In March 2020 following a series of unexplained deaths, a deadly and highly transmissible virus was found to originate at a wet market in Wuhan, China. Somewhere in-between wild and exotic animals cramped close together; sodden cages piled high, the unnatural contact of faecal and mucus excretions between animal and human that would never normally mix, cast loose the deadly pandemic into the world. In this breeding ground for bacterial and viral infection, Covid-19 trans-mutated from bat to pangolin to person, before making a beeline straight for humanity.

This alarming tale is what movies are made of. But what is even more disturbing is that what occurred at Wuhan is not unique. There are in fact countless thousands of other almost identical wet markets spread throughout South East Asia, continuing to trade animals in this way to this day.

To some, this outbreak will come as no surprise, because the study of zoonosis (diseases which are spread between animals and humans) has been prevalent within the scientific community for centuries. First thought to have arisen around ten thousand years ago, the earliest emergence of zoonotic disease was birthed in agriculture and animal husbandry through the domestication of the common farm yard animal. 

Over the past century, as a rapid rise in population has seen a steady increase in the demand for cheap meats, so too have the emergences of zoonotic disease. With traditional farming methods no longer serving the way we consume, billions of animals are now held in immense factory farms, housed in inhumane, unsanitary over crowded sheds, where antibiotics are routinely administered in a bid to suppress the spread of prevalent illnesses. In recent history, Zoonosis has been responsible for many highly infectious and deadly diseases of pandemic and epidemic proportion. There are currently around 200 Zoonotic diseases, where 60% of all human disease and 3 out of 4 new diseases are now Zoonotic emergences. This includes, Spanish flu, bird flu, swine flu, measles, mumps, chicken pox, typhoid, SARS, influenza, small pox, AIDS and whooping cough, all transmitted to humans from the domestication, captivity or close contact of wild animals.

As the daily deluge of pandemic reporting continues to grab headlines, there is much to be said for life in this masked and sanitised ‘new normal’. Coming to terms with how Covid-19 has held the world to standstill has brought to light an insecurity many have never seen in the fragility of ‘mighty man’. In this disempowerment we have fixedly looked towards our leaders, holding dear to our hearts the keeping of their three commandments, “wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance”. But what remains to be hidden, is the very root cause of the critical change we so desperately need to see, the change of normalising the recognition of animals as sentient and intelligent beings.

We know how to stop a global pandemic, we have known for decades. But while common man continues to be blind sited from the real cause in the wasteful pursuit of the cure, the ultimate battle lies in the ruthless and unrelenting profits of major industries like the meat and dairy and the pharmaceutical industry. We don’t require any more evidence to understand the basis of our problem, captivity and abuse of animals is the major cause of the biggest threat that humanity faces today and the only answer to a lasting solution is in the rapid reduction of the consumption of meat and dairy and the elimination of live animal markets. These may sound like drastic measures any non vegan would be scathed to approve, but if what we have gone through in one year is not drastic enough and if we really are serious about saving the lives and livelihoods of millions more, then what we don’t need is another ‘lock down’ but a collective ‘shut down’ of factory farming globally.

Final thought

The main agenda of Covid-19 global propaganda is to push ownership of responsibility from its place of proper governance and down onto the people. To vilify those for not wearing masks and to imply their heartless arrogance can be seen as an effort to sideline the real issues at heart. If government really were sincere in their tune, ‘in order to stop deaths’ then perhaps we would see them acting with such swift severity to end war, combat climate change, shut down factory farms or even end world hunger. I could be more convinced, but I don’t expect that to happen any time soon because then again lest us never forget... rich people don’t die from starvation.

[1] https://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/news/research-medical-benefits/the-increase-in-zoonotic-diseases-the-who-the-why-and-the-when/

[2] Dr Greggor

IMAGINE WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF WE PRIVATISED THE NHS..

There is in truth no battle nor defence when it comes to the great debate involving East vs West, because in reality, with it’s major artillery fire of global finance and mass media monopoly, the western agenda is the only agenda. Dominating and lording its intention over all other. Fully and absolutely complete.

Sadly, there is no difference to this arrangement when we speak of our great modern day medical achievements, because ever since the rise of the insatiable multi-billion dollar spinning, ‘Big Pharma’ eastern credibility over a rich variety of holistic approaches to medical care have steadily been stamped out and ignored.

