“What I am about to show you is very difficult to experience; once you have been inside, there’s no turning back, ” narrates Jose Valle just before he walks you into a pig farming facility in Mexico. “This is your last chance to leave.”
The ominous warning marks the beginning of a new documentary investigation by Animal Equality, an animal protection organization, and Condition One, a virtual reality production company. The film, Factory Farm, premiered at Sundance Film Festival, but is seen here for the first time.
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If you’ve been reading Green Is the New Red, you know that one of the most prevalent — and effective — tactics against social justice movements is to divide them, and let the factions turn on each other.
Animal advocates are challenging the most powerful and wealthy industries on the planet. This sticker (with the acronyms for a wide range of animal protection groups) is a reminder to focus on positive activism, rather than differences and disagreements with other activists.
Animal-abusing industries have been united in their campaign to label activists as “terrorists,” and lobby for the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and “ag-gag” laws. It’s time activists do the same.
Design by Jessie Duke of Pioneers Press.
I’m excited to be part of a new television series called “Truth and Power” that’s narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal and executive produced by award-winning filmmaker Brian Knappenberger (who made The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz).
The episode scheduled to air this Friday, February 19th at 10pm on PIVOT, takes a close look at how animal rights activists have been classified as “terrorists” by the FBI. [click to continue…]
One of the most powerful talks I heard at TED last year was singer-songwriter Dawn Landes telling the story of Tori Murden McClure.
McClure dreamed of rowing across the Atlantic in a small boat, and found herself alone in the middle of a hurricane. Her boat capsized over and over again, and video tapes of her journey captured her desperation. She thought it was the end.
As I sat in the audience at TED, her story, and Landes’ delivery, had me in tears. There was something about seeing and hearing McClure isolated and alone, yet refusing to give in to hopelessness, that made her struggle feel universal.
I hope you’ll watch this talk all the way through, because at the end you’ll see the advice she received from Muhammad Ali that gave me chills.
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