As a youth, most of my friends had convictions and moral obligations to themselves and their beliefs, which led them to live a certain lifestyle and restrain from engaging in certain activities. As I've grown older, though, I've noticed many of the friends I had whom were once vegetarian have digressed to eating meat, instead of continuing on to become vegan, and many others have given up their restraints in place of drugs, sex, and alcohol. I'm far from a saint and quite often indulge in all things that have no benefit on my wellbeing, but it is the people's attitudes and denial of their past selves that seems like the tragedy to me. On that note, it is refreshing to see that I still have a few friends who are willing to live their lives based on their beliefs, morals, and ethics, and are willing to risk their freedoms to do what is right, instead of just what’s accepted by the mainstream society.
I recently spoke with a good friend who is actually taking the road less traveled in her mid twenties by standing up against a system of control that plagues us all, whether or not we are consciously aware of it. I talked to Rima about becoming vegan, protesting for animal rights, and becoming more and more certain that the USA does not have anyone’s best interest in mind when defining laws, regulations, and the “norm”.
We started simple by my asking her how she became vegan, since I still remember smashing Del Taco at her apartment years back. She told me that she could still remember the date. On February 15th, 2010, she and her ex-boyfriend were watching a documentary called Earthlings (narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, view for free online at earthlings.com). Thirty minutes into the movie that depicts all of the nightmarish ways that humans exploit animals unnecessarily for our own selfish and greedy nature, Rima and Robbie came to the realization that neither of them could go on living and eating the way that they were. "Robbie was eating a steak while we were watching it and he set in on the table and looked at me and said 'I can’t do this anymore,'" Rima said. The rest is history for them.
As human beings from the planet earth, we've lost the connection to the earth and it's animals that we once possessed. Committing to a vegan lifestyle is about being aware of where your food is coming from and how nutritionally beneficial food can affect our physical and mental health beyond what we have been led to believe by traditional Western medicine and government-backed nutrition programs. Rima told me that she had been working with a 10-year-old boy with Autism at the time of her transition who had severe gastrointestinal issues (he was still in diapers), communication delays, and a host of other issues. After switching him to a healthy vegan diet, the differences could be clearly seen in the boy’s personality and physical mechanics. He has been out of diapers for two years now and plays and laughs like a typical child. All of the issues he has were exacerbated by the pain he felt from an improper diet, and although his mother took him to every gastrointestinal “expert” around the country, appallingly, not one doctor asked what the boy was eating or made any attempts to alter his diet. Any person allergic to gluten can tell you that their diet has more affect on their mood and feelings than any other factor in their lives. We wonder why each generation has more and more depression, suicide, anxiety, and fear in their lives than the last and why we are dying of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer at alarming rates (all considered ‘lifestyle diseases’ by doctors and scientists who study plant-based diets), but do we recognize the separation that has happened between nature and man in this time?
I have known Rima since we were about 17-years-old and she has never been one to stay quiet or to keep her opinions to herself. She has always been outspoken about her beliefs and with good reason. She's always right. Ok, maybe not always, but it's sometimes hard to counterpoint a kid who got her Master’s Degree before you finished your Associates. Rima told me that punk rock music was ultimately the medium that got her involved in the animal rights community. She realized that all the lyrics of many punk rock songs (especially in regards to veganism and animal rights) were almost direct quotes of what she was preaching about to others. She was at a Subhumans show in Los Angeles and there was an animal rights group at a table giving out literature and having people sign up for their e-mail list. This was the first step—get connected. She signed up and began reading updates on what the group was doing and what they were trying to achieve. After getting updates and researching things that were happening, she decided to get her feet wet and go to an actual protest. She got the courage to go and went by herself. She was one of five activists who showed up that day. Five stoked activists. Rima mentioned that the animal rights community is small despite people’s misperceptions of a militant vegan army waiting in the bunkers, and that many activists are connected around the world through social media. There are many different groups that engage in different forms of activism with different convictions that are ultimately standing up for animals and humans against a system of government that is both detrimental to animals and enslaves humans. As Rima said, “One Struggle, One Fight… Human Freedom, Animal Rights!”
