Home > Blog >

Posts tagged with "Oppression"

Radical thinking: How to solve the housing crisis

By Ari | Dec 9, 09 09:58 AM

There are many empty buildings, and ample building materials.

Also, there are a lot of people without homes, and a lot of people who are in danger of losing their homes.

If the two above items are true, what is keeping us as a species from all living in safe, secure homes?

Please leave an answer in the comments. Thanks.

Fresh off the Wordpress: Frac Attack

By Ari | Nov 28, 09 10:31 AM

$fracattackhome-launch.jpg$ I'm sure Shira will post something more detailed later, but I'm excited about a new Wordpress site we just set up yesterday, so I'll write about the tech for now!

Frac Attack: Dawn of the Watershed is up at fracattackthemovie.com. It's an evolving site (the About page hasn't been made yet, for example!), so keep checking it if you want to see it grow. We'll be adding production info, credits and thank-yous, press coverage, and, after our world premiere at Cinemapolis on Dec. 10, the film itself, so people can watch the whole thing online anytime. It is, after all, an advocacy video, and we believe in free culture. This whole project is about getting the word out about natural gas drilling so we can protect New York state!

We set the whole thing up yesterday. We've been doing more and more Wordpress sites for clients and I wanted to do one for us and see how long it would take to put up something attractive and functional. Here are the features of this little site, built in one day:

It makes use of a partnership with a local, related advocacy organization (Shaleshock; I update their website, among other things) to provide maintenance-free Take Action and background info links.
This site has AddThis social bookmarking and send-to-friend functionality, and is already collecting stats via Google Analytics. We're also using a Facebook fan page and event listings (which we link to liberally) to help people get the word out about the film on Facebook.
It's serving up a trailer hosted on social networking sites, saving us bandwidth and providing a range of online viewing options.
Graphics, and the template itself, have been designed to not need updating: The left sidebar auto-updates as authors blog and add links and pages. The right sidebar is designed to not need any updates while sending traffic exactly where it's needed, though its auto-updating Flickr badge showing photos from the production (and soon, our Premiere, and house screenings!), which keeps it feeling fresh.
Applying our ethics to our tech choices, we chose the free, open-source Wordpress, which I installed on our MayFirst hosting account. (MayFirst is an affordable membership-based tech organization that's a great hosting solution for progressive folks with a lot of websites.)
To save on labor time (and, if this were for a client, costs), we used a free Wordpress theme by Eric Crooks, slapped a header on it that echoes our poster design (thanks to Joe Fisher for the amazing photography!), changed up the colors and fonts a bit to work with the film's look and feel, and put most of our efforts into careful content creation, fleshing out the site with essential pages and carefully-chosen, useful sidebar links. A few hours later: Presto, a website. Hardly any coding to speak of. We ♥ Wordpress.

The world is changing: Gawker said something intelligent about animal rights

By Ari | Nov 16, 09 11:48 AM

I was just reading gossip over at Gawker (yes, yes I was), and I saw this:

Normally, whenever PETA opens their mouths, even if it's for a good cause, you're like OMGSTFU PETA, you guys are being crazy-obnoxious right now and a detriment to your cause. But I have to say, on this one, well played: they're asking US Marshals to donate Ruth Madoff's furs to the homeless to "highlight the difference between need and greed." Like, whoever made that PR play and got it in Page Six, smooth. Take the day off, PETAPerson.

Awesome observation, Gawker. It is very cool to see even a celebrity gossip blog publicly express frustration with PETA while making it clear that PETA and animal rights are not the same thing. Many of us animal lovers are getting tired of being lumped in with them, so seeing this kind of insightful response from someone outside of the animal rights arena is refreshing.

That said, I agree that PETA did right in this particular action. They're very good at getting media coverage and their hearts are in the right place, I just wish they could lay off offending people for a while.

Celebrate a compassionate Thanksgiving this year

By Ari | Nov 2, 09 02:31 PM

2008 CA Celebration FOR the Turkeys
Originally uploaded by Farm Sanctuary

Hello there reader. This year, please consider making your Thanksgiving a compassionate one. You could sponsor a rescued turkey living at Farm Sanctuary, through their Adopt-a-Turkey Project. You could also sign this petition asking President Obama to pardon all turkeys this year - not just one.

Or, just don't eat a turkey, or any other animal who'd rather have a life and a family than fill someone's belly. Dairy and eggs come at a particularly terrible price of suffering (please educate yourself by clicking these links if you're not aware of the suffering and death caused by these industries). There are many delicious alternatives you can enjoy instead of animal products. For delicious recipes, visit FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement)'s Gentle Thanksgiving.

Thanks very much for reading this, and for all you do for animals. Every year I see more folks making compassionate decisions at holidays, and it gives me great hope for my friends of other species.

"We must fight against the spirit of unconscious cruelty with which we treat the animals. Animals suffer as much as we do. True humanity does not allow us to impose such sufferings on them. It is our duty to make the whole world recognize it. Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace." - Albert Schweitzer, The Philosophy of Civilization

Dehumanizing humans: Why animal rights should matter to us all

By Ari | Oct 21, 09 11:11 AM

When I read Ian Perl's piece on on health insurance reform, I Am Not a Dog (Huffington Post) I kept thinking, if we treated animals with respect and compassion, calling a human an animal wouldn't be quite so dangerous.

Perl has muscular dystrophy and has been a target of discrimination:

Our lawsuit uncovered insurance company documents that confirmed my suspicion that I'm a target of discrimination. The documents revealed Guardian had compiled a "hit list" of its costliest members, including patients with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, and paralysis. Guardian executives referred to us all as "dogs" and "trainwrecks," and they debated how and when to dump us from the rolls. Laws prohibited the cancellation of the individual members with serious chronic health problems, so Guardian opted to cancel the plan for all members of this specific health plan in New York, an action that violates federal law.

Human beings have a history of using animal names and comparisons to justify the exploitation and oppression of other human beings. We can call a woman a "cow" to justify raping or abusing her. We can call people we want to exterminate "cockroaches," people we want to enslave "monkeys," and people we want to ignore "urchins." And we can call a man to whom we want to deny medical care a "dog." We can call humans all of these things, minimizing that which makes them worthy of our concern - their humanness - to justify treating them inhumanely. The animals who bare these names are, of course, even less worthy of our concern. Animals are not just denied medical treatment or abused, they're routinely forcibly inseminated by the billions so we can torture them for a short time before slaughtering them to fill our bellies.

In one of his novels, Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote, "As often as Herman had witnessed the slaughter of animals and fish, he always had the same thought: in their behaviour toward creatures, all men were Nazis. The smugness with which man could do with other species as he pleased exemplified the most extreme racist theories, the principle that might is right." Isaac saw that when we treat one sentient being as an object, we open the door to treating others in the same way. Leo Tolstoy too said: "As long as there are slaughterhouses... there will be battlefields." Will we one day realize, as a species, that our treating any feeling creature as if they can not feel pain (or as if their pain doesn't matter) is just not morally acceptable?

For some painful but illuminating perspective into the issue of treating people "like animals" and what that means about our treatment of animals themselves, please read:

Adorable excited penguin video

By Ari | Aug 28, 09 10:21 AM

These penguins appear to be enjoying the snow falling, and seeing this one little guy running around excitedly brings joy to my heart. But it's sad they're captive, and not allowed to live freely in their native habitat. It seems very wrong to me that you could take someone who loves the snow so much, and put them into this little enclosure in the wrong climate so humans can be amused by them.

But then I don't know, maybe he's excited about something else. Even so, I wish he could be both happy and free.

Via Final Boss Form

The U.S. Health Care Debate, Simply Put: An Original Animated Short

By Ari | Aug 25, 09 03:57 PM

Via Worldchanging

fD Outreach: Wasan Retreat 2009

By Ari | Aug 5, 09 04:15 PM

fD outreach: wasan retreat 2009
Originally uploaded by arimoore

Shira and I work for freeDimensional, an international network that fosters collaboration and resource-sharing between activists and art spaces. I recently became its Director of Communications. Fun! One of my first big projects has been helping to coordinate the follow-up documentation and outreach of our Wasan Retreat 2009.

We used Flickr and other social media including the Ning I set up for fD to record the happening, and to digest all we learned there so that it will be of use to a wider audience. Over time we'll be posting more and more videos and texts, but even now, you can see photos, videos, info on the amazing people who were there, and other coverage online. Check it out and join the Ning if you too care about free expression and the power of culture to change the world!

Hosting Activism in Art Spaces - A New Video for freeDimensional

By Shira | Aug 4, 09 09:39 AM

Working with footage from freeDimensional's 2009 Wasan retreat, I put together this 8-minute video, which has been submitted to the Commonwealth Foundation's Group on Culture and Development:

Hosting Activism in Art Spaces from freeDimensional on Vimeo.

How to tell people they sound racist

By Ari | Jul 28, 09 04:40 PM

I'm participating in a 5-week talking circle on race and racism, and one of the participants just sent out this video, which is pretty awesome. And useful. I think this advice is probably good for any situation in which someone is acting in an oppressive way: Hold them accountable for what they did, instead of accusing them for being racist (or oppressive in some other way).

Dear progressive media: As much as I like naked ladies, please stop displaying naked ladies.

By Ari | Jul 24, 09 09:55 AM

I try to stay positive when bloging - I used to be more critical, posting more firey activist ramblings, but have learned that that is not so productive. But. I have to post this.

What is with mainstream media and progressive blogs covering Michelle Obama's hairstyle and clothing? Why are they constantly taking polls to see who approves of Hilary Clinton's suits? And when someone in the public eye has a "nip slip" or poses naked in a magazine, or displays cleavage at an event, why does everyone republish those photos and ask for reader opinions?

This kind of objectification is not helpful.

This is sexism, and it perpetuates sexism.

We live in a society in which women's bodies are constantly under observation and evaluation. Yes, men's too, but the reality of our world is that women are under particular scrutiny. Ours is a history of exploitation and domination and systemic violence that has not stopped.

I visit a lot of progressive blogs, and some of them shock me with their seeming ignorance of the harm this objectification does to women and to the cause of feminism. I've started leaving comments and writing letters and speaking out when I see it, instead of fuming silently.

As long as I'm writing about this, I want to call progressive organizations and campaigns on the same fault. Yes, people might use their bodies willingly to draw attention to something they care about, and they may reach new audiences because "sex sells," but that does not make the sexist objectification of women acceptable or productive.

Dr. King said, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." He wasn't speaking about this particular issue, but his words are true in every situation. There is no place for the perpetuation of sexism or any other ism in any social justice movement, and we all have a responsibility to root out these stale old tropes from our collective vocabularies so we can move on, together, in equity and in peace.

Video Interviews from the 2009 Emerging Art Spaces Retreat on Wasan Island

By Shira | Jul 20, 09 03:54 PM

Meet Alma Khasawnih of the Makan Art Space in Jordan from freeDimensional on Vimeo.

Meet Pierre Mujomba of the Kamalenga House in the Democratic Republic of Congo from freeDimensional on Vimeo.

As I mentioned a few posts back, Ari and I recently helped facilitate and document a retreat for emerging art spaces which explored the intersections between the arts and human rights. As part of the video documentation I filmed interviews with all the participants, which are now online thanks to Vimeo. You can watch all the interviews on the freeDimensional Ning and check out pictures on Flickr.

Photos from freeDimensional's Emerging Art Spaces Retreat on Wasan Island

By Shira | Jul 11, 09 12:55 PM

Ari and I went to Wasan Island in the Muskoka Lake region of Canada to help facilitate and document a retreat for people working in emerging art spaces around the world. Organized by the nonprofit network freeDimensional and supported by Breuninger Stiftung Foundation, the week-long convergence provided an opportunity to connect, relax and delve into the interconnections between art, freedom of expression and human rights.

Despite my role as documenter - I was taking photos and shooting video for a large part of the time - I was still able to connect deeply with the group and with the island. It's a beautiful place that allows people from very different geographies to find common ground.

Check out the photos and stay tuned for video...

Peeps are made of people

By Ari | Jul 9, 09 04:48 PM

Thanks to PixelVegan for using my "Peeps are boiled bones" poster to illustrate a blog post on gelatin. (And yay Creative Commons!)

If you're vegetarian, vegan, or just care about animals, you should know that peeps are not an animal-friendly food. Read the post for more.

This one's for you, animal family

By Ari | Jun 22, 09 09:27 AM

I've realized recently that I don't speak up enough for animals. I fear bothering people. I know that for me, going vegan was a long and sometimes jarring process. I remember feeling afraid and guilty and very challenged and uncomfortable at times. I remember that the idea of changing my life in what felt like a very drastic and unpleasant way (I really loved eating animals and things they make) was very threatening. So, being someone who likes to be liked, who doesn't like to make people uncomfortable, I've moved away from more confrontational advocacy. I do a lot online, where distance eases discomfort, but in the brick-and-mortar world, I sometimes hold a lot back. I'll be in situations where someone will say something or do something that is so, so oppressive to animals, my cousins, my family, my kin, my friends - and I'll say nothing. Out of fear, I won't leap to their defense, I won't say what needs to be said. If someone says something sexist or homophobic or racist I usually speak up, but with animals - I'm sorry, animals. I sometimes am just not the best ally.

So, I think I should write more about it here. I sometimes don't want to barrage our few blog readers with too much animal rights stuff, but it's a daily part of my life, so I think I need to start being more forthright about it. Maybe through writing about it on our blog I'll find more of a voice to speak about it offline.

Why is this so important? Here is one reason. Right now Snow is in my lap. She's a tiny sweetheart, my baby, my furry little darling. She's not a pet, she's family. She's an individual, a person. I respect her and her needs as I respect the personhood and needs of human beings. I can see that she's not a plant, that she's nothing like one, not an object but a person - she has gingivitis, and her gums hurt, and eating is difficult for her right now. Because she's not feeling very well, she's rather low-energy and is sleeping a lot. And because she's a very lovey, cuddly person, comforted by hugs and other physical contact, she likes to lay on me and hold onto my shoulder.

Some folks might balk at calling an animal a person, but they're certainly not places and they're certainly not things. They are definitely thinking and feeling. They definitely have desires and needs and wants. They hurt, and they cry, and they get hungry, and they love, and they play, and they have dignity and silliness and dreams and games. They get bored. They have fun. They are not things, but people. They may be very different from us, but there is nothing at all about them that is so different from humans that they deserve to be treated differently. Fuzziness or smallness or a lack of ability to speak English or Spanish or do math, does not justify their oppression.

