GOVERNMENT

MARINA BOLOTNIKOVA: Wayne Hsiung, an attorney and leading figure in the animal rights movement, was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor trespass and one count of felony conspiracy to trespass last week, after six days of deliberation by a jury in Santa Rosa, California, about an hour north of San Francisco. The case emerged from Hsiung’s role in helping lead two mass protest actions in 2018 and 2019, in which activists removed 70 chickens and ducks from two Sonoma County factory farms: Sunrise Farms, a major egg supplier, and Reichardt Duck Farm. Activists took the animals to receive…

HARRISON SMITH: Karen Davis, an academic turned animal rights activist who campaigned on behalf of chickens, turkeys and other barnyard fowl, arguing for the dignity of “nonhuman animals,” as she put it, while promoting veganism, crusading against the modern poultry industry and turning her home into a sanctuary for chickens, died Nov. 4 at her residence in Machipongo, Va. She was 79... Her death was announced by United Poultry Concerns (UPC), a nonprofit organization she founded in 1990 and led until her death. The group did not cite a cause, but Ms. Davis had cancer and had been in…

ANDY GREENBERG: In recent years, the animal liberation group Direct Action Everywhere has carried out some of the most brazen and tech-savvy operations and investigations to ever target the animal agriculture industry. It has rescued pigs, goats, ducks, and chickens from factory farms and slaughterhouses in midnight intrusions; captured virtual reality footage with custom-built 360-degree video rigs inside massive pig barns; and used hidden cameras to record some of the meat industry's most disturbing practices, from the carbon dioxide gas chambers that are increasingly used in pig…

BENTHAM'S BULLDOG: Those who defend ethical veganism are often claimed by those who defend left-wing positions to be “speaking from a position of privilege,” or “failing to speak up for the marginalized.” Many on the far left seem to believe there to be a fundamental tension between the injunction not to eat meat when one can and advocacy for the oppressed. Such people often point to the existence of food deserts, claiming that huge numbers of people are unable to go vegan because of lack of access to vegan foods. This talking point is totally wrong. For one, it is people in wealthier…

JACK HUGHES: There was a time when smoking cigarettes was not only a normal thing to do, it was actually encouraged by doctors. Eventually, the evidence caught up. A similar thing has happened with meat over the last couple of decades. Recent statements by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that meat damages human health and the planet. But as with tobacco in the 1960s and 70s, this scientific knowledge has taken time to filter into consumer behaviour. Messages such as “smoking kills” and “smoking causes blindness”…

CRESCENZO VELLUCCI: Attorney Wayne Hsiung was found guilty Thursday by a jury here in Santa Rosa County Superior Court after a two-month trial – including six days of jury deliberation – of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespass charges linked to nonviolent mass “open rescues” of injured animals at Sunrise (chicken) Farms in Petaluma, Sonoma County May 29, 2018. Hsiung, representing himself at trial, was immediately cuffed and taken to jail to await a sentencing hearing at the end of November, according to a statement by supporters. The court did not grant Hsiung bail until his…

KIP ANDERSON: What if one core, consequential principle was lost in translation within all world religions and it’s the key to unlocking the path towards compassion and peace on Earth? Christspiracy: The Spirituality Secret, a groundbreaking investigative documentary unearthing the biggest cover-up in the last 2,000 years that will change the way you think about faith and our relationship with animals forever. The one question that stopped Kip Andersen in his tracks: "Is there a spiritual way to kill an animal? I'll put it this way: How would Jesus kill an animal?". This was the question…

VEGCONOMIST: Adfree Cities, a network of groups challenging corporate outdoor advertising, is calling for meat advertising to be banned in the UK. The campaigners point out that most animal products are produced through intensive farming, which they say “causes immeasurable suffering and inflicts colossal damage on nature and the climate”. They argue that since tobacco advertising has been banned due to the harm it causes, the same should apply to meat. To accompany the campaign, Adfree Cities has published a report called The Cows Aren’t Laughing, outlining nine tactics commonly used by…

ANJA VIDAKOVIC: Until recently veganism has held a negative image in the public. There was a large amount of discrimination and resistance directed towards vegans. On the systematic and individual level, vegans, which represented a small number of consumers, were ridiculed and represented as hostile extremists. On top of that, the vegan diet was constantly under attack by critics who argued that a solely plant-based diet was not only unhealthy but also unnatural for humans, and that it should be practiced only with extra caution. Such views were significantly pushed by animal product…

DAMIAN CARRINGTON: A public statement signed by more than 1,000 scientists in support of meat production and consumption has numerous links to the livestock industry, the Guardian can reveal. The statement has been used to target top EU officials against environmental and health policies and has been endorsed by the EU agriculture commissioner. The “Dublin Declaration of Scientists on the Societal Role of Livestock” says livestock “are too precious to society to become the victim of simplification, reductionism or zealotry” and calls for a “balanced view of the future of animal…