by Kim Stallwood
From The Animals' Agenda - May/June 2001
Since 1979 The Animals' Agenda has reported and
commented on society's treatment of animals and the contemporary animal
rights movement. Throughout this time we have witnessed the animals'
suffering and chronicled the challenges of the only liberation movement
that is not dedicated to freeing its proponents.
It is this altruistic commitment to all other species
that I believe makes the animal rights case and animal advocates unique
and special. We see the liberation of animals from industrialized
agriculture and mechanized medicine and the end to their suffering and
murder. But we could just as easily glory in the human benefits that
will be gained when we free animals from human subjugation. This is
because vegan farming will feed more people with healthy food than what
is currently produced and compassionate preventative healthcare will
produce a healthier population than the expensive and inefficient system
that we currently have.
Since 1993 it has been my privilege to be the magazine's
editor in chief. It is the responsibility of Agenda's small editorial
staff and myself to keep track of the issues, and determine and follow
the trends in society's use of animals. We try to somehow make sense of
it all so that we can provide you -- six times a year and more often
through our web site -- a comprehensive source of accurate innformation
and the practical action you can take to help stop animal suffering.
This summer we are excited and proud to expand our
outreach with the publication of our first anthology, which is called
Speaking Out for Animals: True Stories About Real People Who Rescue
Animals. This anthology, [which was] published in June by New York-based
Lantern Books, brings together our in-depth interviews and cover feature
profiles of such important figures as Steve Hindi, Paul McCartney,
Maneka Gandhi, Jeffrey Masson, Alex Pacheco, Steven Wise, and Lt. Sherry
Schlueter. It also includes the profiles of rescued animals who were
featured in our "Happy Endings" department, and the courageous men,
women, and children whom we celebrated as "Unsung Heroes."
In preparing the anthology and rereading the interviews,
the profiles, and the stories about people and the animals they rescued,
I came to realize that this is the heart and soul of what we are all
about. When all is said and done, animal liberation is about ordinary
people doing extraordinary things for animals. Whether it is in the case
of Rod Coronado, who served a five-year prison sentence for freeing
animals from fur farms; Anita Roddick, who from one small store called
"The Body Shop" built an international multimillion-dollar business that
stuck to its original policy of never testing its products on animals;
Amanda Walker-Serrano who, as an 8-year-old third-grader led a campaign
against her school because of a field trip to a circus that had
performing animals; or Evelyn Wood, a retired widow and proud
grandmother who devotes her life to helping feral cats, it is this
altruistic commitment to all other species that I believe makes the
animal rights case and animal advocates so special and unique.
I am especially excited about the anthology because Jane
Goodall, who is recognized internationally as the world's foremost
advocate for animals, graciously accepted our invitation to write the
forward. She calls the Agenda collection "stories of determination and
courage, stories emphasizing the power of individual action...a book
that will have an important impact on those who read it. The voices of
the animal advocates speak from every page: some quietly, some with
resonant shouts, together encouraging all who care about suffering to
work even harder to effect change."
Whatever may be said about us in the media, I know -- as
you do -- that animal advocates truly are amazing people. So next time
someone says something to you about you being one of those
"anti-fur-paint-throwing terrorists" or declares that you must be one of
those "animal-rights-extremists-who-would-let-a-baby-die-to-save-a-rat,"
tell him about how your home is a safe haven for rescued cats and dogs,
or that as a vegetarian you will save thousands of animals in your
lifetime from being unnecessarily slaughtered for food. Give her a copy
of Speaking Out for Animals so that she can find out for herself who we
are and what we do.
The second Agenda anthology, to be published next year,
will consist of our comprehensive investigative reports that detail how
animals are exploited and killed for profit and pleasure. It will not
perhaps be as much of an inspiring read as our first anthology, but it
will be every bit as informative and all the more empowering. Both are a
call to action, and testimony to the power and progress of our movement.
�Reprinted with permission from The Animals� Agenda,
P.O. Box 25881,
Baltimore, MD 21224; (410) 675-4566;
www.animalsagenda.org.�
Email:
[email protected]
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