IN MEMORIAM: The 11th National Animal Rights Day commemorated on Sunday June 6, 2021

Last updated Jun 6, 2021

One day when we won't eat animals it will really just serve as a memorial day just remembering what we used to do to the animals, like Holocaust Day, remembering what happened and 'Never Again'.

CITY NEWS SERVICE: The 11th National Animal Rights Day (NARD11) will be commemorated on Sunday June 6, 2021, in more than 70 cities around the world, plus a global event on Zoom.

NARD is part rally, part memorial service. As in past years, a small number of volunteers dressed in black will hold the bodies of dead animals as attendees observe moments of silence. Those animals — who died on their own and were donated by various farms that raise animals for human consumption — serve to represent all non-humans killed for food, clothing, medical experiments and other reasons, and will later be cremated or buried…

The annual ceremonies also include the reading and signing of The Declaration of Animal Rights, which was drafted in 2011 and which NARD organizers would like to see turned into global law one day. The first of its nine tenets declare that non-human animals too have a “right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of their Happiness”…

In Los Angeles, this year’s gathering will take place at 2 p.m. at Pan Pacific Park in the Beverly Grove area… The solemn memorial will be followed by a more light-hearted celebration featuring speakers who will give testimonials about the life experiences that led them to stop eating and wearing animals.

Featured speakers will include Peter Singer, author of the 1975 book “Animal Liberation”; William Tuttle, author of “The World Peace Diet”; Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland; and British animal rights activist Ronnie Lee, one of the founders of Animal Liberation Front. Other confirmed speakers include actress Tina Louise, Miss Montana USA 2020 Merissa Underwood, Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz and City Council candidate Molly Marie Basler…

Aylam Orian, the 52-year-old Los Angeles actor who founded NARD in 2011, told City News Service that he thinks the event will resonate even more this year after the ordeal of COVID-19.”We think this is our last chance, and a good opportunity, before people move on and forget about this pandemic, to open people’s eyes in a direct way to the link between eating animals and all pandemics, such as this one,” he said.

Asked what he hopes non-vegans take away from Sunday’s gathering, Orian said: “That all forms of mass-confining, abusing, and then mass killing of animals are detrimental to human health, to the planet, and of course, to the welfare of these trillions of animals. They have rights of their own, which are no different than the basic rights that humans claim to have”…

Orian’s goal is to expand NARD’s profile until it becomes an annual presence in the public consciousness. “The ultimate goal is that this will become the Memorial Day for animals in every city. Just imagine if every city around the U.S. or the world had a recognized national animal rights day” … “Hopefully one day when we won’t eat animals it will really just serve as a memorial day just remembering what we used to do to the animals, like Holocaust Day in Israel, which that’s the function of it — remembering what happened and `Never Again.” SOURCE…

Here is the list of events confirmed so far: