Let Live Foundation

The Let Live Foundation Presents The Anatomy of High Impact Direct Action: Strategies For Animal Liberation With Peter Young

Portland, OR, March 29, 2009— For the past 30 years, anonymous members of the Animal Liberation Front have carried out over 1,000 covert actions around the world in the name of animal liberation.  Working outside of the confines of the law, these activists achieve results not by traditional methods of leafleting and protesting, but by freeing animals from cages, disassembling machinery used in the exploitation of animals and destroying inhumane facilities used to house animals for commercial use.  

This talk features a critical look at the role of direct action in the animal liberation movement with veteran activist Peter Young.  Exploring the nuances of direct action through case studies, Young will discuss the value of high impact action such as the only successful tactic to drive vivisectors out of the profession and why targeting a “weak link” can be more effective than a “soft target.”  Learn how to effectively value the risk of action and why breaking a window carries more risk than releasing 1,000 animals.  

Peter Young is an animal rights activists and former animal liberation prisoner.  Sentenced to 2 years in prison for the release and conspiracy to release thousands of mink from fur farms across the Midwest, Young brings life to stories of animal liberation, political repression and sacrifice in the name of animal liberation.

The Anatomy of High Impact Direct Action presentation featuring Peter Young will be held on March 29, 2009, at 2p.m. at Portland State University in Room 238 of the Smith Memorial Union Building.  Admission is free.

The Let Live Series is a monthly series of speakers, workshops and social events dedicated to promoting animal rights activism and education in Portland, Oregon.  Sponsored by the Let Live Foundation, Vegans for Animal Advocacy, Food Fight Grocery and Herbivore Magazine.

Justin Goodman is a long time activist who has worked on a diverse group of campaigns. Specifically while at the University of Connecticut he spearheaded the UConn Animal Rights Collective’s campaign against the primate lab there. He currently works with PETA on vivisection issues.

Come meet and chat with Justin about his experiences Monday night at 8pm at Sweetpea Bakery. We hope to have a good discussion about successes, failures, strategy, researching issues, and tactics so please bring your own experiences and questions.

This is nice. Attica! Attica!, Camping Party, and Adam Brock are all gonna make some music and give their income to us to help us do stuff. Please come and hang out. And clap and tell the musicians thanks.  At the Red and Black Cafe, 400 SE 12th, right around the corner from the Vegan MiniMall. $5.

The Let Live Series Presents Confronting Classroom Cruelty: How to Help Animals and Create an Ethical and Inclusive Learning Environment With Justin Goodman 

Portland, OR, February 22, 2009— Did you know cats are one of the most frequently dissected animals in student laboratories in the United States? It is estimated over 100,000 cats are dissected in high school classrooms each year, and many more being used in colleges and universities across the country. 

Classroom dissection, once considered the practice tool of choice for learning anatomy, physiology and the theory of evolution, has exposed greater questions of ethics and cruelty in the classroom. With a notable scientific shift to studying animals in their natural environment, and the advent of sophisticated learning tools, many question: how can we stop dissection in schools? 

Justin Goodman, Research Associate Supervisor in the Laboratory Investigations Department at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), will explore these questions and more. As a graduate student, Goodman was instrumental in the campaign to end the use of primate experimentation at the University of Connecticut Health Center. At PETA, Goodman’s focus is on the use of animals in education. Through his efforts, many schools and medical centers across the country have successfully adopted humane, non-animal learning methods. 

The Confronting Classroom Cruelty presentation featuring Justin Goodman will be held on February 22, 2009, at 2p.m. at Portland State University in Room 238 of the Smith Memorial Union Building. Admission is free. The Let Live Series is a monthly series of speakers, workshops and social events dedicated to promoting animal rights activism and education in Portland, Oregon. Sponsored by the Let Live Foundation, Vegans for Animal Advocacy, Food Fight Grocery and Herbivore Magazine. Questions? Visit our website www.letlivefoundation.org or feel free to send us a message at info@letlivefoundation.org Thanks!

The Let Live Foundation is excited to announce its formation as a non-profit organization. With this exciting news in mind, we are now planning the 2009 Let Live Conference. The conference will be held June 26-28th with the theme “Discovering Your Activist Qualities.” The conference presentations will cover specific topics geared towards helping activists and aspiring activists discover their talents and how to apply it to the movement. However, we will be including workshops aimed towards new activists with a special 101 Room.

The Let Live Foundation feels strong ties to the Portland activist community and our goal for the conference has always been to provide a local feel. In order to maintain this, we are extending an invitation to Portland-based groups and interested individuals to attend a special meeting on Feb 7th at 2pm on campus in the PSU Smith Memorial Student Union Room 237 to discuss any concerns, questions and suggestions you may have for the conference. If you are unable to attend the meeting, feel free to email your feedback to info@letlivefoundation.org.

