As part of their campaign to make “the walls of slaughter houses transparent,” a guerrila animal rights group in Israel recently scattered the heads of decapitated animals in public places throughout Tel Aviv and surrounding neighborhoods.
Last week police arrested ten 269life activists in connection with these rather visual public protests, which included dyeing the water of fountains red to resemble blood. Today 300 animal rights activists descended on Tel Aviv in a show of solidarity eclipsed only by the tent social protest movement.
A founding member of 269life, 27 year old Sasha Bojoor issued the following statement upon his arrest last week:
Got arrested today, along with 9 more activists. For suspicion of doing illegal 269life activities. Seemed like a whole police station, was dealing with only us. They been raiding and ransacking activists houses since about 6am today.Considering how much money and man power they are wasting to try and silence us, i think its safe to say. We’re hitting some sort of nerve…
The Yarkon police district carried out a “covert investigation,” according to Ha’aretz, and discovered 269 life materials at the activists’ homes upon raiding them.
Ranging in ages from 25 to 65, according to the paper, and from various parts of the country, none of the activists have a prior criminal record.
Albeit very active in Israel, which has a growing and vocal vegan movement, 269life was founded to draw attention to the plight of animals raised and slaughtered for human consumption.
269 is the number given to a white calf, who will be slaughtered this year.
The group has garnered international momentum in recent months with supporters from all reaches of the planet either branding or tattooing the number 269 on different body parts – sometimes in public.
In so doing, the activists hope to create a personal and visual connection with animals that are treated cruelly in large feed lots that are typically shielded from public view.
But many people claim that the group’s rather aggressive tactics alienate would-be sympathizers. Bojoor addresses just this question in an interview with Negotiation is Over:
I can surely understand where they are coming from. In my early days of activism, I held such views myself. The thing is with time I saw how deeply entrenched speciesism is in our culture and how absolutely essential it is to forcefully engage people on a more complex and visceral level. Instead of just presenting them with facts and figures. Often it is much more effective to use more forceful tactics.
Let us know what you think: are 269life’s tactics effective at engaging the public to pay closer attention to animal cruelty wrought by the burgeoning food industry?
All images via 269life Facebook page
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
“To be a vegetarian is to disagree – to disagree with the course of things today… starvation, cruelty – we must make a statement against these things. Vegetarianism is my statement. And I think it’s a strong one.”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer
Hitler was a vegetarian.
“Hitler’s food taster speaks of Führer’s vegetarian diet
A woman who served as Adolf Hitler’s food taster has claimed that the Führer was a dedicated vegetarian.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9859294/Hitlers-food-taster-speaks-of-Fuhrers-vegetarian-diet.html
O dear dear dear. The mischief-making – and apparently hostile to vegans and vegetarians – DT raises its head with this hoary old anecdote again, taking part in Hitler’s self-aggrandising label of being a vegetarian. Presumably his ex-taster wants to preserve this image of him. Firstly, I recommend you read Michael Bluejay’s article in Vegetarian Guide – website michaelbluejay.com/veg/hitler.html. There are plenty of fine sources to trawl there. Secondly, don’t believe all you read in some papers. Thirdly, being a vegan/vegetarian does not necessarily mean you become an angel. Doctors take the Hippocratic oath – “First do no harm” – yet some have performed some cruel deeds in the name of ‘medicine’ or ‘research’.
While I think that 269life’s protest tactics are probably offensive to the average person, I do think that they trigger discussions (like this one) that might be more productive in convincing people of the benefits of a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.
269life are just wonderful, in a country who seem to like picking on people who are different and who show them up (witness the treatment many holocaust survivors got after the war – terrible, a disgrace) and in a country where people who are apparently indifferent to suffering not only at a distance but also on their doorstep – the suffering of animals. 269life HAVE to do what they are doing as previously animal welfarists/rights people have been all but ignored. All over the world more and more people are speaking up loudly against animal suffering. Why not Israel? Do Israelis really want themselves proclaimed as merciless and without compassion? Is all that intense study of their religion a mere excuse to bury their heads from the unpalatable truth, that they themselves cause so much animal suffering by choosing to eat meat? The so-called religious hide behind words. Many go through all kinds of antics and deprivations to show how different they are, but they are the same as any pagan anywhere, killing and eating meat. Animals are sentient beings, and it behoves all of us to recognise what suffering we cause, and not turn our heads away or making demonstrators the butt of nasty put-down sneers. Turn those comments onto your greedy indisciplined selfish selves, ridiculous and horrid meat-eaters. 269life are just amazing in their purity and dedication, and Israel should be proud of them. Proud. I sure am. If I were in Israel I would join them. Let’s see more publicity for 269life. They may go to extremes, but animals suffer extremes of suffering, as you all well know, so don’t stop up your ears or close your eyes. There is no excuse for the suffering meat-eaters cause, especially in a clever and well organised country like Israel.
I want to note, and not comment on what you said, that there are a large number of Orthodox religious Jews who are vegans and vegetarians. Not all religious people are meat eaters, so you are broadly generalizing, not only about Israelis but religious people in general.
Thank you Karin Kloosterman for your gentle rebuke, and yes I am generalising – because of my perception of the hostility apparently shown to the 269life demonstrators, which is maybe why they have to be so dramatic when they do demonstrate, and for lack of exact figures. Of course not all religious people – anywhere in the world – are meat-eaters. I do not know the precise percentage world/religious figures, and would have to check their validity if I did, so must generalise. Russell Eaton’s article in submityourarticle.com says Israel ” . . . at 8.5%, has the world’s second largest percent of vegetarians, according to the Israeli Ministry of Health, which equates to a remarkable 595,000 people in such a small country. India holds more vegetarians than the rest of the world combined . . .” The UK figure has varied between 3%-6%, and the Continent of Europe varies between something like 0.9%-2%. Supposedly Christian countries. I would reckon that meat-eaters are pretty ‘general’ on those percentages. Someone might care, one day, to break those percentages down into religious and non-religious.
Right on 269life! I’m a veggie for 40+ years and both my body and my conscience are in good health.