The movement calls this form of protest their specialization, the one thing their activism thrives upon. I, like many others, have dealt with the anxiety of going to restaurants with family, wondering if our seats in the corner of the room were strategically placed away from other customers. Anonymous for the Voiceless: Animal Rights An Animal Rights and Vegan Activist speaks about the positive social influence of Anonymous. Sign up for one of our Introduction to Racists Anonymous Sessions Thursdays, 5:30 - 6:30 pm Pacific Time via Zoom Click to find out more. So, we may ask ourselves how did Anonymous for the Voiceless manage to bring this message with so much success? The format resembles the main message of the movement, namely that they are not political. How did they mold this worldview towards a vegan lifestyle, one that is often associated with the extreme left, into an idea that many people around the world suddenly seem to adopt? My intention in writing this was not to be divisive but to share my experiences of racism and activism, so as to critique mainstream activism practices and in doing so open up a conversation about ways to improve our activism. Why was I being asked to describe the racism I experienced if it was already known? A short film about animal rights activism in Vienna ft. “It is beyond absurd that someone in this day and age is protesting against injustice while holding up the body parts of a decapitation victim without others around them so much as blinking an eye,” AV posted on its Instagram . The issue remained unspoken about between me and the organisers for some time. The ideology is presented as an eternal truth. (3) Religious format. These tears are worth it, there is no better purpose in life than to make this world a better place, and we are going to win. The man then turns to a lady who is waiting around and says to her, ‘it’s ok you don’t have to worry about getting coronavirus’. Around the world, Asian communities are being targeted with a rise in physical and verbal attacks towards people who are Chinese or perceived as such. Whether you’re fighting for animal rights, protesting against racism, or smashing patriarchy, spaces to protest can’t be inclusive unless they are intersectional, and if they’re not inclusive, and then we alienate potential allies and existing members of our communities, in addition to perpetuating the very oppression we seek to dismantle. Racism in the Vegan Movement: Black Lives Matter (BLM), Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV), and intersectionality: A particular activist group drew attention to themselves on issues concerning racism during the protests that responded to the racist murder of George Floyd: Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV). Activists are only medium, not messengers. We need to be reflective of our practice as activists and show up for those we stand with. Cork Rally for Peace 2020. 6. Anonymous For The Voiceless was started in 2016 in Melbourne, Australia by Asal Alamdari and Paul Bashir. Klimaatverandering. These activists have often shared misleading information suggesting that China and Chinese people are to blame for the pandemic. This, however, requires a lot of organization and structure. Listen to We Speak by Yotangor on Apple Music. See More. A particular activist group drew attention to themselves on issues concerning racism during the protests that responded to the racist murder of George Floyd: Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV). This ideology is created with different elements that in turn communicate the message and together when in action, form the discourse. June 7, 2018. by Chris Hendricks. The activism follows the format of the revelation of truth. This is not to say that racism did not exist within this community unrelated to, and before, the pandemic. Anonymous for the Voiceless identifies themselves an animal rights movement that simply wants to bring change and awareness about animal exploitation, and will do this by a non-aggressive and passive way of protesting, without any discrimination or constraint. And it seems to work. Facebook is a crucial infrastructure of this activism. That word suggests that the footage shown belongs to the truth, a truth that has been hidden for many but now is openly exposed so that people finally can see what happens to animals in the meat and clothing industries. The volunteers of Anonymous for the Voiceless are there showing the footage of animals being slaughtered, referring to ‘the truth’. I truly believe that an anti-oppression, total-liberation approach is the best; and this must be intersectional. Discourse implies all explicit or implicit communication from the group that form the complete picture and consists of things like branding: logos, design and graphics, but also their use of language: slogans, words and ‘tone of voice’. Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) is great. The activists in the Cube of Truth wear the well-known masks from the V for Vendatta movie which the political hacker-group Anonymous is now known for, and with that refer to and make use of the strong message those masks alone obtain. The old ‘I have Asian friends’ pass. In the end, we can see that Anonymous for the Voiceless still share their major ideology with many other animal rights organizations that aim for a change in animal exploitation and public awareness for that what happens in the industries. 6:04 PREVIEW We Speak for the Voiceless. Such cube must have equal sides but can be as big as one wants, depending on the number of volunteers. March 28, 2018 by Luke Park Leave a Comment Instructions on how to act and how to provide the public with their message aim for consistency spread over all those chapters. We hold an abolitionist stance against all forms of non-human animal exploitation and promote a clear and direct animal rights message. