Time for my yearly post on FFF :-) I will be going, but only to leaflet the crowds with factory farming lit. as we make our way through downtown. I hope others will join in, as I think that is the most positive impact this event will have. Most people DO NOT wear fur, but most people DO eat meat. That’s not to say that we should not care about these animals, but 99% of animals that suffer and die in this country do so for meat and therefore should be given the appropriate attention. I think it’s GREAT that so many people show up for FFF, but where are these people the other 364 days of the year?!?! It’s fairly easy (and feels good) to come rant for cute animals that get their skin ripped from their bodies to be some humans status symbol, but IMO it takes a bit more dedication to get out there week after week and try to peacefully educate the public about the impacts of their food choices. Don’t get me wrong though, I applaud anyone that gets out there even 1 day a year as that is how many dedicated activists get their start. But my real point of this post is to ask that anyone that does go to FFF act nice and respectful when dealing with the public. Most people make their stupid comments just to get a rise out of us, so let’s take the high road and not fire back with a profanity or whatever and use it as an opportunity to engage them (if there is time) in a real debate. Most people will shy away from that and hopefully think twice the next time they want to say something lame. Or we could just have planted a seed for future enlightenment. And I also hope that chants like “smash their windows, glue their locks” will be avoided. The public already has a twisted view of the movement, so let’s not make it worse and portray ourselves as a bunch of violent thugs.

I think raising awareness of animal suffering is great, but let’s just do it in a way that doesn’t harm the work that some of us spend the rest of the year doing. Thank you!

Mikael will have the essay A Meaningful Life available for anyone who wants to learn about effective activism as opposed to the symbolic activism that has retarded animal protection for far too long.

Thanks for that primer Mikael. I think protests such as FurFreeFriday are a great way to actively show our outrage at the horror we passively oppose through daily veganism. It can be an empowering and bonding experience with other activists and is a totally justifiable form of protest.

Mikael, I'm with ya! I'm still learning but I agree with what you say.
Can I check out "A Meaningful Life"? I should be there on Tuesday @ Fullerton.

Making good on the opportunities that surround us each and every day to effectively advocate for animals is vitally important if our goal is truly to spare as many animals as much suffering as quickly as possible. Each person we see will either sentence or spare well over 2000 farmed animals from the brutality of modern farming. Big wins for animals do not require a group, a protest, changing laws, or expressing OUR outrage. It simply requires us being there consistently as good advocates focused on the area where the utter majority of animals suffer most intensely and die, agriculture, and keeping the focus on their suffering and death, not on our needs for a sense of community, empowerment, catharsis, or our love for using the bullhorn. Opening peoples hearts and minds to the plight of animals in today's world is typically poorly achieved with protest. Angry protest more often hardens people's defenses and alienates the very people who have the power to spare animals.

Thanks for that primer Mikael. I think protests such as FurFreeFriday are a great way to actively show our outrage at the horror we passively oppose through daily veganism. It can be an empowering and bonding experience with other activists and is a totally justifiable form of protest.

As long as it's nice and peaceful, I don't have any problem with this form of protesting. Overall I don't think it's very effective activism, but if it draws more people to the cause then that has total value in itself. The thing that really gets me is when people start yelling "fuck you!!!" through the bullhorn at passersby who have a smartass comment. Not cool!

Mikael, I'm with ya! I'm still learning but I agree with what you say.
Can I check out "A Meaningful Life"? I should be there on Tuesday @ Fullerton.

Thanks Sophie! I'll bring you an actual copy on Tuesday, but for now you can check out:

http://www.veganoutre...

Protest and leafletting are apples and oranges so they really can't be compared. On top of that FFF is a specifically targeted protest and not even vegan advocacy per se. I don't begrudge anybody who gets out there and expresses their outrage for the horrors that is the fur industry.

And is expressing OUR outrage something that actually helps animals, or just makes us feel better for the cathartic release? Both protesting and leafleting are actions taken on behalf of animals. Our actions should probably be guided by what is most likely to spare the most animals from the most suffering as quickly as possible. There is well over 20 years of evidence that protest is not a good technique for reaching that goal at this time.
Looking at the number of animals used for fur versus the number of animals used in agricultural production, as well as their relative suffering, are 2 other factors that tell us we should use our limited time, energy and finances in actions likely to produce more effect for animals than what is likely to come from 30-100 of us marching up Michigan Avenue and chanting for 2 hours. That is alot of work hours (60-200) that could be very powerful in reducing animal suffering with good vegetarian advocacy; literature distribution, showing video footage, doing feed ins, promoting potlucks to share good vegan food.

hi everyone,

oh, the yearly debate over fur free friday . :)

i am on a strict no-internet diet. (see how well that's going? :P) but briefly, i just want to make a few comments.

1. it's great -- vital even -- to have critical discussions of every form of activism. so thanks for mikael and joe for piping in with their thoughts. it makes all of us better activists to think carefully about these issues.

2. i'm totally with you, mikael, on avoiding profanity and needless personal attacks, at this event and other actions. and on the chants that you refer to, for that matter. they strike me as juvenile and unnecessary. my own goal is to make the event this year strike a more positive tone. that does not mean, however, that we'll be avoiding the ultimate message -- that every animal, dog or cat, human or rat, has a right to be free.

3. i agree, also, that we need to take an empirical, evidence-based approach to our activism. we need to find what works -- not what we're inclined to do by conventional social norms, or what we prefer to do as a matter of personal preference. i am an empiricist by instinct, and by training, and i like to think my instincts and training extend as much to my activism as my research or writing.

having said that, i disagree with the notion that protests are an ineffective form of activism. in fact, they are and always have been the only form of activism that creates the virtuous cycles necessary to achieving systemic social change. this was true of the anti-slavery movement, of the women's rights movement, of the civil rights movement, and of the gay rights movement. it will be true of the animal rights movement.

the educational, person-by-person approach to activism does not challenge prevailing norms. and it fails to see that our behaviors are dictated by broader -- and extremely robust -- sociocultural systems. as much as we'd like to think that happy vegan education has had a behavioral impact, the data flatly shows that it doesn't. there has been no growth in the percentage of people on veg diets in decades (read sociologist donna maurer's "vegetarianism: movement or moment" for data), and massive growth in per capita meat consumption (check earthtrend's data -- available on google). what we need is to build potential energy for a bigger shift, not more attempts to change individuals on the margin.

rather than rehashing old debates, however, i would just point to an article i've written on the subject, for anyone interested in a contrary point of view.

Why protest

4. hope everyone can make it out to fff! whether just to leaflet, or otherwise. :)