At the beginning of the show, Josh Harper, who was recently arrested under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, will share his views on the relevance of anarchism to animal liberation. We’ll learn about the foundations of anarchism and his perspective on what many have called the “extremist” and “terrorist” aspects of the current animal movements. Are direct action and radical politics necessary to open people’s minds or does such agitating close down the conversation?

Then we’ll hear from John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market. On January 25th, the organic foods giant allocated 5% of all sales ($550,000 US) toward establishing the Animal Compassion Foundation. According to the press release, “the Foundation will provide education and research services to assist and inspire ranchers and meat producers around the world to achieve a higher standard of animal welfare excellence while still maintaining economic viability.” Mackey will discuss his company’s unprecedented initiative to better the lives of farm animals. While some activists charge that Mackey’s welfarist proposal to reform animal agriculture will simply lead to “guiltless consumerism” that will ultimately defeat abolitionist goals, others believe that such a gesture is an excellent and essential step for creating a more humane world.

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