HUMAN MEAT -vegan activist
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- andreacalderon
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Antispeciesist action "None of us would like to end up like this..'
I present you this action, carried out a year ago by several ex-members of ALA [1] in the Puerta del Sol in the centre of Madrid, on the 31th of July, 2004 at 12 h.
The action is named 'None of us would like to end up like this.. neither would other-than-human animals' and it was done with four big foam trays, each of them containing a naked activist inside, and covered with a see-through plastic with a 'Human meat' sticker on it. The idea was to imitate the 'meat' trays we can find at the supermarkets and to show that we are also animals, just as other-than-human animals, we neither would like to end up there.
Undoubtly, the sole mention of the expression "Human meat" results provocative, we don't like being seen as edible. And I think this "put yourself in their skin" helps to facilitate the reflexion on how we perceive them, and the way we relate to them.
During the action, the following poster was showed:
Antispeciesist poster "None of us would like to end up like this.."
and behind it, we had a banner as you can see in some of the photos. There was an informative stall and several activists leafleting during the event. In the days previous to the act, we stuck the following 'Human meat' posters in the street that called the attention of lots of people intrigued by the provocative title.
Translation: "Every second aprox. 3050 animals die to satisfy our consumption habits (to eat, wear, experiment on or entertain with..) Just as we do, other-than-human animals have an interest in living, in avoiding suffering and being free, and therefore, they must be respected. We can eat and stay healthy without consuming animal products, avoiding in consequence a great ammount suffering and many deaths. If we wouldn't like to be bred, deprived from freedom and killed in order for others to consume our flesh, let's not do the same to other-than-human animals. We must respect all of them equally. Go vegetarian!" [2]
The media response was quite good since there were some tv channels, radio, press and several web sites that helped to communicate our reivindication. We got thousands of website visits, several docens of supportive emails from diverse organizations and individuals, and some help requests to reproduce this kind of action in other cities. I have even heard another group repeat it but I don't know who/when or where.. if you know anything about it, please share it.
You can see a video of the action through the following links:
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(Quicktime - High quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(Quicktime - Low quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(RealMedia - High quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(RealMedia - Low quality version)
Some people have questioned the fact that the activists were naked inside the trays, similarly to the reivindication 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur' or the 'Human race of Pamplona'. But I think that in this case, being naked is relevant and justified, we didn't make an issue of it (the impact of the action remains in the activists being inside the trays as if we were meat parts, the fact of them being naked is circumstancial), and it doesn't have any sexual connotations. After all, it's clear we wouldn't be inside there dressed.
In my opinion, the main success of the action is that it questions speciesism causing a visual impact. The content of the message, and the way it was given were responsible of this impact and success. [3]
The reivindication was centred in the biggest and more engrained non-human animal utilisation area: the use of non-human animals for food [4]. This event contrasts with traditional acts carried out in Spain that usually condemn secondary areas of exploitation (fur, bullfighting, dog eating in Korea, etc.).
In general, we
I present you this action, carried out a year ago by several ex-members of ALA [1] in the Puerta del Sol in the centre of Madrid, on the 31th of July, 2004 at 12 h.
The action is named 'None of us would like to end up like this.. neither would other-than-human animals' and it was done with four big foam trays, each of them containing a naked activist inside, and covered with a see-through plastic with a 'Human meat' sticker on it. The idea was to imitate the 'meat' trays we can find at the supermarkets and to show that we are also animals, just as other-than-human animals, we neither would like to end up there.
Undoubtly, the sole mention of the expression "Human meat" results provocative, we don't like being seen as edible. And I think this "put yourself in their skin" helps to facilitate the reflexion on how we perceive them, and the way we relate to them.
During the action, the following poster was showed:
Antispeciesist poster "None of us would like to end up like this.."
and behind it, we had a banner as you can see in some of the photos. There was an informative stall and several activists leafleting during the event. In the days previous to the act, we stuck the following 'Human meat' posters in the street that called the attention of lots of people intrigued by the provocative title.
Translation: "Every second aprox. 3050 animals die to satisfy our consumption habits (to eat, wear, experiment on or entertain with..) Just as we do, other-than-human animals have an interest in living, in avoiding suffering and being free, and therefore, they must be respected. We can eat and stay healthy without consuming animal products, avoiding in consequence a great ammount suffering and many deaths. If we wouldn't like to be bred, deprived from freedom and killed in order for others to consume our flesh, let's not do the same to other-than-human animals. We must respect all of them equally. Go vegetarian!" [2]
The media response was quite good since there were some tv channels, radio, press and several web sites that helped to communicate our reivindication. We got thousands of website visits, several docens of supportive emails from diverse organizations and individuals, and some help requests to reproduce this kind of action in other cities. I have even heard another group repeat it but I don't know who/when or where.. if you know anything about it, please share it.
You can see a video of the action through the following links:
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(Quicktime - High quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(Quicktime - Low quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(RealMedia - High quality version)
"None of us would like to end up like this" Video(RealMedia - Low quality version)
Some people have questioned the fact that the activists were naked inside the trays, similarly to the reivindication 'I'd rather go naked than wear fur' or the 'Human race of Pamplona'. But I think that in this case, being naked is relevant and justified, we didn't make an issue of it (the impact of the action remains in the activists being inside the trays as if we were meat parts, the fact of them being naked is circumstancial), and it doesn't have any sexual connotations. After all, it's clear we wouldn't be inside there dressed.
In my opinion, the main success of the action is that it questions speciesism causing a visual impact. The content of the message, and the way it was given were responsible of this impact and success. [3]
The reivindication was centred in the biggest and more engrained non-human animal utilisation area: the use of non-human animals for food [4]. This event contrasts with traditional acts carried out in Spain that usually condemn secondary areas of exploitation (fur, bullfighting, dog eating in Korea, etc.).
In general, we
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- groups:
- Community, Activism, Veganism, Animal Rights = Veganism
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- tags:
- Activism, Vegan, Antispeciesist
