Tonight, June 25, the news will be nothing but Michael Jackson -- perhaps with some Farrah thrown in. What a strange day for those of us who remember the seventies; a reminder that life is fragile and precious. But this morning there was other news, beautifully covered, on Democracy Now. Amy Goodman interviewed Andy Stepanian, one of the SHAC 7 who was just released from a "Communication Management Unit" (CMU) prison, his lawyer Paul Hetznecker, and reporter Will Potter, who runs www.GreenIsTheNewRed.com
Andy was sent to prison for being involved in the campaign to shut down the notorious animal testing laboratory, Huntingdon Life Sciences. While the interview did not focus on what happens to animals, Democracy Now did show us plenty of footage with graphic animal testing posters. And what the interview did beautifully, was to link animal liberation with the other social justice movements that the government comes down on. Plus, we were reminded that animal rights and environmental activism has been labeled by the FBI as the number one domestic terror threat, though nobody has ever been hurt in this country in the name of either movement. We hear about the financial strength of the biomedical and farm lobbies and the power they have had to effect that terrorist status.
It is a half hour interview, well worth watching -- it really gets going in the second half. You'll find it on line at http://tinyurl.com/ox5mro . You can also read a rough transcript on that page.
Check it out, email it to your friends, and please let Amy Goodman know how much we appreciate the inclusion of animal rights activism in the discussion of social justice issues. Positive feedback will encourage similar coverage in the future. You can send your quick note of appreciation at http://www.democracynow.org/contact?to=8
I send thanks to Loren Hart (and others) for making sure we knew about this story.
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 for a fun celeb-studded promo video and information on Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of 2008." And check out Karen's new blog at www.ThankingtheMonkey.com/blog !
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Date: Thu Jun 25 17:45:07 2009
