By Will Potter
I tried to resist. I really did. But when I jokingly posted on the Green is the New Red Facebook page that I wanted to make a “Sh*t the FBI Says” video, ya’ll went nuts about the idea. Like the videos that started the trend, it’s pretty goofy. But sadly, it’s all based on statements the FBI has made in court, in the press, or to activists themselves (I’ve heard quite a few of these myself).
We Animals is an ambitious project which documents, through photography, animals in the human environment. Humans are as much animal as the sentient beings we use for food, clothing, research, experimentation, work, entertainment, slavery and companionship. With this as its premise, We Animals aims to break down the barriers that humans have built which allow us to treat nonhuman animals as objects and not as beings with moral significance.
QUESTION: Year after year, decade after decade, you alert the legal authorities to cruelty violations and suffering animals in peril, yet nothing ever happens. You know for a fact there are thousands of screaming and suffering hens inside a factory farm and you know the authorities will once again turn a blind eye, so what do you do?
By Will Potter
Multiple states have considered “Ag Gag” bills that criminalize investigators who document animal welfare abuses on factory farms. Iowa and Utah are the latest to approve them. These bills, lobbied for by Big Ag groups, are part of a long line of attempts to blame activists for exposing abuses, rather than hold corporations accountable.
Since summer 2011, FARM’s activists have been paying people $1 each to watch a 4-minute video depicting the inherent cruelties of raising animals for food. This tactic, known as “pay-per-view,” has led 80% of participants to reduce meat consumption, sparing tens of thousands of animals from abuse and slaughter.
On April 23rd, in commemoration of the International Day for Animals in Laboratories, Animal Equality's activists in Rome, Madrid, Barcelona and many other cities across Europe carried out demonstrations against animal testing.