150 participants filled the large lecture hall in the squatted cultural centre called WUK in the Währingerstrasse, to find out how best to be active for animal rights
The last of the Austrian Animal Liberation Workshops in the 2007 series took place from 17th - 18th November. Venue was the WUK, an area squatted in the mid 1980ies already, and one of the few squatted projects that survived since then. It is today a firmly established political and cultural meeting point in Vienna. Its largest hall was just about large enough to accommodate the 150 participants, who turned up for the workshops, together with information stalls by VGT, Vegan Society and other animal rights organisations. In fact, the crowd was so large, that microphones would have been better for everyone to hear what people had to say in the lectures and debates. It is, however, an encouraging sign that so many people were prepared to sacrifice their precious time to learn about animal rights activism. It is clear: animal rights will be the primary social movement issue in the 21st century.
A group of activists themselves organized the vegan catering for the event – for free for the participants! Some people saw for the first time in what convincing way classic meat dishes can be substituted by vegan versions.
In the introduction to the ALW on the history of the movement, a lively debate started on what might stop people from becoming active. One aspect mentioned often was that, in contrast to most other social movements, participating in the animal rights movement demands a big change in one’s own life: turning vegan.
Till 4 pm, there were workshops on animal rights philosophy, on different kinds of activism and on the current nationwide campaigns like the fur campaign against Kleider Bauer, the campaign to ban rabbit caging and the campaign to ban gridded floors for pigs and sow stalls. Afterwards, about 100 of the participants joined the march for animal rights through the city centre. Surprising to many, at least as many police officers as activists accompanied the demo. Many of the officers were even in full riot gear, obviously meant by Vienna police to make the demo look sinister and dangerous. Kleider Bauer outlets were surrounded by riot police. This is part of an ongoing strategy by the interior ministry to criminalize the movement and cut it off from the sympathy of the public.
After the demo had ended with a rally on Michaelerplatz, everybody went back to the WUK for dinner. Then a workshop on investigations tried to empower people to investigate themselves places of animal abuse, to gather material to use as campaign tools. In the evening, Jill’s film was shown, documenting the life of an activist, who was killed by a live export lorry during a protest on 1st February 1995.
On Sunday, different animal righs organisations like VGT, Vegan Society, Student Animal Rights and the newly founded Austrian Animal Rights Party, presented their work. In a talk, the most important victories of the animal rights movement were presented to prove that every single activist counts and that we do have the power to change things. Then a talk was given on the trial for personhood for a chimp.
After lunch, the concept of arm chair activism was introduced for those people, who have either no time or not the mentality to go out into the streets for campaigning. Then a long discussion on veganism, including health and environmental aspects, was had. Nutritionists could answer all questions concerning the vegan diet. As always, the ALW ended with a talk on rights of protest and how to deal with police.
This event was highly motivating for everyone. The ALW series 2007 in Austria surely will mean an upsurge in activism the animal industries have to face in the oncoming years. Particularly exciting is the fact, that in the movement there is no tedious infighting as is so common in other movements of that kind. This might be one of the most important reasons why the Austrian animal rights movement is so successful.