Graham, Ben. Marching vegans target restaurant-goers in Perth ‘walk-through’. May 13, 2019. Retrieved via
Dining out on a Saturday night is something that many people do around the world. It is the chance to catch up with friends and family, have some good food and drinks, and a chance to interact with others while sharing in some good fun. Most people would agree that anything that gets in the way of that would be annoying at the very least. Diners in Perth, Leederville, Australia would find what happened to them Saturday night to be more than just annoying.
According to timw_brap (sickchirpse.com), a group called “Direction Action Everywhere decided to march on a restaurant in the suburb of Leederville with a massive screen and signs whilst people were trying to eat their hard earned dinner.” Apparently, this group of protesters carried a huge TV screen playing a “movie called Dominion which highlights a lot of the cruel practices that go on in factory farms” (timw_brap 1). This group is led by James Warden, pictured below. These protestors really are committed to their cause to carry a TV screen around for blocks just to prove their point.
Here is the link to the YouTube video of the news coverage of the protest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=99&v=qjGf_hrXvXE
I can truly appreciate people who believe in veganism and who want to fight for animal rights. I believe that since animals do not have a voice that we should be their voices in cruelty situations. However, it is also the right of those who are meat-eaters, like myself, who do not want to be bombarded with these people and their images and message while I’m out having dinner and trying to have an enjoyable time with family and friends.
Yelling at diners is not going to change their opinions. Maybe for some it will but not the majority. All this will do is create violence between the group and the diners. This time, it did not escalate. Next time it could, especially if word of this gets out and more groups decide to try this as well. Getting people to change their minds, their beliefs is not an easy thing to do. Some may, some feel sympathy for the animals and want to help them but still remain meat-eaters. Others will be outraged that this issue is being brought to them while they are trying to eat and will never want to support people who would do that. Believing in a cause is one thing but going to these lengths to try to make more people aware is probably not the best course of action. Only time will tell if they learn and decide to try a different tactic.