So why doesn't everyone protest? We can see that there is something wrong in society but yet we will not do anything about it. Rima believes that being silent is to agree. As we watch footage of militant cops pepper spraying peaceful protesters it can be discouraging for sure, but we have been taught since birth that we have free speech, so why are we afraid? If you go too far with that free speech, it can and will be used against you in a court of law, that's why. Rima showed me a law that I was unaware of that basically takes away your freedoms as an American if you stick up for animals. It is called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) and under this new law, the government can send you to trial as a domestic "terrorist" for anything from sitting and holding a sign at a protest, tweeting about articles related to animal activism, to more intense forms of activism like civil disobedience. The law covers degrees of intimidation, harassment, or any property or economic value that big businesses say was lost due to whatever activism you were doing. She gave me a recent example in the world of animal rights. An activist was recently arrested and is awaiting trial. Though this person’s “crime” was not related to animal activism, because they had previous activism-related charges, their bail was raised from $20,000 to $500,000 under the AETA law. Most child molesters and rapists’ bail do not exceed $100,000! Although I don't have a first hand account of this, I can only imagine that the government can also use "necessary" force to try and get information out of this "terrorist" due to our country’s biggest umbrella for violence and ignorance, the Patriot Act.
Don't think that to be an activist you have to risk your freedom, be militant, be viewed as a “crazy cat lady”, or be the weird animal recuse person with 37 dogs. This modern world provides us with tools such as the Internet where you can read about what's going on and take steps necessary to change things in your life, as well as being able to get connected to groups and organizations that are at the front lines of the fight. There are many student and public protests against vivisection (the barbaric and antiquated practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research) that you can get involved in without the fear of being dragged to jail, for example. You can leaflet on street corners, start and sign petitions, reach out to your Facebook community, write letters to political prisoners, to government agencies, to senators, or simply live your life in compassion as an example of how others can live. Know the risks and repercussions before you find yourself somewhere you don't want to be.
A main point Rima wanted to drive home is that the animal rights community is not simply fighting to end the exploitation of animals. They are fighting to change the bigger issue of what is happening in our country. The pharmaceutical industry, the factory farming industry, the fashion and cosmetic industry, the prison industrial complex, and even major universities all profit from the ignorance of Americans and the exploitation of animals. They profit when their products make us half-dead, sending us deeper into a spiral of reliance and addiction on more of their products and “medications”. People may view animal activists as being “petty” because they only care about animals, but that is simply not true. Everything is connected and we must constantly examine, where’s the money going? Why is this system being maintained and who is profiting? Rima assures us that it isn’t the animals, and it most certainly is not us. Activists have no agenda, as they acquire ZERO wealth from their efforts and little recognition (Rima assured me that this is so). They simply seek to bring the truth that they have been shown to those who have been blinded by advertising, huge corporations and pharmaceutical companies who reap in billions of dollars from our suffering and demise, government agencies, and the mainstream media. They seek to end the suffering that mankind inflicts on itself and on any species that it encounters, as activists can uniquely see how we cause these problems and how they are all interconnected.
The time for change is now. See the bigger picture and protect your dreams for your future. Find out how you can be involved in ways that suit you. If it’s not protesting in the streets, maybe it is writing articles for journals or disseminating information across different mediums, or simply living your life in a way that inspires others and is in line with your ethics and morals. There is a huge community of vegans and advocates online on places life Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or tumblr that are happy to connect and share information and support you. The bottom line is that there is always a way that you can get involved in a safe manner, as the world needs activists now more direly than ever. In solidarity!
Rima can be reached at rimadanielle@gmail.com and is more than happy to connect with anyone interested on finding out more information about making the compassionate switch to a vegan diet and lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter at @rima_danielle!