So Snow is a reason why it's important I be able to talk about animal rights. She's one very important reason, and Sid and Zora, our other cat housemates, are also very important reasons. But there are even more reasons - billions and billions of reasons. All of the animals all around the world who can't cry out in words that we can understand, whose cries are ignored because we can't understand them, all of those animals are reasons why I need to be a better ally, why I need to wear my solidarity on my sleeve.

I can't forget them, and I never do. When I'm sitting at a table with human friends, and someone is talking about some delicious eggs, how can I be silent? How can I not speak up in defense of my sisters, the chickens? When I remember every moment that billions of you soft, sweet, helpless ladies are captive, making egg after egg until you're too old and too weak and you're killed and turned into soup, how can I say nothing? How can I pretend that everything is okay? How can I smile at my friend and swallow my discomfort? My discomfort is nothing, nothing compared to the suffering that animals all around the world are experiencing because human beings still believe that might makes right.

So, I'll try to be better. I'll try to speak up for my furry, feathery, scaly family. I'll remember they have no way to speak up for themselves, not even the awareness that freedom from oppression is possible. I apologize in advance if I make my human friends uncomfortable, but as a friend said to me online recently, transformation is painful.

And beautiful. The lovely, amazing, delicious thing about stepping away from exploitation and toward solidarity with other species is that it is a joyous thing, a homecoming.

If you feel uncomfortable when you remember where your food comes from - when you recall that it is a dead body, or that it came from someone who is confined, not free, a slave to human desire - if you feel that way, try not eating that food item, replacing it with something healthful and delicious that came from the earth and the warm sun and a seed, something that didn't cry out when it died. See how you feel. I don't mean physically, though it does feel good, physically, to eat healthful plant foods. I mean morally, ethically. See how it sits with your soul. See how your conscience feels about it. See if you feel better when you know that your food came from the sun and the earth, and not from a living, breathing, feeling person, against their will. That you can be nourished without their suffering is a beautiful thing, freeing. This is the feeling that we and our family are at last at peace, reconciled. That is a homecoming.

Waterboard torture memo set to music

By Ari | Apr 23, 09 05:55 PM

Via Hugh Ryan.

Imagine all the people

By Ari | Apr 19, 09 10:51 AM

I was just reading this article about tweens in love with the Obama girls, and I was glad to read that the Obamas are really trying to minimize media contact and coverage of their daughters - despite the awesome cuteness of so many kids obsessing over them like they're pop stars. I think people being in love with the Obamas is 100% great. I mean, yes, we should be critical and we should demand good policy and decision-making from Obama, but if tons of people love the First Family and want to be friends with them, I think that bodes well for our country. It sure is nicer than the atmosphere during the Bush presidency. Those were an uncomfortable eight years. I'd rather feel love than contempt for my elected leadership, personally.

However, love that finds its end in consumerism (the article suggests that concert tickets or DVDs are usually the outlet for kids' celebrity obsessions) or in oppression (the media spotlight and the paparazzi can be incredibly unhealthy) is not just love, it's become something else. I dream of a day when humans can love ourselves and other humans for who we all really are, without regard for artificial hierarchies and power structures. We put some people up on pedestals and obsess about them, lionize them or demonize them, over-analyze every gesture and purchase they make. Even if we love them dearly, we may be setting ourselves up for sorrow or for disappointment, depending on how their media image and their life (separate things!) pan out. Or we may subject them to such scrutiny they self-destruct (sorry Britney). This is why I don't believe in heroes.

Continue reading "Imagine all the people..." »

Beauty

By Ari | Apr 18, 09 08:26 AM

Paul Potts and Susan Boyle have made me cry, so here they are on our blog. Watch and listen. Even better than the performances is seeing the faces of the audience and judges (these are both on Britain's Got Talent, if you haven't seen them yet...) change. In both cases, judgement and condescension is replaced with disbelief, glimmers of awe, happiness. Thanks, Paul and Susan, for helping to wake us up.

Here's the New York Times on what Susan means to us, with a mention of Paul as well.

UPDATE, 4.19.09: A great article on Huffington Post about why Susan makes women cry.

Weddings and freedom

By Ari | Apr 15, 09 08:40 AM

So, I kind of can't believe this, but I agree with an article in the New York Daily News. And it's called In Vermont gay marriage law, a hidden victory for religious freedom. At first I saw that headline and thought, oh damn, there's some loophole that will make it legal for the Pope to eat gay newlyweds. Or something else similarly creepy and oppressive. But it's actually really sensible: Author David Benkof is happy that the new legislation in Vermont specifically provides an out to any religious groups that have issues with same-sex marriage: They don't have to provide gay couples who are getting married with goods and services.

I'm totally okay with that. This is not a pharmacist denying the morning-after pill to an unintentionally pregnant teen. This is not life-threatening, and it's not violating some "first do no harm" mandate. This is just reason to choose a different florist, one who doesn't believe you're going to hell.

Why force people to do things they feel are wrong? I care deeply about peace, justice and sustainability - so I don't take design work that promotes zoos, "happy meat," sweatshop labor, and other things I find objectionable. People make decisions like this all the time, don't they? So why, as the author of this article points out, was eHarmony forced to create a queer dating site, if they found queerness so odious that they wouldn't allow same-sex searches on their primary, heteronormative dating site? And why would any gay folks actually use the new site by eHarmony? Why not go to any one of the many, many sites out there run by and for queer people who love queer people? If we force everyone to provide services to everyone, aren't we losing the usefulness of the niche audience - the self-selecting community? Personally, I like patronizing those I can stand behind ethically. And not everyone has my ethics.

When Shira and I got hitched, we paid our favorite vegan restaurant to cater it. We rented space from a progressive, arty Brooklyn hangout. We're not into organized, hierarchical religion, so instead of hiring an officiant to approve of our union, we asked everyone in the room to marry us with a toast to fun and love. And so on. In short, we made it our own. We made it something we could believe in, something we loved.

I just can't imagine how much it would have sucked if we'd hired people who think our love is an abomination - and how much worse it would have been to then pay lawyers to sue them, if they didn't do what we wanted. Aren't weddings supposed to be about love? I think Vermont has figured this one out, and I bet their efforts will make this legislation very hard to challenge: Everyone wins.

Health and wealth: The downfall of capitalism and the uplift of humanity

By Ari | Apr 4, 09 10:40 AM

Read this excerpt from Jobless rate bolts to 8.5 percent, 663K jobs lost (AP):

Orders placed with U.S. factories actually rose in February, ending a six straight months of declines, the government reported Thursday. Earlier in the week, there was better-than-expected reports on construction spending and pending home sales. And last week a report showed that consumer spending — an engine of the economy — rose in February for the second month in a row — after a half-year of declines.

Note that in this article, the authors and the economists they're quoting say that the following are indicators of health in an economy:

orders placed in factories
construction spending
home sales (presumably with mortgages attached)
consumer spending

All of these things involve people spending money. That is, the indicator of a healthy economy does not appear to be, "are people's needs being met?" but "are people spending enough?" But then, who knows, maybe spending a lot of money is somehow meeting people's needs. Is that so?

Continue reading "Health and wealth: The downfall of capitalism and the uplift of humanity..." »

Capitalism is dead: London Protests G20 (photos)

By Ari | Apr 2, 09 09:02 AM

Yaaaay, we're not the only ones wondering how making bankers and other capitalists richer is going to help everyone else. Check out this amazing slideshow showing London protesters clashing with police at the G20 summit, courtesy of ABC News.

While I wish that all of the protesters had remained nonviolent, it seems most of them did. What a turn-out. Seeing the huge crowd gives me hope that a world made for people and not for profit is just around the corner.

(Top photo by PA/AP, bottom photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters. Please don't sue me for using these without permission.)

Gay Rights at the Oscars

By Shira | Feb 23, 09 05:10 PM

Thanks Sean Penn!

No, bringing animals into the world to die is not humane

By Ari | Feb 21, 09 10:42 AM

Village Voice writer Sarah DiGregorio asked, "Is Foie Gras Torture?" and decided that she was okay with what she saw when she visited a foie gras operation. Since I am not okay with the death machine we call "animal agriculture," regardless of how "humane" it tries to be, I had to write her a letter protesting her findings. My open letter is below; I urge others to follow suit.

Read the article
Send an email to the author
Send a letter to the editor

Read on for my letter.

Continue reading "No, bringing animals into the world to die is not humane..." »

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #6: Economies

By shirari | Feb 4, 09 02:33 PM

Tune into the Wednesday, February 4th edition of our podcast to check out our snappy new format! We've broken the show into three segments to make it easier for folks to selectively listen to parts they're interested in:

Local Updates, in which we tell you about wonderful and exciting new developments in our local area, the Fingerlakes region of New York. You'll hear about permaculture organizing, the new Ithaca Freeskool calendar, and a new vegan group. (We can't wait to go to their pizza party on Friday!)
Be the Change, in which we give you two tips, both of which, now that we think about it, are pig-related. (And yet, somehow, relevant to a general audience. We think.)
Discussion: Economies, in which we look briefly at some issues with non-profit funding, venture capital, microlending, and global capitalism, as well as with socialism and other isms, before giving an overview of different interesting alternatives (featuring copyleft, coworking, freeganism, CSAs, relocalization, and other awesomeness).

Subscribe Free
Add to my Page

Vote for us at Podcast Alley!

Links mentioned in the show:
Hook up with other Fingerlakes Permaculture folks at flxpermaculture.net
Ithaca Freeskool
Ithaca Zine
Ahimsa Ecovillage
Ithaca Vegans Yahoo Group
Vegan Chai is so over bacon!
Ari's Twitter
Find a local CSA at localharvest.org

If you listen to our podcast, tell us what you like about it, and what could be improved! And if you don't listen to our podcast, why not? Tell us what you might like to hear, so we can do a better job of it. Thanks and peace to all who tune into this edition!

Previously:
Previous show notes

Dissection on Valentine's Day: Where's the love?

By Ari | Feb 3, 09 10:27 AM

There will be an event at Ithaca's Sciencecenter on Valentine's Day, during which children will be shown a variety of hearts taken from dead animals, and will watch a dead pig's heart being dissected.

If you too think that this is an inappropriate event for children - or anyone, especially the animals who have to die for it to happen - call 607-272-0600 and ask to speak to Executive Director Charles Trautmann at extension 26, or Associate Director Lara Kimber at extension 12. You can also email them at: info@sciencecenter.org. Please be polite. My email is below.

Hi,
I just heard you're doing a program that involves dissecting animal hearts on Valentine's Day, and I thought I'd let you know my response to it, since I'm an Ithacan, a science fan, and a future parent.

This event seems to me to teach children something very disturbing - that animals are not worthy of our compassion, that these sentient beings are somehow so fundamentally different from humans that it's morally acceptable to kill them and cut up their bodies as a form of education and entertainment. The fact that you're doing it on Valentine's Day just makes it that much more creepy and sad. Animals feel pain and pleasure and sorrow; they have families, interests, lives of their own. They do not exist for us to treat like objects, to mutilate and eviscerate - but to live their own lives. We should respect them, not teach our children to disrespect them as we have for so long.

We relocated to Ithaca because we wanted to start a family. Our little nephews come to visit us, too, and we know many people with kids. When I heard of the Sciencecenter I remember at first thinking it would be a lovely resource. However, I saw an ad for a live bug program you were doing, which gave me pause. I usually don't patronize businesses or organizations that promote the use and abuse of animals. Hearing of this Valentine's Day event has helped me make my decision. No kids I know will be going to Sciencecenter; these values you're teaching do not work for my family.

I thought I would send you this email so that you could understand where folks like me are coming from. Maybe folks who love animals aren't an important part of your audience - but maybe they are. If so, I think you should know what message this event is sending to people like me.

Because I care deeply about animals and my community and know that transparent dialogue is what helps culture change, I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this email as an open letter on my blog:
http://www.shirari.com/blog/2009/02/03/dissection_on_valentines_day_w.html
Please feel free to post your response as a comment if you would like it to appear publicly, or just email me back (I may post your response unless you object). I'm very curious as to your response.

Thanks for reading, and peace!
Ari Moore
Shirari Industries
Ithaca, NY

"The important thing is to never stop questioning."
- Albert Einstein
Why vegan? http://tinyurl.com/2xkmc

UPDATE, 2.11.09: Received on the vegan wire: "The Valentines Day 'I Heart Science' event that involved dissecting a pigs heart has been replaced with examining the chocolate, strawberry and vanilla plants and talking about the foods that come from them. A much more appropriate activity for Valentines Day, or any day!!!" Yesss!!

