TIME FOR

Newsletter
CHANGE
NO ONE IS FREE UNTILL Ab b ARE FREE
Issue No. 14 * 08.11.2009

This Week:
Veganism as a
minimun standard
of decency
Write to us!

Got a question?
Comment? Response to
something you’ve read What’s inside?
here? A complaint? 1. Regular Announcements
2. Activism & News
You can reach us by e- 3. Media: Animal Voice Radio and Southpark
mail to: 4. Veganism as a minimun standard of
decency
info@veganblog.net 5. Baked Soy Shnitzels

Or by phone:
+972542430153
 REGULAR ANNOUNCEMENTS
So you decided to get up and join the fight?
Weʼre happy to have you on board!
You can join us today and start helping out the animals!
For more information about us please have a look at our website - www.free.org.il.
There are many more private campaigns you can join also, if you didnʼt find any, you can
ask on the Forum.
Donʼt have much spare time?
You can still help! Every animal rights organization is operating on donated funds, if you
could spare even a small amount for them, itʼll be a great help.

Regular Activities

Information Stalls:
Weʼre operating information stalls in major cities
around the country. The stalls are meant to advocate
the animal rights ideology and educate the public
about veganism and animal rights.
For more details please contact us:
Tel Aviv - Call Ohad: 054-3078800
Haifa - Call Noa: 050-6863498
Rehovot - Call Josh: 054-2430153
Jerusalem - Call Maayan: 052-4489550

Protets:
Every sunday at 17:00 we hold a vigil about veganism next to the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv.
Please contact Ohad:
054-3078800
Thatʼs by no means the only stuff going on! You can join our mailing list and visit the forum
to stay updated.

Want to talk about it?

For any question regardin animal rights, vegetarianism or
veganism, feel free to visit the forum and ask!

http://forums.tapuz.co.il/veg
 ACTIVISM
ITʼS STILL THE WORLD VEGANISM MONTH!
We know you really want to organize something for the world veganism month. Come on -
you canʼt deny it!

So now is the time to do so! If you have any doubts or question, feel free to contact us for
guidance and anything else you may need.

Astrazeneca global week of Dozens of deer returned to

action!
Between Mondaythe 23rd to
Sunday the 29th November, the
SHAC campaign is holding a
worldwide week of action against anonymous communique:
Astrazeneca, one of HLSʼs
largest customers.
Now is the time to get up and do located in Marugán, Segovia, was
something about HLS!
Go organize a demo, a banner
drop, an information stall,
anything!
For worldwide locations of
Astrazeneca please visit the
following page:
http://www.astrazeneca.com/?
itemId=373557
freedom, in memory of Barry UPCOMING
Horne
EVENTS
27/11/2009
“A few months ago we learned International Anti-Fur
that a company called Venison Friday. A demo will be
Deer (www.venisondeer.com)
held at Rabin Square
between 13:00 - 15:30
engaged in raising deer to sell
their dead bodies to restaurants
and butcher shops. In addition,
some of these were used to
repopulate hunting grounds and
others sent to a hospital in Toledo
as if they were just material to be
experimented on.”
Original:
http://directaction.info/
news_nov01_09.htm