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Point of view: you’re out and about and need to use the toilet facilities, so you find one and try and enter, but a man comes out and starts shouting at you- he says there’s only five people allowed in at a time and denies you entry. ( Log Out /  It’s your choice, they only show you the truth, you can do with it what you want. Other examples of racism from vegan activists- AV and non-AV activists. Aah, now it’s not as ok to use the c* word so it’s in quotation marks, despite having casually said this word earlier. This discussion consists of a case study that presents the perspectives of a group of activists in the Intermountain West who previously participated in Anonymous for the Voiceless Cube of Truths and left amidst racist comments from the leadership’s social media accounts. The first Cube of Truth demonstration took place in 2016, in the home-city of the co-founder and director Paul Bashir: Melbourne, Australia. Different than most animal rights movements, Anonymous for the Voiceless seems to know how to rapidly spread their message around the world, and get many people to listen to their activism. The choreographers provide the volunteers with instructions and suggestions for how to organize a Cube of Truth. People who support an anti-intersectional stance often argue that intersectionality damages activist movements through the dilution of the cause. Mobilizing 'the truth' as a key concept in their discourse, in combination with the images of slaughtered animals is a very powerful vehicle to normalize their ideology. It’s good to know this person is aware that not all Asians eat cats and dogs? It doesn’t help that leaders such as Trump have referred to the virus as the ‘Chinese virus’, and his friend, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson has left this unchallenged. However, the frequency of such incidents, and the amount of people participating in these incidents became a lot more prominent. Jasmine Leyva, of The Invisible Vegan, spoke about the lack of visibility and empathy around eating disorders among women of color and how plant-powered campaigns such as JIVINITI can make an impact by kickstarting these key conversations. By Scott Douglas Jacobsen George Martin is a Spokesperson for Anonymous for the Voiceless. All the organization and structure behind the protests suggest hierarchy and rules. Black Lives Matter – Cork 5th/8th June, 2020; Project Overview Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Four elements are important here: (1) The offline choreography. If we are not being intersectional and then how are we being inclusive to the diversity of people in the vegan community- or who could potentially be part of the vegan community? Contradictory, I know. How can AV be anti-racist and not tolerate discrimination when they refused to recognise that racism perpetuated by activist members online was just as valid a discrimination to address as racism that occurs at one of their events? Ideology is presented as 'common sense' in line with science. However, for them, Facebook is not only a tool to spread their message and ideology, but their major use of this platform is to recruit new members and organize their events - the Cube of Truth demonstrations mentioned before. What is the story there?George Martin: … This fast growth is one of the reasons why this movement is one that cannot stay unnoticed. Tweets and the Streets. And what role does the Cube of Truth play in all of this? Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. Anonymous for the voiceless holds an abolitionist stance against animal exploitation and promotes a clear vegan message. Change ). This whole image creates a slightly artistic scene on the streets and invites the people passing by to take a look - to become aware, see the truth, finally understanding and acknowledging this truth. The ‘truth’ is often used to describe facts, evidence that explains reality, or to distinguish the real from that which is not reliable. Anonymous: for the Voiceless 2018. To be precise, the Facebook page of Anonymous for the Voiceless has 138.134 likes and 135.821 followers. We make sure we comply with all the European rulings and that we inform our readers and authors. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. It concerns me how big Anonymous for the Voiceless is when its founders are openly transphobic, engage in 4-chan style "anti-SJW" rhetoric, vehemently dismiss notions that vegans should give a damn about human rights, and prop up figures like George Martin (Carnism Debunked) who is a sad right-wing troll actively trying to turn the movement away from leftism … In a good way. ( Log Out /  Once again, Banksy has stepped up, showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, following the death of George Floyd in America.Banksy is as much political activist as he is artist. It changes you. There is more going on than only fighting for something they stand for. The affordances of Facebook to distribute discourse and to organize online and offline actions is certainly one important ingredient to mention. Also, the cube of truth is a critical element that contributes to the communication of the whole. How hard is it to set up workshops that let activists know that discrimination is unacceptable? Concerns about what Chinese people eat became ever more prominent with the outbreak of Coronavirus, leading to many portrayals of Chinese people as barbaric, uncivilized, and diseased. Anonymous for the Voiceless claims that activists get to wear the masks because this is the only way they can stand in the cube for such a long time without people staring into their eyes, but it is not to ignore that there is