Image from Ron Paul Delegates.

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We begin this episode by discussing same-sex marriage in Aotearoa (New Zealand), drawing on the article ‘NZ’s Same-Sex Marriage Go-ahead Puts Our Leaders to Shame’ by Steve Dow. We then play our interview with Dani Wright on the way in which even same-sex marriage excludes some people eg intersex people, as well as covering other queer issues beyond same-sex marriage, including homelessness amongst queer youth and trans issues. Dani Wright is Co-ordinator of the Freedom Centre, WA State Director of the National LGBTI Health Alliance and Board Vice-Chair of WA Gay & Lesbian Community Services. We finish the episode by arguing for marriage abolition, drawing on Katie’s article ‘Why I Will Have a Wedding But Not a Marriage’ on Ethical Bride and also the article ‘Why Is There A Law On Marriage?’ by Elle Hardy. Other topics covered include: Offbeat Bride, bisexuality, vegan anti-war Anzac cookies, child soldiers in the UK, neoliberalism in Australia, and an article on vegan cats in the Fremantle Herald (pages 6-7) which features an interview with Nathan Verney on his vegan cat Luna – we interviewed Nathan on this topic on Episode 26.

Book Recommendation:

Getting Bi – Voices of Bisexuals Around the World by Robyn Ochs and Sarah E Rowley.

Clips:

NZ Parliament Bursts into Maori Song, Maurice Williamson ‘Rainbow Across My Electorate’, Sweeney Todd ‘Ladies and their Sensitivities’, Nick Pendergrast interviews Dani Wright on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM (22nd April 2013 episode), Foeknawledge ‘Knowledge is Key’, Austin Powers, Bill Hicks ‘Hooligans’, That Mitchell and Webb Sound – Series 3 ‘Friends of Maid Marion’, GoldfingerWalk Away’, Doug StanhopeOn…Marriage, Gay and Otherwise’, Scrubs ‘Season 3’, Against Me! ‘Baby, I’m an Anarchist!’.

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We’re back and once again we take aim at a nationalistic celebration – this time we set our sights on Anzac Day – a day where Australians celebrate soldiers running into machine gun fire for the sake of Western imperialism. To help us move beyond the simplistic slogans we hear around Anzac Day, Ederm Koc joins us. He is a journalist and journalism lecturer at La Trobe Uni, as well as editor of Upstart Magazine. We encourage people to read his great article on Anzac Day, ‘Anzac Debate Marches Down Wrong Track’. We also discuss conservative politician Steve Irons’ pamphlet on Anzac Day, Ruby Murray’s article ‘The false nationalism of Anzac Day and football’, Indigenous Australians being excluded in discussions about war, militarism and sport, neoliberalism and “corporate wars”, anti-war activism, the documentary The Weather Underground, and 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Military.

We also cover minimalism and sustainability, good news for abortion rights in France, Derren Brown’s psychology, the death of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chumbawamba’s CD, as well as comments from Billy Bragg and Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson on Thatcher’s death.

Book Recommendations

1984 by George Orwell and An Ordinary Persons Guide to Empire by Arundhati Roy.

Clips

Gallipoli, Propagandhi ‘Bullshit Politicians’, South Park movie, Blackadder ‘Series 4’, Bill Hicks ‘Polls‘, Bill Hicks ‘Gays in the Military’, Nick Pendergrast interviews Erdem Koc on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM (1st April 2013 episode), Propagandhi ‘Dear Coaches Corner’, CNNNN, Rap News ’Big Brother is WWWatching You’, Austin PowersVegan SmythePreachy Vegan Dogs’, Scrubs ‘Series 5, Episode 16’, Billy Bragg on Margaret Thatcher – on Democracy Now!, Warsaw Pact ‘We Conquer’, Rise Against ‘State of the Union’, Naomi WolfFake Activism’, System of a Down ‘B.Y.O.B.’.

