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204- Oh Lord won't you buy me a (vegan) Mercedes Benz?!
0 Playsin 10 hours
Seems that German car manufacturers want to keep up with the Joneses (Jean-ses?); a couple of months after Renault's leather-free-interior pledge, Mercedes have obtained Vegan Society certification for their GLC model (when you choose the 'Vegan Package', and why wouldn't you?!) We're also reporting on Lidl announcing record plant-based sales...are we just selling out, promoting giant German corporations' tokenistic plant based offerings? Fear not- Carlos & Anthony still have plenty of cynicism reserved for the week's vegan & animal rights news...whilst not forgetting to celebrate the wins!
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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This week's stories:
https://www.worldanimalprotection.org/latest/news/wap-win-against-jbs-court-case/
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2025/09/07/dutch-authorities-to-shut-down-controversial-duck-slaughterhouse/
https://vegconomist.com/cultivated-cell-cultured-biotechnology/cultivated-meat/consortium-cultivated-meat-farm-netherlands/
https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/food/lidl-beats-plant-based-sales-target/
https://voi.id/en/news/512066
https://www.league.org.uk/news-and-resources/news/protest-demand-stronger-hunting-laws/
https://www.vegansociety.com/news/news/vegan-trademark-confirms-world-first-vegan-certification-mercedes-benz
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15069309/Vegan-vet-Animal-Rebellion-activist-steal-pet-dog.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgjpn8gl97o
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Carlos & Ant
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Week Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody, if you are looking for vegan and animal rights news, you are in the right place. I'm Anthony, joining me for this episode is Carlos, but that's enough of the falafel, it's time for Vegan Week.
00:00:14
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrrr! Take your lab grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida. What about your protein and what about your iron levels? Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry. They're arguing like, oh, poor woe is me.
00:00:33
Speaker
Hang on a minute.
Discussing Vegan and Animal Rights News Stories
00:00:35
Speaker
You always pick the...
00:00:41
Speaker
social injustice has connection another. That's just what people think vegans eat anyway. As long as you don't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be all alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:57
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hey, hello everyone, our lovely Enough of the Falafel listeners. This is Carlos and you're so welcome. Thanks so much for being here.
00:01:08
Speaker
Indeed, indeed. Anthony here, just in case you'd forgotten. Now, if you're a new listener to the show, welcome. You're so, so welcome. This is the show where we talk about the news. So between myself and Carlos, we'll talk about probably, I don't know eight, nine, 10 stories from the last week's vegan and animal rights.
Animal Rights Protests and Legal Victories
00:01:27
Speaker
space but that is enough of the falafel let's get on with it and hear what has been going on in the news this week
00:01:36
Speaker
for more details on the upcoming news stories including links to our original source material check out our show notes for this episode available on your podcast player
00:01:50
Speaker
Well, we try to keep our news stories international and we will kick off the show with something from Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is coming directly from worldanimalprotection.org. The headline reads, Court confirms World Animal Protection's right to protest against JBS. JBS, who, according to this, are...
00:02:13
Speaker
the world's biggest worst animal killers basically um meat meat industry back on the 28th and 29th of april 2024 world animal protection did a big protest a peaceful protest against jbs there's a picture here on the news article and being projected on the side of a building, JBS profiting from cruelty and killing our world. But then JBS filed a lawsuit against World Animal Protection for this. However, this week, a Sao Paulo court has confirmed this organisation's right to the peaceful protest.
00:02:53
Speaker
And Carlos is pretty black and white here. That's a good thing. We've got to say, now you know, if we value liberal democracy or the right to protest, It's got to be a good thing to be able to do this.
00:03:04
Speaker
And it's a great thing for the animals. Yeah, it's I mean, ah having the freedom to speak out is, I guess, one of the the basics of ah free societies like the ones, I guess, as here in the UK and Brazilians and most of our listeners, I would expect, live in.
00:03:20
Speaker
And this freedom to speak out is a vital tool in the environment. you know, the kit toolkit of advocacy. So if if you if you're not ah if you can be gagged from speaking out against animal cruelty and environmental harm, then it just becomes so much harder to do any kind of animal advocacy.
00:03:36
Speaker
And you know these protests are really important because the animal suffering is just embedded in you know in and the production of industrial livestock. And just having this legal recognition that animal suffering is part that, in this case from the Brazilian courts, it just strengthens the case for animal rights activists like the WAP from being able to speak out like this.
00:03:59
Speaker
and of course they were not just speaking out about animal rights or animal suffering. They were also speaking about all the all the things that come together with animal agriculture, especially in this industrial manner.
00:04:10
Speaker
So, you know, climate change, deforestation, and, you know, there's so much about the animal suffering argument that kind of overlaps with environmental harm. And this protest kind of covered both of these topics in the same, and now their freedom to speak about it is protestant.
00:04:29
Speaker
Which I've got to say, like if I was an organisation going up against the largest meat producer in the world, I would be afraid that they're going to have some big lawyers. You know, that they've started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in the ah in the last year. Like they're a big deal. And you could imagine them using their clout to to silence protests as much as we think that those protests are valid.
Corporate Involvement in Plant-Based Products
00:04:56
Speaker
But um yeah, a real real win, I think. Yeah, but WAP was right, and that counts too. not not Not just ethically right, but they were right by the law to be able to do it.
