Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Drip, drip... blotch. The harsh realitites of vivisection

Written by Lisa Bluett

Lisa Bluett wrote this article to accompany my article "If veganism was a religion, I'd be a sinner." She strongly advocates animal rights and here she condemns the practice of vivisection.
Photo: Gabi Falanga

As I look down at the pen in my hand, haunting images cross my mind as the ink spills across the page. As I take notes, I picture a young white rabbit strapped to a table, shivering in fright, her eyes pleading for release. No eyes return her gaze. No ears hear her pleas. Choking on pen ink as it forces its way down her throat, she cannot scream. The gurgling sound of the black ink dies down in the silent room as she drowns.
 “You have to see who that animal is, get to know that animal, not it, but who!” Steve Smit’s voice reaches out to grab me from the horror of what he has come to speak about: vivisection. 
 “What is vivisection again?” the person next to me asks. I simply write, ‘cutting up animals’ in response in my note book. But there is more to it than that. According to the Animal Rights Africa website, vivisection literally means the 'cutting up' of living animals, but has now become more generally used as the term for all experimentation on living animals. On Thursday, 12 May, for animal rights week, Smit, a spokesperson from Animal Rights Africa and a renowned animal rights activist encouraged people to arm themselves with knowledge “…until every cage is free”.
“…Until every cage is free” is the organisation’s slogan. “We don’t want bigger, better cages for animals, we do not want them in cages at all,” said Smit. “We don’t want ethical meat production or ethical research practices and we all know that dairy cows suffer more.” Smit added that in fact it would be better to eat meat because diary cows are prone to getting mastitis and other diseases which cause them to suffer.
[Stop] [Rewind] [Play]
 During the break before the talk began, the snacks arrived. Platters of cheese sandwiches, cheese wrapped in cucumber, cheese on a tooth pick and a few samoosas and spring rolls were to be washed down with Namaqua wine (a wine which uses animal products during the filtering process). Animal rights organisations promote veganism because non-human animal products should not be commodified for human gain. Perhaps we didn’t all know how much suffering went into the making of that platter after all.
With the number of sandwiches outnumbering people, the turn-out was looking dismal. The crowd was made up mostly of ROAR committee members, the organisers. Strange that more people were willing to take their clothes off and parade through the street in the cold during the “Wear your own skin” streak, than were willing to attend a talk on the disfigurement, mutilation and torture of non-human animals as a result of experimentation.
“We know nothing in South Africa,” says Smit as he talks about the legislation and practice of experimentation on animals. Smit also admits that talks on vivisection are not frequent but that vivisection is not a fad topic. It is up to animal rights organisations to encourage people to have a vested interest in fighting testing on animals. After all, the practice is not only stealing the lives of countless non-human animals but humans themselves. There is no conclusive evidence that shows that testing on animals means medication is safe for humans.
Published in Grocott's Mail on 27 May 2011

