Fernando
Activist and Co-founder of Verdadera Compasión
Speaker
(he/him)
About: Fernando was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. After getting involved in anti-bullfighting campaigns in the late 1990s, he co-founded Verdadera Compasión, the first organization in the country to embrace ethical veganism. He immigrated to the United States in 2003 and volunteers for different animal rights and food justice organizations. His activism focuses on the intersection between human conflict and animal rights. In his spare time, he can be found spending time in the mountains, discussing the latest findings in particle physics, or any writings related to the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza.
Presentation — Shaped By Violence: The Intersection of War and Animal Rights
In Colombia, where I was born and raised, the line between the armed conflict and animal agriculture was plainly visible. But has this happened anywhere else? The AR movement seems to constantly fuel the false dichotomy that human conflict, namely war, is a separate issue from animal rights. In this talk I would like to explore the basic premise that if war is fueled by the control of resources, and if animals, the land and crops to raise them are seen as resources, then there’s an intrinsic link between war and animal rights. And why you can’t solve one, without solving the other.
