Back in the middle of April, as part of the organization’s Earth Day campaign, PETA approached Lebanese Environment Minister Antoine Karam earnestly urging him to “lead Lebanon and the world in the charge against climate change and environmental destruction by going vegetarian and advocating a vegetarian diet, “as reported by Al-Arabiya. The article is short and vague, probably reflecting the lack of potential substantial consideration of the request. But, I still wanted clarity around motivations. Why would PETA decide to target Lebanon? Why make such a ludicrous request? What did they have to gain? Was this all a part of their trademark shock-and-awe publicity stunts?
Although this is an older news story on Al-Arabiya, it still needs recognition. So what is the news three months down the line? KETA’s involvement in the whole affair. As a committed member, I thought I would be the one to extend the perfectly veggie olive branch by opening lines of communication between the Arab world (because I represent ALL of the Arab world, and “the Arab” is a world) and PETA.
After reading the story in Al-Arabiya, I contacted PETA via email. To the organization’s credit, they sent me a prompt reply and within a day, I received a phone call from someone at headquarters who helped to connect with me the woman quoted in the correspondence between PETA and Karam, Ashley Fruno. Below are the questions I posed, and following that are her responses. I can offer a whole host of post-colonial, neo-colonial liberal institutionalist, white studies analyses on this, but instead I will just copy and paste the correspondence between Ms. Fruno and I. The reader can decide which side made the stronger or more compelling argument:
1. What precipitated the appeal by PETA to minister Antoine Karam to,
“lead Lebanon and the world in the charge against climate change and
environmental destruction by going vegetarian and advocating a
vegetarian diet”? Why Lebanon?2. By that statement, did PETA mean lead the world or Arab world?
3. What was PETA’s reaction to Karam’s statement?:
“They (PETA) probably won’t like what I think,” he told AFP. “If I
turn vegetarian, will I be helping animals?”“There are other, more important steps,” he added. “We have to look at
the whole picture.”4. What was PETA’s exact request? That Minister change his diet to
lead the green movement in Lebanon and the world? Or was there a more
specific or broad request?5. Did Ashley Fruno make the request? What was her role in the correspondence?
In a follow-up email I also asked what Ms. Fruno her thoughts on the readers’ comments to the article published by Al Arabiya:
My name is Ashley and I’m a senior campaigner for the Asia-Pacific affiliate of PETA. Amy passed on your email to me, as she thought I would be the best person to respond to your questions. First of all, I have attached our letter to Lebanon’s Minister of Environment Antoine Karam as well as our news release on the issue. By sending this letter (we made similar requests to ministers around the Asia-Pacific region in honor of “Meat’s Not Green” week, which you’ll find more details about in the attached release), we hoped that Minister Karam will lead the world (the whole world) in switching to a vegetarian diet and advocating the same—as that’s the easiest, and most effective, way to fight against climate change. We suspect that Minister Karam, and many others, were unaware of the devastating affects animal agriculture has on the environment—including that a recent UN report determined that raising animals for food generates almost 40 per cent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined. For more information on this topic, you might like to visit: http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp.
We also hoped that Minister Karam would examine the extreme suffering that goes into every kebab or shawarma. The farm industry’s primary interest is making money, so animals are denied their basic rights in order to increase the profit. Animals are crammed into tiny, uncomfortable cages—a chicken’s average living space is the size of a sheet of paper. Castration without painkillers, searing off chicken’s beaks, and deprivation of food and water are routine. The animals’ only relief from this miserable life is when it is time for slaughter. Unfortunately, their deaths are far from painless. Animals, improperly stunned, are often hung upside down, skinned, scalded in boiling water, and dismembered while fully conscious. I think if Minister Karam took a look at the facts, he would see that going vegetarian is the easiest way to help animals—in fact, every person going vegetarian saves over 95 animals a year.
In response to the comments about our tactics, our purpose is to stop animal suffering, and we use all available opportunities to reach millions of people with powerful messages. We have found that people do pay more attention to our racier actions, and we consider the public’s attention to be extremely important. Sometimes this requires tactics—like naked marches and colorful ad campaigns—that some people find outrageous or even “rude,” but part of our job is to shake people up and even shock them in order to initiate discussion, debate, questioning of the status quo, and of course, action. The current situation is critical for billions of animals, and our goal is to make the public think about the issues. Although some consider our projects to be controversial, many express support for these tactics.