If veganism was a religion, I’d be a sinner

For the Rhodes Organisation for Animal Rights (ROAR) animal rights week, I became a vegan for the week. When I told a vegan friend of mine what I was doing, she asked sarcastically, “Oh, so is that like becoming Christian for a week?”
Point taken.
Yes, my decision to become vegan for a week seems kind of crazy and very hypocritical. Why would one become vegan for a week for animal rights reasons and then carry on munching them the next? But, before I explain why I did it and what it was like, I’d better explain what being a vegan means.
Veganism is not only related to what one eats, but is a lifestyle philosophy and choice, and is promoted by the vast majority of animal rights organisations (except ROAR from what I can gather). Veganism is different to being a vegetarian, which only excludes meat, in that it means not eating or using any animal or animal by-products. Meat being the obvious exclusion, but cheese, milk, eggs, honey, many alcoholic beverages, leather/fur clothing and any products made by companies which test some of their products on animals. Little did I realise just how much being a vegan would exclude me from eating and using.
My reasons for doing this were so that I could support animal right week without feeling hypocritical about biting into my ham and cheese sandwich at the same time. But more than that, veganism has been something I’ve come across over the past few years through a friend of mine. I’ve always been curious about what veganism is like and I promised myself that I would use the week to make myself more aware of the products that I use and consume and then impart my new-found knowledge and experiences on my readers.
Day one, Monday, 9 May, went surprisingly well, until the end of the day when a function was held for everyone who was involved in the production of SciCue. I walked into a room with platter upon platter of yummy looking finger foods – samoosas, chicken drumsticks, crumbed chicken strips, cheese puffs, caramel cups, chocolate cake, you name it. The only platter I could eat from was the teeny weeny measly veggie platter (which consisted of baby sweet corn, cherry tomatoes and cucumber). Oh, and I had some crackers.
Throughout the week I quickly realised that vegans are an oppressed minority and that very few restaurants and functions cater for them. On Thursday morning, I left with the other fourth year writers to go to the Franschhoek Literary Festival. There weren’t many food options along the way. We went to a nice restaurant for lunch in Knysna and the only item on the entire menu that I could eat was a Greek salad, minus the feta.
For breakfast the next morning, I had brought my own pack of original instant oats and an avo. Lunch had to be done on the go and any vegetarian wraps or sandwiches that I might have wanted had either cheese on them or a cheesy type sauce. I landed up buying slap chips and a salad from the Pick ‘n Pay. This time, I let my friends pick the yummy looking feta out.
Eating vegan food at home was never a problem. I have already almost completely cut meat out of my diet for environmental reasons. Not eating cheese, one of my all time favourites was more difficult. But I soon discovered that one can make delicious, nutritious vegan-friendly meals fairly easily and cheaply. Websites like Vegan SA and PETA have recipe ideas for those days when inspiration is running low.
I broke my veganism on the Friday evening with a hearty, mincey bobotie and plenty of alcohol, in a Franschhoek restaurant. So I guess that if veganism was a religion, then I’d be a sinner.
My greatest breakthrough however, came the week after animal rights week. My research during animal rights week consisted mainly of internet searches. This week I have had time to watch films made by animal rights organisations. Meet your meat consists of 12 minutes of horrific footage: Cows in abattoirs, hanging upside down from one leg, thrashing around with their necks slit open - bleeding, but still alive. Pigs - petrified and packed in on a truck, trampling each other to death. Chickens whose legs have collapsed or broken because they’ve grown so big so quickly, due to all the hormones they are fed, that their legs cannot support their body weight.
As if that wasn’t enough, I watched Earthlings. Divided into five categories of animals used for food, entertainment, science, animal companionship and clothing, Earthlings is an hour-and-a-half worth of heart-breaking, disgusting, shocking and nauseating images of animal cruelty and suffering. I can safely say that I haven’t cried so much in a very, very long time and it has finally pushed me the final step into becoming a proper vegetarian. As Beryl Scott, the national chairperson of “Beauty Without Cruelty” said in an interview with Vegan SA, “I feel that, for some people, the journey towards veganism is a gradual process, but it should ALWAYS be the end goal for everyone who wishes to adopt a cruelty-free lifestyle and especially those who call themselves ‘animal lovers’. Being vegetarian means you are only half way towards being the best person you can be!”
Being a vegan for a week was definitely one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had, and although I know that being vegetarian is not enough, I am hoping to one day be strong enough to adopt a lifestyle which is completely cruelty free to animals.
Here I am, the day after my vegan week, and very relieved to be drinking a hot chocolate!
Photo: Albert Falanga
Published in Grocott's Mail on 27 May 2011

Some Vegan meal ideas:
Breakfast: Oats, Oats so easy, toast with jam, avo, fruit, museli with soy milk
Lunch: Sandwiches (Use margarine, sweet chilli sauce, cucumbers, tomato, pepperdews), salads, pastas.
Supper: Pasta, vegetable curries, vegetable pie, vegetable soups, stuffed butternut, stir-fry
Snacks: Fruit, nuts, raisins, popcorn,
Treats: Jelly tots, chips (check flavouring), dark chocolate, chocolate soya milk
Protein/ meat replacements: Soya mince, protham, lentils, chickpeas, beans

Websites to visit:
http://www.vegansa.com/ (This website has great vegan recipes, using products which are easily available in South Africa and are animal friendly).
http://www.barnivore.com/ (To find out which alcoholic beverages are vegan friendly and which are not)
http://www.peta.org/ (People for the ethical treatment of animals. The website is packed with information about animal abuse and animal rights. It also contains plenty of information about how to lead a cruelty free life – from food choices, to which companies do and don’t test on animals, clothing choices and the keeping pets debate).
http://www.beautywithoutcruelty.com/  and http://www.bwcsa.co.za/ (More about cosmetics, which products have not been tested on animals and where to buy them).
http://animalrightsafrica.org/ (Find out more about animal rights and cruelty free living).