00:05:07
Speaker
Congratulations on the WAP on the win, and congratulations to our Brazilian peers on this win. Let's go to our second story. So that's the news that Supermarket Little have surpassed the previous plant-based sales target by achieving nearly 700% growth on their plant-based sales.
00:05:26
Speaker
So the budget supermarket had aimed to achieve a 400% sales increase in their own brand meat-free and non-dairy milk products by 2025. But earlier this week, Little announced that it has achieved a sector growth 694%, which is far exceeds the previous target and prompting further expansion of its plant-based range. So amazing.
00:05:50
Speaker
What do you think, Ant? Another one to celebrate? um Celebrate's an interesting verb, isn't it? i'm I'm glad that things are heading in that direction. I'm always very sceptical about the the benefits of shouting about ah a giant company that generally makes its money from animal exploitation.
00:06:12
Speaker
from championing them and and and jumping up and down um when they' when they're doing relatively little in in favor of of animal rights and things like that. Now, ah obviously those numbers are great. If you know if your plant-based range is going up by 700%, fantastic.
00:06:30
Speaker
I don't like their rhetoric that when they're saying um this reinforces the brand's commitment to achieving the planetary health diet, And kind of think, well, if you really care about planetary health, I think you need to stop selling all the red meat. You need to stop, so you know, there's a lot of things you need to stop doing. if you If you really, really care about this, of course, it's all, you know, it's all marketing speak. It's all PR nonsense, which I think is why I'm skeptical about it.
00:07:00
Speaker
I suppose we have to see it as a positive that, the e the you know, global giants like Lidl are, ah feeling the need to say these things.
00:07:11
Speaker
And it's not just something where they feel like they need to do a tokenistic thing. And well, if the sales are good, then that's a bonus. But really, the reason we're doing this is for some good PR.
00:07:23
Speaker
Actually, if the if the money talks, then they're more likely to carry on doing it. So I'm glad in that regard, but I'm i'm not going to start you know buying little branded sweatshirts and saying, aren't they fantastic?
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah, although I have to say there their plant-based brand is pretty good. Everything I've tried from it, the Vumondo brand is pretty good. Yeah, absolutely. and And the fact they're selling more of it. And, you know, I will go in there to get stuff. You know, that there was a time when...
00:07:50
Speaker
I don't know, Tesco or Waitrose was really the the forefront of of plant-based offerings wheret where I live. But actually, yeah, the Vimondo stuff that you can get in Lidl pretty reliably, it is it is better than its competitors, but there's they're still making loads of money from animal exploitation. Yeah, not a vegan company, but no thank you for your efforts.
00:08:14
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Feel free to do a bit more anytime you want. if they They said last year they're going to trim triple their plant-based offering, you know, and and there's lots of hope that we can pin on them.
Controversies in Animal Slaughterhouses
00:08:26
Speaker
But because they're not a vegan organization, it it's just hope, isn't it?
00:08:31
Speaker
But hey, we'll take it. We'll take it Let's move on to our next story. It comes to us from the Animal Reader. The interesting headline, Dutch authorities to shut down controversial duck slaughterhouse.
00:08:45
Speaker
Why is it a controversial slaughterhouse? Well, they've been at the centre of controversy for many years. In 2018, the company requested new construction and environmental permits.
00:08:56
Speaker
ah which were updated again in 2024. But in this time, the business was repeatedly accused of operating outside the law, building an air filtration system without permission, for providing false emissions data. They sound like a real cartoon villain, don't they? Before we even focus on the fact that they are killing ducks, innocent animals.
00:09:18
Speaker
But like we say, the The news is that authorities may soon shut down the country's last remaining duck slaughterhouse. Carlos, you've had a look at this. Are you feeling hopeful? Because this is not signed and sealed, is it? This might still not happen. What's what's your hunch? Yeah, it's it might still not happen. But I think the authorities have had enough of this, particularly slaughterhouse, because they've had so many strikes against them that I believe from what I've read and all the research I've done, that it's a They have more trouble than they're worth in terms of jobs and tax revenue or whatever the local authorities is decide is the benefit of keeping existing. It's also interesting that it's the last remaining duck slaughterhouse for for us, or for some of us as animal rights activists. I would say it's particularly interesting that what got them there was not anything related to animal suffering, but pretty much environmental law, regulations. So it was kind of
00:10:17
Speaker
Looking at this problem of the slaughterhouse, not in terms of all the poor dogs, because, you know, let's be honest, the Dutch government's not going to care too much about that if they comply with whatever animal welfare regulations they have, which we know are never enough.
00:10:32
Speaker
So they got them by their environmental law and regulations. and and And, you know, it's it's important to find... to When you're doing this sort of campaign to find whatever weakness the slaughterhouse or the other parts of animal agriculture have. And if you can find those and use those as a wedge to get the slaughterhouse shut down or the dairy farm shut down or whatever it is, then ah they work too. It's got to be easier as well, seeing as it's an isolated organisation, it's an isolated site, that the fact that it's the only one, I'm just trying to think of this situation, a different animal, a different country, a different set of objections to it. It's got to be easier to say, hey, look at this outlier, this this one last greyhound track, this one last...
00:11:21
Speaker
dairy farm in our state or whatever and they're doing all these things wrong that's surely got to make it easier for activists to get non-vegans on board because I don't think things like this happen just through vegans and animal rights activists agreeing is it you've you've got to get other people on board with with petitions with you know local news outlets reporting on things And I just think being strategic about saying, yeah let's go for that one. Let's all go for that last one.
