Entries by Gary L. Francione

Martin Luther King, Jr.: His Dream and Our Reality

Dear Colleagues: Today is the day that we celebrate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King stood for two important and fundamental values: nonviolence and equality. Forty-two years after Dr. King was murdered, we are still a nation of inequality. People of color, women, gays, lesbians, and others are still treated […]

Victor Schonfeld: “The Five Fatal Flaws of Animal Activism”

Dear Colleagues: In 1981, Victor Schonfeld did the influential The Animals Film, narrated by Julie Christie. The Animals Film was the first film to document the ways in which humans treated nonhumans. For many of us who saw it back then (I being one), the film burned images deeply into our minds and helped to […]

Commercializing THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it.

Dear Colleagues: It has come to my attention that some “animal people” are marketing t-shirts and other items with THE WORLD IS VEGAN! If you want it. They are also attaching our website. They are apparently making a profit doing so. Please understand that neither I nor this site has anything to do with these […]

Commentary #14: Analysis of Second Segment of “Animals and Us”

Dear Colleagues: The second segment of the BBC’s One Planet: Animals and Us, hosted by Victor Schonfeld (who did the influential The Animals Film in 1982), focused on vivisection. Schonfeld ended the program by agreeing that the animal rights movement needs crystal clear guidelines and he explored veganism as a possible way to deal with […]

The Importance of Adoption; There are So Many Christines

Dear Colleagues: Several weeks ago, we adopted Christine. She is a 9-year-old golden retriever who was surrendered at a local kill shelter by her human family, which “no longer had time for her.” She was adopted and then returned one day later by someone who said that she did not get along with the other […]

Newsweek: “Happy” Meat

Dear Colleagues: Newsweek magazine has an article, No More Sacred Cows, the tagline of which is: “Some longtime vegetarians are returning to meat, but only with sustainably raised, grass-fed livestock like these cows at Ghent, N.Y.’s Hawthorne Valley Farm.” This is where the “happy” meat movement is leading. The animals are still being treated horribly […]

Short Videos on Animal Rights, Rights vs. Welfare, Animals as Property

Dear Colleagues: I get literally hundreds of emails weekly from people asking basic questions about animal rights, the difference between rights and welfare, and the implications of the property status of nonhumans on matters involving welfare regulation. I try to answer as many of these questions as I can. It may, perhaps, be helpful if […]

BBC World Service Program “Animals and Us” Ends on a Vegan Note!

Dear Colleagues: Although the second segment of the BBC’s One Planet: Animals and Us, hosted by Victor Schonfeld (who did the influential The Animals Film in 1982) focused on vivisection, he ended the program with the suggestion that veganism may be the way to deal with the problem of animal exploitation. The BBC World Service […]

Commentary #13: Analysis of First Segment of “Animals and Us”

Dear Colleagues: On December 31, 2009, the BBC World Service broadcast the first segment of the two-part program One Planet: Animals and Us. This program was hosted by Victor Schonfeld, who did the highly influential The Animals Film in 1982. The Animals Film was among the first—if not the first—film to reveal how humans actually […]

Vegan Mondays?

Dear Colleagues: Happy New Year. I certainly disagree with the idea of a “Meatless Monday.” But I wanted to offer a brief thought about this matter. As you all know, I advocate veganism and I think that animal activism should consist primarily of nonviolent, creative vegan education. We ought to emphasize that veganism is easy […]