By observing the actions of adults, we are taught as children that animals exist to serve our needs and desires, not their own. Our sense of superiority to other animals is so ingrained that society gives virtually no thought at all to imprisoning them in zoos, labs and factory farms, thereby stripping them of the freedom that they instinctually desire just as much as we do.

Our behavior can best be described as speciesist. As a word and as a concept, speciesism is not yet a part of the public discourse. In an effort to help animals, however, social justice groups are working to change that, employing creative methods from provocative street theater to dramatic protests.

Launched just two months ago, a NYC-based organization called Collectively Free has been stopping people in their tracks with their “Swap Speciesism” events. At Meatopia, a carnivore festival where whole animals were cooked, Collectively Free turned the tables – and turned many heads – by serving samples from a whole human.

On the menu: Rack of Man, Human Chops

Wearing a pig mask, Kate Skwire, a Collectively Free performer, used humor to capture the attention of passing carnivores:

“You look like you’d like a piece, m’am. Are you hungry?”

“These are humanely raised, grass fed, local, happy humans.”

“Now tell me that isn’t delicious.”

“This one had a very good life. You don’t have to feel bad about eating this meat.”

The execution (of the event, not the human), was so creative that some Meatopia attendees stopped to give them props. Robert Jensen, one of the participants, said, “A few people said things like ‘I’m not vegetarian, but this is really creative.’ Others said, ‘that’s sick!’ to which we responded ‘it’s sick the other way around too.’ Then they became lost in thought.'”

Photo: Collectively Free

Another participant, Miriam Lucille, said, “I was holding a sign that says ‘Why love one but eat the other’ showing a dog and a pig, and one man looked at the sign, nodded and said, ‘That’s very true.'” A lot of people took photos because it was eye-catching, and that’s always a good thing.”

photo: Collectively Free

A San Francisco based group, Direct Action Everywhere, is also aiming to “Disrupt Speciesism” through dramatic and controversial actions inside of and in front of restaurants and grocery stores around the world. A video of one such protest not only went viral but also made national news. In the video, activist Kelly Atlas enters a restaurant and delivers an emotional account of her baby girl Snow, who is an injured chicken rescued from a battery cage.

https://youtu.be/LmfRMeU6pQ8

In 2013, filmmaker Mark Devries made made a critically-acclaimed documentary about the issue. In Speciesism: The Movie, Animal Liberation author Peter Singer sums it up nicely: “The fact that animals are not human isn’t a reason to give less consideration to their interests.”

Humans might be more powerful than other species, but we are far from superior. In fact, because we are the only species that is destroying the planet, some might argue that we are inferior.

To learn more about and get involved in the provocative #DisruptSpeciesism and #SwapSpeciesism campaigns, please visit Direct Action Everywhere and Collectively Free.

Less than one week after a NYC carriage horse escaped from his stable and fled down the street, NYCLASS, an organization working to end carriage rides in NYC, displayed a life-size replica of a dead horse at City Hall to call lawmakers’ attention to the dangers of mixing horses with cars in the congested streets of midtown Manhattan.

City Hall in Manhattan (Photo: NYCLASS)

TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell attended the protest and posted footage and an interview with Donny Moss, who made the documentary film BLINDERS about NYC’s horse-drawn carriage controversy:

According to large animal veterinarians, horse-drawn carriages cannot be operated humanely or safely in the congested streets of NYC. For example, horses are flight animals, and no amount of regulation can stop them from spooking and bolting down a busy street.

Spotty crashed into a car and die after spooking in NYC (Photo: Catherine Nane)

In addition, the NYC horses have no pasture where they can graze, run, roll and interact physically with other horses, as herd animals do. They are either confined between the shafts of a carriage or kept in small stalls in midtown Manhattan.

Photo: Donny Moss

If you live in NYC, please contact your Council Member

Please sign the two petitions to ban horse-drawn carriages: Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, NYCLASS

To keep apprised of developments, subscribe to the weekly newsletter of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages by sending an email to coalition@banhdc.org.

Watch the award-winning documentary film BLINDERS: The Truth Behind the Tradition that exposes the truth behind the tradition of NYC’s infamous horse-drawn carriage trade:

In September, animal rights activists liberated 80 foxes from their small, wire cages at a fur farm in Poland. After, they issued the following statement: “The animals have escaped a cruel death, which inevitably would have awaited them at the hands of the farmer. Take matters into your own hands!”

On fur farms, animals are held captive in small cages, where they go insane from immobility, boredom and the inability to do anything that comes naturally to them.

Life in a wire mesh cage

And, after a life of utter misery, they are gassed, anally electrocuted or skinned alive.

Wild animals captured for fur are caught in steel leg hold traps, medieval torture devices that hold them hostage until they die or are collected by the trapper.

Steel leg hold trap

Given the extreme cruelty to which fur-bearing animals are subjected, it’s no wonder why activists around the world sacrifice their freedom and safety to liberate them and why so many rejoice when an animal trapper gets caught in his own trap:

Please sign the Change.org petition to ban fur farming in the European Union.

In a ground-breaking story, a major TV news program in Australia aired undercover footage of the country’s cows and sheep being tortured in the Middle East. The footage, taken by Animals Australia, shows the animals, who were shipped to Gaza, Kuwait and Jordan, being stabbed to death in the streets, in spite of Australian regulations requiring animals to be killed in approved slaughterhouses.

In the following clip, TV journalist Jane Velez-Mitchell talks to TheirTurn’s Donny Moss in the first of many reports about Australia’s live exports.

Animal welfare groups in Australia have, for years, advocated for an outright ban on the export of live animals given the treacherous journey and virtual absence of anti-cruelty laws in the destination countries. While their practical solution – shipping frozen meat instead of live bodies – is appalling to animal rights activists, it would at least eliminate the most violent abuses committed at sea and in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

At least one country that receives live animals from Australia is fighting back. In Israel, activists are using provocative street theater to expose the horrors of live transports in an attempt to shut them down. Last year, an Israeli TV station aired damning footage taken by activists of sheep being violently unloaded from a transport ship and of of the abuses they endured prior to slaughter.

Photo: Against Live Transports

After reading the story above, Simon Whitehouse, an animal protection advocate from Australia, sent us the following additional information about Australia’s live export trade:

“Due to the help of a sympathetic right wing government, the trade is experiencing rapid growth. The Australian Labor Party, which is the opposition to our current government, has a policy which also is pro live export. In the Australian parliament, the only existing party with a policy to end the trade is the Australian Greens, and their representation level is small. Politically, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

“The trade is not just with the Middle East, it includes many South East Asian countries, most notably Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It also extends to such places as Russia and Mauritius. Almost all of these countries have a very poor animal welfare background. The industry is now pushing very hard to start sending animals for slaughter to Cambodia and China.”

While the footage from the Middle East could put increased pressure on Australia’s Ministry of Agriculture to curb the worst abuses, the Australian activists need our help. Please send an instant message to the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Jane Velez-Mitchell, former host “Jane Velez-Mitchell” on HLN (Headline News Network), has created a new show dedicated to animal rights. On “Jane Unchained,” Velez-Mitchell, who has been America’s most prominent spokesperson for animal rights, reports on the day’s news with the same dedication and emotion that turned this TV news anchor into an icon in the animal rights movement.

Donny Moss from TheirTurn was lucky enough to a guest on her first two shows. On the first show, Velez-Mitchell and Moss discuss the impact of meat on the climate, the horse-drawn carriage fiasco in NYC and how a single issue can draw caring people into a cruelty-free lifestyle.

If you’d like to follow Jane’s program, you can watch her YouTube channel and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.