00:11:54
Speaker
And maybe if you were a more popular type of meat, they would struggle far more because then they couldn't harness those resources. So that's why, you know, I think we've been consistent in this podcast talking about, you know, get your wins where they can. And if there's,
00:12:08
Speaker
Any low hanging fruit, you know it doesn't matter to the ducks that it was easier than it should have been, perhaps, or that it was based not on their suffering, but on ah some environmental breaches that the company has
Cultural Shifts in Animal Welfare Attitudes
00:12:20
Speaker
done. All that matters that it's been shut down. And, you know, you're right. they might This campaign might have involved people who were not animal rights activists. They were just NIMBYs. You know, they just didn't want a slaughterhouse in their backyard.
00:12:30
Speaker
but There's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure that's part of it. and And the fact that it's an animal that some people choose to ah go to the park and feed with bits of bread, you know, it does does help with that sort of thing as well, doesn't it? um Ducks have that on their side.
00:12:45
Speaker
Just a final bit of context for the story for listeners. the The company has got six weeks to respond and submit a formal objection to this proposed closure. And either way, a final decision is expected by by the end of the year. So as soon as we hear something or the animal animal reader hears something, we'll try to keep you abreast of that.
00:13:07
Speaker
All right, so let's go get out of Europe for a little while. Let's go to Asia and particularly South Korea. This is a story about something i didn't even know existed, which is the South Korean bullfighting.
00:13:19
Speaker
And apparently there's a lot of backlash against bullfighting in korea South Korea at the moment. So Ant, what have you found out about this? Well, I'm exactly in the same boat as you, Carlos. I had no idea that this was a thing. It seems like from what I'm learning about bullfighting from stories that we've covered on the pod, There's different ways of going about it in different countries.
00:13:41
Speaker
Obviously anything that's objectifying, removing the liberty of an animal is is wrong. ah Whatever name we give it and whatever nuances there are, there seems to be a lot more animal on animal fighting in the South Korean variant of this.
00:13:58
Speaker
The link is in the show notes for for those that want to see this particular example though, You can obviously do your own research to find it too. Just to be aware that the kind of news here happened a couple months ago, I guess, with with news that's further afield, it it can sometimes take a bit longer to get to us and to filter down.
00:14:17
Speaker
So as of last July, an online petition submitted to the National Assembly of South Korea called for a ban on on total bullfighting, um and it collected more than 45,000 signatures.
00:14:31
Speaker
It seems like 50,000 was the key number that was needed to to get a formal parliamentary review. But the pressure is getting stronger. um It's driven by growing public concerns, as well as pressure from animal rights activists.
00:14:45
Speaker
The kind of objections that are probably quite predictable. um So the cows that are used in... It's interesting, this article, they talk about cows and they talk about bulls interchangeably, so it can be a little confusing.
00:14:57
Speaker
and Yeah, it's all bulls. Yeah. yeah um they they They talk about stress due to training and collisions, broken horns, internal injuries during the fight and being abandoned after the quote,
00:15:11
Speaker
match. The petitioner who put this wrote this in the Korea Times on September the 1st so this is getting national press coverage as well which hopefully adds to that pressure and might take it to a ah critical point where where actually some change is happening. At the moment it's not clear that there is anything due to happen. It's just that the pressure is increasing. um There was a survey done by Hankook Research. It's the same Hankook, they're a tire company, but anyway, might just be a coincidence. 62.1% of respondents in the Gyeongsang region, where the largest bullfighting event hosted in the country, 62% of people said they believed this practice had a negative impact, specifically on the values of children,
00:16:01
Speaker
I'm not quite sure why the the question was phrased in that way. Maybe it was a ah ah question about, you know, what impacts the values of children. It happened to mention bullfighting, but more, you know, a majority of people not thinking it's a good thing.
Innovations in Cultivated Meat
00:16:14
Speaker
We've said it in and the last story, but, you know, single issue campaigns can often be the way of of getting the win.
00:16:21
Speaker
Just felt relevant to to shine a light on this this industry, this practice, this tradition. It all comes back to tradition, as we've said before on the show. But kudos to those in South Korea and further afield who are who are pushing this and and hopefully we can start to see impact coming from it as well at the moment it's just a lot of noise and public opinion slowly changing but um good to get the word out there and I'm sure Carlos it's not just you and I that had never never heard of this taking place in South Korea it's not a country you often hear well I've never heard it said well it it might be that south koreas haveve never heard of iberian
00:17:00
Speaker
bullight either so there you go yes yes absolutely absolutely i mean i mean in in in this goes on in spain yeah what they they have humans fighting the bulls here we've put the bulls against the other bulls that's what makes sense i mean none of ridiculous practice none of this makes sense whatsoever anyway if you want to watch two two animals fight each other there there's boxing there's mixed martial arts and all those involve willing participants anyway Absolutely. Well, our next story comes from Vegconomist and we are hopping back to Europe and we're hopping back to the Netherlands.
00:17:33
Speaker
Bit more of a positive story, although I suppose so but is the closure of a Doc's slaughterhouse is is a positive thing too. The Vegconomist are reporting on a consortium that is launching the world's first cultivated meat farm in the Netherlands, helping farmers diversify their business.
00:17:53
Speaker
So the Kraft Consortium comprises Respect Farms, Wagganigan University and Research, Mosa Meat, Aleph Farms, Maltus, Kipster, and Royal Kuiper's.
