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Indybay Feature

notes and photos from PETA's "Helping Animals 101" conference in SF #2

by dave id
PETA's "Helping Animals 101" in San Francisco Feb. 5th and 6th, 2005.
petaconf_din_06feb05_08-47.jpg
Day Two, Sunday 2/6:

[Shorthand notes and blurry photos can't begin to capture almost 15 hours of presentations.]

vegan breakfast

1. Armchair Activism by Alka
- one person does make a difference
- righting wrongs by writing to the right people: companies that use animals, elected officials, feedback to media outlets when they do right and wrong by animals, letters to editors. use proper etiquette, don't preach, and no more than 200 words
- every piece of legislation for the animals came from concerned citizens lobbying legislators
- “Everybody’s vote counts in America, but those who sit down and write letters make their votes count more.” John F. Kennedy
- speak out, in voice and leaving leaflets around. help spread the word on the plight of animals

2. Effective Advocacy by Bruce
- build on anger to advocate effectively, with reasons for optimism
- prioritize! you can't fight all battles at once. finish one thing at a time before starting new projects.
- read "The Habits of Highly Effective People" and "How to Win Friends and Influence People" - better than you might think and not about manipulation
- don't get caught up in tyranny of urgent. some things are urgent, but most not. focus on being effective in long term
- be courteous, take care of yourself, be prepared, dont' forget t-shirts/buttons/bumper stickers
- don't minimalize when asked about your veganism/vegetarianism. really tell people why
- don't push others away by being 100% strict with vegan ingredients if someone goes to trouble to make veggie food for you. Bruce says this same thing in his intro to "Animal Ingredients" (http://www.akpress.org/2004/items/animalingredients)
- have non-animal interests and reach out to new people
- optimism: compared with other struggles AR moving very fast with great strides in just last 10 years even

3. Organizing a Demo by Dan
- don't jump straight to demo as not conducive to negotiating
- pick a target, look for big audience, consider time of day
- be clear with message, don't cover faces with signs
- part of national campaign
- grassroots groups need not waste resources on developing and printing materials as PETA will take their logo off and put local groups contact info on existing pamphlets
- consider type of demo best: leafletting, video (PETA has CD-ROMS), protest, stunt (works with few people to get attention)
-be polite as possible, professional (not social event but fun), confront the target not the public, know laws about private property

4. KFC demo (then vegan picnic lunch)
- see newswire for http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/02/1719985.php and http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/02/1720171.php

5. PETA PSAs
- see http://www.petatv.com

6. Basic Media Training by William
- don't wear clothes with patterns for TV
- be relaxed/smile

7. Community Activism by Dan
- many tips on starting your own grass roots group
- pick winnable targets, don't start what you can't finish
- stay resolute

8. Speak Up! by William
- playing small doesn't enlighten the world
- "power concedes nothing without a demand. never has, never will" - Frederick Douglas
- "...appalling silence of the good" MLK Jr.

Q & A #2 with PETA conference speakers

[see many more photos of conference and KFC demo at http://www.bayareaveg.org/gallery/ha101sf?page=1]

§Armchair Activism by Alka
by dave id
petaconf2_01_06feb05_09-08.jpg
§Effective Advocacy by Bruce: Eight Things We Do Wrong
by dave id
petaconf2_02_06Feb05_10-20.jpg
One thing: Regarding the same sentiments he expresses in his intro to "Animal Ingredients" (http://www.akpress.org/2004/items/animalingredients), a book for vegans to determine the true origins of mysterious processed-food ingredients, Bruce was strident in encouraging vegans to not be 100% strict with vegan ingredients 100% of the time. More or less, the thinking here is that vegan advocates might miss the forest for the trees: if someone makes a nice near-vegan vegetarian meal as a friendly gesture towards a vegan and is considering going vegetarian themselves (they cooked the nice meal after all), vegans runs the risk of turning the potentials off with their hyper-strictness. If the person who cooked the meal and was considering a vegetarian diet decides not to "go veg" after being discouraged by that encounter, the vegan has in effect contributed indirectly to the suffering and deaths of hundreds of food-animals a year, all because of a refusal to eat a miniscule amount of, say, whey, in an otherwise vegan meal.

§Community Activism by Dan
by dave id
petaconf2_07_06feb05_14-54.jpg
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