Berkeley, CA – Here We Come!
March 10 & 11

United Poultry Concerns is pleased to announce our 6th Annual Conscious Eating Conference on Saturday March 11, and on Friday March 10, UPC President Karen Davis will give a special presentation – free & open to the public – sponsored by Direct Action Everywhere (DXE)

My Personal and Professional Experience as
an Animal Rights Vegan Activist Since 1983

I explain what led me to join the Animal Rights Movement 34 years ago and how, on a particular day in Washington, DC, I made a pledge to myself which informs my activism to this day. I’ll talk about concepts that drive my work for United Poultry Concerns including Moving Beyond the Rhetoric of Apology in Animal Rights, Focused Campaigns vs. Single-Issue Campaigns, Pessimism of the Intellect vs. Optimism of the Will, the Role of the Ethical Deviant, Avoiding Burnout, and the dilemma of welfare campaigns for chickens and other animals trapped in institutionalized torture. I explain how our chicken sanctuary furthers our work and how I approach people about being vegan. I welcome a Q & A discussion.

 

---

 

 

Saturday, March 11
UPC’s Sixth Annual Conscious Eating Conference:
Local, Organic, Plant-Based – What are the Most Compassionate Choices?
Berkeley, CA.

Special Session: How Does Religion Help or Hinder Animal Liberation?

 

---

 

Farmed Animal Activism as Verbal Disruption and the Dilemma of Sitting at the Table or Shunning the Table

Presentation by Karen Davis
11:00 – 11:50 am

Karen will discuss how animal advocates can verbally disrupt conventional views of farmed animals and food with words that jolt people into consciousness, like the difference between eating “a chicken wing” versus eating a chicken’s wing. She will discuss whether ethical vegans should refuse to sit where animal products are served, as is being urged by some organizations. How do we reconcile our ethical goals with our daily social demands? I will give examples of the dilemmas we face.

Karen Davis, PhD is the President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. Her books include Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry; More Than a Meal: The Turkey in History, Myth, Ritual, and Reality; and The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale: A Case for Comparing Atrocities. Award-winningly profiled in The Washington Post, and the author of many published articles and book chapters, most recently in Meat Culture | Brill (2016), Karen maintains a sanctuary for chickens in Virginia and was inducted into the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame in 2002 for “outstanding contributions to animal liberation.” UPC President Karen Davis's Bio

• Alerts