PETA AU Global 2020 Issue 2

‘Don’t Stand for Injustice’ Super Bowl Ad How PETA’s Started a Global Conversation

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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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F or the primates caged alone in laboratories, the donkeys worked to death in brick kilns, the cows and others hacked apart in slaughterhouses, and the coyotes caught in steel-jaw traps so their fur can be used as jacket trim, animal rights isn’t merely a philosophical concept. It’s a matter of life and death. So PETA took the fight to end speciesism – a human supremacist worldview, just like any other form of discrimination – to one of the sports world’s biggest fights of the year: the Super Bowl.

PETA’s heartfelt commercial was nixed by the NFL and Fox, but 4 million people watched it online. It shows animals – including a bee, a bear, and a bald eagle – “taking a knee” while the US national anthem plays, and it ends with this message: “Respect is the right of every living being. #EndSpeciesism.” A week later, PETA’s 2019 Person of the Year, Joaquin Phoenix, championed the same exact message as he accepted the Academy Award for Best Actor during another televised event viewed by millions of people around the world. He gave a beautiful, impassioned speech that quickly went viral. “Whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice,” he said. “We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, or one species has the right to dominate, control, and use and exploit another with impunity.” Speciesism, just like many other ugly “-isms,” is a form of oppression. It allows humans to reduce sentient beings with personalities and emotions to “things” to be used in any way they wish. But when we look into an animal’s eyes, there’s some one – not some thing – looking back at us … someone who feels hunger, thirst, pain, fear, joy, and love and who values freedom and independence. From never yanking dogs along on their cherished walks to not slaughtering cows to make shoes, we must afford all individuals respect and understanding. Take Action Now Don’t stand for injustice. Visit PETA.org/SuperBowl to watch PETA’s banned commercial and share it across social media.

Butterfly Badge: © iStock.com/Petchjira • Colin Kaepernick: ©Demis Maryannakis/Starmaxinc.com • Gloria Steinem: ©Dennis Van Tine/Starmaxinc.com • Martin Luther King: ©Rowland Scherman /CC0 • Joaquin Phoenix: ©Galaxy/Starmaxinc.com

“We cannot see ourselves in silos. We are all a part of the same movement. … Imagine we are linked, not ranked.” – Gloria Steinem

“Whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism … or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice.” – Joaquin Phoenix

Colin Kaepernick's powerful act of taking a knee to protest injustice inspired PETA's ad.

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THE BEE’S KNEES