The National Animal Rights Conference, AR 2008, is coming up August 14-18, at the Hilton Mark Center in Alexandria, near Washington DC. People who attended the Taking Action for Animals conference know how wonderful it is to spend a weekend in a hotel full of like-minded animal loving folks, talking, hanging out, drinking, eating the same food, making friends, and learning from wonderful lectures.
The upcoming conference is both similar and different. Taking Action for Animals (TAFA) is aimed more at the mainstream. It tends to have an older crowd, and offers a lot of practical advice for making the world a better place. The attendees and speakers at the upcoming National Animal Rights conference, AR 2008, have more diverse points of view. I think my own place in the conference actually sums up the difference rather nicely: At TAFA I had 45 minutes on the main stage to get out my "How to Win Friends and Influence the Media" kind of message. At AR2008 I will have about ten minutes, sharing the hour with four other speakers, some of whom will argue for very different styles of activism. While some attendees may worry about some messages tarnishing the image of our movement, others will appreciate the diversity.
Here is what the organizers tell us about the conference:
"The final program schedule, available at www.ar2008.org, includes:
Eyewitness reports on the whale and seal wars from the Sea Shepherd crew
Personal accounts of amazing individual achievements by movement activists
Discussion of our movement's most controversial internal issues
Presentations by leaders of other movements on how we can all work together
Acceptance of our Celebrity Animal Advocate Award by Heather Mills
Animal Rights Hall of Fame and Henry Spira Grassroots Activist Awards
"Animal Rights 2008 is the animal rights movement's annual national conference. It is a forum for sharing knowledge, reporting on progress, discussing strategies and tactics, networking, and 'recharging our batteries.' All viewpoints that support the goal of animal liberation from all forms of human oppression are welcome."
I can personally let you know that AR 2008 has some superb speakers. Those of us who watched HEATHER MILLS charming audiences and singing the praises of vegan diets on Dancing With the Stars know that it's time for the UK press to change their slant on Heather. She is awesome! And as my favorite bumper sticker says, "Well behaved women seldom make history." Heather will address us as she receives the celebrity activism award. If you missed the Access Hollywood piece on her I sent out after the New York "Thanking the Monkey" launch, where she talked about dogs skinned for their fur, and also about the impact of the dairy industry on world hunger, check it out at http://tinyurl.com/56zy6w. You'll be looking forward to meeting and hearing her at the conference.
SHANNON KEITH, who produced the wonderful film "Behind the Mask" is speaking. So is STEVE HINDI of SHARK. Steve is an ex hunter turned leading anti rodeo activist and is a terrific speaker. You'll see and hear from the heroic TAMMY GRIMES from Dogs Deserve Better, and the compelling feminist and sanctuary founder PATTRICE JONES. And if you have never heard HOWARD LYMAN man speak, you are in for treat! He was Oprah's co-defendant when the beef industry sued her, and he is a brilliant speaker.
That's a small sampling of about 100 speakers who will be at the conference.
Go to www.AR2008.org to learn more and register.
My first ever animal rights conference was in the year 2000 in DC. It was a magnificent, life-changing experience, which ended with an equally beautiful event --- a trip to the Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary, 25 miles west of DC. I recommend you end your conference the same way -- and I have a special reason for that recommendation! In honor of Olivia from the Poplar Springs Sanctuary, who was the first turkey I ever met (alive) and who is featured in Thanking the Monkey, we'll have a sanctuary tour followed by a book reading-signing-drinking-snacking at Poplar Springs on Monday evening. Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com and click on "events" to learn more about that.
See you in DC!
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals” and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.
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Date: Fri Aug 1 20:09:10 2008