While the goal of an entirely vegan society may seem unattainable, it doesn’t change the facts that billions of animals are killed in cruel ways and that every person who becomes vegan helps to spare animals from untold suffering. When—or even whether—we achieve our goal doesn’t make our efforts any less necessary.
I later asked her a follow-up question about her thoughts on Zabiha slaughter. Here is her response:
PETA fights to help all animals who are slaughtered for their flesh, and while we are aware of halal slaughter, we do not particularly differentiate between killing methods in our vegetarian campaign. So long as slaughter continues, however, more humane slaughtering methods should be used, such as the proper use of the captive-bolt pistol and electrical stunning devices, which render animals unconscious before they are killed.
The dietary laws of Islam require that animals be “healthy and moving” at the time their throats are cut, however. When these laws were passed thousands of years ago, they were intended to minimize pain to animals and were probably more humane than any alternative; however, with today’s high-speed mass-production and sanitation laws, ritual slaughter often becomes a mockery of its original intent.
Modern health laws in many countries stipulate that a butchered animal cannot fall in the blood of another animal, therefore, animals are slaughtered on a conveyer belt in mid-air. A fully conscious animal is absolutely and understandably terrified when a chain is shackled to his or her leg and s/he is hoisted into the air upside down. Animals thrash wildly in panic and in excruciating pain, since their legs often break under their own weight and/or are pulled out of their sockets.
And finally, here is what the fistoe gallery on the K-fest listserv had to say about PETA’s publicized international outreach:
PETA is a bunch of fucken wankers. Who the fuck are they to think they have the right to protest dietery habits of civilizations that managed to live sustainably off of their land’s resources for several milenia? How is that different than orientalism? They should keep their campaign trained on KFC and McDonalds and the indestrialized consumption of animals, or I will stick my foot up their asses.
Related posts:
- Where is PETA When You Need Them?
- Message from a Beiruti
- A Message from Beirut
- Don’t Mess With Arabiyyat
- Message from Saida (Sidon)
Ok, so she never even bothered to answer your main question,"Why Lebanon?"
This is on top of the fact that the Lebanese diet is incredibly vegatarian, tabouli, hummus, lebne, etc.
Also they could have gotten a less ignorant person to cut and paste a response to your question:
When these laws were passed thousands of years ago (in reference to current Islamic law, which didn't really even come into effect until well after Mohamad died.)
Posted by Arayus | July 22, 2009, 10:40 pmI absolutely despise PETA. They exploit to fight exploitation (see: sexual exploitation).
Posted by SanaKF | July 23, 2009, 2:13 amWhat, you mean you don't share PETA's opinion that a Muslim family slaughtering a lamb in accordance with Zahiba is more offensive than KFC's campaign of raising a steroid-infused, beakless Jaish al-Frareej* for profit?
* Did I say that right? I'm still learning
Posted by Nth Republic | July 23, 2009, 12:01 amYes, you said it well, and in a cool, creative way… though the other word is spelled Zabiha/thabiha…
Posted by Fayyad | July 23, 2009, 11:21 pmWell, one for two ain't bad
Posted by Nth Republic | July 24, 2009, 5:27 amI think we all need to stop being so defensive here. Yes, PETA sucks. They are exploitative and just down-right ridiculous. But can we also step back and acknowledge that yes, "today’s high-speed mass-production and sanitation laws, ritual slaughter often becomes a mockery of its original intent." Much of 'Zabiha' food today is an absolute travesty and when you look at the regulations you can see that the food is not actually zabiha. If it were, animals would be raised and slaughtered with dignity in compliance with Divine Law and the Spirit behind the law.
So yes, McDonalds and KFC is pretty terrible but we need to acknowledge the problems in our own societies as well (which btw all include McDonalds and KFC now). There are plenty of small, farms in the Middle East that actually raise animals organically and with respect and dignity. This is not a concept invented by some yuppies in NY but is actually how societies in the Middle East were run for milenia. Can we have a constructive dialogue about that please? I think that there is a lot that needs to be protested about the way our animals are raised and slaughtered. The answers to these problem do not come from any neo-colonialists or orientalists or whatever but from the actual traditions within our own societies and the will of our own people.