00:18:07
Speaker
Apologies for my pronunciation. And as I've said in the headline, The aim is to help farmers diversify their businesses. Lots of money behind this, Carlos.
00:18:19
Speaker
I mean, it's it's a laudable goal to to help existing farmers diversify. What's your take on it? Yeah. um So to be sure, we're talking cultivated meat here. We're not talking meat substitutes. So this is grown from cells.
00:18:36
Speaker
So it's essentially, you know... The same meat that people would consume normally, but without the nervous system attached, without a brain attached, you know, just just ah the meat cells by themselves.
00:18:46
Speaker
So it's a completely a different concept than, you know, a Beyond Burger or a Bean Burger or anything like that. It is it it is in fact meat. It's just that it comes with no suffering attached. Having said that, we need to be aware that we're still not sure if what they're going to do is be completely animal free or what's usually called animal minimal, because the process sometimes uses fetal bovine serum or other components that still need to be added into this kind of Frankenstein recipe to grow the the fake meat.
00:19:18
Speaker
I mean, I shouldn't call it fake meat. It's it's ah it's it's kind of grown, cultivated meat, I think is right term. Probably not one for our listeners, I would guess, but for everybody out there who cannot let go of the taste of meat, no matter how much their Beyond Burger or whatever it tastes like a real burger, this is a real option. And this this could be a real game changer for reducing of so reducing suffering.
00:19:47
Speaker
I don't think this is going to make people vegans, by the way. you know Somebody who goes buys cultivated meat and has that doesn't doesn't care at all about animals or animal suffering or animal rights.
00:19:58
Speaker
They might see other benefits because if you're doing cultivated meat, you might, for example, create one that is not a cancer causing or you know has very low cholesterol, right? So if you're creating cultivated meat sorry from scratch, why not get rid of the bad stuff?
00:20:14
Speaker
Also, in terms of emissions, in general, from my research, it would seem much lower because you don't have to feed a whole animal and and you know waste all the water and pasture, et cetera, to have a whole animal grown. It's just the meat itself. So we only the end product is Of course, as I said, this is not one for vegans. This is not the kind of things vegans get involved with for ideological reasons. And you know the fact this consortium of companies includes several meat companies kind of proves that as well. But I also said earlier that this could be a real game changer.
00:20:49
Speaker
And I do believe it because if if this becomes, let's say, if all of a sudden cultivated meat is cheaper than the other meat and carries with it far fewer consequences in terms of the environment and so on, people will pick it if it just becomes like the option.
00:21:05
Speaker
And we could be seeing fairly soon, sorry, when um we're talking about changes in society, fairly soon might be anything from 10 to 20 to 30 years. Fairly soon, we might be seeing the kind of changes where eating cultivated meat is the norm and eating actual animal meat becomes like this luxury that only a few can afford.
00:21:26
Speaker
Obviously, that's not the world vegans want to live in, but in terms of the sheer reduction in suffering, it will be incredible. we're We're really at the the very, very start of this, aren't we, in in terms of what we understand, how it how it could unfold.
00:21:42
Speaker
I'm looking at a picture on this press release and an image from one of the organisations, Respect Farms. They've got this sort of artist's impression or architect's design of it, um of of what one of these places could look like.
00:21:57
Speaker
A third of it is taken up by cows. I'm not sure. Surely you don't need that many cows. Isn't that the point? But also when we've seen products launching in Singapore and I think Australia in the last couple of years, it's like 3% cultivated meat and the rest is chickpeas or seitan or tofu or whatever.
00:22:17
Speaker
So that it it it really... To me, it seems like we're at the the Pong stage of video games. And like in 20 years time, it's completely unrecognizable. So in a sense, it almost feels a bit pointless speculating on these things.
00:22:34
Speaker
But when we need to keep an eye on it. And it's because actually, if public response to this is unilaterally, well, that's a complete waste of time, then we need to we need to take a different approach. But if you've got...
00:22:48
Speaker
You've got animal ag companies investing in it. That's kind of an interesting sign, isn't it? We yeah definitely want to keep it. Another big a big question. Will the European Union allow allow them to call it beef?
00:23:00
Speaker
Allow them to call them hamburgers and sausages? When it's actually, it is meat. So yeah who knows? That might be a big one. um yeah All right. app So now for our last story before the pick of the week.
00:23:14
Speaker
It seems like the sound baying hunt hounds and the sight of traditional hunting gear has been in a very, very unlikely location. So that would be in Birmingham's city centre in the UK.
Public Activism and Legal Reforms
00:23:26
Speaker
why why was Why were there hunt hounds and traditional hunting gear in Birmingham?
00:23:31
Speaker
Well, the sounds, I think, were projected, um although there is a picture of someone in hunt gear with um what looks like a hunting horn. So there were genuine sound effects added.
00:23:43
Speaker
um It looks like he's in fancy dress and he is accompanied by six other ah protesters who are protesting the lack of hunting laws that make an actual difference here in the UK where we're recording from.
00:23:59
Speaker
Anyone who has been to Birmingham City Centre anytime will realise that they do love a good protest in Birmingham. They do love people with megaphones and ah sharing their opinions. So it's good to see animal rights activists doing the same.
00:24:13
Speaker
So this protest was part of a League Against Cruel Sports action. Time for Change was what was written on the placards that were being held.