Welcome the NHS, a national treasure proudly proclaimed by the many as the crème of British utopian society. Surely such a system allowing every citizen the right to free medical care despite status or wealth should be heralded in virtuous righteousness, purist sacrifice for the greatest good? It’s likely yes, that there had once been such an intention and yes, all the while the philanthropists probably really did care. But what has now arisen through an allopathic approach to sickness and ‘cure’ is an inordinate disproportion of folk, surrendered to a toxic lifestyle, mislead into the belief that our medical needs will one day be taken care of. A falsity that can no longer be ignored. 

In our understanding of modern day medical science, ‘the most superior of all’. We live and love, safe in the knowledge that for the most, the ailments that we are likely to suffer in our lifetime, will be treated or even cured over at the GP or pharmacy. This is the promise to an end of suffering, a course of capsules restoring the body back to balance and harmony. So with that taken care of, there is nothing that one needs to do and nowhere that one needs to go. A falling in mass unison, invoking a culture lacking in the will and knowledge needed to effectively look after our own bodies.

The principle following ‘our health is our authority’, is a premise for living by prevention rather than cure. A practice better known by the eastern approach to medical care. Here exists a wonderous myriad of ancient techniques, therapies and even modern alternatives, reaching far beyond the repetitive mundane adage of ‘5-a-day with 20 minutes of exercise’. Instead we are discouraged from such therapies and warned against such ‘supernatural’ ideas. With western research institutions funded to condemn eastern medicines by discrediting their merits. And all the while, dictating that animal testing and adverse side affects are the better alternative when in fact their chemically synthesised, artificially lab made medicines, mimic the natural compounds that were traditionally used for millennia anyway.

As allopathic medicine dominates the market and alternative therapies remain a niche they have become a luxury that most can not afford. The problem with a pre paid medical care system is that it holds a monopoly, driving down the price of its own allopathic drugs and pricing out that of the holistic market. So even if you wanted to choose an alternative therapy, be sure to know you’d be paying through the nose for it.. twice! If allopathic medicine became a choice and not an imposition, this would certainly give rise to a growth in all other medicinal markets evening out the vast disparity of cost and making these mighty marvels more available to all.

The principle following ‘our health is our authority’, is a premise for living by prevention rather than cure, a practice better known by the eastern approach to medical care. Here exists a wonderous myriad of ancient techniques, therapies and even modern alternatives, reaching far beyond the repetitive mundane adage of ‘5-a-day with 20 minutes of exercise’. Instead we are discouraged from such therapies and warned against such ‘supernatural’ ideas. With western research institutions funded to condemn eastern medicines by discrediting their merits. And all the while, dictating that animal testing and adverse side affects are the better alternative when in fact their chemically synthesised, artificially lab made medicines, mimic the natural compounds that were traditionally used for millennia anyway.

Holistic approaches encourage a lifestyle not a reliance, for the power and responsibility of our health, first lies with us. So please let us be honest and let us be done! Lets privatise the NHS and take health care back into our own hands, because the real farmacy is a beautiful thing.

Throughout my life, I have enjoyed the metabolism that most folk can only dream off. With each day bringing forth new opportunity for choice pickings of delectable ‘Junk’, my daily fancies of cakes, chips and pies often succumbed to the playful envy of others. But however many laughs in admiration, and praise that I received for my slim figured frame, I never thought of myself as ‘lucky’, as those folk suggested. Like most other young woman, I too were deeply unhappy, hiding my misery of body dissatisfaction in other ways, and the suffering I carried was the unbearable shame of body hair.

It started at some point between my childhood and early teens. The transgression of life from the idylls of natural care-free expression had turned into feelings of a new-found awkwardness. This marked a tragic turning point, that heralded a modern day ‘coming of age’. I had washed up onto the shores of criticism and judgement, joining the world in the search for happiness in perfection and the message that rung loud and clear was that there was nothing more imperfect than myself.

The new world seemed fearful and hostile towards difference. Here I felt starkly exposed to the thoughts and opinions of others and what these thoughts and opinions might be of me! So, I eagerly joined the crowd, wanting nothing more than to blend in and be accepted. Luckily, help was at hand and the main stream media kindly displayed a variety of advertising techniques to help guide and support me along the way. In them I saw perfect girls beaming with ‘joy’, and of course these were the beautiful girls who I so desperately wanted to be. Then one day, an understanding began to arise, somewhere from deep within a sea of accumulated sensory influences, ‘As a woman, your body hair is unfeminine and unattractive, and here are the ways you may rid yourself of your hairy affliction’! I was struck by horror. What then was young and impressionable girl to do? Everything possible, to avoid the fear of ridicule and disgust. So I borrowed my dad’s razor and set to work.

