Posts Tagged ‘Mark Allen’

Episode 209: Holistic Activism – Connecting with others in a Spiritual (or Non-Spiritual) Way

Posted: July 4, 2018 in Uncategorized
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HA Picture

You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (64mins, 49MB).

We’re joined by Mark Allen who discusses his holistic approach to activism that he has developed through being active in a range of social movements for many years.

According to his zine on holistic activism, this approach provides ‘some ideas about how we can reduce conflict among activists, create campaigns that are long lasting, reach out and connect with people who have different values to that of our own and work towards a meaningful shift in paradigm.’

You can contact Mark at themindfulactivist@gmail.com and join the Facebook group ‘Holistic Activism and Behaviour Change’ to learn more and contribute to discussions on the topic.

Cognitive Dissonance

Mark will be running a workshop on holistic activism at the Students of Sustainability conference in Melbourne on Saturday the 7th of July at midday. The conference runs from the 6th – 12th of July and will also feature the workshop ‘Achieving environmental liberation through animal liberation’ that Nick will be co-running with Adam Cardilini on Sunday the 8th of July, from 3.30-5pm.

Other updates/events covered on the show are: Trivia for the Animals, a winter update from the Bird and Exotic Animal Clinic and the EAGxAustralia 2018 effective altruism conference in Melbourne (we covered the idea of effective altruism on episodes 142 and 143).

This episode is replayed from Freedom of Species, an animal advocacy show on 3CR community radio, which Nick now regularly hosts. This show is broadcast live on 855AM in Melbourne 1-2pm every Sunday and if you’re outside of Melbourne you can listen in live 1-2 Melbourne time/AEST on 3cr.org.au – the show is also on iTunes. You can listen to all of the episodes that Nick has been on here.

If you like what you hear, please support the show!

Clips:

The Tuts ‘Let Go of the Past’, Shock Octopus ‘Fantasia’, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin ‘Grey Cell Green’, Frank Turner ‘Common Ground’.

Episode 175: I’m Super, Thanks for Asking (About the Hidden Impacts of Ethical Super)

Posted: June 30, 2017 in Uncategorized
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Image from youthlobby.org

You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (43mins, 34MB).

Nick is joined by environmental activist Mark Allen to discuss ethical Superannuation funds such as Cruelty Free Super. While these ethical Super funds are generally significantly better than “standard” Super funds and are worth switching to, we need to look critically into where they invest their money. For example, often there is just “one degree of separation”: while ethical Super funds don’t directly invest in fossil fuels (or animal exploitation as well in the case of Cruelty Free Super), they invest in companies who promote urban sprawl, which leads to harm to the environment and animals.

We also discuss the importance of divesting from unethical companies but the need to do more than just divest. Activists encouraging people to divest need to also push people to do more. On this topic, Sam Graham-Felsen’s article on encouraging supporters to ‘up the level of engagement’ is quite relevant – we discussed this on episode 118.

If you like what you hear, please support the show!

Clips:

Ouch My Face ‘Eaten by buildings’, Marianne Faithfull ‘Green Fields (Last Song)’.

Episode 173: Grenfell Fire and Papering Over Poverty*

Posted: June 21, 2017 in Uncategorized
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Photo: Wasi Daniju

You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (69mins, 56MB).

Nick is joined by Mark Allen to discuss the Grenfell Tower fire. We discuss the benefits of “red tape” and the dangers of poor quality high-rise buildings, including in Australia. Mark also covered this issue of poor quality high-rise on our show back on episode 127.

There is also a return of the segment ‘Angela Davis ALWAYS Makes Sense’, this time on capitalism, activism and creating new arenas of struggle.

We discuss the fire as a powerful example of the devastating impact of economic inequality, drawing on the following academic articles: ‘World-Economic Trends in the Distribution of Income, 1965-1992’; ‘Inequality: Causes and consequences’; and ‘Income Inequality and Social Dysfunction’.

We also cover the success of Jeremy Corbyn’s grassroots campaign, despite very negative mainstream media coverage.

We finish the episode by covering the Finsbury Park terrorist attack and using social media to challenge the selective labelling of terrorism. For more on the selective labelling of terrorism, check out Nick’s article ‘Malcolm Turnbull Benches Team Australia, But Will The Narrative On Terrorism Change?’ and our 112th episode.

A reminder to come along to the Institute for Critical Animal Studies (Oceania) conference in Melbourne from the 14th-16th July! Registration is now open.

If you like what you hear, please support the show!

Clips:

Musician Akala: People died in London fire ‘because they were poor’, Chumbawamba ‘Ugh! Your Ugly Houses!’, Jonathan Pie ‘Papering over Poverty’, Angela Davis – interview 1972 – talking about revolution, Lowkey – ‘This is Criminal’, The Jam ‘The planner’s dream went wrong’.

*The episode title is from the Jonathan Pie video ‘Papering over Poverty’, which is featured on the episode.

Episode 172: Rescuing Worms and Feeding Foxes – Animal Rights versus Conservation

Posted: May 30, 2017 in Uncategorized
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You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (65mins, 53MB).

Nick is joined by environmental activist Mark Allen from the 3CR radio show City Limits. We discuss some tensions between animal rights, which values individual animals, and conservation, which values ecosystems and environments as a whole. More specifically, we discuss whether possums should be released from captivity into the wild if they almost certainly won’t survive; Oscar Horta’s hypothetical ‘The fox, the rabbit and the vegan food rations’; and Sydney Fox Rescue. There is also a return of the segment ‘When Karl Pilkington Makes Sense’ – this time on interfering in nature to help individual animals.

The episode also features Nick’s talk ‘Cowspiracies about Meat Eating Environmentalists, A Critical Examination of the Environmental Vegan Movement’. You can view the PowerPoint for this talk here and it is also embedded below. This talk was recorded at the most recent Institute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS) conference – you can find links to all of the talks from this conference in the show notes of episode 152.

Also covered throughout the episode is: the importance of taking the climate emergency seriously; you know things are bad when the Doomsday Vault is being compromised by climate change; and Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich – covered on Cracked podcast and by The New Yorker.

We finish the episode by touching on the importance of the animal advocacy movement acknowledging and addressing the ongoing discrimination people face.

A common message in the animal advocacy movement – ignoring the fact that people continue to face racism, sexism and homophobia!

Book Recommendation:

Impact of Meat Consumption on Health and Environmental Sustainability edited by Talia Raphaely and Dora Marinova. Nick has a chapter in this book called ‘Environmental Concerns and the Mainstreaming of Veganism’. For more information about the book and some photos from the launch, see here.

Nick at the launch of this book.

If you like what you hear, please support the show!

Clips:

Shock Octopus ‘Safe Room’; Ricky Gervais podcast; Ricky Gervais, Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington Bonus Podcast; Nick’s talk ‘Cowspiracies about Meat Eating Environmentalists, A Critical Examination of the Environmental Vegan Movement’; Petrol Girls ‘Harpy’.

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