Nepal not to ban animal
killings at Terai fair
KATHMANDU: Despite
urgings by animal rights
activists to prevent the
wanton slaughter of
thousands of animals and
birds at a Hindu festival in the
Terai plains at the
end of this month, Nepalʼs
government Monday said it
would not ban the killings due
to religious sensitivities.
Full article:
http://tinyurl.com/nepani
For Foer, Meat Is
Murder ... And Worse
Foer, best
known for the
novels
Everything Is
Illuminated
and Extremely
Loud and
Incredibly
Close, writes
in his new book, Eating
Animals, that he struggled
Know about an upcoming event? Want to advertize with us?
Read an article about anything regarding animal rights?
Send us an E-Mail to info@veganblog.net
NEWS
with ambivalence over But what does it matter if they
eating meat for most of his donʼt get any rights anyway?
life, but never committed
until he adopted his dog, Full article (Hebrew):
George. http://tinyurl.com/rightsan
Full article:
Mid-East princess in plea
http://tinyurl.com/foerveg to Rudd on animal
slaughter
Netanya: “Zoo”
discovered under THE King of Jordan's sister
has appealed to the Prime
Marijuana Lair. Minister, Kevin Rudd, to stop
the ritual slaughter of
When police arrived conscious animals for halal
following a lead about a meat in Australia, saying it
supposed “Marijuana flat”, was not necessary under
they didnʼt expect to find Islamic principles.
virtually a DIY zoo in the
basement. Full article:
http://tinyurl.com/jordanpr
Full article (Hebrew):
http://tinyurl.com/marizoo
Animal Rights or not?
The Knesset has
assembled in order to
discuss the new law
regarding changing the
name of “The animal
suffering law” to “The
animal rights law”.
ADVERTIZE HERE!
 MULTIMEDIA
Program No. 8 of Animal Voice Southpark episode “Whale Whores”
Radio!
Southpark, known to focus on
Weʼre happy to controversial issues, has issued
inform you (in an episode with (to our opinion) a
case you still great animal rights message.
donʼt know) that
a new program of
the popular
animal rights
podcast “Animal
Voice Radio” is
available.

Just a quick reminder - the last program

was talking about the dangers of animal
welfare action, and about Prop II in While the episode isnʼt especially “An Animal
california. Rights episode”, it does focus on animals all
through the episode, with Sea Shepherd and the
This time, theyʼre coming back home,
Japanese Whale & Dolphin hunt. Itʼs worth
and are talking about the latest
seeing the whole episode just for the ending
campaign from “Anonymous”,
though.
promoting free-range eggs as an
alternative to battery-cage eggs. And no, weʼre not telling you what it is, we donʼt
want to ruin the surprise! Go watch it here:
We found the program to be very
informative and a pleasure to listen to. http://tinyurl.com/whalewhores
So itʼs very recommended!
For more information about sea shepherd visit
You can listen to the entire show here their website at:
(In Hebrew):
http://www.seashepherd.org/
http://www.animalvoiceradio.com/
 VEGANISM AS A MINIMUN
STANDARD OF DECENCY
C R E D I T S TO DA N C U DA H Y
http://unpopularveganessays.blogspot.com

In discussions with non-vegans – lines is to fail to recognize oneʼs own

particularly non-vegans on the Internet shortcomings from Platonic
who are familiar with the assertions of perfection, and therefore to fall into –
both the vegan animal rights dare we say it – ʻhypocrisyʼ.
movement and the assertions of the
countermovement – the issue of
“drawing the line” is often raised as a
sort of objection to veganism. While
itʼs true that vegans avoid a lot of
harm, so the argument goes, vegans
also indirectly cause a lot of harm:
animals are killed by crop harvesters
and motor vehicles; natural and
veganism - a moral baseline
artificial pesticides are used in crop
production; and often one cannot tell
Drawing lines can be difficult in any
exactly what harm might have been
area of morality, and the more
done either to animals directly or to
precise the line drawn, often the
the environment in any given
more difficulties that arise. However,
purchase, even at the local natural
the difficulty of drawing precise lines
foods store or farmersʼ market. Since
should not deter us from exploring
vegans havenʼt achieved perfection of
less precise lines of minimum
purity in the art of non-harming and
standards or moral baselines that are
non-violence, it is really only a matter
(or should be) reasonable for the vast
of line-drawing, and until one achieves
majority of people in society, even if it
absolute perfection of purity, one has
would require a complete abolition of
no business criticizing any other lines
animal agriculture.
that might be drawn. To criticize other

