Gary Yourofsky On Effective Activism & Not Losing Hope

Emily: Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan
and welcome to another vegan nugget. Today

I'm honored to be joined by my friend and
mentor Gary Yourofsky who has graciously agreed

to be here and answers questions that you,
the Bite Size Vegan audience, have sent to

me. I'm going to be releasing this interview
in a series of videos so be sure to stay tuned

to the channel. Gary I just wanted to thank
you so much for taking time out of your busy

schedule to be here and answer some of these
questions.

Gary: Anything for you Emily. Emily: Thank you.

Alright so to start
off, one of the questions that I got a lot

from people, and I think for someone who's
just had their eyes kind of opened and is

considering going vegan, or has gone vegan,
or perhaps they're a vegan who just watched

your speech and realized that they want to
do more, and they've come to this point of

"what can I do, what action can I take?" What
would you say to someone who wants to get

started with vegan animal activism?

Gary: It's got to be education based
activism, whatever you're doing. This is not

my realm, this is not my bailiwick, I'm not
graded in advising people how to be an activist.

But I do know that you have to teach people.
You have to edify, you have to preach. So

somehow maybe set up class room lectures like
I'm doing in high schools and colleges and

elementary schools, middle schools. Set it
up at a church, at a synagogue, in a mosque,

at the YMCA, leaflet, do something like that.
What I don't recommend any more is probably

the things that most people like to do, which
is protesting. I just think protesting has

lost its luster over the years. Civil disobedience,
I don't think you can win in a courtroom.

But you win in a classroom every single day.
Direct action is always valuable too, if you

want to liberate animals. That would be an
awesome thing to do. But focus on education

and make that your goal and things will fall
into place. And don't beat yourself up too

much when you find somebody that isn't paying
attention and isn't listening. Move on and

find somebody who does want to listen. They're
out there, people are thirsting for knowledge.

It is your goal as an activist to find those
people who are thirsting for knowledge, teach

them, convert them, and keep on doing it.

Emily: Some people argue that being
vegan alone is not enough. What are your thoughts

on that? Do you think being vegan and in adopting
a vegan diet, do you think that alone can

make an impact?

Gary: I think it's the only thing on
this planet that can actually make a difference.

But is it enough from the victims point of
view? Of course not. Billions of animals are

being tortured and killed. But I'm really
tired of people turning on the news and getting

involved in all the world issues. The Darfur
genocide, women in Afghanistan still don't

have equal rights, homosexuals in Uganda are
being killed, I understand this is a major

injustice. But you can't do anything about
it so stop talking about world issues that

you have no control over, and here's something
you could stand up three times, four times,

five times a day and say "I'm opposed to discrimination,
I'm opposed to injustice, and that's why I'm

eating vegan meals." This is something you
can actually do. But from there, yeah sure

get out there. Get more active, teach people,
talk to people. Again back to the education.

Emily: Something that I've heard from
a lot of people and that I know I personally

can struggle with as a vegan activist, is
when you're faced with all of the suffering

in the world, and all of the people who don't
seem to care. How do you keep going and keep

your head up and not get lost in just the
overwhelming suffering that's going on?

Gary: It's tough. I'm forever frustrated,
forever stressed, forever saddened. I was

telling you before, I died inside a long time
ago. But I'm going through the motions for

the animals, because whatever I'm going through
and whatever you as an activist are going

through, is nothing compared to what the animals
are going through. In the slaughterhouse,

in the vivisection lab, at the circus, at
the zoo, at the rodeo. That stuff is purely

evil. You have to keep on going for them,
I don't know how else to say it. I don't have

a magical formula, a magical solution, to
make you not become frustrated, not become

stressed out, it goes with the territory.
Enlightenment is bitter sweet, and I've told

this to a lot of people. It is bitter sweet.
It's wonderful to know the truth, to see the

truth, to live the truth, but it's maddening
to see how selfish and evil our species can

be. You have to keep on going for the animals,
that's the only thing. Just think about them

and keep on going for them.

Emily: Gary I just want to thank you
so much for giving us your time and I've been

asked on behalf of so many of my viewers to
just thank you for everything that you do.

So thank you so much.

Gary: Thank you, keep on. Everybody
pass her stuff around, it's tight stuff, honestly.

Bitesizevegan.com, share it.

Emily: Stay tuned to the Bite Size Vegan
channel for more installations of Gary's interview.

I'll also be posting bonus footage of questions
that don't make it to the channel, into the

VIV section of Bitesizevegan.com, which you
can access for free by signing up for the

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vegan and I'll see you soon.