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: [email protected] 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 [email protected]     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 

   On this show we discuss Disrupt Land Forces, the coalition of community groups who created a week long festival of resistance bringing diverse actionists and tactics into the joined struggle against the arms trade.   Land Forces is the largest land based weapons expo in the Southern Hemisphere, and it was held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre in Naarm/Melbourne in September 2024. Protestors were met with excessive use of force by police including the use of OC spray, rubber bullets, flash-bangs, physical violence and riding horses into the crowd resulting in injuries.    Links to the event and media discussed on the show:  Disrupt Land Forces website https://disruptlandforces.org/  3CR's coverage of Disrupt Land Forces 2024 https://www.3cr.org.au/dlf2024  Channel 7 news coverage https://www.youtube.com/watch/UIJ_Dpjv3S4  Melbourne Activiist Legal Support (MALS) Media Statement: Grossly excessive policing of protestors likely infringed on human rights https://mals.au/2024/09/11/media-statement-grossly-excessive-policing-of-protesters-likely-infringed-on-human-rights/    Other topics and links:  Wild Country Farm Sanctuary (Texas, USA) Instagram's post: Gaza and the Price of Silience: Selective Compassion Exposing the Colonizer Mindset in Animal Rights Advocacy  https://www.instagram.com/p/C_y7GafJ1X3/?igsh=MWhxb3h2MW0yOGJpZw== Total Liberation Records Nights Out: Standing up to Slaughterhouses (contains info on the 269 Liberation Animale benefit compilation and some Bandcamp codes) https://www.instagram.com/p/C_2YoESCGRI/?igsh=MW5vaTExbTZyM3F5bQ== Banksy's animal series removed by London zoo https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/aug/18/final-artwork-in-banksy-animal-series-removed-by-london-zoo  New research on vegan diets for dogs and the associated benefits from an Australian study by Dr Andrew Knight https://www.9news.com.au/national/vegan-diets-actually-good-for-dogs-australian-study-finds/e8255b5d-fb4d-40c0-a86b-5dff32d29f12   Veterinarian Andrew Knight’s website on vegan pets: https://sustainablepetfood.info/     Music:     Verdalet and Crowns of Esper from Suldusk's album Anthesis.     Animal in Man by Dead Prez.        Thank you for listening to Freedom of Species. We welcome your feedback. Please email us at [email protected]  

In today’s show Betty and Trev take us through the diverse ecosystems of Palestine, the meeting point of three continents. We discuss the agricultural history and the impact of Zionist occupation and land use changes on the landscapes and animals of Palestine.  Music played:Rasha Nahas 'Desert' - https://rashanahas.bandcamp.com/album/desertDaniel Kahn 'Oy, Ir Narishe Tsienistn' - https://aurismedia.bandcamp.com/album/the-unternationale-the-first-unternationalDAM 'Min Imhabi' - https://open.spotify.com/album/6gBrqhOboMpHdfc2dIAFCw  DAM - Min Imhabi English Lyrics Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcHRW14K2SM  Support Mutual Aid in Gaza: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mutual-aid-in-gaza?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet_ai&utm_content=amp1v3&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=whatsapp  Disrupt Land Forces 2024: https://disruptlandforces.org/  References and further reading:  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/06/palestine-gaza-west-bank-nature-birds-birdwatching-aoe  https://e360.yale.edu/features/in-israel-questions-are-raised-about-a-forest-that-rises-from-the-desert  https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/jerusalem-forest-fire-kindle-Palestinian-dreams-return  https://marcus.uib.no/exhibition/mer-enn-det-humanitare-blikket/no/eucalyptus-in-gaza-a-tragedy-in-hula-valley  https://q.sustainability.illinois.edu/the-dead-sea-palestine-connection/#:~:text=Dead%20Sea%20water%20levels%20have,and%20will%20continue%20to%20be.  https://www.leftvoice.org/a-brief-history-of-anti-zionist-jews/  Finkelstein, Aria Ritz, “Nature of the Nagev: Assessing a National Experiment in Drylands Afforestation.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014).  Isaac, Jad, and Stephen Gasteyer. "The issue of biodiversity in Palestine." Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, Palestine 1 (1995): 1-15.  Rotem, Guy, Amos Bouskila, and Alon Rothschild. "Ecological effects of afforestation in the northern Negev." Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel (2014).  Schiller, Gabriel. "The case of Yatir forest." Forest Management and the Water Cycle: An Ecosystem-Based Approach (2011): 163-186.  Temper, Leah. "Creating facts on the ground: Agriculture in Israel and Palestine (1882-2000)." Historia agraria: Revista de agricultura e historia rural 48 (2009): 75-110.  Ghattas, Roubina, Nader Hrimat, and Jad Isaac. Forests in Palestine. Applied research Institute, 2002.

     On this show we welcome back Zane McNeill to discuss their new edited collection: Building Multispecies Resistance Against Exploitation: Stories from the Frontline of Labor and Animal Rights (published by Peter Lang, 2024). This incredible collection of contributions from activists and scholars about the structures of violence and oppression that are shared by human and non-human labourers working and dying in necropolitical facilities. The book also asks readers to consider the intersection between class and species, race, gender and other categories of oppression, and the ways that the contemporary Animal Activist Non-profit Sector (AANS) upholds hierarchies in its mission towards animal liberation. There are some powerful examples of successful social and political campaigns that we can draw from and that can help us to build strategic alliances and coalitions between social movements and political subjects.    Zane McNeill is a scholar-activist, 15-year vegan, and National Lawyers Guild’s Animal Liberation Committee chair. They have worked closely with the Institute of Critical Animal Studies (ICAS) and have published chapters in ICAS collections, including Vegans on Speciesism and Ableism: Ecoability Voices for Disability and Animal Justice and Expanding the Critical Animal Studies Imagination: Essays on Solidarity and Total Liberation. He has also edited Queer and Trans Voices: Achieving Liberation Through Consistent Anti-Oppression, Vegan Entanglements: Dismantling Racial and Carceral Capitalism, and Building Multispecies Resistance Against Exploitation: Stories from the Frontlines of Labor and Animal Rights.     The music we played on the show:  Álmatlanság by Magashegyi Underground L by Laveda I exist, I exist, I exist by Flatsound

Would aliens treat us the way we treat animals? If aliens landed today and we made first contact, what would be the outcome for us? Could we justify expecting compassionate treatment from a technologically superior civilisation when we ourselves cannot show this compassion for those we see as inferior?  Meg delves into the idea of first contact in all its manifestations, how this might go for us, and how the knowledge we are not alone might change our ideas of all life on earth and how we treat that life.  Music by Remains to be Seen https://remainstobeseen.bandcamp.com/album/touchless https://deathforms.com/df-artists/remains-to-be-seen/ Songs 1. Take the time https://remainstobeseen.bandcamp.com/track/take-the-time 2. Darkroom https://remainstobeseen.bandcamp.com/track/darkroom3. Locket https://remainstobeseen.bandcamp.com/track/locket-2  Artwork by vegan artist Wren