On Gaza

By Shira | Jan 15, 09 01:34 PM

A good friend of mind asked me to explain the current crisis in Israel/Palestine. Here are my (unedited) ramblings...

israeli schizophrenia - "free tibet"/"we will win"
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

i think a lot of people are confused and torn about this issue, including me. the situation in israel/palestine is a cycle of violence in which the game of "who started it" is meaningless and counterproductive. the basic facts are that jews and muslims (and christians, and druze...) all have historical and religious ties to the land. the problem is that extremists within these populations believe that these rights are exclusive to their people and that they therefore have the right to kill anyone who threatens those rights.

enter modern warfare and politics. after the holocaust, the united nations, which should have stopped violence against european jews before world war II and earlier, was convinced that the jews deserved a homeland of their own. the british had control over palestine at the time, but it was mostly populated by arabs. there were also jews living there, including my father's mother's family, who have lived in jerusalem for generations. the proposition at the time was to create two states - one arab and one jewish, each autonomous. the arab population didn't want to give up what they felt was rightfully theirs. the jewish immigrants and the jews that had been coming to settle the land and established kibbutzim (agricultural communes) starting in the late 1800s were willing to fight. hence the "war of independence" as the israelis call it.

sabba and savta, my mother's parents
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

from the establishment of the state of israel in 1948, this cycle of violence has continued. (my mother was born there in 1949 after my grandparents survived the holocaust and met in cyprus, where they were imprisoned until the british let them in to the country). israel, surrounded by arab countries was attacked over and over again. these same countries did little to help the palestinian refugees that lived in camps in their borders. after the 1967 war, israel gained control over the west bank and the gaza strip, and continue to have complete control over the flow of people and resources in and out of these areas. at the same time the israeli government has actively encouraged jewish settlements within these regions. for the most part, jews who choose to live in the settlements are the most orthodox and extreme and see themselves as being on the frontlines. by the way, a lot of them are also american jews.

my mom in the israeli army
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

there are arabs who live in israel who don't identify as palestinians. they are second class citizens in many ways - their communities are generally underfunded and they rarely have high positions in the corporate sectors, but they are allowed to vote and have political parties. many of their palestinian brothers and sisters are economically dependent on israel for jobs, so they come into israel every day, crossing through checkpoints, with notoriously long lines and humiliating searches.

savta in a gas mask during the first gulf war
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

most palestinians feel that they are occupied and want freedom. they want their own country, and they are willing to fight for it using any means necessary. since there is no palestinian military, they use small cells and guerrilla tactics, and are embedded within the civilian population. they send rockets and suicide bombers into israel, targeting civilians. the israeli military fights back with many more resources, thanks largely to the alliance with america. hamas, both a political party and a militant movement, in turn is supplied with weapons by iran, which hates both the u.s. and israel.

disturbing postcard for sale in jerusalem
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

it is my belief that when violence is involved, neither side is right. israel has made some very meaningful attempts to create peace and even move towards a two-state solution, but extremist palestinians continue to use violence to call attention to their suffering. in the meantime, most israelis are living in a modern democratic state with all the amenities of western culture, while palestinians are living in much poorer conditions in the west bank and gaza. it's hard to tell an occupied population not to fight for their freedom, but israelis, at the same time, feel like they are defending their own freedom.

soldier playing the flute
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

there are amazing people on both sides working for peace. many of them are secular, but some are religious. personally, i think that nation states are inherently violent entities, and unless one side or the other is willing to give up, this conflict will continue for a very long time. as a jew, i feel a tie to the land of israel and its people and i do think that jewish people should be able to live there. but i don't think that we are any more entitled to a jewish state than the palestinians are entitled to return to their homes and sacred places. i think the best solution would be one, secular, nonviolent, democratic (or perhaps even socialist) state. will it happen? not anytime soon.

in my family's neighborhood in haifa
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

there is so much more to say, i could go on and on. my cousin amir just entered the israeli army, and i worry about him everyday. most of my family lives in northern israel so they are not in immediate danger, but there are of course, random suicide bombings that kill jews in haifa and jerusalem and elsewhere. one of my cousin tal's close friends was killed in a bus bombing in haifa, and she was scared to leave the house for months. if i were them, i wouldn't live in israel, and i think that maybe when they get older, they will leave. on the other hand, israel is the only home they've ever known and it's where their parents, grandparents and friends all live. maybe by the time they have kids, there will be some meaningful peace. we can hope.

hatikvah
Originally uploaded by Shira Golding

there are some really good documentaries on the issue. i recommend promises and encounter point, both available on netflix. there's also a really good film about palestinian hip hop called slingshot hip hop. you should also check out the music of invincible a.k.a ilana weaver, a queer rapper from detroit who raps about social justice issues and does a lot of work with palestinians. her song "people not places" is amazing. you should also listen to mirah's song "jerusalem." for alternative news coverage of the current crisis, check out link tv and al jazeera.

i hope this is helpful. feel free to ask more questions. knowledge is power.

Two new Feminist Reviews

By Ari | Jan 14, 09 12:06 PM

I've had two more book reviews published by Feminist Review. Both of these were awesome books. Ain't I a Feminist in particular really expanded my horizons and pushed me to think about privilege and identity in new ways.
Argentina: Stories for a Nation
Ain't I a Feminist? African American Men Speak Out on Fatherhood, Friendship, Forgiveness, and Freedom

Yay Feminist Review! Contact them if you're interested in writing reviews - you get to keep the book (or movie or album) in exchange for your review.

Thank you, Al Sharpton

By Ari | Jan 13, 09 06:18 PM

Al Sharpton on Proposition 8:

It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners... There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.

freeDimensional: Birthing a web 2.0 child

By Ari | Jan 12, 09 06:44 PM

I hope executive director Todd Lester of freeDimensional doesn't mind if I quote him with the title of my post here, but this is how he described the collaborative experience of launching fD's new site this weekend, and I think it's particularly apt: We all birthed a web 2.0 child. You can go meet it here: freeDimensional.org.

freeDimensional is an organically-growing, partnership-based organization that links activist culture workers (journalists, artists, writers, and the like) who are facing repression and censorship with support services, including safe haven placements in artist residency programs. The power of the organization is in its social networks around the globe. These programs, these services, these people, are all out there - the challenge is only to connect everyone so we can all engage more effectively in mutual aid.

I met Todd way back at the end of 2005, through Shira and their work around the Media That Matters Film Festival. He needed a site, and at the time, I remember seeing that they'd need something much more interactive in the future, but that for now, I could make a small, informational site to give them a web presence while they built their organization. For a long time I thought that in the future we'd hire some big web design firm to come in and create some perfect glittering website for them that would magically fulfill all of their many needs.

In the interim, I had a bit of an awakening about the internet, via my understanding of web 2.0 (collaborative, online) technologies. The internet can be an extension of our physical lives, a way for us to transcend space and time. Our blogs and Flickr photostreams and Tweets and Delicious links and Facebook updates are extensions of and aids to our imperfect human memories. Email and messaging and Skype and the like allow us to connect with each other across great distances, often instantly. We're all learning how to use the internet most effectively to meet these great needs, and in the process, I believe we're gradually realizing our commonality, and creating new solutions to age-old problems that formerly seemed unsolvable. (I have a theory about web 3.0. If anyone reads this and is interested, comment and I'll write about it!!)

So when fD finally outgrew their little site and was ready for something new and more useful, Shira and I were ready to craft a solution for them. It was time for them to clarify what they were all about, explain it well, and then provide an online platform for the incredible social networking that had been happening in the real world. fD was ready to go web 2.0.

Shira made a short video intro for them and helped them rework and refine their mission statement and other organizational copy. I helped them look at their many technology options and to select free services that will allow them to grow and extend their reach with minimal cash outlays. The site is built on the Ning custom social networking platform (the free version for now). We're transitioning the mailing list to Vertical Response and their lovely nearly-free non-profit program. Shira chose the beautifully high-res-capable video service Vimeo to host fD's intro video. We integrated Twitter, Flickr and YouTube feeds into the site. We'd settled on Network for Good to collect donations a while back. fD also has accounts on other social networking sites, which we've been using to meet and collaborate with even more people around the world.

These free and low-cost services have limitations - you're fitting your own complex self into a sometimes-imperfect template, and you don't have the same level of control over your content that you'd have if you were hosting the whole thing on your own server. However, they make an extraordinary array of sophisticated communications features accessible to organizations that don't have tens of thousands of dollars to drop on a new custom-crafted interactive site every few years. The internet is changing so fast that production cannot keep up with the technology if we follow old models of design and interaction. This solution can and will grow and evolve, flexibly adapting to and taking advantage of new technologies as they come.

This project would not have been possible if Shira and I, or fD, worked in a more mainstream and less openly collaborative way. Shira's and my cooperative approach to design problems and fD's trust and willingness to experiment made for a very organic design and production process that drew on the strengths and knowledge of everyone involved. This web 2.0 child we've birthed together reflects that process, and is stronger for it.
freeDimensional.org »

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #5: Top 8 Activist Strategies

By Shira | Dec 16, 08 05:51 PM

December 16, 2008 - 71 minutes - 95.5MB

After an update about Ithaca, Shaleshock and our vegan ecovillage project, we discuss our top eight best practices for changing the world and conclude the show with some ideas for a d.i.y. anticapitalist holiday season.

Subscribe Free
Add to my Page

Vote for us at Podcast Alley!

Show links:

Some Places Worth Donating To (there are so many more, here are just a few):

Arts Engine supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public. Donate
East New York Farms! is a collaborative project whose mission is to organize youth and adult residents to address food issues in their community by promoting local and regional sustainable agriculture and community-based economic development. Donate
freeDimensional is an international network that advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work. Donate
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Donate
Just Vision is a nonprofit organization that informs local and international audiences about under-documented Palestinian and Israeli joint civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Using media and educational tools, they raise awareness in order to encourage civic participation in grassroots peace building. Donate
Scenarios USA is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that that uses writing and filmmaking to foster youth leadership, advocacy and self-expression in under-served teens. Scenarios USA asks teens to write about the issues that shape their lives for the annual "What's the REAL DEAL?" writing contest, and thousands have responded with their raw and revealing insights. Donate
Shaleshock Citizens Action Alliance is a grassroots group of Finger Lakes residents who are concerned with understanding and protecting our communities and environment from exploitation by the energy industry with regards to drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Donate

Previously:

More Do Not Leave Unattended

By Ari | Dec 12, 08 09:43 PM

A while ago I wrote about a collaborative notebook project, Do Not Leave Unattended! We were lucky enough to get one of Jude's first notebooks; I passed it onto Shira, and then she passed it onto Angela. She wrote about it and you can see it at Do Not Leave Unattended! It is pretty awesome. I found it really moving.

Join in and get a notebook!

Previously:
Do Not Leave Unattended: Dispatches from Ithaca
Do Not Leave Unattended!: New design launched

Radical solidarity - an artist's statement

By Ari | Dec 11, 08 01:05 PM

It looks like Socialist Party USA is going to publish some of my more activisty artwork in the upcoming International Women's Day edition of Socialist Women. I've done some custom illustration for them and even laid out the whole magazine several times, but this is the first time they'll be publishing the art I make for my own activist purposes. Since it's heavy on animal rights and sustainability and the issue (like most issues...) didn't have any content along those lines, the editorial collective asked me to write an artist's statement to go with the work. I sometimes have a hard time asserting myself as an earthy-crunchy animal-loving hippie in the socialist community, and people have a tendency to get pissed when one draws connections between the oppression of humans and animals, so writing this was a challenge! I really welcome comments from folks - let me know what you think.

In progressive activist circles we often talk of solidarity, and with good reason - unexamined privilege and blindness to the oppression of others makes social change difficult. If we come to activism with open minds and open hearts, we'll find allies everywhere, and our unity will advance the causes of peace and social justice. Fortunately, over time, the circle of compassion has widened further and further. People really seem to be learning to look beyond our differences and understand and identify with each other's struggles on an international level. And finally, activists working in all areas are realizing that this compassion needs to be extended not only to all humans but to the home we all share, our earth.

However, many people are still reluctant to open the circle of compassion to non-human animals. Even in the most radical queer or feminist or socialist spaces, mentions of animal rights are often met with ridicule or patronizing requests that we stick to "real issues" like human rights. Though animals feel pain and pleasure, are sentient enough to have families and desires and agendas of their own, and there are vegan alternatives aplenty to their exploitation, animal rights, we are told, will have to wait until after the revolution.
This pattern is an old one, repeated time after time throughout history. Sojourner Truth was told that black women's rights had to wait until after white women's suffrage had been secured. Bayard Rustin was denied credit for organizing the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom because he was queer. Every time we disregard one person's rights to advance someone else's rights, we may think we're being strategic, but we're also oppressing someone and holding back their struggle.

The means are the ends. We need to be the change we wish to see. It's time for a radical new solidarity that acknowledges all oppressions and all struggles as interconnected. Believe it or not, there are no limits to compassion. Perfection might not be attainable, but it is entirely possible for each of us to begin to abstain not only from the oppression of other humans, but from exploiting animals as well.

Animals may not be able to communicate in a language we can understand, but they have many allies in their struggle: vegans, finally coming to accept and move beyond our species privilege. We may be part of the "circle of life" but our species is capable of great things, including forging new paths that don't include the strong preying on the weak.

I'm an activist / artist living in a progressive town where my partner and I are organizing a back-to-the-land vegan housing collective. I work with local groups and folks online to do community organizing and create art and outreach materials around issues of sustainability, radical solidarity, nonviolence, and economic justice. You can see my work, find out about my current projects, and check out our blog and podcast at shirari.com.

R.I.P. Odetta (1930-2008)

By Shira | Dec 8, 08 12:22 PM

Exuberant nudity

By Ari | Dec 7, 08 08:56 AM

I've been catching up on my reading, and have encountered two incidences of happy nudity that I just had to share.

In Carbusters #36, at the end of a report on the World Carfree Day events in Curitiba, Brazil: "Finally we began our bike march: 300 cyclists swept the streets of the city. The feeling of freedom and happiness was so intense that a few riders couldn't resist, and took off their clothes."

And, in Communities Magazine #138, in Anissa Ljanta's story of the shock of moving from an intentional community to a mainstream neighborhood: "I missed being naked, and the ease with which people were naked at Twin Oaks. People made an effort to appreciate beauty of all kinds, not just the skinny hairless women validated by mainstream media. I got to live in a culture that embraced me for who I was, where body image and dress were not fraught with tension."

Ljanta's story is sadder - she goes on to express her resentment at being asked to wear clothes while swimming; she describes her run-ins with sexism and the very real possibility of sexual violence which requires women in mainstream neighborhoods to be careful when walking alone at night, something she didn't fear at Twin Oaks. However, both of these stories offer glimpses of a kind of happy nudity that sounds like something that should happen more often.

Seriously, how often do you feel happy and free enough that you can revel in the body nature gave you? If we're all born with a naked body to enjoy, and we like looking at naked bodies, and all other species are running around naked all the time, what exactly is up with us that we have so many hangups about nudity? Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world where nudity was not only safe and socially acceptable, but viewed as a healthy expression of joy?

Shale Shocked

By Shira | Dec 6, 08 03:05 AM

There are many factors that contribute to the fertility and productivity of land that are beyond a landowners' direct control. One of the major issues we need to consider in New York State is natural gas drilling. Ever since the development of more commercially-viable drilling techniques around 2000, major oil companies have been going to town on the Marcellus Shale. One of the main ways they get access to the land is by leasing land and drilling rights from local landowners. While this can be a good source of income for struggling farmers, there are numerous environmental impacts including the distribution of toxic chemicals into the soil and water table.

We've been getting involved with Shaleshock, a local resistance group, and we recently designed their logo and a new website. Check out the site to get up to speed on the issues and take action. One thing you can do now is comment on the DEC's draft scope...