Now, my hair being quite thick and black also grew incredibly fast. This was nothing short of pleasing when dealing with a haircut gone wrong, but on the other hand this would turn hair removal into a continuous and arduous process. The reality of shaving wasn’t the promise of smooth hairless skin that I’d seen on the telly, but having to put up with days of prickly uncomfortable stubble and irritating skin rashes. As I grew older, societies pressures only strengthened my insecurities until I eventually developed a difficult emotional complex. Shame had turned intimacy into my greatest fear and rather than face revealing the extent of my body hair to anyone, I denied myself the relationships that I longed for. I lived with this anxiety for over a decade, always looking to release this pain in the next breakthrough product, but as my hair held fast, my hopes slowly faded.

This was the painful struggle. The pursuit to grasp at an unattainable dream had only caused my desires to intensify, and the longer it went on, the more frustration and unhappiness I turned in on myself. But one day, I did find an end to my suffering. Not on the shelf of the beauty isle I had spent decades in searching, but I stumbled upon it, in a place I was never told to look.

Some years ago, I became interested in a philosophy I had heard in many great literatures. This was about the cultivation of a love so great it would stretch far beyond the relationship between two people. A universal love so powerful as to encompass everything and everyone. I was touched by these teachings and became inspired to try and find this ‘unity’ for myself. Perhaps it seemed like a tall order, but I thought it was worthwhile, even if I made only a few steps towards this goal, I knew it would still be of great benefit to me and those around me. During my quest, I came across an idea of acceptance which said, ‘to accept others for who they are we must first learn to accept ourselves for who we are’. I felt drawn to this. On hearing this message, so simple and yet so profound, I began to recognised the intense criticisms that I had held towards my own self over the years. In a culmination of remorse, relief and in my goal to experience the oneness of love, I made a decision and this was to try and accept a part of me that had repulsed me and caused much hurt during my life. For this quest, I decided to stop shaving and put every effort into the acceptance of my body for exactly the way it is.

It’s been over 4 years and my legs, my arms and pretty much all other hairs to this day have remained in tact. Luckily my beliefs have held fast and I have never looked back. However embracing my body hair has not always been an easy journey. The strength of my decision was a spiritual one and one that I have continued to believe in. I have used the simple method of cultivating thanks and gratitude to help transform my thinking from the habitual patterns of disappointment or annoyance to positivity. By ‘changing my mind’, I have learnt to truly appreciate my body for all that it endlessly gives and now the struggle is over. By contemplating the beauty and magnificence of the body’s workings, my mind has rested in a state of more harmony and happiness then I ever thought possible.

In my journey with acceptance, I have questioned and scrutinised the ‘why’, behind our prevalent culture of shaved skin. Why has body hair, something so natural have become so vilified, while beauty images photo-shopped to perfection are now the new norm? A lot of my confidence has arisen in the reflection of this point. By failing to find any common sense in branding body hair as wrong, or my failure to find any logic behind it, then the fear of judgement has lost its power and I am no longer afraid of an opinion that doesn’t hold any truth. 

I have tried to capture an essence of the mental and emotional suffering that body shame created in my life for over a decade and what it took to be able to break free from these damaging views. Sadly, the obsession of hair removal has become a global affliction, one which has spread to all corners of the world where the beauty industry and media serve to exist. By actively creating the insecurities upon which it profits and thrives, this multi-billion-dollar business has crept into the private lives of us all, serving nothing but to create a continuing disservice to womankind. I am waging a war on the beauty industry, to end the untold damage and to restore the true beauty, the beauty of heart, mind and soul that lives within us all.

Originally published in the Elephant Journal www.elephantjournal.com/2019/04/the-journey-to-beautiful/.

Nine months in the making and my ‘big day in court’, had finally arrived. I had been forced into spending these last crucial weeks without a working phone, and with no access to XR legal advice, the stress had begun to mount. As I counted down the hours until 'show time', I had an all important decision still to make. Would I chance self-representation in court, or accept the legal help from solicitors that I was entitled?