00:24:24
Speaker
And basically that the aim was to urge the general public to back a campaign to see controversial hunting laws strengthened just to give a very small amount of context. And I realized the other person on the show with me today is a hunt saboteur. So jump in and correct me, Carlos.
00:24:43
Speaker
But at the moment, actual fox hunting is banned, but you can trail hunt. You can pretend hunting. that you're hunting a fox, but that leaves open many, many loopholes, which to to get serious, therefore means that animals and wildlife are suffering. It's not just foxes that are ah suffering from people pretending to fox hunt or actually fox hunting, but pretending to pretend to fox hunt.
00:25:07
Speaker
So great to see public stuff going on to rally against that and put pressure on. the Interestingly, that the percentage of people that they canvassed during this protest seemed to match almost exactly the numbers that we hear.
00:25:26
Speaker
74% of the public in Birmingham supported strengthening the Hunting Act. I think that's at least the number, isn't it, of people that generally are against hunting. Yeah, it's it's usually something like that. And then you've got people who have no opinion, they just don't care, which in this case, I don't i don't consider them supporting it. Just people are not completely unaware of it. I mean, if you live in Birmingham City Centre, you might not really care what happens in the countryside with wildlife. And then there's a very small minority of people who support it.
00:25:56
Speaker
ah which I would expect in a city centre like that to be very, very low because they would have no vested interest. And and as i mean, there'll be ah there'll be a proportion of people who don't care, but I think generally speaking, people wouldn't know. So so doing things like this is is really raising awareness of it.
00:26:12
Speaker
um the The number of incidents of suspected legal illegal hunting, 31 reports of foxes being pursued, 65 reports of hunts causing havoc in rural communities. And this is happening, like just to give some context, people shopping in Birmingham on a Saturday afternoon will have come from the surrounding counties.
00:26:34
Speaker
where this activity is going on, that this press release says that illegal hunting has taken place in the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire. So it's, in in a sense, it's raising awareness with the people that it's affecting, as well as the fact that they're they're doing this this press release to share it. So so good on the the people doing it. ah I've mentioned it's said the picture has only got seven of them in it. And, you know, that's...
00:27:03
Speaker
That's no mean feat going into a busy city centre. You've got hundreds of thousands of people surrounding you who don't care, who you might think might oppose you. You're going out there and you're publicly saying what you think and you're perhaps confronting people whose opinions might not match your own. And I think although those stats bear out and say that actually most people agree with you, it's still a bold thing to do. So so good on those people for doing it, I say.
00:27:30
Speaker
As well as producing these audio-based shows, our podcast hosts at Zencaster also provide the written transcript for each show. This is AI generated, so it might not always be 100% correct, but nonetheless we hope that this will increase the accessibility of our show. So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week.
00:27:58
Speaker
I'm going to spell it all for you. Zencaster is Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R dot com, then a forward slash, and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen, and then week.
00:28:12
Speaker
Zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week. and then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:28:23
Speaker
Okay, it's pick of the week time now. Carlos, we'll start with yours. we've We've commented on the show before that very often companies, organisations, people who have no interest in animal rights will nonetheless make positive decisions if their next door neighbour, their co-worker, the next country along is doing so. And we reported a couple week a couple months ago sorry that car manufacturer Renault had made ah had committed to making their interiors animal-free and things like this.
Veganism Beyond Food: Products and Certification
00:28:56
Speaker
And lo and behold, your pick of the week this week is in the next door country, Germany, Mercedes are doing the very same. What great news. Yeah, well, great news. And this is ah an often area, very gray area for vegans, isn't it? Where we say, well, you know, you have to be vegan as much as it's practically possible.
00:29:15
Speaker
And one thing where it usually falls apart is cars, isn't it? And I would say, even though Mercedes are a bit outside of what I'd like to spend on a car, they've introduced the vegan package called vegan package for its GLC, where all the interior touch points, so that's the seats, the steering wheel, door trims. So these are all...
00:29:33
Speaker
areas where you would have some sort of leather components from as far as I understand it, they're certified by the vegan society's vegan trademark. So that means that no animal ingredients, derivatives or byproducts are used and that there was no animal testing done by the company or on its behalf for those materials.
00:29:52
Speaker
So those are around 100 material components from various suppliers of Mercedes. They were tested to meet the certification standards. and they want to expand this vegan package, that's the name, i which I found curious, to more Mercedes-Benz models.
00:30:09
Speaker
This, to me, tells me that there are vegans with money out there. yeah I think that's fair to say, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. i've i've I gave an incorrect kind of intro to that there because I was making it sound like their whole range is is going to be vegan, which it's not like you say, it's it's a package, it's it's an add-on for for certain things.
00:30:31
Speaker
do do Do you attribute any significance to the fact that they've they've got the Vegan Society, official verification here, logo, like, do you think that gives it any extra credence so or is that just incidental?
00:30:45
Speaker
No, I mean, it's it's really good that they're not, let's say, certifying themselves. A lot of companies certify themselves as vegan, um and then you kind of have to choose to believe them or not, which is easier if a company is completely vegan, you know, their attitude, their marketing, etc. And then you might believe they're their own self-certification. But with a company like Mercedes, you know, you really need ah some sort of authority to come in and and and say, yes, they've taken all the steps necessary. This also means that the Vegan Society has made some money from this transaction and certification, which is good because then they can use that for
00:31:17
Speaker
campaigns and so on and so forth. So I would say this is this is a good news. you know let's Let's have more of that. You know what i mean? Let's have more products that traditionally have not been vegan.
