A Cow at my Table - an "Animal Rights July" event.

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Sunday July 12, 2009 13:57 by RogerYates

Week three of Animal Rights July 2009 sees the presentation of a 90-min documentary on the meat business.

The third event in ‘Animal Rights July’ in Dublin takes place at Theatre ‘N’, Newman Building, UCD campus, on Wednesday 15th July, 2009, at 7.00 pm.

A Cow At My Table has never been presented at a public event such as Animal Rights July before in Ireland. It is a powerful documentary about our relations with other animals, filmed over five years, by journalist, media artist and teacher, Jennifer Abbot.

What makes A Cow At My Table compelling is that it features voices from both sides of ‘the animal issue,’ and particularly about the issue of using nonhuman animals for food.

With archive and contemporary footage, the film explores issues such as the transition from ‘family farms’ to large-scale ‘factory-farming,’ the role of animal welfare organisations, animal welfare experts, and the critique of animal use by more radical animal protectionists and animal rightists.

Commenting on A Cow At My Table as part of his Animal Rights July agenda, the event organiser said: “Abbot’s documentary raises important issues which are central to my own research in sociology but also addresses everyone’s concerns about how ~and indeed whether~ we should use other animals for our benefit. For example, it looks at the socialisation process, which gives us our first attitudes to our relations with animals; the relationship between social movements and their countermovements; and, most of all, examines the role of the ideology and practice of animal welfarism in society in general and in the animal protection movement.”

“Animal welfarism is the institutionalised means by which we regulate the use of animals. Essentially, it promises ‘non-cruel use’ and suggests that existing problems can be solved with increased regulation and legislation. However, there are several problems with this. For example, in relation to so-called farm animals, animal welfare organisations seem to be forever forced into a ‘never-win’ situation. This can be demonstrated by current events that affect Ireland. At the moment a European ‘farm animal’ welfare group with a branch in Ireland simultaneously lists as its achievements and ‘welcome improvements’ the bringing about of reforms in EU law while publishing exposes of the violations of those same laws and regulations.[1] A three-stage process seems to be in play. Not only do the welfare groups spend years campaigning for change, this is followed by a long period of implementation [much EU legislation on ‘farm animals’ does not take effect until 2013, see: http://www.acompassionateworld.org/post/136386718/lost-...urope ] and then these same groups spend years monitoring the reforms they supported, exposing violations of regulatory laws they were instrumental in creating.”

“A Cow At My Table can be seen as a plea for a new approach to animal advocacy, a call which has been answered in the last few years by a new abolitionist movement in animal rights which sets veganism as its moral baseline and concentrates its attack on animal use rather than animal treatment while being used.”

More details: Roger Yates on 01 716 8586 or 0863912018.

Wikipedia link about the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Cow_at_My_Table

Praise for A Cow At My Table…
"...an extraordinarily compelling, powerful and visually stunning documentary."
—Vancouver International Film Festival

"...idiosyncratic and refreshingly unpredictable... may become one of the most persuasive videos of the coming decade."
— Animal People

"... a brilliant documentary."
—Toronto Star

"You should watch and love Abbott’s film ... This work has a sense of vision, reason and direction that make Abbott an admirable documentarian."
— Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival

"...an important film!"
— J. Hunter Todd, Chairman & Founding Director, WorldFest Houston

"[a] startling, even-handed and extremely accomplished documentary."
— Jim Sinclair, Pacific Cinematheque

"Gently pits animal activists against the meat industry in a probing reflection on flesh foods... Like all the best documentaries, this film offers more questions than answers."
— Cameron Baily, NOW Magazine, Toronto

"Stylistically inventive and able to find a visual beauty within this ugly subject, A Cow at My Table uncovers balance and truth in a very complex subject with numerous sides."
— Alex MacKenzie, Blinding Light!! Cinema

"...at once a rigorous exploration of the meat industry and a visually elegant and stylistically compelling work of art."
— Heather Frise, Director, Bones of the Forest

"...expertly reported."
— Willimette Week

"...a compelling and highly acclaimed documentary ... presenting a powerful and thorough inquiry into the institution of meat."
— Animals’ Agenda

[1] The Irish branch of an animal welfare organisation says (currently on its web site – visited 10th July 2009) that it “has been campaigning for better conditions for pigs in Ireland since 1992. Since then, EU law has brought about welcome improvements: tethering of pregnant sows is now illegal; the keeping of pregnant sows in narrow stalls after the first 4 weeks of pregnancy will be illegal from 2013; routine tail-docking is now prohibited under EU law; and EU law requires that fattening pigs must be provided with manipulable enrichment material (such as straw or mushroom compost) that they can root in; from 2013, breeding pigs will also have to be given manipulable enrichment material.” [emphasis added.]

Using material from 2007 and 2008, the British branch of the same organisation writes on Pig welfare and EU legislation: “Tail docking and environmental enrichment: Tail docking: (cutting off the piglets’ tails) is carried out to prevent pigs biting each other’s tails. Routine tail docking is prohibited by EU legislation yet the investigation found the practice to be widespread – up to 100 per cent in some countries. A 2007 European Food Safety Authority report also found that over 90 per cent of EU piglets are tail docked. Tail biting occurs because the pigs are bored and frustrated in their bare, sometimes slatted floored pens and chew and bite each other’s tails.
“Environmental enrichment such as straw would drastically reduce or prevent tail biting and so stop the practice of routine tail docking. Under EU law this must be provided yet the investigation found enrichment materials to be lacking in the vast majority of farms visited. Under EU law the enrichment should consist of straw or some other natural material that enables pigs to engage in their natural behaviours of rooting, foraging and exploring.” [emphasis added.]