciesist industries by blockading slaughterhouses, freeing animals and sabotaging places.  We spoke about APEX Advocacy, an organisation founded by Christopher ‘Soul’ Eubanks focused on building a community of BIPOC animal rights advocates by empowering their activism and providing resources and support. APEX aims to increase the number of BIPOC individuals who participate in animal activism by advocating for collective liberation through animal rights, particularly in marginalized areas and communities that are disproportionately affected by the animal industrial complex.In order to effectively eradicate animal industries, we maintain that the grassroots animal advocacy movement must actively welcome and amplify BIPOC voices, build bridges with other movements and communities, and recognize the interconnectedness between various systems of oppression.We spoke about the recent blog published by APEX Advocacy called Complicity & Selective Compassion: Making Sense of the Animal Rights Movement's Silence on the Palestinian GenocideIn their blog, APEX Advocacy made a really impactful and important statement directed at the animal rights movement denouncing its acquiescence to genocide, its capitulation to the imperial donor class, and it’s selective ‘compassion’ which excludes Palestinians - an exclusion rooted in anti-blackness and white supremacy. Mutual Aid:Plant the Land Team Gaza is 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. They are also currently in the midst of a campaign to construct a village water well. On a previous show we aired an interview with Laura Schleifer by Dr Leila Deghan here. Videos from Plant the Land https://www.youtube.com/@plantthelandteamgaza3395   Please, please share and support the fundraiser set up to get critical funds to Anas in Gaza if you can. Clean water, food, clothing and toys are desperately needed by displaced Palestinians. You can donate via the Muslim Giving fundraiser link here https://www.muslimgiving.org/GazasupportOr via Paypal here https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/93MMUSLZkP  Mental Health resources:Dr Ash Nayate’s book Staying Positive in a F*cked up World is a wonderful resource. Follow Dr Ash here: https://www.facebook.com/thisisdrashOur show with Dr Ash from 2021 about navigating activist burnout is available here: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode-202104251300/navigating-activism-and-burnout-dr-ash-nayate  Helpful article about vicarious trauma amidst the Palestinian catastrophe has many relatable points: https://muslimmirror.com/eng/war-on-gaza-coping-with-vicarious-trauma-amidst-the-palestinian-catastrophe/  Great resource overview from APAN - Australian Palestine Advocacy Network. Times are overwhelming, especially for individuals involved in activism for a Free Palestine, watching a genocide unfold while navigating the complexities of activism.A short guide to proactively create healthy patterns for ourselves and solidarity groups, with 8 steps to follow.https://www.facebook.com/AustraliaPalestineAdvocacyNetwork/  Music:We played two songs from the 269 Liberation Animale Benefit Compilation :A Plague: Long Dark Veins, and Tumultuous Ruin: Lamentation of this Nightmarish Realm.Our final song is by Macklemore called Hind’s Hall. The song's title was inspired by Hind Rajab — the six-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the Israeli military — and the name pro-Palestine student protesters at Columbia University gave to a building on their campus, Hamilton Hall, as they waved Palestine's flag up high before the police attacked them. Macklemore is donating all proceeds from the sale of this song to UNWRA. Find it on Spotify here.  Radiothon is coming up at 3CR for the month of June. This year's theme is Sound on for Solidarity, and the station needs everyone's help to keep radical and independent radio going. We will share more information next week on how you can donate to Radiothon. Freedom of Species will have an Animal Trivia show for Radiothon on Sunday June 16. Thank you.

Our guest is Emma Hakansson, the founding director of Collective Fashion Justice, a not-for-profit dedicated to creating a total ethics fashion system which prioritises the wellbeing of people, our fellow animals and the planet, before profit. We chat about Emma's books Total Ethics Fashion and Sub-human: A 21st-Century Ethic; on Animals, Collective Liberation, and Us All, and some of the campaign updates from Collective Fashion Justice.  Links: Collective Fashion Justice https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/ The CFJ Manifesto https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/manifesto Willow and Claude is a multi-award winning short documentary film and proof of concept knitwear collection created by Collective Fashion Justice. The film follows the two gorgeous lambs Willow and Claude, and explores a future for knitwear made from plants. The film can be viewed here https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/willow-and-claudeSLAY is a feature documentary film exploring the interwoven harms caused by fashion’s use of fur, leather and wool. https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/slay-filmSLAY and Willow and Claude are available on the streaming service WaterBear https://www.waterbear.com/Total Ethics Fashion book https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/total-ethics-fashion-bookSub-Human book https://lanternpm.org/book/sub-human/Take action and add your voice to the CFJ Kangaroo campaign calling on Adidas to end the use of kangaroo leather https://www.collectivefashionjustice.org/adidas-kangaroo-leather-ban Music: We played the following songs from the new album OIKS by Jebediah https://www.jebediah.net/I wanna get outOK, you winAqua lung Thank you for listening to Freedom of Species and supporting community radio via 3CR. Please get in touch with the team with any feedback on our shows at freedomofspecies@gmail.com

Join us as we revisit the fascinating and ongoing saga of orcas attacking boats off the Iberian Peninsula. Since May of 2020 orcas have been attacking, damaging and in some cases sinking boats off the Iberian Peninsula between Morocco, Portugal and Spain, and no one knows for certain why. What are their motives? How has this negative human/orca interaction played out? Is it escalating? What will the clashes lead to? Listen to the first Orca Revolution episode below: The Orca Revolution Part 1: https://www.3cr.org.au/freedomofspecies/episode/orca-revolution-why-are-orcas-attacking-boats-iberian-peninsula Marine biologist KP's website: https://www.kpassionate.com/ Website for further information on the iberian orca's attacking boats: https://www.orcaiberica.org/ Article Boat-sinking orcas are on the move – and scientists don’t know why: https://metro.co.uk/2024/04/17/boat-sinking-orcas-move-scientists-dont-know-20667311/ Music Gladis by Gemas https://gemasbanda.bandcamp.com/track/gladis Tilikum by Airspace https://airspaceofficial.bandcamp.com/track/tilikum-single Killer Whale by Dark Smith https://darksmith.bandcamp.com/track/killer-whale Photo courtesy of Mike Doherty https://unsplash.com/photos/black-and-white-whale-on-water-during-daytime-iyVSCp0ZUj0