Our rescued, vegan dog Charlie – at about 12 years old! (with his friend…his faithful friend)

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This episode is in two parts, in part 1 we are joined by Dr Andrew Knight, DipECAWBM (WSEL), PhD, MRCVS, FOCAE, who is a European Veterinary Specialist in Welfare Science, Ethics and Law and Fellow, Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. In our interview with him, he discusses vegan diets for cats and dogs, as well as some tips for making sure our companion animals are happy and healthy. There is lots of great information about vegan cats and dogs at his website vegepets.info. You can also hear Nick interviewing Andrew Knight about the scientific and ethical issues surrounding animal experimentation and his new book ‘The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments’ here and you can also read Andrew Knight’s vegan fitness profile here. We also discuss Alana Stevenson’s alternative approach to dog training and her book Training Your Dog the Humane Way. Other issues covered on part 1 are some more of our second-hand finds, the environmental reasons to feed your companion animal vegan food (drawing on Nick’s comments on the article ‘What About Your Carbon Pawprint?’), the animal rights reasons for feeding your companion animal vegan food (drawing on Nick’s comments on the article ‘Vegan Pet Food Triggers Meaty Debate’), Nick’s interview on 6PR on the horse meat scandal, and Nick’s vegan fitness profile.

We open part 2 with an interview with Craig Dearth who gives practical advice on how he keeps his rescued, vegan dogs healthy. The interview with Craig was at the vegan café and shop PAWS. Craig is President of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and you can hear another interview with him on Go Vegan Radio here. We also discuss Nick’s article ‘Raising Happy, Healthy Vegan Dogs’, the free E-book Vegan Dogs, a list of 100 vegan dogs from the website The Vegan Truth, and Marcus and Ruth from The Species Barrier podcast articles on vegan dogs and vegan cats. We also have an interview with Clare Middlemas and Nathan Verney on their rescued, vegan cat Luna and how they keep her happy and healthy – see pages 6-7 of the Fremantle Herald for an article which features Nathan and Luna. Clare and Nathan are refugee advocates with the Refugee Rights Action Network WA and you can hear us interview them about refugees on our 8th episode. They recommend the book on vegan cats: Obligate Carnivore.

In part 2, beyond companion animals, we also cover: comedian John Robertson’s rant on the conservative party winning the election in Western Australia, the video Tony Abbott Grand Slam, David Graeber on Occupy and Anarchism, Bob Geldof on the Occupy movement, whatthefuckhasoccupydone.com, Nick’s interview with Nicole Styles on IWD and gender inequality today – 4th March 2013 episode of RTR 92.1FM Indymedia, Reproductive Choice Australia’s flash mob in Adelaide and pledge against abortion shaming, reconciling atheism and veganism with your cultural identity, Living Vegan magazine, the rise of veganism amongst African Americans – see here and here, the impact of train lines on non-human animals and ways to reduce these impacts, and Roger Yates’s website on animal rights.

Book Recommendation (from part 2 – thanks to Marcus from The Species Barrier podcast for this recommendation):

Bramble – The Dog Who Wanted to Live Forever by Anne Heritage.

Clips (part 1):

Quarry Girl ‘The Vegan Soundboard’, Resist and ExistEverylast Life’, The CheckoutThe Rational Consumer’, Flight of the ConchordsSeason 2, Episode 6’, Flight of the ConchordsSeason 1, Episode 2’, The IT CrowdSeries 3, Episode 1’, The Office (UK) ‘Series 1, Episode 5’, Sweeney ToddMy Friends’, The CheckoutComplaint Letter: Purina Cat Food’, Nick Pendergrast interviewed by Howard Sattler on 6PR – on the issue of humane slaughter, Nick Pendergrast – discussion on horse meat – from the 25th February 2013 episode of RTR 92.1FM Indymedia, Dr Andrew Knight interviewed by Nick Pendergrast on vegan diets for cats and dogs, Wil Wagna ‘Laika’.