We hope to see you at the meeting,
Let Live

PS. We are also ready to start doing some fundraising, our first step is a bank account with an attached PayPal account. We would absolutely love you to death if you could spare $5-$10 to help kick start things, it’d really go a long way for us to keep doing what we do. PayPal whatever you feel comfortable with to: donate@letlivefoundation.org. If you can’t spare it, no sweat, just thought we’d ask.

PPS. Don’t forget “Why Farm Animals Matter” on Feb 3rd. Check our site for all the details.

WorkShop Suggestion Form

Author and animal rights activist Erin Williams will discuss humane, sustainable food choices and recent changes to the factory farming industry

Location: Portland State University, Smith Memorial Student Union (1825 SW Broadway), Room 101

Admission: Free

Erin Williams, co-author of “Why Animals Matter: The Case for Animal Protection,” will be signing copies of her book and giving a presentation called “Why Farm Animals Matter.” Her talk will address the importance of making humane, sustainable food choices, as well as provide information on some of the exciting recent advancements for farm animals in the United States. 

Co-authored with Margo DeMello, “Why Animals Matter” examines how people abuse animals, gives suggestions on how to take action, and connects animal protection, environmental and social justice issues. Publishers Weekly praised the book as “a tough but fair-minded revelation of how mass production of animals for food and other purposes results in cruelty that usually remains hidden from sight.”

This event is co-sponsored by the Portland State University club, Vegans for Animal Advocacy, as well as two community organizations, Northwest VEG and the Let Live Foundation. 

For more information about the book, visit www.whyanimalsmatter.com.

Communication has never been easier than it is right now. The Internet has made it possible to research, collect, and spread information to millions of people at little to no cost to activists and groups. Utilizing these new tools can be a very effective way to advocate for animal issues as well as other social justice issues.

Topics covered in this presentation will include making a website, using social networking sites, e-newsletters, and other relevant online tools. If you already use these tools in your activism, please join us and share your knowledge with others.

Our guest speaker will be Glenn Gaetz. Glenn heads up Liberation B.C. (http://liberationbc.org/) Glenn has been involved as an activist ever since he moved to Vancouver, about 4 years ago. He has participated in numerous protests, leafleting, and other outreach activities. His day job involves graphic design and web development for non-profit clients, and he uses the skills he’s learned there to provide Liberation BC with an inexpensive and easy-to manage website, as well as the ability to send out html emails to their mailing list. He is very interested in providing non-profits and activists with low-cost or free tools to aid in their efforts to make the world a better place.

Join us to learn, share, and grow as activists. Thank you.

Time again for Food Fight’s benefit movie night. This time it’s gonna be extra special and fun. Sunday, January 11th is…FOOTLOOSE! And not just Footloose, there will be a pre-movie rock show with our good friends Slingshot Dakota from NYC, including a Footloose Medley. The event will be $5 this time, the rock and the roll will start at 7pm, movie around 8pm. You should really check out Slingshot Dakota, they’re great, here’s their MySpace page. Hope to see you there.

Where: The Artistery, 4315 SE Division St
When: January 11th, 7pm = music, 8pm-ish = movie
Why: So we can keep doing what we do

Tom from Slingshot Dakota, Dave from Food Fight, and Giancarlo (amazing artist who did Food Fight’s mural) will be having a benefit art show, also for the Let Live Foundation. Here’s the details on that:

Better Than Feeling Nothing, recent art by :
Giancarlo Demarchi
Tom Patterson
Dave Vander Maas

Friday January 9th / 7-10 pm / All Ages
DBA Gallery, 1515 SE Ankeny,Portland

Come buy something cool and help with some Let Live fundraising.

Hey pals. It’s that time of year again, time for the annual (well, it happened last year too) AR Volunteer Roundup! This year is gonna be bigger and better than last year. Why? Because more folks are gonna show up and get involved, right? Right. Here’s the details:

When: Saturday, January 17th, 6-8pm
Where: Vegan Mini-Mall, 1217 SE Stark St, stuff going on in every shop
Cost: Free, of course, but you might wanna donate some change to the local groups who are out there busting their rumps.

The idea is that a ton of people can show up, find out what everybody is about, and get involved with whatever group seems to be a best fit for you. 

Nothing is totally final yet, but we’re hoping to have tables and people to talk to from In Defense of Animals, NW Veg, Portland Animal Defense League, the Let Live Foundation, Coalition to Abolish Animal Testing, Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary, Out to Pasture Sanctuary, VeganThis, OHSU Cruelty (.com), TryVegan PDX, the Vegan Outreach leafletting group, and probably some other folks who we’re forgetting.

Sound good? Sure it does. Mark it on the calendar and please try to come and get involved. Makes life more interesting than just sitting on your futon complaining that things are not going the direction you’d like them to.

Also, if you’re lucky there may be some soft serve or chili or cookies or something else for you to stuff into your mouth. IF you are lucky.