00:31:28
Speaker
ah So they have this certification. Obviously, you know look, when people talk about veganism, they almost always are talking about food, isn't it? they say you know People will say things like, oh, i've I've tried going vegan for a couple of months. And all they're talking about is the stuff that went through their mouth that's kind of the limits of venism It's good that this kind of news comes out because suddenly people well, you you can't eat a car, so so what you mean a vegan car?
00:31:53
Speaker
And then it maybe clicks. you know Maybe it clicks that you know it's not the food, just the food, it's not just ah just the clothes. There's other of things you know that that you know veganism is encompasses more than that.
00:32:05
Speaker
Of course, all all this stuff is is more symbolic. Because let's say the animals harmed to be used in cars is probably, didn't know research, but let's be honest, it's going to be a very small number of animals harmed in the making of cars compared to you know the big animal ag industries. But it's still important because it it kind of shows that the vegan world is possible.
00:32:26
Speaker
Mercedes can do this. If Renault can do this, other companies can do this. Yes. i think I was surprised with Renault's press release a couple months ago at quite how many cows were it takes to to make a ah leather interior for a car. So it's, it you know, it's more than one, put it that way. with and It was several. Yeah, I do take your point.
00:32:49
Speaker
I think as well, like that just to come back to the labeling and the vegan society labeling, I think that's so much more important with things that aren't food. That's partly because of laws that we have in this country, the EU, I'm not sure what what the laws are outside of Europe with regards to labeling what is in your food but it's certainly a lot easier to find out what is in your food compared
Ethics and Media in Activism
00:33:17
Speaker
to what's in your shoes what your shoes made of what what glues are there what about cars what about other things like that so so having things like that for a car is really useful and like in this press release um
00:33:31
Speaker
um They've said this certificate, I mean, we've taken this from the Vegan Society, so they're kind of bigging up their certification process, but they're saying this certification confirms that the materials contain no animal ingredients, derivatives, or byproducts.
00:33:46
Speaker
The interior has not been tested on animals by the company or on its behalf. So it's really showing how thorough this is. And like you say, Carlos, that's not going to happen if you're just self-certifying animals.
00:33:59
Speaker
unless you've got like a really dedicated vegan on your staff doing it. Like you need that expertise to understand. Yeah. yeah And the vegan vegan society has had a good reputation for its certification anyway. So yeah I would trust them. now we need ah Now we need more vegan packages in our cars, I think. Yeah, absolutely.
00:34:19
Speaker
Absolutely. and Let's get that sunflower logo on us. Or vegan packages and other things as well. Yeah. Bring it on. Why the devil or not? Thank you for that one, Carlos. All right. So that was my pick of the week. Which was your pick of the week?
00:34:31
Speaker
Well, I've gone to the Daily Mail and I've got real mixed feelings on this one because, you know, we we keep an open mind on Vegan Week just because something's from the Daily Mail. We don't automatically assume it's going to be horrifically biased and anti-vegan.
00:34:47
Speaker
But generally speaking, it is. And they've not missed an opportunity on this story. I've got mixed feelings on it, though, because I kind of want to read it from another source as well, because it I'm kind of thinking like the the vegans or the animal rights activists have possibly scored an own goal.
00:35:04
Speaker
um The headline is, vegan vet who helped animal rebellion activists steal a pet dog by removing its microchip is struck off. and That's quite a quite a mouthful. I'll try and break it down so that you understand it.
00:35:17
Speaker
So it seems that there is a dog who was a, quote, pet dog called Bella. They were stolen by a member of Animal Rising, transported about 200 miles from its, quote, distraught owner's home.
00:35:36
Speaker
And then i quote, under the radar removal of a microchip has happened by Dr. Amir Kashiv, who is a self-reported vegan vet.
00:35:48
Speaker
That procedure was carried out. So removing the microchip so that it it It couldn't be tracked, what what have you. Five-year-old Labrador, this this was done on Bella. Apparently, they they were being abused by their owner, a disciplinary hearing There's so many questions here.
00:36:07
Speaker
Part of me doesn't want to report on this because it it seems like such a weird convoluted story. the the The reason that I wanted to highlight it, we can look at stories like this and and say, well, this is absurd. Like, why why is this being reported on? This seems like such a...
00:36:25
Speaker
random isolated case we don't know why this has happened why somebody taken this dog away why have they it it seems like they that the people involved duped the owner into saying like oh we'll we'll We'll take your dog for a walk, don't worry. And then they then they've stolen it and then they've driven it 200 miles. ago Why are we reporting on this? Why we focusing on this? Like that there are people paying for animals to be killed needlessly for for meals. you know Millions, billions of animals are needlessly being killed.
00:36:57
Speaker
Every day, why are we focusing on this story? I think the reason that I think it's important to look at is we are living in a world where there are organisations like the Daily Mail or just people who are not of an animal rights persuasion.
00:37:14
Speaker
who will jump on things and they will double down on it and say, look, look, this is what these vegans are like. This is what they'll do. Even sometimes if that's not actually what's happened, you know, that we're getting a very Daily Mail sided view of this story.
00:37:31
Speaker
And that there could be details that actually reflect a lot more favorably. on on these activists and on and on the vet themselves for why it's being done. And probably people listening can understand why someone might want to rescue her an animal that they think is being abused by an owner.