literally and figuratively more behind those masks than meets the eye. We are commited to ending racism in our lifetime. In the end, it maybe goes too far to compare the social structure of Anonymous for the Voiceless with that of a religion, but I think it is important that we notice such a fast-spreading movement like this. “Where are you from? Personally, I believe that the path to true liberation is to bridge the divide between the human and animal, recognizing that humans are animals as well. Choosing to leave the dinner table when dead bodies and exploited secretions are served is a powerful stance to take, and a strong form of activism for the animals. As the man in the video says, crying: “When you do watch the footage…. As they claim that society and capitalism hold us back from a confrontation with the reality of that what happens in the industries, and for that, we fail to recognize the reality. With over 240,000 followers on Instagram, Anonymous for the Voiceless has a platform that could be used to promote and uplift Black voices as they fight against racial injustice. ( Log Out /  How about a system that supports individuals who want to report such issues without having to feel anxious that they will suffer consequences for speaking out? A 12 Step program that works in communities small and large. An offshoot of the hacktivist movement Anonymous, AV was established in 2016 with the aim of converting people to veganism. ( Log Out /  There is no sign indicating this and the man clearly doesn’t work here. But if there are only two people protesting, they can stand with their backs to each other, as long as they are faced outwards, to confront the public. With Asal and Paul as charismatic leaders at the top, telling a narrative that translates the abstract world into something ‘real’ and graspable, with symbols and rituals. If you want to participate in the Cube of the Truth, you can become a member of one of the local Facebook groups from Anonymous for the Voiceless and sign up for a protest. Videos of AV events have motivated me to become active for the animals myself. What is Racists Anonymous? All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. Their use of the concept of ‘truth' works quite well and appears to have a strong appeal to get people’s attention and make a point. I was told that: “While we can’t from an organisational standpoint comment on anyone’s activity outside of our group page or our events and workshops, I can promise you any instances of racism at any of these will be tackled immediately by myself or one of the other organisers.”. In the first year, 2016, the number of cities where they located their so-called ‘chapters’ was about 22 in total, including London (UK), Melbourne (Australia) and Cape Town (South Africa). Experiencing racism and responses to this in AV: I’m not going to lie, when I first became vegan, I did what a lot of people do and jumped straight into activism without asking any of these questions. Stream songs including "Anonymous", "Hold Me Tight" and more. In June, after a conversation in the group page where I commented on AV’s apology about their approach to the BLM protests, I received a message from one of the organisers letting me know that they stand with me on issues surrounding racism, and they seemed genuinely interested in having an open conversation about this. The ability of AV to place animals at the centre of a conversation about racial justice is a privilege that not all can afford, and a lack of sensitivity about this led to the alienation of people affected by issues of racial justice from the group, the vegan community, and veganism itself- vegans, non-vegans, and vegan activists alike. Diggit Magazine takes online privacy and transparency very seriously. It gives people a purpose in life, a group to belong to and brings them together with people with the same ideas - something that is in any social context a must for us as human beings. With Paul and Asal at the top, organizing the cubes all around the world, this all calls for a highly organized system. Many big cities around the world already have monthly organized Cube of Truths with volunteers that sign up via private Facebook-groups. As people turn to social media to stay connected to loved ones during this trying time, some people turn to social media to share their fears and opinions about the pandemic. Cork Against Racism march 2019. And this is done by getting people on the move, the Cube of Truth is organized by ‘recruiting’ volunteers via Facebook, and (potential) volunteers can become a member of the private Facebook groups, of which there is one for each city. Cork Against Racism Protest 2018. However, I received a message from a fellow activist who also complained about racism in AV and they showed me a conversation with an organiser, in which they had said: Confused is an understatement. AV had criticized the use of a decapitated pig’s head by Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters during one of the protests, and in doing so provoked anger and alienation amongst many people. We need to form solidarity with one another against oppression in the fight for total liberation within and beyond the animal rights movement. They manage to perfectly spread a stable trustworthy message that many people can hold onto. Firstly, I would like to make clear that this article is about Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV) as an organization and not about the activists that take part in their events. This film was made as an action-oriented output of the research project: Imagining Futures: How Vegan Utopian Thought In Vienna Impacts on Space, Place, People, And Animals. Also am I meant to be thankful that this person did not use this word in their post? At this point, I was upset that no action