Clips (part 2):

Maroon ‘Stillborn’, Nick Pendergrast interviews Craig Dearth on vegan dogs, CNNNNAustin Powers, Craig Dearth on the Occupy movement, Lateline ‘Jones and Geldof Say Business Must Do Good’, George CarlinPro Life is Anti Woman‘, DerekSeason 1, Episode 3’, Peep Show (Series 8, episode 4), Nick Pendergrast interviewing Clare Middlemas and Nathan Verney on vegan cats, Propagandhi ‘Without Love’.

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In this episode we encourage people to get out of their cars and move to alternative forms of transport like walking, cycling and public transport. Ben Rose, convenor of the Sustainable Transport Coalition of Western Australia, joins us to discuss this, the health benefits of getting out of your car, the alternative transport proposals from the various political parties at the upcoming election in Western Australia and an energy calculator to determine the impact of your car travel. On sustainable transport, we also discuss people overestimating public transport time and underestimating car travel time, financial benefits to moving away from car travel, the Critical Transit sustainable transport podcast, the Greens 2029 Bike Plan for Perth, transport and class issues, as well as mentioning that train use has doubled in Perth in the last 8 years – but car sales have also increased in Australia and particularly Western Australia, and Australian cities remain the most car-dependent outside the United States.

We also give some updates on feminism, the topic of our the last two episodes, including criticisms of One Billion Rising, Derrick Jensen’s CD ‘The Other Side of Darkness’ and progressive stand-up comedy from Tien Tran. Beyond sustainable transport and feminism, we play Nick’s talk on Occupy and Animal Rights from the Occupy Perth event Occupy Cottesloe – you can also listen to the package Nick has put together with a range of performances for the day on the 04/03/2013 episode of RTR 92.1FM Indymedia, we discuss Nick’s interview with Anita Creasey on universities running like businesses and how the Australian elections this year will effect students (from the 25/02/2013 episode of RTR 92.1FM Indymedia), Tame Iti (who we discussed on episode 15) has been released from prison…and has gone vegan?, Anti-Flag’s song to benefit Amnesty International, Team Earthling animal rights podcast, The Species Barrier’s episode on growth and the environment, and Katie rants about refugees and points out that asylum seekers living in the community are 46 times less likely to commit crimes than the general population and 24 times less likely than politicians – despite what Liberal party politician Scott Morrison might say.

Clips:

Peep Show (Series 8, episode 5), Holger Dalkmann ‘Sustainable Cities’, Rise Against ‘Collapse Post-Amerika’, Interview with Ben Rose on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM by Nick Pendergrast (18/02/2013 episode), Nick Pendergrast on Occupy and Animal Rights – at Occupy Cottesloe, Scrubs (Season 2, episode 14), The Office (UK) ‘Season 1, Episode 3’, Anti-FlagToast to Freedom’.

*Both this slogan and the above image are from the One Billion Rising website.

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This episode covers the One Billion Rising event, which encourages people to: ‘STRIKE, DANCE, RISE in your community & Demand an end to violence’. To help us discuss this, we are joined by feminist activist Elena Trethowan, who is helping to organise One Billion Rising events. For an event near you, see here and for those in Australia, you can also view the One Billion Rising Australia Facebook page. Before we get onto this event, we discuss some other feminist-related issues, including a feminist-themed ‘What you HAVEN’T learnt from the media this week’, how men also suffer from gender roles, “nice” guys, comedian Jamie Kilstein’s opposition to rape culture in stand-up comedy (see from 1.44.10 onwards of this video) and the tables turning on “slut shamers”.

Other topics beyond feminism that we cover are: Ruth DeSouza’s account of her first Invasion Day, Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott “cashing in” on natural disasters, Chief Theresa Spence from the Idle No More movement ends her hunger strike, John Pilger’s videos, the website Our Vegan Pregnancy, Avenue magazine, and being concerned about ALL forms of oppression rather than being “single-issue”.

Alternative Media:

feministe.us

Clips:

PinkStupid Girls’, DJ Mydnyt ‘Corporate Network (pull the strings)’, That Mitchell and Webb Look (series 3, episode 5 & series 3, episode 2), Rafael CasalBarbie & Ken 101’, The IT Crowd (series 1, episode 3), Austin PowersFlight of the Conchords ‘Too Many Dicks (on the Dance Floor)’, Interview with Elena Trethowan on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM – with Katie, Anti-FlagFeminism is for Everyone (with a beating heart and functioning brain)’ – lyrics here.