Prof Dan Wylie - Inaugural lecture

Professor Dan Wylie giving his inaugural lecture titled, "Elephants, compassion and the largesse of literature.”

Professor Dan Wylie presented his inaugural lecture, titled “Elephants, compassion and the largesse of literature” on Tuesday, 17 May, in Eden Grove Blue lecture theatre. Wylie, a lecturer in the English department, is fully absorbed in the field of eco-criticism – the study between literature and the physical environment. In 2008 he published the book, Elephant.

In his lecture, Wylie focussed on how literatures represent elephants and how our imagining of these creatures will affect our treatment of them. He started his lecture by questioning why we don’t raise a monument with the death of every elephant, as we do for humans – essentially highlighting the way that humans consider themselves as separate from the ecosystem. Wylie pointed out that literature can be used to cross the division between ‘human’ and ‘animal’ and to create compassion towards them. In this way we can address our dismal looking ecological future.
Wylie ended off by reading his own poem, which is narrated by an elephant.


A 'fan' gets her book signed after the lecture.


Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sports, smiles and singing in the sunshine!

As six pairs of little legs race higgledy-piggeldy towards the finish line, a group of excited mothers sing, dance and hoot with pride and enjoyment. This was the scene at JD Dlepu stadium on Friday, when local pre-schools had their sports day.
There were children everywhere, some donning T-shirts which said “Superkidz” and “Playing is fun” on them. Teachers, mothers and other supporters enjoyed the action from the side of the mini 50m race track. The children competed in age groups. Not only did they take part in normal races, but also ones where they had to run backwards and forwards to collect blocks that had been laid out on the tracks, put them in their bucket and race to the judges table. There was never a dull moment as some youngsters didn’t quite understand the concept of staying in their lanes and proceeded to run diagonally across the other lanes. Others were so eager to participate, that they bolted over the start line before the word “go” was out of the starter’s mouth. This elicited more hoots of laughter from the appreciative crowd.
A highlight was the sack races. “Tsiba, tsiba!” (Jump, jump!), shouted a teacher as one girl tried to figure out how to navigate the track with her legs in a bag. Occasionally a vuvuzela would sound or a mother would stick her arms out and run in circles as her child crossed the finish line.
Everyone had a wonderful day. The weather played its part – sunny, with a slight breeze to cool down the participants. The children had a blast and the teachers and parents enjoyed the chance to socialise and have fun with the children, using the opportunity to de-stress. Nolukhanyiso Kelele, a Shaw Hall Preschool parent said, “They’re having a good day, they’re very proud of themselves. One day they’re going to be sportsmen and sportswomen.”
Published in Grocott's Mail on 24 May 2011