seemed to be taken, and I made a public statement that ‘I no longer feel like I can stand with the organisation AV, at least not for the foreseeable future’. Enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter (mailchimp). High quality Anonymous For The Voiceless inspired Spiral Notebooks by independent artists and designers from around the world. As mentioned before, their main ideology and goal is to fight for the lives of animals and, as they state on their website: “fully equip the public with everything they need in switching to a vegan lifestyle." Having to retell stories of racism, and also having to put yourself in a more vulnerable position by identifying individuals is anxiety inducing, and whilst I want nothing more than for the racism to end, should it really be the case that we have to do this so that change can occur? Of course, when I have been able to do the emotional labour I have challenged activists whose posts have been problematic, I have received messages such as this: For someone who is defending their post as what they believe to be ironic and oppositional to racism, this person sure has no problem using the c* word casually in conversation, or perpetuating monolithic portrayals of Chinese people eating animals- and I have no idea why the word Chinese is in quotation marks. The activists that stand in the cube are asked to hold screens or laptops showing footage of animals being killed and slaughtered in the meat or fur industries. Social Media and contemporary activism. Others in the cube hold signs with the word ‘truth’. The first time that I approached the organizers was back in April. Previous study: Bachelor Online Culture, Tilburg University. Ever since, the movement spread immensely fast over the rest of the world, and not only in Western countries. I messaged the organisers and they have told me that this is not the reason at all and it is simply due to me not wanting to volunteer anymore. Cambridge University Press, UK. (2) Discursive framing. Judith Hewitt from Rhyl, who is a member of the Labour Party in the UK and a supporter of opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, posted comments on Twitter criticising Dame Margaret Hodge and “rich Jews” who don’t want a socialist government.” This reoccurring organization embedded in a translocal franchise structure embedded in different local and global Facebook pages ensures that Anonymous for the Voiceless spreads a consistent message within all their demonstrations around the world. Offline activism and the epiphanies of the bystanders are remediatized online. What We Do. Although I had truly felt that the organisers I spoke with were well-intentioned. Anonymous for the Voiceless shared a post on Instagram: “What you’re seeing here isn't some kind of work of satire: people are marching through the streets…” • … The very idea that violence towards Chinese people is justified because we are a species separate from humans, or as Morrissey put it- a subspecies- is at the heart of justifications of the consumption of animals. Master student Sociology: Engaging Public Issues, Rotterdam University. Whilst both the post and comment have been removed, with an apology from AV’s co-founders, the organization remains notorious for its anti-intersectional stance on animal rights activism, with much outrage over issues with transphobia, racism, and sexism. I became a member of AV amongst several other activist groups. Spread the love. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. This was a quite unforeseen growth, as their movement spread like wildfire within only two years. This is not an example of 'networked individualism'. The concept of truth is crucial. This consistent message is based upon their core ideology, one that therefore stays strong and drives the group from within. None of this content is unique to vegan activists, and many non-vegans share such views, but coming from my local community who I had previously felt welcomed into for the most part, it was heartbreaking to see. These movies function as mobilizing instrument for new activists. Notebooks on Redbubble are so very versatile and lucky for you they're available in a ruled or graph 90gsm paper. However, as we discussed before, this 'truth' is ideological and these facts just contribute to their still political interwoven ideology. Anonymous for the Voiceless is a charity recognised by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission ACN 630 318 071 Anonymous for the Voiceless adopted Facebook as their main key for communication. I asked why what has happened has not opened up conversations about racism, and they told me that a lot has changed and that the people involved in the BLM post and in the social media team who I mentioned earlier no longer work at AV. And I could argue that without Facebook their growth and success would never be possible. Facebook has become their means of mobilization, or as Paolo Gerbuado (2012) argues: “Social media can be seen as the contemporary equivalent of what the newspaper, the poster, the leaflet or direct mail were for the labor movement. For anyone who doesn’t know, AV is set up in ‘chapters’ (local groups) in various locations worldwide, with praxis regulated by the co-founders. These epiphanies are not only filmed, but they are also remediatized online as to help others see the light. Jacque Salomon, of Seeds to Inspire, highlighted the indigenous … The way that people view the practice of eating dogs in China as barbaric has always been something that confuses me- how is this any different from eating a cow, pig, or chicken? I will still ask if you’re willing. I didn’t want to deal with this. Stream songs including "Anonymous", "Hold Me Tight" and more. In addition, they claim to hold an abolitionist stance on animal exploitation, which