Priya Sawhney has been arrested three times and faces eight felony charges, seven of which stem from protests against poultry and egg farmers. She and other DxE members chained themselves together outside Petaluma Poultry.
YURIRIA AVILA: ‘On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 11, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 44, making California the first state to ban fur. At the same time, inside the Berkeley Animal Rescue Center on Channing Way, Priya Sawhney ate a vegan cake to celebrate the moment with other members of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), an advocacy group that had been fighting for the ban since 2016… The organization’s motto is, “It’s not food it’s violence.” DxE’s goal is to codify animal rights and species equality through national legislation or constitutional amendment by 2055. DxE uses dramatic tactics to call attention to animal rights…
Sawhney, a Berkeley resident, is one of the four elected leaders of the San Francisco Bay Chapter of DxE, an international organization that advocates for animal rights — often by breaking into farms and slaughterhouses to whisk away animals its members think are being raised in crowded and unsafe conditions. The organization also uses civil disobedience, direct action and the courts to fight for the rights of captive creatures intended for human consumption. Members contend that the killing of animals is so dire that drastic action is needed to stop it.
Sawhney has been arrested three times and faces eight felony charges, seven of which stem from protests against poultry and egg farmers in Petaluma in September 2018. She and other DxE members chained themselves together outside Petaluma Poultry, an organic poultry production center in Sonoma County that supplies Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon. The DxE activists “rescued” or “stole” nine birds, depending on who is doing the wording. Sawhney and 58 other activists spent 12 hours in jail. Sawhney has pleaded not guilty.
“I accepted the fact that I was probably going to be arrested but I found it worth it,” Sawhney said in a recent interview. “There’s fear. But courage is all about feeling fear and accepting it. I’m very claustrophobic and I don’t like being in jail, but that’s one of the things I am trying to overcome because for the animals it’s important for me to do civil disobedience.”
Helping animals has been a lifelong quest for Sawhney, who was born in Punjab, India. From an early age, she felt a connection to animals, so strong that sight of stray dogs – common in Punjab – led her to early depression and suicidal thoughts. She told her mother she didn’t understand the point of living in a society that is capable of treating other species with such cruelty…
Even though the ban of fur has been codified into law, Sawhney’s work continues. She works full time as an activist, receives a stipend from the organization and lives in a DxE activist house on Claremont Avenue with other members. DxE is funded through individual donations, according to Matt Johnson, a DxE press coordinator. Many of them are monthly donors who donate $45 and others are one-time contributors who donate to specific campaigns, such as a November action to “rescue” 20 turkeys from central Utah’. SOURCE…
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