Multi-part Series of Courage and Compassion on the Street, Part 12: Taking a Stand – The 9th World Day for the End of Speciesism

“We are here today protesting and raising awareness about speciesism, which is the belief that some species are better than others. Many, many, many years ago we believed that slavery was okay. Many years ago, we believed that some races were better than others. And more recently we believed that some genders are better than others. And we know now that this is not true. We also seem to think that it’s okay to love some animals and eat others. So we are just trying to let people know that all animals are worthy of love, not just the animals that we consider companions, but all animals, animals on farms, animals in factory farms.”

People deserve to be told the truth about animal people and how much they are suffering due to systematic, human-imposed cruelty. Society has largely neglected to educate us about this, hence WoDES raises these topics in a very straightforward manner. In France, PETA activists staged a visual demonstration to wake up people’s minds to the double standards of speciesism.

“Really keep that in mind about how you are adding to animal abuse every time you consume any animal products, and also get involved. It’s great to be vegan, but the animals need your voice. They need as many voices as they can get. And by sitting at home doing nothing, it’s just a great injustice towards them. I mean, you need to get involved. Do simple things. I mean, you can wear a shirt, an animal rights shirt. You can do petitions. Just do something. Get involved.”

It is also especially important for leaders of the world to wake up to the tragedy of speciesism, and to encourage people to be vegan. Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has urged leaders to take positive vegan action. “All the leaders should be vegan and stop all the animal slaughtering. Then they have more merit. They live longer. Their country will be more peaceful and prosperous. Because the leader is very important for the whole nation. So the leader should be absolutely tip-top in moral standard, compassion, loving, kindness.”