means that they strive to abolish our socially common attitude towards animal slaughter and wake people up to the world-wide normalized idea of humans as carnivores. In a very short period of time, Anonymous for the Voiceless has become a global activist network. They see the one and only truth. As if he has seen the light, and he wants the world to see it too. Zooming into the emotional tears the man in the video sheds, it almost seems like he has been healed and reformed to better his life, all because he saw the truth. It was set up by the Australian couple Paul Bashir and Asal Alamdari in 2016. As we fight against speciesism (a form of discrimination), we do not tolerate discrimination, bullying or harassment of any kind within our organisation. (4) Facebook. What is striking about this is that such an idea is ostensive of the very same oppression that vegan activists seek to dismantle. All of a sudden, people see the light. What was family and personal background? The Cube of Truth is the major tool by which Anonymous for the Voiceless performs their ideology, goals, and beliefs. Anonymous for the Voiceless (the Vienna Chapter). The information provided in the link below was compiled by Beth Leigh, a friend and vegan activist who wished for this to be shared to highlight some of the issues within AV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12nmsDb_H1FTG4BIO22DE3O1d9R7pujhyPFEaUoqp00k/edit?fbclid=IwAR1Nv3spTsYApAz_cdCWr3DLoWK18a4croXPgNCRcj3WrVT-SJWAyN76aSI. It is worth considering whether an anti-intersectional stance is bringing about liberation for animals more successfully than an intersectional stance. Until now. This has been a problem in my own experiences of participating in activism at a time when racism towards Asian communities has increased. That Vegan Teacher AKA Kadie Karen Aka Kadie Karen Diekmeyer (real name) has been straight out problematic, ablest, and a straight-up racist in the vegan community for years. Your secrets and dreams written in ink, or drawn in pencil, and hidden behind your favorite art. Whilst some of the activists have removed the posts, others have removed me from social media, or I have had to remove them. The same evils of white supremacy, racism and bigotry permeate this nation; they are arguably as prevalent as ever, with or without mobs draped in the white-clad uniforms and pointy hoods. PREVIEW Enslaved. As a result of this hierarchical structure, the anti-intersectional approach is implemented by the AV chapter organisers. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, How Dotan's lies tell the truth about social media, Welkom in mijn baarmoeder, mijn lief kunstmatig kind. This results in a way of street activism that is not spontaneous as it seems to be. PlutoPress. Both elements, the footage shown and the word ‘truth’ , support the message and ideology of Anonymous for the Voiceless. And this organization all begins with the already mentioned well-known social media platform they use: Facebook. It is important to understand how this 'truth' works from a political and sociolinguistic perspective. Also the title of the protest, Cube of Truth, reveals that it is an important factor in their communication with the public. And Facebook now shapes this communication and sustains their  “coming together in the public space... reclaiming squares and physical public space for use and political organizing” (Gerbuado, 2012). Therefore, the dismantling of speciesism involves the liberation of both human-animals and non-human-animals, an intersectional fight that recognizes the messy entanglements of oppression. If we look at the video again with that in mind, we see something interesting happening. Blommaert, J. You argue with him, and notice that six people have left the toilets. We can explain that success by analyzing the different ingredients that together form their discourse. Burundi drummers 2018. (2005). Showing you the truth, waking you up. Those rules and instructions are crucial for their online and offline communication. Those groups, or chapters, can also be put forward by an enthusiast volunteer when there is not yet an organized event or chapter in a certain city. This ‘truth’ refers to the shocking footage of animals being killed. Yet, if we are not aiming for total liberation and then are we really dismantling speciesism, or are we perpetuating it? COVID-19: Systemic Racism, Structural Inequality and Speciesism. Collectively Free. Those (new) admins of the Facebook groups also belong in this hierarchy, as ‘soft leaders’ or choreographers, as Gerbuado calls them (Gerbuado, 2012). It is happening. The frame their ideology around animal rights as simply 'the truth', and thus as rational and as facts. By the end of 2017, this number was raised to 300 cities, and at the end of 2018, there were about 900 chapters located in 80 different countries around the world. By January 2019, not only their offline urban base expanded, also their online member-base raised to the staggering amount of almost 200.000 likes on Facebook and thousands of donations via their website. What did surprise me was that many members of a community that I had felt very much a part of- the vegan activist community- were contributing to the problem. Their beliefs in this sense are that animals have the same rights as humans, and that humans should reject 'speciesism': the belief that humans are on the top of the world. Unfortunately not. It is not uncommon for me to receive comments like this when I have challenged such views: This comment, taken from a vegan activist concerned about the exploitation of dogs in the Lychee and Dog Meat Festival, echoes a dehumanizing narrative about Chinese people, and calls for violence against Chinese people that is justified by this dehumanization. Het is nu toch al te laat, of niet?