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released a draft scope document that outlines how they will regulate natural gas drilling of the Marcellus Shale. In addition to commenting at public hearings around the state, you can submit your comments via letter or email by December 15th.

Submit comments to:
Attn: Scope Comments
Bureau of Oil & Gas Regulation, NYSDEC Division of Mineral Resources
625 Broadway, Third Floor
Albany, NY 12233-6500

Or email to dmnog@gw.dec.state.ny.us with "Scope Comments" as the Subject

Download the pdf of the scope

Prop 8: The Musical

By Shira | Dec 3, 08 01:21 PM

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Cool folks we're working with in Ithaca: Ithaca-Area Vegan Meetup Group and Shaleshock

By Ari | Dec 2, 08 03:05 PM

Are you in the Ithaca area, and either vegan or vegan-curious? Come check out the Ithaca-Area Vegan Meetup Group - we have a weekly coffee and tea hour at Autumn Leaves Cafe, 3pm on Sundays. Lately folks have been talking activism, which is awesome! Come over and get involved if you're in town and love animals. Whoo! If you want to help promote, here are handbills and a poster. (Designed by me.)

Another project Shira and I have been participating in is Shaleshock - the site was hacked before we arrived in town and so they haven't had a very good online presence. We're helping to get content up there and organized. It's my first time working with WordPress (I'm usually a Movable Type girl), and it's a lot of fun. Big thanks to Joe for setting this thing up!

Support an Ithaca war resister on Wednesday

By Ari | Dec 2, 08 10:45 AM

AWOL War Vet Seeks Support from Ithaca Common Council, December 3, 2008, 6:30 pm, public meeting, Ithaca Common Council, City Hall, Ithaca, NY. More info - come if you can!

Happy Thanksgiving with Love

By Ari | Nov 24, 08 10:32 AM

Thanksgiving approaches, and if you celebrate it, please consider celebrating it compassionately this year! I've met turkeys at Farm Sanctuary, and let me tell you, they are good people. Sweet, kind, lovey - one little guy made purring noises when I petted him, I'll never forget that - and every bit as hungry for holiday food and holiday love as the rest of us are.

There shouldn't be any room for cruelty on the holiday table - it's just too sad to spoil a celebration by eating a helpless, tortured animal. Instead, try a Tofurky from your local health food store, or just leave out the bird / bird facsimile altogether and chow down on pie and mashed potatoes and all that other good stuff. Use soy margarine and rice milk and egg replacer instead of dairy and eggs, and cows and chickens everywhere will thank you, too.

More info on and recipes for a compassionate Thanksgiving:
Turkeys at Poplar Spring: The Luckier Ones [change.org]
Adopt-A-Turkey Project [Farm Sanctuary]
Gentle Thanksgiving [FARM]
Menu: Vegan Thanksgiving [Serious Eats]
Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes [VeganBits.com]

Taking names and remembering history: Poor little Mormons and the big gay menace

By Ari | Nov 15, 08 09:20 AM

The TIME article What Happens If You're on the Gay "Enemies List" reports that some queer folks have responded to people of color and Mormons who voted down marriage equality in California with some bigotry of their own. I don't know how wide-spread or real these acts of racism and religious intolerance are. I wish we queer folk could all commit to taking the higher ground and using only peaceful, respectful means to get equal rights. But it's not a perfect world, our country obviously has issues around identity politics, and some queer people are bigots, too. I'm not excusing these folks' behavior whatsoever, just pointing out that they're the exception, not the rule, when it comes to activism for queer equality.

This article also calls out queer folks for organizing efforts like Anti-Gay Blacklist, wherein the details of individual donors to the Yes on 8 campaign are posted on the internet so those who support marriage equality can boycott them and send mail to the companies they work for. Let's think about a few other times in which such lists of people have been used, which might point to whether this practice is acceptable. Right Wing Christians have posted lists of their own, which have made it easier for, say, Right Wing anti-choice activists to hunt down and murder doctors who give women abortions. The McCarthy-era blacklists destroyed people's lives. Some militant animal rights groups have used lists to target those who imprison and torture animals in labs for sidewalk demonstrations and harassment in front of these people's homes. None of these seem like good ideas to me. None of these strategies are respectful of people's space, privacy, and families. Some of these strategies are outright violent. Are the lists in California any better? Well, yes. They don't include home addresses and phone numbers, so far as I've seen. It seems their primary purpose is to facilitate boycotts, and to help people know where they can send letters. This is public accountability. This is putting faces on the oppressors. This isn't a call for violence, and this will not destroy people's lives. It might, however, mean they get less business and more mail from people they're oppressing. If that's uncomfortable for them that's too bad - they, after all, pulled together millions of dollars to oppress queer families, which I think is a little more egregious than encouraging letter-writing and economic boycotts. If they really had courage in their convictions, they'd welcome these lists put on the internet by gay people - after all, if they're on the moral high ground, why do they want to hide their faces?

Another article in the New York Times quotes Alan C. Ashton, the grandson of a former president of the Mormon Church, who donated one million dollars in support of the oppression of families like mine. He calls our protests (including, presumably, the vast majority of our protests, which are peaceful and not marred by bigotry) "off-putting." He says, “I think that shows colors... by their fruit, ye shall know them.” Mormons and other religious groups have been showing their colors for generations. What is the fruit of homophobia? Queer teens are committing suicide. Transgender people are being raped and murdered. People born intersexed are being surgically altered and given drugs that change who they are without consent, in their infancy and childhood. Queer folks are shouted at and hurt in the streets. So many queer people are so crippled by internalized homophobia, or so wounded by the homophobia of their families and communities, that they can never self-actualize and be honest about who they are. Ashton and his millionaire friends might try to paint themselves as the victims now that we queer folks are finally lifting ourselves out of the ashes of history, but I'm guessing they're more afraid of us gaining full personhood than they are of our "enemies lists" and boycotts.

UPDATE, 11.18.08

Editorial: Vandalism, coercion are counterproductive to fight for gay marriage mentions the vandalism of Mormon churches and says of other incidents, "One ugly case was the boisterous protest by dozens of gay marriage supporters outside a small Los Angeles restaurant where the owner's daughter had contributed $100 to Proposition 8. The loss of customers threatened the livelihoods of employees, some of whom were gay and opposed the initiative." This is such a shame. It might not be home harassment but it's still harassment, and I don't think it will make this restaurant owner's daughter any more sympathetic to the idea of gay marriage. We can't bully people into seeing us as their equals.

Keith Oberman's Book of Love

By Shira | Nov 11, 08 04:51 PM

Keith asks us to spread happiness and protect the ember of love by defending the gay right to marriage...

Same-sex marriage and caged chickens: Human freedom, animal rights

By Ari | Nov 11, 08 04:30 PM

I just read a piece on the Huffington Post, Shaun Jacob Halper's Why Some Americans Don't Have Reason to Celebrate, and found it interesting from an animal rights perspective. It reads in part:

This past Election Tuesday, Californians turned out in droves to recognize the rights of caged-chickens while denying the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. Passing Prop 2 and Prop 8, Californians secured a chicken's right to "extend its wings, lie down, stand up, and turn around" in confinement, while revoking basic democratic rights from gays; rights like equal protection under the law, the ability to pursue happiness, and the freedom to worship religion without state interference (that's right, there are Judeo-Christian confessions that view same-sex marriage as sacred). In short, Californians sympathize with chickens but not with gays.

Isn't he minimizing the plight of chickens, and saying one oppression is worse (more worthy of concern) than another? I agree it's tragically sad that so many Californian voters have made such an unjust and oppressive choice. But why compare it to their vote to treat innocent chickens with just a little more compassion, as if that decision is somehow silly or less important?

I too am queer, and I too want my partnership, my family, to be legally recognized and not discriminated against. But though I'm oppressed as a queer woman, I've got all kinds of privilege that make my life about a million times better and more free than that of almost any animal of almost any other species. The way that we treat domesticated animals like chickens is absolutely unconscionable - we literally bring them into the world in huge numbers, expressly to suffer and die for our benefit. That voters have made a tiny step toward treating living, feeling animals with just a little more kindness is a beautiful thing. I don't begrudge my feathered sisters their political win. Maybe the folks who care so much about chickens will one day open their hearts a little wider and extend some kindness to queer folks as well. Denigrating their love of animals will not help them to open their hearts.

Maybe Halper is on his way to this realization already, though he's yet to see the connection between the oppression of non-human animals and the oppression of human animals. He writes,

It is the gay community who has failed to build coalitions with other groups. Wake-up call to gay leadership: We must form institutional alliances with other minority communities and start supporting each others interests. We are not going to see these groups support our right to marry if we do not make an active effort to support them as well.

We need to start seeing allies everywhere, and treating everyone as our brothers and sisters in a universal struggle for peace and justice. Maybe some of those we treat with respect and love don't have the power or capability to give us anything in return - but it's not about reciprocity, it's about doing the right thing by our neighbors. A win for the chickens is a win for us all.

Lioness in the New York Times

By Ari | Nov 6, 08 10:17 AM

The documentary Lioness has been featured in the New York Times. We did the website, branding, posters, and other outreach materials for the film, and are happy to see it getting out to a wider and wider audience. It offers a rarely-seen glimpse into the lives of female combat veterans, and the challenges they face when they come back home. Read the article, and visit the film site to get involved and take action on the issues.

Countering the badness with peace and love: No on Prop. 8, yes to equality

By Ari | Nov 6, 08 08:06 AM

My good friend Josh has written a beautiful, positive call to action for equality in California. Read it, and get excited!

Hey folks,

Damn I'm jazzed!

5 Great Things YOU can do about Prop 8!

1) Start feeling good!

The vote on 8 won't be certified until next month. Start visualizing and Secret'ing it to lose! The trick is to visualize it to the point where you feel REALLY good, like it's REALLY happening!

Also, remind yourself that while if Prop 8 does pass, it will be but a momentary setback in the civil rights movement... while at the same time, we are celebrating the groundbreaking civil rights victory of having for the first time a black President! Civil rights moves forward inexorably. We will prevail!

(If you don't understand how people of color and queers have more in common than less, talk to me.)

2) Feel REALLY good!

Novel lawsuits are already being filed, on the grounds that Prop 8 misused the amendment process to undermine the constitution itself. Other lawsuits are also being filed. It might be even MORE FUN if Prop 8 wins and then gets struck down in the courts! Hah! So if that feels even better to you, Secret that!

3) Fight FOR your equality, not AGAINST Prop 8, conservatives, or anything else... not even in your mind.

What you resist, persists. Fight FOR your equality, your right to be treated equal under the law, and your acceptance in our culture for who you are.

4) Shift to not fighting at all.

Resist the urge to see this as a war, an us versus them dynamic with winners and losers.

This is what many conservatives actually want. If your head is making war, then you are actually participating in the global war machine they support.

If you want peace on this planet, do not expect it until you can figure out how to assert your equality in peace.

Take action, certainly... but do it in a way that does not divide you from others. Stay connected to your friends and family members that are so wrapped up in their own fears that they could vote Yes on 8. Be an agent of change in their lives.

Create this change through love and unity, not war and separation.

5) Know what Prop 8 is really about and respond to that.

Realize that this is not really about marriage at all, but about keeping queers invisible, discriminated against, oppressed. So, be visible... be yourself, fearlessly, powerfully, and encourage others to do the same.

Examine your experiences to see if there are any ways, even little ways, that you still hide who you really are AND/OR allow others to express their homophobia without letting them know how their actions affect you.

Do you refrain from talking about your relationships at work even though straight coworkers do? When was the last time you let a homophobic joke go without saying something? Are you still hiding from any of your family members to some degree? Can you meet new people, spend any significant amount of time with them, and make it so they leave without really knowing you're gay/queer/trans/etc?

Even if you're "fully out", do you modulate it down sometimes? Under what circumstances? Are you living as queer as you actually are? If you're heterosexual, are YOU living as queer as you actually are?

Remember, if someone has to be uncomfortable or unhappy, it doesn't have to be you. :-)

BONUS! 6) Forward this message on!

Please feel free to mail, email, or repost this text. All I ask is that you include the original link: http://bunnykitteh.livejournal.com/155593.html

}{ugs,
Josh

Ps. In my rush to excite and empower you, I forgot one little thing... you may not be ready yet! (Thanks Ben, for reminding me!)

If you are feeling angry, sad, hurt... going through the stages of grief... or whatever process you're in, stick with it! Those feelings are sooo important. They are messages that your needs are not getting met.

It was through my own process of getting deeply in touch with the pain of being seen as less-than-a-person by people I grew up with, really getting what that means, that I was able to take back my power and choose my response.

Know that you are loved and surrounded by good wishes for your well being as you go through whatever you are going through right now.

Transgender Day of Remembrance and TransAction!

By Ari | Nov 5, 08 03:36 PM

My being born genderqueer has come with a dose of oppression, from psychologically-damaging pressures to conform to the binary gender system as a child, to having people shout at me in the streets. Throw in being a woman and being queer and I'm never sure what part of me people are shouting at. I don't know that I can complain, though - many people have experienced far, far worse, and even lost their lives.

Coming up on November 20, 2008 is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day for us to remember and honor those folks who have been killed due to anti-transgender bias, hatred, and prejudice. See participating groups or organize a commemoration of your own. GLSEN and TDOR offer the following ideas:

Candlelight vigils / marches
Visual representation of the number of deaths with:
- Cardboard tomb stones of remembered people
- Paper cutouts of remembered people
- Body outline chalkings of remembered people
- Art / photography displays

Also, save the date: on February, 27, 2009, GLSEN is holding a student-driven event in support and celebration of trans and gender non-conforming people, TransAction! Visit their site for info on workshops and speakers - and to set up your own event.

If you want to know more about us folks with interesting genders, check out Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, Gender.org, and good ol' Wikipedia.

Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences

By Ari | Nov 3, 08 10:01 AM

I was sitting here in our cute little library (our new place in Ithaca has a tiny room just right for books) and I looked up at our shelves and thought, a lot of books here really changed me as a child. Somehow I went from eating animals and wearing their skins to thinking of animals as my brothers and sisters. It took a very long time and I'm still working on it (I think I always will - species privilege is really hard to work against), but I know that even as a kid, I was starting to form that consciousness. So, I figured out the titles that I think had the most impact on me early on, and I put them into this GoodReads shelf: Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences

Was anyone else out there spurred to a more developed social consciousness as a result of childhood readings? What titles had the most impact on you?

