FARM Underground at the Harvest of Hope Festival for Meatout
St Augustine, FL March 12th-14th

 

On Thursday night, FARM Underground staff and volunteers took to the road for St. Augustine, Florida to attend the Harvest of Hope Festival benefiting migrant farm workers.  After a few minor set backs and almost losing our canopy, tables and tent that were tied to the roof of the car, we arrived at the Harvest of Hope festival Friday afternoon. 

After setting up our tables, people began pouring in.  The responses to our message were great, and the Make the Connection exhibit turned heads and inspired many questions about the plight faced by the animals we eat. Thousands of handouts were distributed, including FARM Underground "Break the Chains of Slavery" and the newest addition " The Dark Side of Dairy & Eggs" along with Vegan Starter Guides and buttons proclaiming “I Don’t Eat My Friends”.   

We had a great time while talking with people about the plight of farmed animals and how to get active, and we even chatted with members of Strike Anywhere and Anti-Flag!

Our Conversation with Pat Thetic of Anti-Flag

On Saturday after the Anti-Flag set, we ran into Pat Thetic, a founding member of Anti-Flag, and talked for a while about veganism and government repression of animal activists.  When asked why Pat was vegan he responded with, “being vegan is just so easy”.  We talked about the horrific conditions animals were kept in, undercover footage taken from inside farms and slaughterhouses and the staggering numbers of animals who are killed for people’s taste buds. 

Since Pat Thetic and Anti-Flag are on the road touring frequently, he talked about how easy it is for the group to find vegan food on the road and vegan while traveling.  Pat mentioned that the majority of traveling he does is with Anti-Flag and he doesn’t have a problem finding vegan food.  He noted, “(when) traveling alone, there are great resources such as Happy Cow ”.  Pat mentioned that “most restaurants can make things vegan, you just have to talk with them”.  When traveling, Pat also makes a point “to learn certain words like butter or milk and listen to variations of the word” to make sure things are vegan. 

Anti-Flag sings about government repression and police brutality and their songs are very politically motivated.  So, we were surprised to find out that Pat Thetic had not heard about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) , AETA 4, AETA 2 or the SHAC 7.  Tthe AETA was a federal law that had been passed in 2006 and labels animal activists as terrorists, squelching free speech and discouraging voices of dissent against an animal enterprise (meaning, biomedical, animal agriculture, furriers and other “enterprises” making money of the exploitation of animals).  Pat was taken back a bit, but overall not very surprised of this reaction from the government as he said “if you are in the right, the government labels you a terrorist”.  He said that Anti-Flag should do a song called “I Am a Terrorist”.  We asked if he had any encouraging words to tell animal activists who are facing repression and he said “…keep fighting the fight.  The meat, dairy, egg (and other industries) are scared because we are winning.”

After hanging out and tabling for FARM Underground for a few minutes we parted ways with Pat.  He gave FARM Underground his seal of approval and said to contact them when the start their tour in August! 

 

 

FARM Underground
FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), 10101 Ashburton Ln Bethesda, MD 20817