The biggest reason for people's conversion to Veganism, according to a Vegan Australia survey of 12,000 people, is seeing films that expose animal cruelty, such as Dominion.
DEBBIE CUTHBERTSON: ‘The messages started appearing on city streets and footpaths a year ago – DOMINION, in capital letters scrawled in chalk and sometimes misspelt, directing people to a website. Many people simply ignored the entreaty, and most thought nothing more of it until this week, when animal rights activists brought central Melbourne to a standstill and invaded farms and abattoirs across Australia… The sit-in at one of the CBD’s busiest intersections delayed peak-hour traffic for several hours, and paralysed parts of the city. The chaos it caused was roundly condemned by police and Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who called the protesters “green-collared criminals”.
On the same day, federal Attorney-General Christian Porter told his state counterparts that animal rights protesters who invade farms should face tougher criminal penalties, and asked Australia’s Privacy Commissioner to investigate Monday’s demonstrations. The documentary film Dominion appears to have become a clarion call for disparate groups decrying animal cruelty. Prominent Australian ethicist Peter Singer’s 1975 book Animal Liberation introduced that concept to the mainstream. But it remained a fringe issue for many years… Animal rights groups have gone from being known only for their annual protests against duck shooting to a political movement with members in two state parliaments and an ambition to break into federal politics.
Animal Justice Party candidate Mark Pearson, a former executive director of Animal Liberation, became the first Australian member of parliament to be elected on an animal rights platform when he entered the NSW upper house in 2015… Internationally, veganism is increasingly being adopted by people concerned not just about animals, but also the environment and their health. Up to 70 per cent of people worldwide have either reduced the amount of meat they eat or eliminated it from their diet, according to recent research by Global Data, which works with thousands of the globe’s largest companies.
The biggest reason for people’s conversions, according to a Vegan Australia survey of 12,000 people, is seeing films that expose animal cruelty. For Marieke Hardy, the Melbourne Writers’ Festival artistic director and a long-time panelist on ABC TV’s Book Club, becoming vegan a decade ago began as a dare from a co-worker. She loved eating meat, but tried avoiding animal products for a week, and has continued to do so… “I respect people’s rights to take action. That’s what protest is. We’re very lucky to be able to stand on a street corner and disrupt day-to-day activity… This is no different to protesting the Iraq war, or the women’s march”.’ SOURCE…
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