Read on for the reviews / notes I posted in GoodReads, on each title - or visit the shelf to read them on GoodReads, and write your own reviews.

Continue reading "Ari's Early Animal Rights Influences..." »

Ellen's PSA against California's homophobic Proposition 8

By Ari | Oct 15, 08 02:25 PM

Ellen Degeneres has made a PSA against Proposition 8, the initiative coming up in California to rob queer folks of the right to marriage. Bravo, Ellen!

Also, I hear her mom has joined Bradd Pitt and Steven Spielberg in giving money to the campaign against Proposition 8. Way to go, Ellen's mom!

It's Ally Week

By Ari | Oct 15, 08 12:50 PM

It's Ally Week this week, a nationwide chance for straight allies to speak up for their queer friends and family at school and in their communities. I know that as a queer person, having straight allies has always been a very warm and fuzzy feeling. Thank you for all that you do, straight but not narrow folks!

I helped design GLSEN's Student Organizing site as well as MySpace and other materials for Ally Week. The Ally Week materials themselves were designed by someone else - not sure who but they look great!
Ally Week Website
Sign up to participate - GLSEN Student Organizing site

Africans on U.S. Africom

By Ari | Oct 1, 08 05:15 PM

The U.S. has a big new military operation to "improve security and promote development" in Africa. Let's hear what folks in Africa have to say about it: "Africom will not benefit ordinary Africans. I cannot trust America." I agree it won't benefit ordinary Africans, or Americans for that matter. As for trusting America - me neither!

"Wherever American forces go, they become a terrorist magnet." So true. Maybe it has something to do with our being capitalist imperialists with no respect for other cultures and their governments.

"I think it would be better for the US to support the African Union." Right on. America is falling apart at home already - why should we send yet more of ourselves out all over the world, where we're not even wanted?

Now if only our government listened to its people - or to the people we oppress the world over. Our lives would be a lot easier, and everyone else would be able to solve their own problems in peace. I'm all for helping out when it's needed and wanted - but we have no business putting out armed forces all over the world. Remember Rome? That didn't turn out too well, did it?

America at the border

By Ari | Sep 29, 08 11:32 AM

I believe in the power of the positive. Instead of griping about the problems around me I prefer to find or create positive alternatives. So, instead of posting photos of slaughterhouses and detailing the horrors of animal industry, and saying I'm "fighting against cruelty", or that I'm "anti-speciesist", I try to show good vegan alternatives and successful pro-animal activism, and to use terms like "cruelty-free" and "peace and love vegan".

I also believe that instead of spending all of our time trying to fix what's broken, a more positive and productive alternative is to create a beautiful new system that folks are excited by, that inspires hope, and which they'll then want to be a part of. So, instead of trying to reform the government, it might be more useful to create mutual aid networks, free community clinics, free public kitchens, and other things that people really need, and which they can become part of, reducing their dependence on the profit-driven messes that currently drive America.

But now I'm afraid that perhaps the U.S. is too far along its path to destruction and oppression to allow time for a new world to be built in the cracks of the old. I just read Republican and Democratic Congress Members Sound the Alarm: Tyranny is Here, a blog post with some links in it that point to some very scary possibilities: Flu pandemic followed by martial law, the suspension of the Constitution, the government being shot down in favor of a bona-fide dictatorship. Capitalists' and warlords' time is nearly at an end; the people are waking up. But they're still powerful, and if their past record is any indication, they won't go out without a fight.

Reading this post, I remembered an experience Shira and I had at U.S. border control, back in July. We're both U.S. citizens, born and bred. We'd just come from an idyllic, incredible retreat (click for photos) at Wasan Island with our friends at freeDimensional, and were traveling with a dear new friend from Germany. Our bus moved through Canada toward the U.S. border and I began to feel fear. I always feel fear around authority figures with guns, call me crazy. So we neared the border, which was the most brilliantly-lit thing for miles around, a huge industrial-looking series of buildings and equipment and fences with many large threatening-looking signs that said things about how the border patrol would treat us with respect, all very 1984. Even seeing the words "Homeland Security" felt creepy; those words have never made me feel secure.

They made us all get off the bus and put our luggage out for an inspection, and herded us into a big building where we all stood around quietly, shuffling and occasionally whispering to each other. It was not a safe-feeling place. The men who guarded it all had guns, and other weapons, and looked us over appraisingly; their faces were not friendly and their words were not comforting. They gave curt orders and barely communicated with us otherwise. The whole atmosphere was very tense.

They searched our bags first, making us put them up on a table and going through them all. I noticed one guard talking to a couple of young dudes of Asian descent, giving them a really hard time because their bags were so small. "Where did you go? You were there that long and this is all you had? Where are your other clothes? Why didn't you pack more? Who did you talk to while you were there?" They didn't seem to believe anything the guys said. They treated them with outright disrespect. The two young guys had stayed with friends and gone swimming; they seemed very nice - and very quiet, and very compliant, and a little afraid. I was afraid, too, for them. I remember feeling it wasn't right that they were being treated like that, but I was afraid to say anything to anyone about it, or even to watch.

We all had to go up to little counters one at a time to speak with the border control officers; they looked at our passports and waved Shira and I by very quickly and easily with just a couple of questions. Our German friend took longer to get through. Others took even longer. I don't even know if everyone made it back on the bus.

As we drove away from the border, I felt a sense of relief. I also felt deeply embarrassed that this was my country, that my friends on the bus had to deal with such disrespect, that all of us had had to pass through such a creepy and ugly place. I felt ashamed that I had felt so powerless, so afraid, and that my own country had created this experience. Out of what? Fear of terrorists? Those kids coming back from their swimming trip weren't dangerous, they were kids. They should have been greeted warmly, not questioned like they were criminals. It made me feel like my country was a police state, a dictatorship, a place where citizen and visitor alike have no assurance of safety and freedom.

I recount all of this because, well, I hadn't ever expressed it before, and I want it out there on the interwebs. I want to say that I disagree. I want to say I want no borders. I want my country to be a welcoming and beautiful place that makes people feel safe and happy. I want others to be able to work and study and settle here free of harassment. I want to be able to come and go freely and safely. And I don't believe terrorists are going to be stopped by this bullshit at the border. It punishes us all every day, this loss of freedom - and we all know that if terrorists want in, they'll find a way, and no amount of bullying busriders is going to stop them from it. I'm more afraid of my own government than I am of the "terrorist threat" that they're using to take away my rights and freedom.

Is the future ours? Can we create a new world if those who are running this one have all the power - and are willing to use it to keep us from creating our peaceful alternatives by force? How can we break free? Will Obama be enough to begin to change the system, or is he too little too late? Will the socialists and other progressives ever stop in-fighting and reacting long enough to make positive, peaceful change in the here and now? Someone make me feel more hopeful!

Flickr: "popularity" and social change

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 11:31 PM

Ah, Flickr. I spend waaaay too much time on there. But you know, I consider it a form of activism - and there are some amazing activists on there spreading some beautiful ideas, so I'm not the only one with an agenda. I can be very shy in person, but on Flickr, I can have meaningful dialogues with people from all over the world, many who help me to learn and change, and many who I hope I've helped along a bit as well.

I think that Flickr's measures of "popularity" are very compelling measures of what works and what doesn't in doing advocacy on Flickr. Here are the four measures of popularity (according to Flickr), and some notes on how each measure is useful from an activist perspective.

Most interesting
Mostly my art, at this point - which is encouraging! But then, the whole "interestingness" thing on Flickr is a bit of a mystery so I'm not sure what this says about my art. Some of my more political stuff is right up top in this list, and by keeping track of what Flickr calls interesting, I can adjust my ongoing work to see if I can tweak the results. Yes, I literally make art that I think might get into this queue. If I can get Flickr to call activist art interesting, that means more people see it when browsing Flickr.

Most views
If a photo has anything remotely sexy in it, tag it with "sex" and "sexy" and you too will soon be posting photos in the "5,000 views" and "10,000 views" groups. Some results break this mold though - like this snap of a sidewalk installation by De La Vega. The upside of the ridiculousness of sexy tags' popularity is that you can use this to create dialogue. Yay stealth feminism!

Most faved
Also a lot of my art, and my more arty photos. Yaay! This is why I love Flickr - honestly I never made so much art before I started posting stuff on here and getting feedback. By keeping track of what folks like about my work, I can adjust what I post and get more challenging ideas out there more effectively.

Most commented upon
Somehow, I've been fortunate enough to get some really great dialogues going around speciesism, sexism, sustainability, and other issues - many of which go on for some time. I've learned a lot over the years and have gotten pretty good at keeping dialogue going. If I get worked up or push radical ideas on people too quickly or too forcefully I find that I come off as pedantic or holier-than-thou and the dialogue sputters out quickly. I find that asking questions is more useful - if folks reach conclusions on their own they'll be more engaged and will want to keep talking with me. It's fun to see other activists join in to help me out - and I've even purposefully posted my photo in relevant groups to get activist help on occasion! But it's even more fulfilling and enjoyable to see folks coming around to compassion, just by having the space to ask questions and challenge my ideas.

Does anyone else do this kind of thing? How do you get conversation going on difficult subjects?

Previously: 6 best practices: Engaging in social networking for social change

Wall Street bailout: Making the rich richer and the poor poorer

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 12:36 PM

Bad News For The Bailout (via Bob Torres):

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Um. What?

Here's how I feel about the bailout: The dudes who have been draining the American people's blood on Wall Street and in these so-called "Investment Banks" are rich. They do not need help. Their "financial instruments" which they sell to us are a big ol' rip-off. We pay twice as much for our houses when we get mortgages (did you know "mortgage" means "death-pledge"?), and we have to pay for insurance just in case we get sick because health care is completely unaffordable otherwise. You should not need to get a loan to provide for yourself. Things should not cost as much as they do. We should be able to support our families ourselves, without committing to giving half or more of our money to rich guys.

If I could work, unpaid, but be sure that my neighbors were there for me in turn, I would jump at that opportunity. The doctor gives health care, the builder makes houses, I make websites and do outreach, the farmer grows healthful food, the teacher teaches. We all enjoy each other's services and goods freely. Yes, I'm talking about anarchism, about socialism, about collectivism. These ideas are not scary, they're beautiful, they're freeing. You know why? The rich guy who's profiting off of other folks' work isn't part of the picture - or rather, he's down on the same level with all the rest of us. Exploitation is exploitation no matter how you try to hide it. This bailout business is a big scary joke. I don't buy it.

UPDATE: Click here to contact your elected officials about this issue.

UPDATE, 10.1.08: Straight from the House's mouth: Why the bailout bill failed. Also, note this figure, which an activist sent out to an Ithaca mailing list I'm on: "$700 billion divided by 301 million Americans equals, $2 million 325 thousand for every man woman and child." So, um, that would solve a lot of problems, wouldn't it? I'd like to be a millionaire. Then I wouldn't need a mortage to own my own home, and I could pay off my school loans. Hell, maybe I wouldn't even need health insurance anymore, either.

Nebraska and safe haven - for all or just for some?

By Ari | Sep 28, 08 12:00 PM

Has anyone else out there been following this safe haven thing in Nebraska? They created a safe haven law that allows kids up to age 18 to be dropped off at hospitals and such, with no penalty to the parent. Then a ton of kids all got dropped off, and the media and politicians said "Whoa, too many kids are being abandoned! Better limit the safe haven law to only allow kids up to 5 year old or something."

So I read these stories, and was shocked that this was the response. I mean, if so many kids are being dropped off who weren't before, isn't that, dare I say, a good thing? Ostensibly the parents really don't want them or can't handle taking care of them. Why on earth would it be preferable to keep them in their homes if this is the reality of the situation? Why should it ever be considered wrong or illegal - or an offense worthy of punishment - to put your kids in a safer, healthier situation? If we don't allow folks to safely turn over their kids to others who can care for them (and here I know I'm glossing over the painful problems with the foster care and adoption industries), then won't we end up with more horror stories of kids locked up in closets for years, or killed, or abandoned on roadsides?

Anyway, today I finally came across a story that I think helps put the whole thing in context and which is very sympathetic to these parents and their horrible situation - and to the kids who could really benefit if we extended this broad safe haven law to the whole country: Nebraska Must Not Change Child Safe Haven Law by Vigilant Watch. When I saw this I breathed a sigh of relief that I'm not the only one who thinks this safe haven law is not "backwards" but a very, very good idea. Now if only we could extend it to all kids everywhere. They say it takes a village to raise a child, right? Let's act like it and take responsibility for the kids who need help - and work to erase the problems that lead to families falling into this situation in the first place.

It's gay week - and I love Ian McKellen!

By Ari | Sep 25, 08 01:05 PM

McKellen promotes gay tolerance:

Actor Sir Ian McKellen is to visit schools, giving talks about gay tolerance. The star, best known to youngsters as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, hopes to end bullying of gay pupils... "I said that we are all part of a minority group - be it for being short, or tall or fat or thin, or having red hair or whatever. I said hands up who thinks they are part of a minority group and all the hands went up. I had Gandalf's sword with me and I knighted a pair of children Sir Minority and Dame Minority and it went down very well... It is essential to talk to 12 and 13-year-olds because they absorb what's thrown at them, whether it be homophobia or tolerance - and we have to make sure it's the positive stuff."

What with Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg donating money in support of gay marriage, and Lindsay Lohan and Clay Aiken coming out (congrats and thanks to both of them!), and now this, I feel like it's gay week! What a beautiful new world we're making for queer youth.

A while back, a hater dissed me on Flickr for my veganism, and also took issue with me calling myself a "queer vegan" in all of my online bios. I admit at the time I actually felt hurt and a little embarrassed. But then I took a step back and remembered why I describe myself in that way, and felt a little more self-assured. When I was growing up queer people were largely invisible - this was pre-Ellen! Even though I had supportive queer people in my own family, I did grow up with a lot of internalized homophobia and massive gender issues. It's taken me a long time to finally accept who I am and to be honest about it. Becoming vegan too was a huge step for me, a big break with family tradition and a very hard struggle, to acknowledge speciesism in myself and to change my actions to be in line with my ethics and my heart.