Image from The Sociological Cinema.

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In this episode we talk about the recent widespread coverage of victim blaming and rape culture in India and link this back to similar problems in the West. To help us discuss this, we are joined by feminist activist Anita Creasey, who is a member of the Feminist Action Network (though is not speaking on behalf of this organisation in this interview). We also discuss the article ‘Delhi Gang-Rape: Look Westward in Disgust’ by Emma O’Toole, as well as an ignored sexual assault in the U.S. that Anonymous has taken action on, sexual assault in reaction to the Idle No More movement, how racism is bad for the health of people of colour, The One Billion Rising march, tips to prevent sexual assault (focussed on the perpetrators rather than the victims), and rape culture in the West – including in horrible comedy clubs and music. There’s also plenty of rants from Katie about her experiences with sexism.

Clips:

FugaziSuggestion’ – featuring Amy Pickering from Fire Party, Interview with Anita Creasey on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM – with Katie, Bill Hicks ‘Politics in America’, Catherine Deveny – from the 2010 Global Atheist Convention, Flight of the ConchordsSeason 2, Episode 1’, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Flight of the Conchords ‘Season 1, Episode 7’, Peep Show (Series 5, episode 6), Lupe FiascoBitch Bad’.

*This title is taken from the above cartoon (thanks to Fiona Katauskas) and is in reaction to the xenophobic slogan ‘Fuck Off We’re Full’ that is sometimes seen on the back of cars in Australia.

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In this episode we wish everyone a Happy Bogan Day, as we discuss Invasion Day in Australia. We have a great interview with Marianne Mackay, an Indigenous rights activist from the Noongar Tent Embassy, who explains the history of Invasion Day as well as issues affecting Indigenous Australians today. We discuss John Pilger’s documentary ‘The First Australians Fight Back: A Secret Country’, Michael Brull’s article ‘Why I won’t be celebrating Australia Day’, The Northern Territory Intervention/”Stronger Futures”, why nationalism and patriotism are stupid, many groups being left out of “Australian” celebrations, Nick being a pre-teen nationalist and Katie’s Facebook fights about the history of Australia. We also mention some alternative Indigenous events on and around Invasion Day, including Our Last Day of Freedom and Survival Perth 2013 in Perth, The Unsettlement of Australia in Sydney, as well as Indigenous events all around Australia.

Beyond Invasion Day, we cover the article Idle No More for Dummies, the documentary Taking on Tarmageddonthe most recent episode of the Team Earthling podcast – which covers how climate change affects non-human animals and a report on food wastage, the Sistah Vegan Anthology, the Vegans of Color website, The Species Barrier podcast episode on vegan health, and we even have a discussion on woolly mammoths.

Article Recommendations (thanks to Jon):

Racism, foreigner communities and the onto-pathology of white Australian subjectivity’ by Toula Nicolacopoulos and George Vassilacopoulos – from the book Whitening Race.

Thoughts on a politics of whiteness in a (never quite post) colonial country: abolitionism, essentialism and incommensurability’ by Jane Haggis.

Clips:

Aussie Aussie Aussie, John PilgerThe First Australians Fight Back: A Secret Country’, The Broadways ‘Everything I Ever Wanted to Know About Genocide I Learnt in the Third Grade’, The U.S. Office ‘Season 8, Episode 1’, Interview with Marianne Mackay on Perth Indymedia on RTR 92.1FM – with Nick Pendergrast and Alex Whisson, CNNNN ‘The Firth Factor’, Lagwagon from the album ‘Live in a Dive’, Peep Show (series 7, episode 3), Interview with Anti-Flag from their DVD Death of a NationThe Chaser ‘Season 1, Episode 3’ of The Hamster Wheel, Bill Hicks ‘A New Flag (Patriotism)’, Rap News ’Australia, Yeah C**t – Australia’s new National Anthem’.