I knew that my novice legal skills were not up to running much of a S14 (Section 14) defence. But the reality was, that I had heard there was no successful defence against this charge. Part of me delighted at the thought of self-representation. Single handedly, bravely battling the system, standing alone in righteousness. I had earned this ticket to my day in court and like other XR defendants before me, this was my moment to finally be heard. Oh how I would put the courts to shame, throwing every moral and ethical argument out there in defence of my selfless actions. How the judge and officials would weep in realisation of the ills of society and throw down their hats in condemnation, to stand with me in solidarity. I would declare my position regarding environmental and ecological collapse, and in full glory, I would proclaim the innocence of my name! This was going to be the day that went down in history.

It can be a very dark and bumpy ride, questioning the many thoughts and ideas in the mind of Black Cat... and as I delved deeper into the inner workings of my fancies, I started to ponder the ethical arguments of accepting assistance from the very government establishments and institutions that I was opposed! But finally, after seeking some last minute common-sensical advice, I decided that I would afterall take up my lawyers on their offer of legal assistance. Maybe I would win on a technicality? Or If all else failed, at the end of the day, I could always sack my lawyer and give the courts a fine piece of my mind anyway.

That night I prepared my statement with vigour. Eco this and shame on you perpetrators that. But in the end, it didn’t end up quite the courtroom showdown that I had expected. The law came to judge me in a way that I never could have imagined.

I first met my lawyer on the morning of my trial. With no time to spare, we headed straight to a private room to catch a quick twenty minutes on how we were going to proceed. As I read to her my statement that I had prepared the night before, the enormity of the situation struck for the first time, causing an intense feeling of overwhelming sadness. The court house, despite appearing quite stark and unassuming, carried within it’s walls a foreboding and looming presence. This was a presence that had absorbed countless impressions and stories throughout the ages and it suddenly drew from me the incomprehensible frustration, that the law that I’d always believed in, to protect the great and the good, could instead take those very people and destroy their lives, holding them to criminal account forever. Then I started to cry (just a little bit), at the injustice of it all.

After a quick briefing to prepare for the witness box, we hastily made our way into court.

‘COURT RISE’. I was captivated…. who was my judge going to be? and then out came not one but three lay magistrates! I studied each of their faces closely. I could not have expected to see a crowd of more serious and stern looking expressions. Each of them bearing a tight-lipped frown with furrowed and knitted brows. They sure looked like they meant business and I was quite taken by them, captivated and fascinated in some way. I turned to my friend, “wow they look so serious”, I said. “I think they look a bit like me when I get upset”, “That’s how I’m going to look in ten years time,” I foolishly joked.

Throughout my trial, I was in complete awe of my Lawyer. What an incredible person she was. I had nothing but admiration and gratitude for her as she spoke for me with such strength and eloquence. Despite fearing I had messed up a bit in the witness box, I was quietly confident that I had made a good impression upon the magistrates. I had explained my motivations, my lifestyle, my passions and service to the community. Heck, we were even hopeful that we would win out on a technicality after all.

I actually felt quite uplifted during the deliberation. Because of my lifestyle choices, a conviction would not prove so impactful upon my life, and I felt comforted in the knowledge that of all the court testimonials I had read, they resonated to the same effect. Judges speaking highly of environmental activism and XR defendants merely acting out of necessity and in line with their conscience. I had also heard heart warming stories where activists had been told they were being found guilty with much regret, in the eyes of the law there being no way out, and ordered the most minimal of fines in full praise and goodwill.

I was excited when my three lay magistrates returned. I was fully expecting to hear the same praise for my actions, why wouldn’t I? An exemplary citizen to all outward respects. But to my surprise, I mercilessly began to hear…. Because you said this, and this, and this, ‘GUILTY’. I was ordered to pay full costs of £640 and given nine month unconditional discharge. I was speechless. I couldn’t even bring myself to read out my mega amazing, ‘I’m such a great person’ speech I had prepared.

I left the court room in disbelief, frustrated at not being fully heard, I was disappointed that no sympathies had been aroused in my judgement, nor any good seen in my deeds, none at all. I thought back to my three lay magistrates and how fearsome they looked. How they had failed to accept the reason and logic of the facts. The evidence the police had presented against me had been so unclear that a conviction should never have been possible. But in judgement of what they had wanted to understand, they had discounted it all, failing to see the person behind it.

