"Animal Rights July"

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release

Friday June 26, 2009 16:05

by RogerYates

roger.yates at ucd dot ie

Exploring the idea of animal rights at UCD.

"Animal Rights July," a 5-week event in Dublin, featuring films, discussions and lectures on animal rights philosophy and social movement advocacy.

“Can nonhuman animals have rights?”
“What is the difference between abolition and regulation of animal use?”
“Why do animals matter, ethically?”
“What is the connection between human and nonhuman animal rights?”
“What is the connection between our use of animals and environmental concerns?”

According to the comments on Indymedia Ireland, these and other questions about human-nonhuman relations are regularly exercising the public imagination.

Now there is an event in Dublin, organised over 5 Wednesdays in July, that will address all these questions - and more.

“Animal Rights July”;

Where: Theatre N, Newman Building, UCD campus;

When: Every Wednesday evening in July;

Time: 7.00-9-45 each week. FREE ADMISSION.

Organised by: Dr. Roger Yates, UCD Sociology Dept. Contact Roger Yates: UCD office: 01 716 8586.

“Animal Rights July” (see programme below) is a series of five weekly events at UCD that explores and highlights the meaning of animal rights as a philosophical idea and as a social movement. The keynote event of Animal Rights July will be an interactive live lecture (via Skype from the USA) by law professor and animal rights philosopher, Gary L. Francione.

There is a young and emerging animal rights movement in Ireland – distinct from traditional animal welfarism – which is inspired by rights-based thinking about human-nonhuman relations. They claim that we need to think beyond how we treat nonhuman animals and consider the ethics of our using them.

The idea that nonhuman animals have rights is a challenging one in Ireland with its traditions of using animals in a variety of ways. Animal Rights July is designed as a series of events which explore the meaning of human and animal rights in the 21st century. The implications of animal rights are ever more relevant in an age of human starvation and threatened environments. For example, we are increasingly aware of the impact of animal agriculture on the ecology of the planet and on food and water resources.

Animal rights is an idea whose time has come and is something that The Green Party, at least, should embrace without delay. Gary Francione is the foremost animal rights philosopher of the day, so I am very pleased he is contributing to our event. Anyone interested in how we use animals, how we campaign for them, and how we try to protect them from harm should try to attend on the 22nd of July. Francione is an excellent and entertaining public speaker and is sure to leave people thinking critically about the morality of using animals and what they can do about it.

The programme of events in Animal Rights July.

Wk 1. July 1st. The Animal Rights Debate: A Bill of Rights for Animals?

This is a taped debate from the Royal Institute of Great Britain featuring (for the motion about a Bill of Rights for nonhuman animals), Professors Tom Regan, Richard Ryder, and the Rev Prof. Andrew Linzey and (against the motion), Baroness Mary Warnock, and Profs. Steven Rose and Germaine Greer.

Wk 2. July 8th. HOME. A film released globally on World Environment Day, 5th June, 2009.
A film by French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The hour and a half long movie details the current state of the earth and the environmental challenges we face as a consumerist society.

Wk 3. July 15th. A Cow at My Table.

A documentary about a journalist, Jennifer Abbot, who was arrested for filming a dead cow. A Cow at My Table features contributions from the author of The Case for Animal Rights, philosopher Tom Regan, representatives from the animal agriculture industry, animal welfare expert Dr. Ian Duncan, ex-rancher Howard Lyman, and ecofeminists Carol Adams and Vandana Shiva.

Wk 4. July 22nd. Keynote event of the month:
Animal Rights: Abolition or Regulation?

Prof. Gary L. Francione (live from the USA, via Skype). Gary Francione is the leading exponent of the Abolitionist Approach to animal rights. His books, Animals, Property and The Law, Rain Without Thunder: The Ideology of the Animal Rights Movement, Introduction to Animal Rights and Animals as Persons, explore his vision of animal rights.
Animal Rights July is the first ever event to feature Gary Francione live in Ireland. He will talk about animal rights and animal welfare in the Irish as well as global context and will take questions from audience members at the end of his speech.

Wk 5. July 29th. Judge John Deed: “Everyone’s Child”.

Something a little different to round off Animal Rights July. Judge John Deed is written by vegan playwright and producer/director, G.F. Newman. In the episode to be shown, Deed decides the fate of a minor who has refused a heart transplant due to his adherence to the vegan philosophy of animal rights and the principles of nonviolence.

• see: http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/environm....html
• http://www.ncifap.org/_images/212-4_EnvImpact_tc_Final.pdf
• Green Party: http://www.greenparty.ie/en/content/download/11020/1223...p.pdf.