Shuttle services from hell

Being a little bit in the middle of nowhere, Grahamstonians, scholars and Rhodes students, often require a shuttle service to get around – be it to the airport or to a weekend beach getaway. But after almost four years, my estimation of Grahamstown’s shuttle services is decreasing more rapidly than I eat cheese!
In first year, Rhodes’s free transport (which isn’t free anymore) was sufficient to get me to the airport and back for holidays. Then, for a cousin’s wedding, I had to sniff around for another option and found Shuttle Service A. The trip to the airport was pleasant enough. I sat in the front seat of the kombi and the driver told me all about his work with gangs in Cape Town. Being an inquisitive, adventure hungry, community do-gooder, I was fascinated. On the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, the religious indoctrination began. Oh joy! I couldn’t get out of the kombi fast enough when we reached the airport.
My return flight landed in the evening and a different driver was waiting in the arrivals hall for me and two other passengers. He gave me a friendly greeting and introduced me to his wife, who graced me with an icy stare. And so the ride from hell began...
“Wie’t my gef*kken-miss call?”
“Wie de fok het my al heirdie f*kken please call me’s gestuur?”
“Ek ken nie hierdie f*kken nommer nie!”
The foul language poured out of the wife’s mouth like sewerage from a Thai storm water drain during the monsoon. To make matters worse, the driver was talking on his phone in peak PE traffic and paying no attention to the road.
By the time we got out of PE, it was pitch dark and the N2 with all its infamous road works loomed ominously ahead. But not to worry, we had an audiotape to keep us entertained... With dramatic sermons about the Lord’s goodness. He will save our souls!
Well, believers and non-believers alike needed the Lord’s protection that night. The driver drove like a lunatic, frequently straying over the purposefully positioned double solid lines until Bham! The car’s side mirror was hit off by an on-coming car. It took a little while before the driver realised what had happened and then “Wat de f*k!” In a flurry of swear words, screaming brakes and squealing tyres, the driver did a violent U-turn on the dark, dangerous, winding road and started chasing the car we’d hit, which by this time was just two red tail light specks in the distance. The driver floored it and when he eventually realised he wasn’t going to catch the guy, did another extremely dangerous U-turn and we carried on with our trip from hell. This incident didn’t stop him from driving like a hooligan and the Belgian woman sitting next to me, whispered, “Is it usually like this here?” Well yes it is. Since this incident I have heard numerous horrific complaints about this shuttle company.
Needless to say, I have never used Shuttle Service A again. My dad lodged an official complaint against the driver and informed the company that we were boycotting them.
So, the search for a different shuttle service began. I was impressed by Shuttle Service B’s punctuality, commitment to road safety and the convenience of getting picked up on my doorstep. I have been using them since my second year. But alas, all good things come to an end. Due probably to high demand, Shuttle Service B now also offers discounted end- and beginning- -of-term airport shuttle bookings. What one makes up in price, one loses in convenience, as you have to drag your huge suitcase from opposite ends of town to climb onto a big hired bus in front of Union. Now, instead of offering something different, Shuttle B has become the same as Rhodes’s airport transport. For other times of the term, the driver will pick you up and drop you off at home. But the past three times I’ve used Shuttle B, the driver has been distracted - often getting phone calls about bookings and going much faster than he should be. 
So, with my choices dwindling, I decided to try out Shuttle Service C this weekend. The friendly driver picked two of us up in his little car and drove at a relaxed, but reasonable pace to Port Alfred. My only complaint – the missing driver’s window (the car had been broken into during the week), which meant that I had the pleasure of getting closely acquainted with Hurricane Katrina on the back seat. At least it wasn’t raining.
On the way back on Monday afternoon the driver had covered the entire window hole with clear masking tape. The noise was too much. By the time we were 5km’s out of Port Alfred, I had dug my nails so far into my hands that they were almost coming out the other side. So, in Bathurst we asked the driver to please take the tape off the window. So far so good, until the driver got a call about a missing airport passenger. Then he alternated between driving at a snail’s pace and swerving across the road as he concentrated on finding numbers on his phone, waiting for sufficient signal and making phone calls. Luckily this didn’t last too long, but long enough for me to lose complete confidence in the driver’s abilities and have me wishing once again that I had my own car.
All these shuttle service driver’s could probably drive the Grahamstown-PE road with their eyes shut. But, with so many lives in the balance, having a heavenly name or good memory is not going to stop an accident from happening. Rather, a vigilant, responsible, safety-conscious driver is more likely to do this.
Shuttle services are providing a service to the public and part of that service is ensuring that their passengers get to their destination safely. I am aware that many shuttles use their car as an office away from the office, but it is a criminal offence and extremely dangerous to talk on one’s cell phone while driving. What right do passengers have when using a shuttle service? Do I have the right to complain in the car? I would much rather the driver pull off for phone calls and arrive at my destination a  little but late, than not arrive at all. 
Published in Grocott's Mail on 17 May 2011