Image from Ron Paul Delegates.

You can download this episode on MediaFire here (40MB).

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!’.

You can download this episode on MediaFire here (38MB). 

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)

You can listen to part 1 of this episode through Archive.org here (24MB) and part 2 through Media Fire here (32MB).

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’.

You can listen to this episode and/or download it through Archive.org here (37MB).

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’.