2016 Ottawa Earthlings March

Two Sundays ago, I participated in an Earthlings March that took place in downtown Ottawa. The Earthlings March is a peaceful protest that was thought up by an animal liberation group called Direct Action Everywhere (also known as DxE). In Earthlings Marches, which have taken place in dozens of cities all over the world, activists march through their cities while holding signs and chanting about animal rights. For each march, Direct Action Everywhere sends activists a large banner that shows photos of the eyes of many different animals and reads "We are all Earthlings". Often, activists wear blindfolds as part of the march, to symbolize humanity's denial of the violence that is being committed against animals.

Ottawa's first-ever Earthlings March took place this year, and I was glad to have the opportunity to attend!

The event started with a couple of speeches from some of the activists among us, and then we marched through downtown Ottawa for about an hour. I held my sign high in the air for almost the entire time!

Our chants included:

Freedom for all,

Justice for animals!

Humans and animals
We are all equal

No more oppression,
Animal liberation

For the rabbits and the foxes and the mink and the pigs
No excuses
Let the animals live!

For the lambs and the cows and the birds and the fish
No excuses
Let the animals live!

Not just for Cecil
Not just for Harambe
We want justice for all animals!

Not just for dogs, not just for cats, no
We want justice for all animals!

Stop exploitation
Meat abolition

One struggle, one fight
Human freedom, animal rights

Since Ottawa is the capital of Canada (obviously!), we marched past Parliament Hill and the Chateau Laurier, and down Bank Street.

We also handed out some leaflets to onlookers as we marched along, and some people put stickers on the lampposts, etc. that we passed by. Since we marched both on the sidewalk and on the road, the organizers notified the police (before the march) of our route and how many people were expected to show up. The police were polite and helpful-- they rode their bikes alongside us and stopped the traffic to ensure that we could pass by safely.

It was satisfying to see that so many onlookers saw and heard us, and many even filmed us using their phones as we passed by.

The big question, of course, is: Do events like this make a difference? Do they help animals? I would say yes. Our protest was very focused on the animal rights message, and it was seen and heard by a lot of people (hopefully they shared their footage of the march on social media, too!).

Of course, just because a protest gets attention, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is productive-- some protests use tactics that are unethical and/or send the wrong message about animal rights. However, I think that this march got the right kind of attention, because we kept the attention focused on our message, and we didn't use any unethical tactics.

I don't know how many people (if any) went vegan as a result of seeing our march, but it certainly helped to increase people's awareness of animal rights and veganism. Seeing a march like this could plant the seed in someone's mind that may eventually lead them to choose a vegan lifestyle. Participating in a march like this is also incredibly satisfying. After all, how many opportunities do we have in our real lives to yell "Animal Liberation!" while walking down the street? :)

Here is a video of the march that was posted on Youtube by one of the activists:

***Why "Earthlings"?

The word "Earthlings" refers to the fact that all humans and animals are sentient beings who live together on Earth. The use of this word for the name of the march was inspired by the documentary Earthlings, which is about the abuses and injustices that take place in the animal industries. (Warning: the documentary is very graphic.) There are also events that take place around the world called "The Earthlings Experience", in which activists gather in a public place, holding laptops/tablets that are playing the documentary.***

As far as I'm aware, our march didn't get any coverage from the mainstream media; I find that the Canadian mainstream media tends not to cover animal rights, but I think that will change over time. Hopefully next year's Earthlings March will get some media coverage!

Overall, the march was a success, and I'm looking forward to participating in this march again next year!

(Please note: The first and the third photos in this blog post were downloaded from someone else's post on this event's Facebook Event page, and I didn't create the video shown above. All the other photos are Copyright Carolyn Harris 2016.)