The Aotearoa Animal Rights Conference was the reason I came to Wellington. And, wow! It was incredible. The actual conference was Friday and Saturday. I attended a debate on Friday night and the entire event on Saturday.
The conference venue.
To start off, I went to the Friday night debate. The topic was, "Is Animal Rights a Waste of Time?" Now, to put it in context, most of the attendees were vegan activists for animal rights. So, the people on the affirmative didn't have much of a chance of changing opinions. They did, however, get to play devil's advocate and make some great points. Of course, at the end, the negative side won by a landslide of cheers. But, I personally thought the affirmative side made the better argument. For example, going vegan for animal rights is a waste of time because you fight against a huge industry and many people may not agree. If you take a health perspective, though, you have a much better chance of possibly turning someone vegan. Essentially, they appealed to the audience the best they could by saying animal rights was a waste of time but veganism was not (for either environmental or heath benefits). It was relaxed and fun to watch.
All vegan morning tea break. The next morning started the 8 hour day full of panels, presentations, and discussions. To start off, there was a presentation about ethics and animal rights in general. A great start to the day. Following that was my favorite part of the day: the panel on vivisection. As a scientist, I loved this panel. Unfortunately, the panelists mainly focused on animal testing in the cosmetics department (and I am already well informed and against this type of testing). They did mention a few other examples of testing, like human prescriptions on mice and how there is constantly zero--or opposite--results in humans.
Then, we had lunch. All of the food was wonderful and completely vegan! I got to know quite a few people during lunch by sitting and discussing our own personal views on animal rights and veganism/vegetarianism. Lunch was inspiring, seeing so many people standing up for what they believe in! I didn't always agree, but no one ever tried to "convert" me. Everyone was just talking about what they know and what they are doing; it was a mutual sharing of knowledge.
Then, we had lunch. All of the food was wonderful and completely vegan! I got to know quite a few people during lunch by sitting and discussing our own personal views on animal rights and veganism/vegetarianism. Lunch was inspiring, seeing so many people standing up for what they believe in! I didn't always agree, but no one ever tried to "convert" me. Everyone was just talking about what they know and what they are doing; it was a mutual sharing of knowledge.
My afternoon was filled mostly with information about New Zealand issues. First, we had a presentation about speciesism--especially on possums--by Dr. Annie Potts. Possums are a major pest in New Zealand but they are treated terribly and sometimes killed for sport. She discussed why we, as humans, choose to love certain animals (dogs, cats, etc.) and hate/demean others (cows, pigs, possums, etc.). Next, everyone at the conference split up and went to the panel or discussion they were most interested in: there was one panel on Factory Farming (basically, it's bad and the major problem), one on Grassroots Projects (AKA go vegan), and one presentation on the New Zealand Animal Welfare Act. That's the one I went to. I learned about what parts of the act enforced and how factory farms find loopholes in the act. Then, the last presentation of the day was a speaker closing up the day by giving the many benefits of going vegan and some of her own personal stories.
I skipped over one speaker who went after we split up into groups (and then had afternoon tea). Will Potter came over from the states to give a presentation on "ag-gag" laws in the US. Basically, certain states passed laws making it illegal to post videos or pictures of factory farming (which denied free speech). It was nice hearing about things that had been--and still are--going on in my home country. It also made me realize that animal rights is a global issue and that people are fighting against it all over the world.
The famous Bucket Fountain (with soap added). After the conference, I got to explore the night life of Wellington. Most of the night I was with a bunch of the activists at a busy half-indoor-half-outdoor bar. We started off standing and continuing conversations about the day. I had some great conversations about my personal opinions on vivisection, possum control, the debate, and especially veganism. It's funny...there were a lot of people trying to show that going vegan is the best way to combat poor animal treatment. And I completely agree, and I always have. I think, after school, I probably will go vegan, but now is not the right time for me.
Anyways, the best part of the night was when it really started to get cold outside. Instead of wandering inside, we all just cuddled together and sat in a little circle, took all of the blankets out of a communal basket, and each had a hot water bottle in our lap. We stayed like that for hours until, eventually, everyone went their own way to either sleep or find somewhere else to go.
I really loved coming to Wellington, but what made it the best is that I didn't just go for tourist reasons. I went to learn and support something I really care about: Animal Rights. Plus, I got to eat a lot of delicious vegan food (some of which I got the recipes for), drink lots of tea and coffee, and talk to/meet major players in animal rights activism.
Anyways, the best part of the night was when it really started to get cold outside. Instead of wandering inside, we all just cuddled together and sat in a little circle, took all of the blankets out of a communal basket, and each had a hot water bottle in our lap. We stayed like that for hours until, eventually, everyone went their own way to either sleep or find somewhere else to go.
I really loved coming to Wellington, but what made it the best is that I didn't just go for tourist reasons. I went to learn and support something I really care about: Animal Rights. Plus, I got to eat a lot of delicious vegan food (some of which I got the recipes for), drink lots of tea and coffee, and talk to/meet major players in animal rights activism.
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