So here I am, finally, a queer vegan - and I can't help but wish that as I was growing up, there had been more visible, out and proud queer folks and vegan folks around in the media and in popular culture and in my community. So when I put that right up front it's because I want to be visible, obvious. I don't want anyone to guess or have to ask. I want little queer kids, and little kids who love animals, to immediately know that I'm like them, and that it's okay to be like this. I sure don't have the visibility or profile of Sir Ian McKellen or Lindsay Lohan, but every little bit counts, right?

Anyway, happy gay week.

Al Gore says it's time for civil disobedience

By Ari | Sep 24, 08 10:04 PM

Gore urges civil disobedience to stop coal plants:

If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration... I believe for a carbon company to spend money convincing the stock-buying public that the risk from the global climate crisis is not that great represents a form of stock fraud because they are misrepresenting a material fact... I hope these state attorney generals around the country will take some action on that.

Biggest political rally in Canada's history: Alaska Women Reject Palin

By Ari | Sep 19, 08 06:03 PM

My friend Diana, an activist in NYC, sent me an amazing email about an anti-Palin protest in Alaska that drew record crowds on September 14th, but which is getting snubbed by the media.

A group of women organized the protest over coffee; they wanted to show the world that Sarah Palin does not stand for all Alaskans, and arranged a rally at their local library. Local right wing radio talk show host Eddie Burke gave out organizers' phone numbers on the air, making a public call for harassment that sure enough resulted in the women getting threatening phonecalls. He's been suspended a week for that, but his station has no problem with his calling the organizers "socialist, baby-killing maggots." The protesters persevered and the result was an incredible turnout - the biggest political rally in the history of the state of Alaska.

Here's a video. Keep in mind that Alaska doesn't have a lot of people - apparently a rally is deemed successful when 25 people show up. So this 1400 people is a big deal.

The story has hit some blogs, but hasn't gotten a lot of media coverage. Here's the Washington Post's campaign trail blog post about it, and a piece on gaywired.com. There's a brief mention in The Independent and some coverage on the Huffington Post. Please help spread the word - and ask your local media why you aren't hearing this story from them.

The same activist, known on her blog as AKMuckraker, also wrote it up as a blog post, but the email was a little longer and is probably better to use if you want to send emails about this to folks. (Also, the blog post seems to be getting a lot of traffic so it's loading very slowly. Do visit it though - she has lots of photos!) Read on for the full text of the email version.

Continue reading "Biggest political rally in Canada's history: Alaska Women Reject Palin..." »

No End In Sight

By Shira | Sep 10, 08 10:38 AM

Watching this really helped me wrap my mind around what has been going down in Iraq. Between now and November 5th, this Oscar-nominated doc is viewable in its entirety on YouTube. Check it:

"Bee-Boys" ask us to save the honey bees

By Shira | Aug 21, 08 08:25 PM

...but I have to ask, why does Haagen Dazs want to save the bees, but not the dairy cows? And where are they getting their honey?

Here are some original B-Boys and the woman who documented them when hip-hop was born:

The Great Turning: The world getting better, already in progress

By Ari | Aug 11, 08 11:06 AM

If you read one book this year, please make it David C. Korten's The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community. I really think this book has the potential to change the world. Actually, I think this book is only one small part of the movement it describes - not only is another world possible, it's being built right now. This book explains what's happening all around us clearly and with compassion, and invites us to take part in the great turning of human civilization from age-old patterns of domination and exploitation, to cooperation, partnership, and peace.

Korten comes from a mainstream U.S. background - he worked for years trying to help folks around the world improve their lives through the application of global capitalist strategies. He discovered that this didn't help but rather hurt people, and over time turned instead to more progressive means. Today he is co-founder and board chair of the Positive Futures Network and YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, and works on a host of other amazing projects aimed at creating a better world right now. The Great Turning is Korten's careful explanation of where we've gone wrong, what's happening right now, and how we can turn it all around for the better.

Continue reading "The Great Turning: The world getting better, already in progress..." »

Rev Billy on Fox Business Happy Hour

By Ari | Aug 8, 08 01:32 PM

Check out this incredible video of Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping dropping some science on Fox News. The host really gets into it, though she's a little shocked by his indictment of capitalism. On Fox! He dissed capitalism on Fox! You have to watch it. Oh, and stop shopping!

Via the Stop Shopping Monitor
Previously:

Announcing Lionessthefilm.com

By Ari | Aug 1, 08 02:36 PM

Just launched today, Lionessthefilm.com. We worked with filmmakers Daria Sommers and Meg McLagan, along with consultation from Working Films and Matt Syrett, to craft a comprehensive online outreach tool for this exciting new documentary. The site was built on Movable Type 4 (open source, baby!), uses Google Analytics to track traffic, and dovetails with accounts on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Google Calendar, to provide soldiers, veterans, and those providing support services with ways to engage with the film and with each other - and to help get their stories heard. We also designed the film's branding, as well as posters, postcards, email graphics, and other outreach essentials.

Through beautiful footage shot by our friend Kirsten Johnson (Farenheit 9/11, Deadline), Lioness tells the story of the first women in American history to be sent into direct ground combat. The interviews with the Lionesses are gripping; as anti-war activists we found watching the film to be an invaluable learning experience that really helped us identify with soldiers who are putting their lives on the line in armed combat. It movingly shows both the combat experience and the impact of it on people's lives, after they've come home.

Visit the site at Lionessthefilm.com to view the trailer, find screenings, get involved, and sign up for updates.

An Anti-Capitalist Blockbuster?

By Shira | Jul 30, 08 05:28 PM

Support healthcare for all - TODAY, NYC

By Ari | Jul 30, 08 12:37 PM

Via our friends in the Coalition Against Privatization:

Wed. July 30: Rally to Stop Healthcare Privatization

As the healthcare crisis deepens, people are searching for alternatives to a corporate-driven system that leaves nearly 50 million Americans uninsured. Not surprisingly, the healthcare industry's solution is even more privatization. GHI & HIP are two of the latest targets of this privatizing campaign. But what if the solution - or a partial solution - to this dilemma already exists?

Continue reading "Support healthcare for all - TODAY, NYC..." »

humans are so...creepy

By Shira | Jul 16, 08 05:30 PM

considering euthanasia for wild horses
gps for tracking hunting dogs
celebrity chef suffocating chicks on TV
running cars on cow fat
sheep as dialysis bags

Reverend Billy: Americans Stop Shopping

By Ari | Jul 15, 08 11:28 AM

Tell it, Reverend Billy!

A headline in the papers said: Americans Stop Shopping. Can you believe this? It goes on to say: Discretionary retail spending is down six quarters in a row, big boxes in receivership, independent shops springing up...

So, the market is no longer a great shadow up in the elevator shaft that crashes down on us every time a rich person needs to leave home. The President told us that shopping was how we fight for our country - that we deserved this nationwide hypnosis - but then Americans Stop Shopping, and oh the freedom from that pain throws us forward into a delicious waltz of little everyday gestures, oh this feels good. Americans Stop Shopping, did anyone see this coming?
Yes, the corporations did. They were afraid we might stop at any moment but then we kept shopping for years and they started buying homes in the Hamptons, oh but feel that? Feel that shopping stop? Could we be fascinated again with the pharmacist couple that survived the chains? Were they Tony and Mary? Are the old first names returning to our shouts? Look at that! It’s a miracle. Our hands are changing - ungrabbing - returning to us from the credit cards and plastic-lid to-go cups...
Americans Stop Shopping and why does it make no sense to sit in traffic now - is it really just the gas? Because - see that? We are leaving our cars and trucks up on the interstate and wandering off across fields, suddenly I meet you after all these years! I remember you and I remember myself - from before all the shopping started. You know what? I’ve got a question for you.
Can you believe this headline? Americans Stop Shopping? We shopped too much because we were afraid of death but now that we stopped - the forests rise through the super mall roof and birds cry “I am here! I am here!” Americans Stop Shopping? Can we believe we are consuming less? - if we believe it then we can do it. Amen?

Amen! Find out more about Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel

By shirari | Jun 30, 08 06:26 PM

Get ready for an hour and twelve minutes of non-stop queer vegan rambling! Wait, that didn't sound particularly attractive. Rest assured it'll be worth a listen - in this third installment of Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast we talk about our recent trip to Israel, Amsterdam, and Iceland, and how we attempted to take best advantage of the fuel used to have a experience that was as low-impact and culture-rich as possible. You'll hear about a kibbutz that turns soda cans and other trash into eco-friendly buildings, bikes by the boatload, naked showers with Europeans, friendly ducks interrupting breakfast in a tent, a town where street art is loved and not hated, and delicious, delicious falafel.

Shira's voice is kinda quiet in this one, sorry about that! We're still working out the technical kinks here. If you're actually downloading and listening to these, please comment and tell us what you think! Thanks to those of you who've written to us or commented already, we're so happy folks are giving these a listen.

Shirari's Peace and Love Podcast #3: Travel »
June 30, 2008 - 72 minutes - 32.9MB

Show links:

Previously:

Gogol Bordello and the oldest Roma settlement in the world, Sulukule

By Ari | Jun 30, 08 01:01 AM

Gypsy band Gogol Bordello supports Sulukule [Turkish Daily News, via Gogol Bordello Mailing List]:

Gogol Bordello's soloist Eugene Hutz, in the Sunday concert, said, "The incidents happening in Sulukule happen in many places around the world. Do people want more McDonalds' and hotel chains? Or is it more logical to protect a country's culture and historical structures? The choice is yours." (Read more)

More photos from Reykjavik, Amsterdam, and Israel

By Ari | Jun 26, 08 10:41 AM

shira and a troll friend
Originally uploaded by arimoore

Better late than never, here are my photos from our recent trip, finally all organized and described and tagged on Flickr. You'll find cute animals and magical forests, street art and graffiti, beautiful architecture and ancient ruins, macro experiments and lens flares, geologic wonders, funny and strange signs and art, and lots of ecological sustainability and animal rights stuff. Comments highly appreciated!

Previously: Two and a Half Weeks in Israel, Amsterdam and Iceland (Photos by Shira)

Heinz UK Pulls Ad Showing Two Men Kissing

By Shira | Jun 25, 08 01:31 PM

I'm not sure what's more shocking - that this ad was pulled because of complaints or that it was aired in the first place. I can't imagine Heinz putting an ad this gay on U.S. television, Americans are way too homophobic. Further evidence that capitalism serves profit, not people, and definitely not the chickens whose eggs go into Heinz mayonnaise.

Now if Heinz is looking for new ideas for the American market, they need look no further:

Live Mermaid Cam - Save Coney Island!

By Ari | Jun 24, 08 11:25 AM

Coney Island is still in danger of being creepily redeveloped, and the Mermaid Queen (who also happens to be Reverend Billy's wife, Savitri D), is on a hunger strike in protest. Chat with her above by clicking the "Enter Chat" button. If you're a Stickam member you can add her as a friend or video chat with her: stickam.com/coneyislandmermaid. Visit Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping to get your own Mermaid Cam embed code, for your own blog - it's super-easy.

Support your Queen's quest to save Coney Island! Come to the Community Scoping Meeting TONIGHT June 24th, 6:00pm at Linclon High School, 2800 Ocean Parkway. (NYC.)

UPDATE: Unfortunately the chat seems to be mobbed by creepy sexist asshats (at the time of this writing, 12.20pm) demanding to see the Mermaid's "fish taco" and such. So um, yeah, not such a good chat. But it's a cool idea! Who knows, maybe some of the people coming in via Digg and so on will at least think to look up the Coney Island situation after seeing this, even if the chat itself isn't so helpful.

The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

By Ari | Jun 23, 08 11:13 AM

Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted 21 convictions including Charles Manson without a single loss, author of Helter Skelter and Outrage, has penned a new volume, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. He argues that after he leaves office, Bush should be put on trial for the murder of the nearly 4,000 American soldiers who've died fighting the war in Iraq.

For a great interview with Bugliosi, read The Nation:

What similarities, if any, would you expect to encounter in preparation for the trial of President George Bush compared with someone like Charles Manson?

Well, with Manson we're talking about seven murders. With Bush it's hundreds of thousands.

America and the weather

By Ari | Jun 14, 08 06:24 PM

Flooded Eastern Iowa Road
Originally uploaded by creepysleepy

"We as a nation have ignored our infrastructure for the past 50 years. We haven't gone back to maintain the old roads and bridges and we just keep building new ones," said Larry Larson, executive director of the floodplain managers group, which is based in Madison, Wis. "We've given up the public safety of existing structures in the name of economic development." Even before the recent flooding, federal officials were wary of aging levees. (Read more)

Anti-capitalist / environmentalist / tech news mashup

By Ari | Jun 14, 08 03:33 PM

MySpace is redesigning and I am so not excited. Sorry, MySpace. You've been too ugly for too long. I'm just biding my time until the current internet evolves into a wonderful free-culture free-software filesharing hive mind. C'mon people. Drop the profit model. Let's abandon the waste of competition and move onto cooperation, see what we can come up with then. My prediction: Awesomeness.
Vinyl shower curtains are deadly and may be banned. We bought an organic cotton one a while back and have been using it with no liner. We throw it in the wash every month or so. Works like a charm, doesn't require regular replacement like a plastic one, and doesn't leach 100 toxic chemicals into our bathroom like PVC ones apparently do. Yaaay.
McCain has declared the ruling on Guantanamo "one of the worst" in US history, and in so-doing, I hope he's turned off millions of potential voters. That is, if Americans like justice. I like justice. But then, I've seen time and time again that the American people don't always vote in ways that make any kind of sense to me.
Here's further evidence of McCain's unsuitability for leadership: Dude is all about the exploitation. To stimulate the economy, he plans to "extend the Bush administration's tax cuts, eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, and slash corporate taxes," which to me sounds like "make the rich richer and the poor poorer." What little tax we do pay goes toward fighting oil wars instead of taking care of basic necessities like healthcare and public transportation. Maybe with more cash to spend we can buy more DVDs and sneakers, but why pour our hard-earned wages back into the pockets of global capitalists exploiting animals, workers and our environment for their own profit?

Thank you Kucinich: 35 articles of impeachment against Bush

By Ari | Jun 12, 08 06:41 PM

Click here to see the Resolution by our favorite (vegan!) peace-loving politician.