In the days that followed, as I tried to understand and make sense of my experience, I happened across a text and in those words I found my answer, appearing in the ‘law of three’.

*“Ever mind the law of three, What You Send Out Comes Back to Thee.” and I started to see a part of myself though the eyes of those who sat in judgement and I too began to see a person guilty. Guilty of being quick to judge others, harsh in my words, unsympathetic, cutting and direct in my approach.

I have come to accept that this wasn’t the day I was going to be a hero. This was the day I was judged by my three lay magistrates in accordance with the “law of three”, judging me as I have judged others. My lawyer asked me to go for a retrial…but I feel that until I have learned this lesson there can be no salvation. It’s a hard road, and I know I am still learning from my mistakes. I am not there yet and for me this will probably be a life long practice, to cultivate compassion, forgiveness, and understanding in every moment and to all.

*The law of three states, everything you do comes back to you threefold! So please be wise and think about your actions and how they will effect others and even yourself.

There is no hope for humanity until the animals are free, because while we continue to accept the enslavement and exploitation of others, we are allowing the enslavement and exploitation of ourselves. 

From deep inside my underground city cave, amidst the eerily empty streets and suffocating close confinement, months have passed by... Waiting with increasing unease, for the outcomes of the global Covid-19 pandemic to unfold.

In the weeks following the announcement of the UK state of emergency 'lock-up’, the Covid-19 survival guide arrived, Its contents, detailing an ‘all you need to know, in overting a mass contagion crisis’, which was in reality, little more than second rate garb, notably lacking in any key substance and generating nation wide confusion.

In full blanket blow to democracy, this document proceeded to shamelessly exploit the common rhetoric, ‘in the interest of public safety’, to further tighten legislations over arrest and surveillance, without review or repeal for years to come. Alarmingly, these attacks on civil rights and basic freedoms have increasingly become the status quo. Gaining ground by assimilating into our daily lives, further altering our boundaries of normality. Sending us to that place of quiet forgetting, a realm whence few dare return.

Five months into the crisis and the curtain is slowly rising. As the first signs in the unveiling of this new world start to emerge, we hold witness to untold damage, set to change the future of humanity forever. From enforced suppression of immune system response, threats of compulsory vaccinations and an entire generation of children bearing the psychological scars of social isolation. The direction the world has moved in such little time is astonishing, and this is only the beginning.

Throughout our lives we have been lead to believe that we live and rejoice in the great and glorious freedoms of our civilised lands. But far from this notion, it is those who have been born into the furthest reaches of the last remaining indigenous tribes, who have truly come close to the experience of inherent freedom. Because at that moment our parents unwittingly sign away our lives to the state, we begin a life of social programming. Throughout institution and establishment, affiliation and arrangement. The end result, to have moulded our minds into submission, making money for the man. Objective complete.

The human race is fast entering into an age of great captivity. As the grip of control continues to tighten, and the last of our remaining freedoms are lost to the state, I am horrified. I am horrified at the prospect that there is no escape. For how long in our history have we sang songs and shared stories, dreaming of the day we took the power back? We were calling for social change centuries ago, and we are still not winning. In fact, we are losing really badly. So now there is only one thing left to do. To live in truth. 

For many years I have admired the thought of going vegan. Well aware of the suffering food animals endure, yet never finding the right time to remove the dairy dependence from my diet. But this goes beyond health and even far beyond compassion and kindness, this is the restoration of a fundamental sacred law that we have forgotton and are now paying the ultimate price. As a global community, we have ruthlessly exploited our power, over all other life forms on this planet. 100 billion sentient beings will end their lives in captivity every year. The vast majority of them food animals, reared in factory farms and forced to live under submission of their will, every right taken from them. But this is more than just a pitiful tale this is our collective story, the fate that humankind is facing today.

Because our outer world is only a manifestation of our inner thoughts and actions, so what we deem as acceptable for others, will in turn one day reflect back upon ourselves. I can not accept or allow the enslavement of myself, nor can I fight a force so great as our ruling government bodies. But I can join a force much greater than that. To live a life in the power of respect, and in honour of the freedom of all living beings. Because we live in the collective consciousness, where the experience of true freedom is to set all others free.

Do unto others as what you would have others do unto you. ~ Jesus Christ, Luke 6.31.