QUEER RIGHTS/ANIMAL RIGHTS

Interviewed by Claudette Vaughan

Alejandro Rodriguez Correale is a gay man and animal rights activist. He belongs to a very effective and popular non-speciesist animal rights group in Spain called Igualdad Animal (Animal Equality in English).

Here he speaks to the Abolitionist-Online about how queer activism intersects with animal rights activism.

Abolitionist: How has being a queer activist impacted your animal rights activism Alex?

Alex: Well, I don't actually feel that being queer has affected my animal rights activism. They are 2 separate and different things. However, I suppose it is true that being part of a group that is being discriminated against helps you empathize with other individuals who are being discriminated against as well.

Abolitionist: What are your current campaigns and what are some of the specific campaigns within Spain?

Alex: .In Igualdad Animal we have different campaigns at the moment. We've been doing one or two demonstrations every week promoting veganism. These are simple demonstrations, in which activist stand outside an establishment that sells animal products holding posters with photos of the animals that are sold in those places. We also give out leaflets to the people passing by. This proved to be a very effective demonstration, as people who see the posters usually wonder what it all is about. There's been a very good response from people who saw this action. On November 1st (international day of veganism) we will have a bigger demonstration in downtown Madrid were activists are going to be wrapped in plastic inside human-sized meat trays. We've done this last action last march and it surpassed our expectations. The response we got from the people passing by and from the people who saw it in the media was just amazing, so hopefully it'll be just as good this next time we do it.

Another remarkable demonstration we did not too long ago, was to chain ourselves to the main gate of a slaughterhouse and not letting trucks loaded with animals going in. Our actions not only focus on veganism, but also on all areas of exploitation. Lately we've done a demonstration outside zoos, fur shops, etc. Just a few weeks ago a colleague from Igualdad Animal made a challenge to the fur industry. It consisted in challenging them to lock him up in a cage and to keep him in the same conditions minks are kept. None accepted the challenge.

Abolitionist: Can you tell us about the work being done to abolish bull fighting and what goes on during a bullfight?

Alex: It is estimated that 70% of the Spanish population do not show any interest whatsoever in bullfighting. So the support bullfights receive is a lot lower than one might expect There are many groups campaigning against bullfighting, which makes it the most debated animal rights issue in Spain today. However most of this groups focus on bullfighting and don't have an abolitionist base, most of them support welfarist reforms, so they don't really have anything to do with antispeciesist activism.

A bullfight basically consist of teasing and torturing the bulls and then sticking a sharp object on their backs to kill them. It is very stressing for the bull and the pain he has to endure is unimaginable. At the end of the bullfight, when the bull is agonizing, one of his ears gets cut off, increasing his pain. However bullfights are not the only area in which bulls are used. Many local celebrations in Spain have bulls as part of the celebration. There are many different ones, in some bulls get fireworks on their horns, in the other ones people run with them on their way to the bullring, etc.

Abolitionist: Igualdad Animal is a very active group based in Madrid. They are non-speciesist and vegan abolitionist based. Tell us about them and your involvement?

Alex: That's right, as you said Igualdad Animal (Animal Equality in Spanish) is a non speciesist and abolitionist based group. It started about a year ago, and this last year it has been very active. It is amazing how the group grew in just one year. It started out as a group in Madrid, and now we are also working in other parts of Spain and even in Peru. What we basically do is to take the anti speciesist message out there as much as we can. We do this through talks and video screenings and of course we also do demonstrations and street stalls as often as we can.

Lately, Igualdad Animal has been doing a demo a week and the stall has been on the street almost everyday, and this is only in Madrid. As for my involvement, I suppose it is small compared to all the work being done right now. I usually work doing translation (hopefully, an English version of the website will be up very soon) and helping as much as I can on the demos and stalls.

Abolitionist: How much animal experimentation is being done in Spain today?

Alex: It is hard to put a number on it. But animal experimentation is accepted by a big chunk of Spanish society. The animal used in experiments are usually rats, guinea, pigs, rabbits, goats or dogs. There are certain regulations to protect the welfare of those animals, but animal experimentation is still carried out, so even if the welfare of those animals is protected, they are still being raised and killed. A big amount of animal experimentation is carried out by universities and students who oppose it sometimes find it hard to avoid it as there isn't much information about it, so that's why I think it is important to raise social awareness about this issue and animal rights issues in general.

Abolitionist: Why did you get involved in animal rights work?

Alex: I became a vegan 6 years ago, when I was still living in Argentina, where I am originally from. I realised that being vegan was not just enough. Not taking part in animal exploitation is the key to achieve animal equality, but I felt I had to do more for them. There wasn't really a thing such as an animal rights scene then, just a couple of random demos a year, but not more than that. But there were many vegans though. So I got started by going to those demos. A few years later some friends and I started a small grassroots group, but because of lack of time, resources and mainly, experience, we didn't really do much. It was not until I moved to Spain when I really started to get involved.

Abolitionist: How has the Spanish public, on the whole, responded to the animal rights message?

Alex: Well, you get lots of mixed opinions. People in the street congratulate you but they insult you as well. But I dare to say the response has been very positive. The message is starting to be a topic of debate amongst people. You see more and more vegan people every day. Vegan products are getting easier and easier to find. And I think those are some really good examples of how the message is starting to get into society. Of course it's not much yet, but I think it is setting the foundations for the animal rights message to be a topic of discussion amongst society.

Abolitionist: What can animal rights people learn from queer activism politically Alex?

Alex: Queer activism has achieved a lot. Recently, just over a year ago, same gender marriages and adoption for same gender couples became legal in Spain. That was the result of years and years of working, of taking the message out to the streets and creating a social debate. So I think that is something animal rights activism can learn about queer activism. I think it is very important to make a social debate about animal rights. People need to see what's happening and reflect on how their actions are affecting the
animals.

Abolitionist: Do you think we'll ever see the day when a AIDS conference will be held looking at serious solutions to the AIDS crisis without using any form of animal experimentation?

Alex: Hopefully we will. AIDS is a great problem today, but so it is vivisection. It is hard to think about an antivisector AIDS conference when a great deal on animal research is done on non humans. But with all the animal rights activism that is being done, chances are that someday we will see one.

Abolitionist: How does Spain handle their stray, lost and abandoned populations?

Alex: The official number of strays is somewhere around 300.000 however this is just an estimate and the real number is probably higher. Strays are usually taken to a municipal pound were they end up being killed. There are also private shelters where they are taken to to be given out for adoption, but when the shelter is full, some of the animals are killed to make room for new arrivals. This happens everywhere in Spain with the exception of Catalunya, where animals are never killed. All these places feed animals a meat based diet so there is no link whatsoever between them and the animal rights movement There are a few exceptions though, we've heard of a few places where they are fed a vegan diet, but they are not many, although this tendency is starting to pick up.

Abolitionist: What's the most pressing issue in Spain today regarding animal rights issues?

Alex: Well, I think that in Spain and everywhere else in the world vegansim is what has to be addressed first off. Most of the animals who die as a consequence of speciesism are those raised for food. Of course one should not leave aside other aspects of animal exploitation but a vegan lifestyle is the foundation of animal respect, so in my opinion it should be a priority on the animal rights agenda.