Victor Papanek's Design for the Real World

By Ari | Jun 6, 08 01:12 PM

We've mentioned Victor Papanek's Design for the Real World a bunch of times but never blogged it properly, so here goes. Read it! It's amazing. It was written in 1970 but is still all-too-relevant today. The cover of our awesome 1973 Bantam edition (pictured here), reads, "Why the Things You Buy Are Expensive, Unsafe, and Usually Don't Work! With some startling practical alternatives -- like a radio that costs 9¢, a $6 refrigerator, a television set for $8, and much, much more! Design For The Real World by Victor Papanek: Human Ecology and Social Change With an Introduction by R. Buckminster Fuller; Completely Illustrated". Papanek adorably refers to his friend and introduction-writer as Bucky throughout the book, and relates stories of visionary design teams doing what the two men refer to as Anticipatory Comprehensive Design.

Basically that means looking at real-world problems and trying to solve them in an ecologically-sound and efficient, forward-thinking way, with the help of the stakeholders, the people who are actually affected by the design problem and its potential solutions. This is opposed to the more common practice of profit-driven design, which uses planned obsolescence and the vagaries of "fashion" to sell the same old crap year after year, dressed up in fancy new skins or even just different marketing. For every cool new low-cost, low-impact tool that's accessible and useful to folks who really need it, there are a million new expensive, ugly and possibly dangerous items put on the market simply to make a profit, Papanek says, and his message holds true today. The design world, for all of its improvements, does continue to churn out useless junk and endless repetitions of bad ideas.

Here's part of the flow-chart illustration with which Papanek ended the book - you'll have to read the book to see the rest of it, including his suggestions for how to get around the problems outlined here. But he doesn't give us all the answers - the flow-chart only goes so far as suggesting possible solutions to the world's problems; he puts it on us to fill in the rest of the chart as we move onto creating those solutions.

Since Shira and I are all about creating sustainable solutions in every area of life including the design work we do for clients, we found the book's message right up our alley, and the suggestions for improvement just as relevant today as they were when they were written nearly 40 years ago. It's encouraging to see that when Victor wrote this book he and Bucky were really trailblazing a new approach, which today has many adherents, with dozens of books and websites now dedicated to designing for the great majority of people instead of the privileged few who pay big bucks for pretty new designer chairs and the like. But we've still got work to do. So, read this book, and act on it!

Design, if it is to be ecologically responsible and socially responsive, must be revolutionary and radical (going back to the roots) in the truest sense. It must dedicate itself to nature's "principle of least effort," in other words, minimum inventory for maximum diversity... or, doing the most with the least. That means consuming less, using things longer, recycling materials, and probably not wasting paper printing books such as this.

Fortunately, Design for the Real World has been in print for many years, and is available used from many freecycling / swapping networks as well as libraries and used bookshops, so no new materials need be used today in learning from this beautiful and clever and useful book.

Utopia now

By Ari | Jun 5, 08 08:29 AM

We're reading Chris Carlsson's Nowtopia, and just happened upon Real Utopia. Good stuff! No matter how fast we read, there's always more amazingness out there we've never even heard of.

The basic premise of these books is that not only is another world possible, it's actively under construction, right now. If you're worried about peak oil, despairing about politics, or fearing the end of capitalism will never come, I highly recommend reading books like these for a healthy dose of hope and happiness. Nothing can restore your will to act and create change like reading accounts of many other people who care about this stuff and are working to build a better tomorrow today.

Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary: Letter from a Vegan World

By Ari | May 22, 08 12:16 PM

Letter from a Vegan World, a blog post by the abolitionist folks at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary:

At a time when most animal rights organizations are actively promoting, advocating and rewarding "humane" animal products and farming methods, I am writing to you on behalf of three of the recipients of that mercy.

To the industry, they are known as production units #6, #35, and #67,595. To the "compassionate" consumer, they are known as feel-good labels: "organic dairy", "rose veal", "free-range eggs". To welfare advocates, they are known as "humane alternatives". To each other, they are known as mother, son, sister, friend. To themselves, they are simply what you and I are to ourselves: a self-aware, self-contained world of subjective experiences, feelings, fears, memories – someone with the absolute certainty that his or her life is worth living. (Read more)

Congratulations, California!

By Ari | May 17, 08 10:03 AM

In case anyone missed it: California's Supreme Court has ruled that queer folks can get married now.

I had the good fortune to grow up in a very queer-friendly community (though with my gender issues, I obviously didn't emerge unscathed), so I think the importance of this event doesn't hit me so hard as it does many folks who have struggled much longer and harder than I have. I found a friend's reaction to the news helped me get my mind around it: "It's been 10 years (today!) since I packed up my life and moved across the country without a job, without a friend other than the man who loved me and believed in taking a chance... I'm crying at my desk while they are trying to install a new phone system."

Thank you, trailblazers, fearless family, leaders of the queer pack. I think we northern coast-dwellers sometimes forget how hard it's been - and very much still continues to be for folks elsewhere. Marriage isn't just icing on the cake of Greenwich Village and Pride and all of our other queer freedoms, it's a Big Deal. It's another vote for us, a step closer to full citizenship. We can have legally recognized families now, in one more state.

Personally, I'm looking forward to a day when I can check "married" instead of "single" on my tax return. (Though I'll miss writing in defiantly beside that check mark: "GAY".)

Helping Myanmar

By Ari | May 9, 08 12:35 PM

Looking for an effective way to help the people of Myanmar deal with the recent cyclone devastation? Their military government is blocking and intercepting aid, and as we know from 2004's Indian Ocean tsunami debacle, some aid organizations are more effective than others. So how can we best help?

Our friends at freeDimensional report:

Jay Koh, who runs NICA (Networking & Initiatives for Culture & the Arts ) based in Yangoon (Rangoon), and I have been in close email contact this week. His organization is currently accepting donations to be distributed to local relief organizations within Myanmar, the first being the Health and Death Assistant Association, which is managed by a monastery in Yangoon.

I can vouch for Jay: his commitment to his community is incredible, but he is desperate for help right now. With the UN cutting off aid, this is one way to get funds to Myanmar almost instantly. NICA has a PayPal account set up (visit www.paypal.com; send to ifima-at-gmx-dot-net). Please consider making a donation.

Another friend knows someone who works at the Burma Project at Open Society Institute, who suggests folks who want to give aid do it through Avaaz.org, a global online movement with millions of members. Avaaz.org is concerned that the junta can easily delay, divert, or misuse aid. They are partnering with the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO) and other local organizations to aid people directly through local networks.

March to Save Our Healthcare this Friday - NYC

By Ari | May 7, 08 05:01 PM

Every Teacher, Transit Worker, Librarian, and Public Worker will be impacted!
5/9 FRI, 4:30 pm - Protest: "March to Save Our Healthcare."

Join the fight to prevent GHI-HIP from converting to a for-profit company & jeopardizing the healthcare of 4 million policy holders, including 500,000 NYC workers (93% of the workforce) & retirees. Mainstream politicians & union leaders support the change, hoping to benefit from the nearly $3 billion windfall profits of such a sale. Help send a "no privatization" message to the NYS Sup't of Insurance & GHI-HIP. Bring friends & signs.

At Office of the NYS Superintendent of Insurance, 25 Beaver St
(4/5 to Bowling Green, J/M/Z to Broad St , R/W to Whitehall St,
1 to Rector St, 2/3 to Wall St, A/C to B'way-Nassau).

Info: (718) 869-2279, noprivatization-at-yahoo-dot-com (request flyer)
http://www.consumersunion.org/conv/
http://www.metrohealthcare.org/html/hcoa080116.html [video]
http://www.myspace.com/saveourhealthcare
http://going.com/saveourhealthcare
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/96895.html

Spread the word!

Day of Silence

By Ari | May 7, 08 02:23 PM

Check out GLSEN's new Day of Silence Blog, designed by Shirari Industries. This year's DOS fell on April 25th and drew record numbers of participants. Hundreds of thousands of students from more than 7,500 middle and high schools took a pledge of silence to bring attention to the bullying, name-calling, harassment and other violence that silences queer folks every day.

This year's DOS was held in remembrance of Lawrence King, a 15-year old California student who was shot and killed because of his sexuality and gender expression. We had the honor of designing a quick skin for Lawrence's MySpace page, another GLSEN project.

Save the date - the next DOS is on Friday, April 17, 2009. In the meantime, anyone can take action year-round to create safer schools and communities for queer youth. Visit GLSEN for information and ideas.

Voices: Queer Palestinian women

By Ari | May 7, 08 12:15 PM

My friends at freeDimensional have introduced me to ASWAT, an organization of Palestinian gay women based in Haifa. ASWAT (Arabic for "voices") provides a range of services and opportunities for interaction and support to queer Palestinian women, while raising public awareness and fostering tolerance in the greater community. They're online at aswatgroup.org.

Their words remind me of the awkward (but perhaps essential) position of Bayard Rustin, whose efforts in the American Civil Rights movement have been largely marginalized and/or "forgotten" because he was also a gay rights activist. ASWAT's working statement reads in part: "As long as we women participate in the struggle for national liberation, we are welcomed and our efforts are appreciated. The moment women want to focus their energies in establishing independence from the male occupation and structure, we are transformed instantly into enemies."

For yet more voices of feminist women, this time from Muslim women worldwide, many of them from Palestine, check out Sarah Husain's Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith, and Sexuality. And stay tuned to our blog here for more on Israel-Palestine - Shira and I are just back from a trip that included about 10 days in Haifa, and thanks to many Big Discussions there, have a much better understanding of the politics in question, which I hope we'll have time to comment on in a future blog post or two.

Nim Chimpsky, humans, and the animal family

By Ari | May 7, 08 10:53 AM

An activist friend of mine, Jesse Lokahi Heiwa, sent me a link to Chris Colin's The chimp who thought he was a boy, a Salon interview with Elizabeth Hess on her new biography, Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human. What a read. I was once interested in doing sign language research with primates, and today am very glad I didn't end up going that route. On the one hand you get this real sense of our connection with our ape cousins, and a new illumination of their personhood, but on the other, you can't really forge such a close (and arguably productive) relationship without harming the ape you're communicating with. Apes aren't meant to be pets, actors, research subjects, or companions to humans - they're evolved to hang out with other apes. The interview, and I'm sure the book, paint a very sad picture of how hurt Nim was when people stopped treating him like a human and started treating him like an ape again.

The article begins "Sometimes we're animals." Colin means it in the sense that what members of our species did to Nim was "bestial," inhumane (inhuman). But I think he's got it backwards. Humans are always animals; the other animals are our family, like it or not. We may try to "elevate" ourselves from their ranks, call human actions moral ones, and equate animals with lawless cruelty. But when we treat our cousins badly, our behavior isn't bestial but all too human. Only we set up research labs, and only we have the power to call the shots on our brothers' and sisters' lives with impunity. I think we need to spend more, not less, time thinking of ourselves as animals, and develop some empathy out of that connection.

Vermont Commons: The Decay of Capitalism

By Ari | May 6, 08 11:05 AM

Richard Davis's short opinion piece, The Decay of Capitalism, sums up how I've been feeling about the state of world affairs for a long time. Back when I read (parts of) Marx's Capital in school, I remember this graph showing capitalism's inevitable crash - there are only so many workers and resources to exploit before you run out of room for profit and the whole thing has to come tumbling down. I think this article does a good job of tying it all together, from fuel prices to the mortgage crisis to the healthcare industry's problems: "How did we get to the point where we replaced ethical principles and a sense of common good with profits at any cost? It is the natural evolution of the capitalist system in societies without a soul."

Lest this post sound too depressing: let's not forget that people are (and have been for some time) constructing socialist alternatives all over the world. Read Zapatista Encuentro: Documents from the Encounter for Humanity and Against Neoliberalism, La Realidad, Mexico for just one glimpse of the new worlds being forged to take the place of the old.

Hawai'i Needs You: An open letter to the US left from the Hawaiian sovereignty movement

By Ari | Apr 13, 08 08:47 PM

The Nation has published an open letter from the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, addressed to us in the U.S. left: Hawai'i Needs You. We're with you, Hawai'i! Via Jesse Lokahi Heiwa of the Hawai'i Solidarity Committee.

For more info, meet some of the folks in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement:

My Feminist Review: Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men

By Ari | Apr 12, 08 01:13 PM

My review of Lori B. Girshick's Transgender Voices: Beyond Women and Men is up at Feminist Review. This was a really good one! I'm genderqueer and have read quite a bit on this subject, but I learned a lot. I loved reading the words of the people Lori interviewed for the book, and seeing their photos - I found it really made me care for all of them, identify with them, want to be in unity with them, to change things so we all have a safer, happier world to live in. Any book that can do that is a good book, I think.

Shirari Industries Bought by News Corp for 2.5 Million

By Shira | Apr 1, 08 12:22 PM

We were as surprised as I'm sure you are right now when Rupert Murdoch himself called us this morning to "make a deal." We know that News Corporation is on a mission to take over the world, one media entity at a time, but we're still not quite sure why he wants our little queer, vegan operation. He must be getting pretty close to owning the entire "long tail" and Shirari Industries is just another notch on the empire's belt.

Stay tuned for a dramatically redesigned site, starting with our tagline, which is now "let's be mean!" - it has a certain ring to it, don't you think?

...April Fools!!!

This is what happens when you move to the woods, part 2

By Ari | Mar 29, 08 11:06 AM

Yeek. The creepy Craig's List land postings aimed at hunters just don't end. Does this listing's conflation of snowmobiling, boating and skiing with killing deer, turkeys and fishes bother anyone else? On the one hand you have innocent fun running around in the outdoors (or, you know, polluting it with a snowmobile, but whatever), and on the other hand, you have hunting down a living being and violently extinguishing his life so you can eat his flesh and maybe stuff his skin so you can hang his dead body on your wall for posterity. That's "sport"? Seriously?

Anyway, using a list of free-living animals currently living on a piece of land as an incentive to folks who would like to come and kill them to come buy said land, is, in my opinion, disgusting and sad. Every time I see a listing like this one I want to buy the land just to save the animals from being killed off by some other buyer who's actually attracted to land listings like this one.

Earth Hour, Blackout Sabbath, and other symbols of sustainability

By Ari | Mar 29, 08 10:37 AM

Today I was happy to see Google blacked out in support of Earth Hour, tonight's hour of energy awareness (8pm - 9pm). Turn out your lights to participate, if you're into it.