00:37:53
Speaker
But the fact is, the fact is that as soon as the Daily Mail or people... like the Daily Mail's zeitgeist, get hold of things like this. They're gonna put headlines out there and confirmation bias will kick in and people will be like, yeah, I knew vegans were like that. I knew they'd steal people's pets, innocent pet owners, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:38:13
Speaker
And I don't know the people who've done this action. So in a sense, who am I to comment? But I'd maybe just ask the question, if you're a member of Animal Rebellion, Animal Rising,
00:38:25
Speaker
Is this definitely, definitely the best use of your time and your energies? And I understand if you come across ah a neighbor who is mistreating a dog, that that's really going to play on your mind.
00:38:40
Speaker
that's That's going to seem really, really important. And i I do doubt some of the details of this story because that you know they'll do anything for clickbait. They'll do anything to sell a few papers or what have you.
00:38:54
Speaker
But I do just think we need to be careful and and not be naive as to the the context that we live in. We're we're living in a non-vegan world. We're surrounded by people who are going to want to paint us as extremists, as crazy people.
00:39:09
Speaker
And yeah, it did kind of disappoint me to read certain details of this. Carlos, I don't know whether you've you've had a look at this one and whether you think there's something I've i've missed here or... I stand firm on my position of never criticising other activists.
00:39:25
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's fair enough. Yeah, I mean, they they had their reasons and they acted probably for the same reasons that I would do other things I might have done or not. Not admissible in court.
00:39:37
Speaker
I just don't think that something where you can get the weight of the law to intervene is the best, you know, illegal activities where you can actually get the law to work on your behalf in public opinion.
00:39:49
Speaker
you know, its it's just it just seems like very too risky and you know, there's, of course, it's much faster, it's much faster to do this, to steal this dog and get it safe than it is to report it to the RSPCA, to report it to the police, or take footage of the abuse and post it on social media. So people get angry about it. And then they want to help you, of course, the stealing the dog, like it was slowly so much faster.
00:40:13
Speaker
And you just want the as fast as possible But the consequences are now that this animal is back with its owner. And any reports of abuse now become really high.
00:40:25
Speaker
now but Well, as well. And now you've got you and now i've got activists with a criminal record, yeah a vet which has been struck off. Yeah, and and this is a vet who's saying he's been vegan for 37 years. Like, think think of the the potential for for a vegan vet who's been vegan for that long, working with companion animals and with their owners.
00:40:47
Speaker
And i I hold my hand up, like, I ran... a vegan cafe, a vegan restaurant for five years. And there were things I could have done differently that might mean that that cafe and that restaurant were still going. And wouldn't that be a great thing the for vegan activism, you know? So none of us are perfect. and I'm not saying that we should be. And it is it's just a shame. Bad for vegan podcasting though.
00:41:10
Speaker
Well, yes. Well, yes. Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes we need to be strategic in what we do. we need to kind of think all right is this something that yet authorities actually can handle better than I can handle it.
00:41:22
Speaker
Because ultimately, you know, we we see this while also with activists being jailed for things. You know, an activist that's in jail is an activist that's doing nothing. That's not helping any animals while being in jail. And that in some cases, not even inspiring other activists. doing the opposite of inspiring because you might put off people from engaging and in activism because they'll be afraid to to prison um for doing the right thing.
00:41:45
Speaker
So, yeah, just, you know, we just need to be strategic and use the law. and when and And when there are laws, use those laws. Bodies which have been given the authority to act in these circumstances, like, you know, RSPCA inspectors, for example.
00:42:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's it's some it's it's not a black and white thing. And Carlos and I have given our opinions on on that story and and also the other stories that we featured in the show. And what we what we want in this podcast is a dialogue, a discussion.
00:42:14
Speaker
ah Today it's me and Carlos behind the microphone. Sometimes it's other people, and but we really value those of you out there listening too. And if you want to get in touch and share your opinions, you are so, so welcome and so encouraged to do so.
00:42:28
Speaker
But you'll need our email address. So here it comes with some words of encouragement from Julie and Dominic. To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com.
00:42:42
Speaker
We see ourselves as a collective. Our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
00:42:53
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com Okay, we have got one last story to feature on the show this
Extreme Activism and Its Implications
00:43:05
Speaker
week.
00:43:05
Speaker
I've got to say, it's not a story i've I've come across anything like like it before. So we'll see see what Carlos and I make of it and we'd be interested to hear what you think out there too. It comes to us from the BBC.
00:43:18
Speaker
The headline, one of America's most wanted evaded the FBI for 21 years after only to be found in Wales, Wales in the United Kingdom, that is.
00:43:29
Speaker
So Daniel Andreas San Diego, this is very confusing reading the story because his surname is San Diego and they keep referring to Mr. San Diego. And you're thinking, what is this? Is this like a Miss Universe thing?
00:43:42
Speaker
No, that's his name. He was on the most wanted terrorists list at the same time as Osama bin Laden, amongst other people. He was suspected... as having links to animal rights extremist groups. This is the BBC's words, not mine. What were were these groups? what Why were they you know so wanted at at a time when you'd be thinking the USA's FBI would only be interested in people who are really threatening the country's security Well, in Oakland, USA, on the 28th of August 2003, two bombs exploded at a biotech corp.
00:44:21
Speaker
Investigators believing the second bomb was planted to target first responders. So really quite serious stuff there. The hope was that by following this person, he would lead the the FBI and other authorities to members of this animal rights group called Revolutionary Cells Animal Liberation Brigade.