Posted by Nouf | July 23, 2009, 7:01 pmGreat points Nouf. Of course, I am not promoting an uncritical, victimization of our people and practices. Perhaps more abhorrent, are those who employ such titles as "Zabiha meat" to deflect critical investigations. On the contrary, I think it is incumbent for people like you to speak up against such practices, through "constructive dialogue" and critical engagement with the practioners that make a mockery out of the Islamic tradition of ethical treatment of animals (and beyond that-extra haram times 2, mislead consumers into believing that they are adhering to the ethical treatment of animals). I am no advocate of blind support and am certainly not trying to throw out "neo-colonial" and "orientalist" accusations unfounded. No one is above criticism. I just become easily perturbed when groups like PETA, who have a minute, "cut and paste" wiki page understanding of our culture, come in with their high horses and command us to submit to a higher ethical code.
Posted by maytha | July 24, 2009, 4:18 pmNot a PETA fan, but on the other hand, do any of us really think that McDonald's in the Arab world (or other restaurants, whatev) follow humane, halal slaughtering practices?
Posted by JillianKF | July 23, 2009, 7:44 pmExcellent article on Z(th)abiha: http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/2125/
Posted by SanaKF | July 23, 2009, 11:45 pmI, for one, agree with Ashley and am generally in support of PETA's goals, though I think its tactics are not always effective. I too am utterly disgusted by flesh-eating practices and see little difference between eating cows or dogs. Cows too can be pets one day (as when they are on a nice ranch in, say, Texas) and food the next. If anything, every study shows how bad copious consumption of flesh is to humans – it has been implicated in a large number of cancers, heart disease and even old age mental degeneration. While exercise can help prevent obesity, it alone is not enough and the world is full of really really fat icky people, and last I heard the middle east is part of the world with its own share of obesity-related problems.
personally, I've always considered there to be a connection – on some deep level – between the willingness to make an innocent animal suffer for our enjoyment (of food, of sport) and the violent nature of humans that makes them also often indifferent to the suffering of other humans who may not be part of their special group/tribe/clan. The common thread is that we educate our young to be selectively indifferent. This is no different than the way carnivore animals raise their young – to relish the tearing apart of their prey on the one hand and respect order – and show affection – within their own group on the other.
My preferred tactics is however education. I miss no opportunity to share my sense of disgust with flesh consumption with young children I meet, as well as my own progeny (who consume no meat and partake most rarely of chicken). In mixed company, I always have a tid bit to tell about how meat eating shortens lives and results in medical problems likely to rob many of health in their middle ages and beyond – hinting of course about the risk to the children of being prematurely deprived of their full functioning parents. it could be a recent study or an anecdote or a story. In case you think I'm a drag, trust me – my stories are plenty colorful. And am proud to say that I am single handedly responsible for quite a few alterations of diet habits – after all – I have people's conscience – and their children's concern – on my side and that's who I am addressing.
Back to lebanon – why should PETA or any organization exclude them? arabs are part of the human family and should be just as concerned as anyone else about global warming and prevention of needless cruelty to animals. Though I should add that calling for instant vegetarianism is hardly practical – and not just in the middle east. people defend their eating habits most vocferousely. A better goal should be limiting meat eating to once a month and poultry of any kind to twice a week. It is seemingly also a preachable goal as I have not yet been excluded from all human parties – run out of town so to speak. In fact, I can barely accommodate the many invitations I have for dinners by some eager to showcase their vegetarian culinary skills. partial and steady reduction of meat intake is a sustainable goal less likely to result in the kind of derision we see here – and that I saw in responses to a Guardian article last month (if you want a link you'll have to ask, so there).
Perhaps though it isn't PETA that should be in the forefront. Neither would realistic goal setting get me to stop commenting on flesh-eating carnivorous habits of the human race – and how that's what's behind our endless capacity for cruelty towards each other. Too much fun to see the reaction – it's especially fun to see how this one issue unites implacable enemies.
PS you'll all be glad to hear that I'm not rushing to lecture palestinians in gaza about this little issue. They do indeed have bigger – and more immediate – problems to deal with. But you'll be glad to know that I miss no chance to advocate against what's kosher and what isn't to my coterie of israeli/jewish friends.
Posted by carmelin | July 26, 2009, 4:30 pmI think the more effective way for PETA to curb CO2 emissions, obesity, diabetes, plain gluttony as well as cruelty to animals would be to direct this campaign to the US. Some of us eat red meat every day, even in the form of a kebab or shawarma. Most middle-class families in the US can afford to eat this way every day, but most middle-class families in kabob and shawarma-consuming countries cannot.
I think PETA is just basing their campaigns on how people in other nations eat on special occasions, or when they're pulling out all the stops for guests.
The way I see it, the US would do a lot for the world by simply cutting down on meat consumption and exploring other options. Aren't we Americans totally into falafel?
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