However, reading about Earth Hour, I couldn't help but think Rufus Wainwright's Blackout Sabbath - 12 hours of no energy use at all, on the summer solstice, June 21, along with setting personal goals for sustainability - is a lot more hardcore. The World Wildlife Fund, who's behind Earth Hour, should have talked to Rufus and set their sights a little higher, pushed people a little harder!

On Rufus' short sample list of actions one can take for the environment, he even includes going vegan (my fingers are SO crossed right now that he'll join our vegan ranks... c'mon Rufus, you can do it...). Veganism is such an obvious step toward sustainability that it gets a little infuriating when I see Treehugger and WorldChanging and the like continually ignoring it as an option and suggesting people find "sustainable fisheries" and "happy meat", as if that solves much else besides making people feel a little better about oppressing animals.

I don't think I'm going to participate in Earth Hour, but I do think I'll do Blackout Sabbath. I loved the blackout too, and I think it could be magic to spend that time making art about the earth and the future, or writing by (vegan!) candlelight about the times to come and how we can make it beautiful. I like setting goals for myself, and I like participating in consciousness-raising events like fasts and the like, because I like, well, raising my consciousness. These events are symbols, but important ones: They're fissures in the wall of separation we put up between our energy-consuming, self-centered, here-and-now lives - and the future, our children's future, the future of the earth. We don't like to look over there, to see what we're actually setting up for ourselves. If it takes an hour (or 12 hours) of reflection and awareness to really take a good look at what we're doing and how we can change, then that symbolic act is a very useful one.

But in the end, we need more than just temporary observances and symbolic acts, right? If you're out of a room for over two minutes, there shouldn't be a light on in there. If you've got appliances with power indicator lights on them that are plugged in all day, they're just sitting there sucking up energy, and should be unplugged until they're needed. If your home just doesn't stay cool in the summer or warm in the winter, maybe you need to fix your insulation so all of that energy doesn't just fly our the window. In every situation we have the power to make decisions that add to the problem, or that make the world a better place. There are easy little things we can all do every day, all day, to go beyond symbols and toward true sustainability. What do you do? And do symbols help, or distract from this larger, deeper movement?

"Conscious consumerism"

By Ari | Mar 16, 08 03:05 PM

A little while ago, Brooklyn activist/art collective Change You Want to See / Not an Alternative banned Raw Revolution products from their gallery space, issuing a kind of anti-greenwashing/consumerist manifesto along with the announcement: The Real (Raw) Revolution:

A line is here drawn against alternative capitalist products. Revolution is not a candy bar or an energy drink. Don't get us wrong, we recognize good intentions, but good intentions alone are no solution for avoiding the road to hell. All products that represent themselves as "sustainable solutions" are hereby banned from The Change You Want to See Gallery. Creating an economy where fairly traded, organic, vegan, healthy, (and even free) products are the norm rather than an anomaly is something we encourage. We believe however that to achieve this, a stand has to be taken against any commodity that is packaged as the embodiment of an alternative or a revolution. Consuming "Raw Revolution" will never be a meal replacement for actual revolution. Please... continue to invent, build, create, fight, force the limits of the capitalist system. Bring the results of your work to the Gallery, we want to and will continue to help you promote your work. However we will no longer provide a cover for a guerilla marketing campaign. If "false revolutionary", "fake alternative" "politically correct" "do-gooder" products are brought to the Gallery their packaging will be removed at the door.

(Via Stop Shopping Monitor)

Here's the video version:

I really dig the sentiment behind this move. We've been trying to figure out what we can possibly put in our own shop that would pass our ethical muster. We don't like using new materials or toxic art supplies. We don't want to ship things all over the place, requiring shipping suppplies and fuel as well as causing pollution. And we don't really like having money relationships with people anymore, either - though that's hard to avoid when you live in a capitalist society and sell your skills for a living. All of this rather limits what one can sell in a shop, if one decides to keep the shop at all.

There's such a fuzzy line between people working for social change and trying to make a living at the same time - and people who are more in it for the money, but who may do some good along the way. Where do you cross the line into exploitation, or are you always there, so long as you're participating in capitalism?

On the other side of this equation is consumerism of different sorts. In our ongoing efforts to reduce our impact we've found that there are certain things we've needed to buy that require shipping. You can find used books on alternative energy at a local bookstore, for example, but what about that washable shower curtain that requires no plastic liner (or other hard-to-find but highly efficient replacements for conventional housewares)? You'd think in our massive city we'd find it (and yes, if we were craftier, we'd make it), but no luck. But buying online from a company like Simple Family Living Homegoods or Gaiam has a broad impact (supporting capitalism; using packaging material; and polluting the air, using up fuel and clogging up a highway, during shipping). At what point does it make more sense to just buy a damn curtain that requires a liner, imperfect a solution though it might be?

I know we can't be perfect, but we can do our best to do the right thing for the planet and our neighbors. In the society we've set up for ourselves though, it can be hard to know what the "right" decision is.

UPDATE, 3.26.08
Lest I sound too negative about Simple Family Living Homegoods and Gaiam, I wanted to put in that these two companies - and Simple Family Living Homegoods in particular, which is much more indie than Gaiam - are both really great places to get things that will help you move toward a lower-impact life. Reusable, washable mesh produce bags will help you avoid using plastic ones, reusable cloth gift bags and handkerchiefs will help you avoid the use of wrapping supplies, soap nuts and a collapsible drying rack will help you avoid detergents and use less power when doing laundry, and so on. If you can't - or won't - make these things yourself, and if you can't find them locally (which is all too often the case, hence this post), these are indeed very good places to find them.

Fight Military Recruitment in Schools

By Shira | Mar 1, 08 07:21 PM

The New York Coalition of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) have recently released a curriculum that helps teachers educate their students about military recruiting tactics. The goal is to empower students with concrete information and to make sure they know about alternative ways to access education and career-building tools after high-school.

Ari and I had the pleasure of designing the cover for Camouflaged: Investigating How the U.S. Military Affects You and Your Community, which you can preview and buy online through Lulu.com.

If you're a teacher who want to get involved, you should come to the meeting this week...

NYCoRE's Counter Recruitment Project Meeting
Thursday, March 6, 5:30-7:30
CUNY Graduate Center 34th St. & 5th Ave., Room 5489
Please bring ID

Topics of discussion include:

Bringing teachers together to develop a workshop for other teachers around unpacking military recruitment in New York City Schools and across the country
Outreach to bring teachers and administrators from Upper Manhattan neighborhoods to the workshop
Strategizing ways to share the ideas developed by New York City teachers in NYCoRE's recently released curricular guide Camouflaged
Developing ways to be a voice in the events acknowledging the anniversary of the war in Iraq

If you are interested in attending or getting involved, email Edwin at NYCoRE.

And here are some great videos about recruiting and the impact of war on veterans from Media That Matters: No Child, All That I Can Be and Night Visions

Loving mama earth, one day at a time

By Ari | Feb 16, 08 02:00 PM

There have been a lot of locavore for a year / vegan for a week / freegan for a month projects going on lately, usually resulting in a book or article. I worry that rather than inspiring lasting change, these sorts of projects frame these actions as extreme (and temporary, limited) experiments by extraordinary people. As Vegan Freak Radio says again and again, there's nothing extreme about living ethically and with compassion. Our individual actions do affect the future of our planet, and each of us has the power to reduce our negative impact and even make our impact a positive one.

I think the secret is to make changes at a pace that's sustainable. If you rush it and try to go vegan or zero-waste overnight, odds are, your plan will backfire. But if you can identify an area in which you want to improve your actions, make a change and see positive results, that change is more likely to be a lasting one - and you'll be more likely to go on to work on another thing you want to improve.

For example, by making small changes over a period of over a year, Shira and I have gone from throwing out a big bag of trash at least once a week, to throwing out a tiny bag of trash every two weeks or so. Where did all that trash go? Well, it wasn't "trash" in the first place - it was compost, recyclables, and reusables. And in many cases, because we've been working on reducing our consumerism and choosing items with less packaging, it no longer comes into our apartment in the first place. And this wasn't a temporary experiment - it's just what we're doing because we love our earth and want our future children to be able to enjoy it, too.

Want more perspective on why sorting your trash is worth the effort? Long before The Story of Stuff came Jorge Furtado's Ilha das Flores, a Brazilian documentary short that shows how one person's trash becomes another person's food. Here it is with English subtitles.

Here are some resources and groups working toward a zero-waste / low-impact future:

The art for this post is from a Shell ad that was pulled because it was deemed misleading - since Shell is, after all, an oil corporation and not an envrionmental activist organization. But damn did they make a pretty image - and they're right, don't throw anything away - there is no away!

Tofu and Soy Milk Explained, by Puppets

By Ari | Feb 4, 08 06:08 PM

(via invisible voices)

Simulated stupidity

By Ari | Feb 3, 08 02:05 PM

Recently I saw a big ad for EA's "Sim City Societies" that shows three (fake) people and the societies they've built, one of which is obviously meant to be an earthy crunchy green city and another that's insanely capitalist. Curious what options the game would actually give you (can you make a sustainable anarchist community, for example?), I checked out their site.

The game does seem flexible, poking fun at both capitalists and utopians and hinting at the idea of creating a balance. ("Mix and match societal values — productivity, prosperity, creativity, spirituality, authority, and knowledge — to determine the core attributes of your city... Witness the evolution of your city as its appearance and sounds adapt to reflect these values.") But right up at the top of the home page is a prominent "Learn more about alternative energy" link that leads to a BP-branded site explaining that this game is the result of a partnership between the oil company and EA.

While I appreciate that BP is apparently doing a lot of work in green energy development, and that this game will allow users to experiment with wind farms and other green technologies, this looks like a massive greenwashing campaign to me. BP paints itself here as a green energy company, with nary a whisper of its record as one of the ten worst corporations in the world.

With BP so intimately involved in this game's development, my guess is that folks who want to set up oil-guzzling societies will be conveniently prevented from causing the oil spills and oil refinery explosions that characterize oil's real-world impact... which sort of negates the whole point of a game that supposedly serves as a mini experimental laboratory for various energy options, doesn't it?

Related: Games for Change: Serious Fun

Craft Magazine really wants you to buy things

By Ari | Feb 1, 08 06:49 PM

Craft Magazine rejected an article written by one of their regular contributors, Jean Railla. The piece, called “What Would Jesus Sell?”, asks some questions about crafting and consumerism that Craft apparently decided were too dangerous to publish. Fortunately, Murketing and MediaBistro have both taken up the slack and republished the piece themselves. Yay, you can read it! It's good:

Isn’t shopping, no matter how wonderfully crafty and politically correct still, well, shopping? Can you escape the so-called sin of consumerism by buying handmade? Isn’t the whole point of modern crafting Do It Yourself - not Buy from Someone Who is Doing It Themselves?

(Via Stop Shopping Monitor)

No more Alba Hawaiian lip balm for me

By Ari | Jan 29, 08 10:19 AM

Alba Pisses Me Off!!
Originally uploaded by Flower~

Alba's amazing vegan lip balm is about to become not vegan. They're adding beeswax! It's such a shame. I will miss the pineapple coconut deliciousness. If you too are an unhappy vegan, write them a letter.

Fortunately, there are a lot of other cruelty-free options available. (Merry Hempsters, Literati, Pussy Pucker Pots, Eco Lips, DIY...)

If you're not boycotting bee products yet, please read Why Honey is Not Vegan. For a glimpse into the world of industrial beekeeping, visit Honey Bee Insemination Service.

Love, death, and Heath

By Ari | Jan 28, 08 09:55 AM

I'm assuming folks have heard that Fred Phelps plans to picket Heath Ledger's funeral. Calling Heath's death "the best thing that ever happened to [his] family," Phelps believes that in making Brokeback Mountain, the actor sealed his fate in hell.

Fortunately, as with all of his actions, this stunt is just making Phelps and his ideas look more insane, while bringing out a groundswell of love and support from kinder, sweeter, more moral people.

It's strange to feel such a sense of connection with a celebrity you've never met, but I was genuinely saddened by the news of Heath's death, and Brokeback had a lot to do with it. Good bye, my fallen ally. Thank you for helping to bring gay cowboy love to the mainstream.

Angela Davis Tells It

By Shira | Jan 25, 08 03:33 PM

Earlier this week, on Martin Luther King Day, I happened upon an amazing speech that Angela Davis gave at Duke University in 2005. In an hour she manages to cover racism, homophobia, the war in Iraq, the prison industrial complex, media conglomeration and more (including some prescient shout-outs for Dennis Kucinich and Barack Obama).

Most importantly, Davis calls attention to the worldwide movement for social change, a network of people from around the globe, united in the belief that "Another World Is Possible." It turns out the World Social Forum, the largest annual convening of this movement of movements, is taking place right now, all around the world (in the past, it's been held in particular locations like Porte Alegre, Mumbai and Nairobe). The WSF site hosts an interactive Google map that you can search for actions in your area.

I found the Angela Davis speech on iTunes U, a pretty awesome section of the iTunes store where you can download free audio from various universities, including full courses. To find the speech, open iTunes, click on the store, click on "iTunes U" on the upper left side, then click on "Duke" in the universities list on the left, then on "Campus" in the topics list on the left, and then on "Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration" under Offices and Programs on the bottom. (Yes, it's really annoying that you can't bookmark or hyperlink things in iTunes,unless you know you don't mind installing AppleScripts.)

Does anyone out there know the deal on Shola Lynch's documentary Free Angela & All Political Prisoners? All I can find online is this video interview Shola did for AOL Black Voices about the project. I really want to see it, but I can't find any distribution info.

Ari and I are also working our way through the UC Berkeley class "Introduction to Nonviolence" with professor Michael Nagler. Just go to iTunes and do a search to find it. College without homework - woohoo!

This is what happens when you move to the woods

By Ari | Jan 10, 08 09:10 AM

Shira and I are planning a move to Ithaca, New York late next summer, and have been trawling Craig's List for cabins and the like. Earthy crunchy vegans like us aren't the only ones who dig the area; hunting-oriented listings like this are really common. Note that there are 76 acres of "forrest" being sold here, but the only photo is a fuzzy closeup of future hunting victims. Creeeeepy.