The Importance of Being Honest

[Guest guest]

(Interview) The Importance of Being Honest

The Satya Interview with Patty Mark Known as the pioneer of the global open

rescue movement, Patty Mark is president of the Australian animal advocacy

organization Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV), which she founded in 1978. Patty

is also founding editor of Action Magazine and director of the ALV Rescue Team.

Patty Mark took the time to answer some questions from Catherine Clyne about her

views on " humane " conditions for farmed animals and vegan advocacy.

As someone who has investigated cruelty in factory farms and rescued animals

from them, what do you think about efforts to create more " humane " living

conditions for farmed animals?

Working to create more " humane " living conditions for farmed animals is not the

job of animal activists. Our job is to stop animal farming and shut down

slaughterhouses. The quickest way for this to happen is to get people to stop

eating and drinking animal products. But this isn't going to happen overnight,

and unfortunately many animal activists consider achieving this to be so

overwhelming they give it little if any of their time and energy.

The animal movement is stuck in the concept of 'let's make it better for the

animals before they are killed.' This has basically

been the status quo for the last 25-30 years, even though the hearts and minds

of most activists today don't want any animals raised or killed for food. How do

we move veganism to the top of the agenda?

I like this question because it's the answer: veganism-top of the agenda. How do

we move it there? It's not going to be easy, but the key words are patience,

determination, persistence and honesty-done with goodwill. But, the bottom line

for activists to always consider is: just look over our shoulders, if we are not

going to give the hard message for what the animals need, who is? To learn more

about the work of ALV, see www.alv.org.au.

http://www.satyamag.com/sept06/mark.html