Animal agriculture - do we need words?
We establish and philosophically
defend moral baselines regularly in
society in the form of laws regarding
such issues as murder, involuntary
manslaughter, assault, declarations
of war, and speed limits, even though
these issues can be just as difficult to
draw lines in as animal issues. None
of us are “pure” when it comes to
protecting humans from cruelty and
death either; yet we do draw lines:
we arenʼt cannibals; and most of us
donʼt knowingly or happily support
human enslavement and slaughter.
[1]
We ought also to establish and
philosophically defend such
baselines regarding animals. Instead,
we have a morally relative (and
wrong) laissez-faire policy of refusing
to even discuss line-drawing
regarding animals, despite their
overwhelming similarities to us in
terms of the morally relevant
characteristics: sentience and
perceptual intelligence and
awareness.
Given the morally relevant similarities
and irrelevant differences between
humans and other animals, and given
that we are likely to find absolute
perfection in non-harming far too
ascetic or practically impossible in
our modern society, veganism is the
baseline we ought to promote and
live by. Veganism is not the end point
or the most we can do; rather, it is the
least we can do.
Veganism is essentially refraining
from contributing to the exploitation
and intentional killing or slaughter of
nonhuman beings. Preventing
accidental and incidental human
fatalities in traffic accidents and
police action – even foreseen human
deaths – is not required by laws
prohibiting slavery and murder. In the
same way, preventing accidental and
incidental deaths in traffic accidents
or harvesting crops – even foreseen
deaths – is not required by veganism. partake in such exploitation and
In other words, abolitionist animal slaughter. In many cases, such as this
rights, as currently conceived, and the one, drawing lines can be very
corresponding moral baseline of appropriate and strongly defended,
veganism are precisely the same in especially when one acknowledges
“line-drawing” as laws prohibiting that the line drawn is only a minimum
chattel slavery and murder. Laws standard of decency, not a maximum
prohibiting slavery and murder say standard of purity.
nothing about preventing motor vehicle
injuries and fatalities, or how much cost
we should incur in saving an injured
childʼs life, or “friendly fire” (unintended
killing) in a justified war of self-defense.
We should certainly take appropriate
measures to reduce such deaths as
much as possible, but again, veganism
is merely a first and minimum standard,
not the final or the best standard.

Choosing to consume animal products

is a choice to partake in the exploitation
and intentional slaughter of sentient
beings. Given our wide variety of food
choices today, we can easily refuse to

[1] If you live and pay taxes in an industrialized nation with a strong military, such as the United
States, you inadvertently and indirectly, and hopefully unwillingly and regrettably, support the
slaughter of innocent humans in the form of warfare in other countries (waged primarily for economic
reasons; the economic reasons controversially thought to be also ‘national security’ reasons) and arms
supply to violent militias, just like vegans inadvertently, unwillingly, and regrettably support the
slaughter of innocent nonhumans by living and paying taxes in our animal-exploiting society.

[2] I have edited this essay as of July 9, 2009 to remove two references to Jainism as suggesting an
ascetic standard of non-violence. It was my previous understanding that many or most followers of
Jainism went to ascetic lengths to avoid harming. I have since learned that this is not the case, and that,
although veganism is increasing among followers of the religion, many are not vegans, much less
practitioners of an ascetic form of non-violence.
 THE TASTY PART
Baked Soy Shnitzels

Ingredients:

• 20 Soy Shnitzels (From Soy • 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric

Protein) • 1 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin • A pinch of Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Salt • 1 Teaspoon “Steak” spice
• 2 Teaspoons “chicken flavoured • 1 Tablespoon oil
powder. • 1 Glass of water

Instructions:

1. Soak the Shnitzels in hot water for 20

minutes, then drain.
2. Put the Shnitzels in a baking tray.
3. Mix all spices with the water to create a
sauce, and then pour in into the tray. It
should cover the Shnitzels.
4. Place the tray into an oven pre-heated to
180* C.
5. Wait roughly 45 minutes, or until the
shnitzels are dry.

Bon Apetite! Did you know?

The Turmeric is believed
to counter many kinds of
inflammations.