00:44:43
Speaker
They claimed responsibility for attacks on firms they believed had links with organisations that tested products on animals.
00:44:53
Speaker
Carloth, I've not come across anything like this before. there was i've I've watched a documentary about and ah an environmental rights group that planted bombs and things like this.
00:45:06
Speaker
I've never heard of anything like this before. This feels like even more extreme than the Animal Liberation Front and things like this. But it's it's interesting because this guy is only linked and rumoured to be associated with them.
00:45:21
Speaker
what What do you make of it? like Do we need to sweep this under the rug and and pretend it never happened? or Yeah, it's quite extraordinary that he evaded capture for so long isn't and kind of moved countries. And, you know, you need passport, a fake passport to do that. You know, you need to be like a proper serious criminal, no? Yeah. To have those kinds of capabilities of moving.
00:45:42
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, quite an extraordinary case. I don't believe in in the use of violence to further our cause. And, you know, any any kind of place that's bombed in this fashion will just pay their insurance money and will be open shortly, very shortly again.
00:45:57
Speaker
You know, nothing has changed. If anything, they might have gained a lot of sympathy. and animal rights might have gained a lot of bad reputation because of it as this kind of thing. that To me, there was a big distinction between, i mean, this is all alleged. So, you you know, we have to be careful, but like the thought of there being something that's trying to target a building, but then something that's being targeted at first responders and and and things like that. There's Yeah, I don't believe that. I'm not sure if I believe that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:46:28
Speaker
But that there is a difference, isn't there, between targeting an organisation's infrastructure and building versus actual human beings. I mean, there's no question that wanting to cause harm to human beings is not a vegan message, is it?
00:46:42
Speaker
But I don't know, I can understand why someone might say, well, let's wreck their building, let's wreck their vehicles or or things like that. That's different, isn't it? Whether we agree with it or not, whether we think it's the most strategic thing or not.
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, we I mean, we have, I mean, there's an activist in the UK, for example, that was sentenced to, he was sentenced for 10 years in prison and back in 2009 for a conspiracy to commit arson on an animal testing facility as well. so it's not entirely unheard of but you know there's a There's a saying that goes, when you know and and angry voices cannot speak, they resort to violence. I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it.
00:47:22
Speaker
And I can imagine you know the you know the frustration at not being able to see any change, any positive change, kind of bubbling over. And then all it takes is somebody with the right resources and maybe, let's say, violent disposition or ah careless disposition to kind of resort to these sorts of methods.
00:47:40
Speaker
But certainly an extrana extraordinary case. And it's odd to see an animal rights activist in among a list of, let's call them more traditional terrorists.
00:47:53
Speaker
I'm more of a tribe terrorist myself, you know. Yeah, you know you know you know what I mean right you know but political Political terrorists. Yes, indeed. Well, no doubt now this person has been caught, we will hear more about it. Though I imagine it will take ah a very long time and there's probably going be far more relevant and pertinent things going on that will actually impact things for animals. Yeah, it will be a very long trial for sure. Absolutely, absolutely.
00:48:21
Speaker
I will say this though, Ant, you said something about having an extreme position, etc. I think veganism is an extreme position. And, you know, I think we all know when we talk to non-vegans that we have to curb our language frequently. Yeah, absolutely. And it wasn't actually long ago, i think the last few months that vegans have been taken or or animal rights activists have been taken off the NHS prevent training, which was was a training scheme um or awareness scheme in public health school system.
00:48:55
Speaker
but for basically warding people off or kind of warning them of potential terrorist threats and and animal rights activists were included in that. So we definitely don't want to go back into that typecasting. Anyway, anyway.
00:49:12
Speaker
Let's bring things to a close now. We do hope you've enjoyed the show in spite of our talk about hardened criminals and some of the less positive stories of the week. If you have enjoyed the show, there's a tiny little favour that we would like to ask of you, if you can.
00:49:28
Speaker
If you've enjoyed today's show, we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else you think might enjoy it too. We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising, so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free Enough of the Falafel Joy further still. And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player.
00:49:53
Speaker
That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help.
00:50:04
Speaker
lovely stuff lovely stuff we've had a slight tech issue during the playing of that jingle so uh because carlos has got a very early start in the morning doing some hunt sabbing i've let him sign off so thank you
Conclusion and Future Podcast Engagement
00:50:16
Speaker
very much carlos for your participation in today's show just heads up everyone the next enough of the falafel episode coming out on thursday as usual it is a vegan week we know you love them And talking of things we know you love, this is the third episode where we have been putting a focus on the sheep in Julie's life.
00:50:37
Speaker
um There are previous episodes, I think it's episode 50 and off the top of my head where you can hear volumes one and two of that beautiful saga and Mark and myself caught up with Julie a month or so back and asked for the latest installment of Sheepy News and a really nice episode to dispel some of the myths that are put out there about sheep in animal agriculture. Julie, of course, not having her sheep in animal ag sees a very different side of things, so thoroughly recommend listening to that one, which comes out
00:51:13
Speaker
on Thursday. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks again, Carlos. Thanks to all of you out there listening. We know there's hundreds of you every week. We really value you are tuning in and being part of our community.
00:51:27
Speaker
And we look forward to being with you next time. Anyway, I've been Anthony. You've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective. See you next time.
00:51:43
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com.
00:51:58
Speaker
And sometimes if you're lucky at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr. Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:52:24
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
00:52:45
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week. So check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show.
00:53:00
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.