Movement Watch
Calling All Vision Keepers

     Over the last three years, the US animal movement has gone though a massive transition, in which control of the resources available to help animals, as well as the content of the message that goes out to the public, has become concentrated into the hands of a few individuals who run large corporate charities. Simultaneous with this loss of democracy has come a relentless trend of greater collaboration with various factions of the animal exploiting industries, resulting in a devastating co-option of the vegan and animal rights movements and their message, in what essentially amounts to a kind of identity theft.

     While the controversy surrounding this trend is being framed as a philosophical disagreement between a “rights” and a “welfare” approach, what is lost on many people is that the problem runs much deeper, into the realm of basic ethics and conflict of interest. What has changed is that people who say they believe that using and killing animals is inherently immoral, are actively promoting the consumption of alternative “humane” animal products amongst the public. What they themselves would refuse to do for moral reasons, they are now enthusiastically recommending to others.

     Even some farmed animal sanctuaries are actively endorsing “new and improved” animal products and husbandry methods, thus providing positive PR for their industry allies, increasing public acceptance and the profits they derive from using and killing animals.

     At the same time, those driving this new trend characterize those who raise doubts as being willing to “abandon billions of animals who are suffering now,” or as speciesist “anti-welfare advocates” who believe “we should leave animals in crates and cages so that we can use that to shame meat-eaters into not eating veal or eggs,” and even as “a vocal and sometimes intimidating clique trying to seize control of the animal rights movement,” a group of extreme idealogues not unlike religious fundamentalists. Such rhetoric only serves one purpose, to distract from the fact that the people responsible for this shift in the movement refuse to address the obvious and straightforward questions being raised by a wide range of experienced grassroots activists, community educators and animal rescuers.

     Quite naturally, these types of choices are fracturing the animal movement, perhaps permanently. What is most troubling is that everything that is happening now follows a standard and well-documented blueprint for the disruption of grassroots social justice movements, laid out specifically by meat industry consultants in the mid-90’s (learn more).

     This tragic turn of events has come about largely as a result of an egregious failure of leadership, a failure to think critically, a failure to consider the long term consequences of selling off our movement’s identity and ethical foundations in exchange for short term gains of questionable value. But the answer is not to be found in identifying one or more alternative leaders to blindly follow in a new direction, but for each of us to find the leader within ourselves. By definition, every person with enough intelligence and courage to defy social norms and refuse to oppress others is a leader. Therefore, every person in this movement is already a leader or a leader in the making. To survive and thrive, visions need vision keepers. The ethical vision of a world predicated on telling the truth and living with respect for all beings is being degraded before our very eyes into a grotesque caricature of itself. This vision is at risk. People of all backgrounds and all levels of experience need to step forward now to seek and speak their deepest truth--to think critically, to think ahead, to act with integrity, to act as citizen leaders.

     For our part, Tribe of Heart is committed to creating new educational tools and forums that encourage critical thinking as well as exposing some of the ways that dialog and dissent are being suppressed in today’s movement. We ask each person who reads this newsletter to look carefully at what is happening to our movement, and if you don’t feel right about what your own investigation turns up, consider doing something about it. Talk to others. Write a blog. Produce a brochure. Host a forum. Organize a conference. Send encouraging notes or donations to grassroots education organizations and animal sanctuaries that are speaking out. Investigate the claims being made by industry and advocacy conglomerates alike, and report to others what you find. Document and publicize the behind-the-scenes reality of “humane” animal agriculture. Whenever you can, directly confront misinformation, doubletalk, and manipulation. Whenever you can, refuse to accept arbitrary authority or domination imposed by those who control resources or media access. Consider boycotting events and programs that perpetuate the degradation of our message and the movement -- or attend, and freely voice your dissent. Never doubt that one voice makes a difference.

     It has been said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Let’s work together to pull the curtains back and let the light in where it is needed most. Every movement goes through difficult times. These difficulties need not define us. But what we do in response to them surely will. Let our response be one that expresses the highest truth we know.

     Let's make 2008 the year that our movement reclaims its integrity and its vision.

"Happy" Meat
on the march...

Food & Wine:
Why Vegetarians Are Eating Meat
"For Andrew and about a dozen people in our circle who have recently converted from vegetarianism, eating sustainable meat purchased from small farmers is a new form of activism..."

Reuters:
Compassionate Carnivores
"I was talking to this guy I know who said 'The grass-fed movement is the new vegetarianism,'" said Alix Wall, a personal chef in the Bay Area of California. "I'd never heard of that but when he said it, it made a lot of sense to me."

The Union:
A Meaty Matter
Vegan butcher educates customers about naturally produced meat... "I know I live in a world where most people eat meat, but I feel that being a butcher for natural meat allows more options," Mongiardo said. "If everyone in the town ate natural meat, they'd be better off because there's no hormones, antibiotics or chemicals in natural meat."

Cows Unite:
Web Site
Organic dairy industry assembles phony animal "rights" campaign, capitalizing on the public's confusion between sincere animal advocacy efforts and industry collaborations with large corporate animal groups. This is a classic example of Astroturf, a slick public relations technique designed to dupe the public into believing a marketing campaign is actually a grassroots, citizen-based initiative.

The Guardian (United Kingdom):
Happy Meat
"Miller's kills animals gently because, as every butcher knows, stress in the last hours and minutes causes serious damage to meat. But there's growing evidence that animals who have lived calm and natural lives, kept out of trucks and away from goads, will also provide much better eating."

Alive Magazine (Canada):
The Compassionate Carnivore
"I understood at an early age that you could love animals and still eat them. I’d play with our two piglets until they grew too big to hold, then I’d go and visit them in their pen. The time would come when they weren’t there anymore, and about a week later we’d have the most delicious bacon…"

Vail Daily:
For the Love of Steak
Former vegetarians now eat meat

Daily Camera:
Rethinking Meat
Eating humanely raised animals goes more mainstream