Veggie Pride
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Press release
April 2009
The Veggie Pride march will take place on Saturday 16 May, in Lyon, Milan and Prague!
On 16 May, vegetarians and vegans of all nationalities will be on the streets of Lyon, Milan and Prague to take part in the Veggie Pride. The aim is not only to show that they are proud of not eating meat and other animal products, but also to denounce the worldwide massacre of hundreds of billions of animals every day.
What is the Veggie Pride?
The Veggie Pride march has taken place in France every year since 2001, in Italy since 2008 and in the Czech Republic this year for the first time. It brings together people who do not eat meat and other animal products out of concern for the animals' interests. The aim of the Veggie Pride is to encourage these people to assume their refusal to eat animals and to publicly express it. The fact is that many vegetarians prefer not to draw attention to themselves, hoping to avoid being laughed at and becoming social outcasts. Often they pretend to be vegetarian for the sake of the environment or their health, reasons which appear more socially acceptable than a simple concern for animals. The Veggie Pride encourages vegetarians to openly proclaim their pride in being vegetarians for the animals, and against animal exploitation.
The greatest massacre in history
On 16 May, vegetarians and vegans will denounce the suffering of the animals massacred for human consumption. In 2007, in France alone, a billion animals were slaughtered*. In factory farms throughout the world, the lives of billions of calves, chickens, pigs, dairy cows, and 
laying hens are squandered in conditions that transform their existence into a permanent hell: imprisonment in tiny cages, overcrowding, dirt, mutilations, and separation of mothers from their children, culminating in the often ghastly transport conditions leading to the slaughterhouse. These animals are killed after only a few months of life, when their normal life span is much longer.
In the Veggie Pride, vegetarians and vegans proclaim their pride in having said no to this concentration camp system. «This event proves what so many people deny : that we can live without exploiting animals», explains Sara Fergé, a 26 year old teacher and one of the Veggie Pride organizers. «The presence at the Veggie Pride of hundreds of people who proclaim their refusal to kill an animal for the enjoyment of taste proves that eating meat is not necessary and in fact presents a serious ethical problem.»
Vegetarians' rights
Through the Veggie Pride, vegetarians and vegans claim their rights. The oppression of non-human animals goes hand in hand with the violation of rights accorded in principle to humans, 
for example: the right to eat appropriate food in canteens and in any community; the right to impartial and appropriate medical information; the right of reply to those who attack them in the media. These vegetarian rights are even more precious as they are, at the moment, the only rights that the animals can indirectly possess.
Parents and children in solidarity with the animals
In 2009, for the first time in France, the march will offer visibility to vegetarian and vegan families. Parents will demand the right to bring up their children without imposing abattoir products on them. Children will bear witness to their solidarity with the animals: loving them means not eating them. «As opposed to what certain prejudices would have us believe, vegetarianism doesn't involve 'depriving' the child» - states Laure, 29, mother of a little girl of two and a half. «Children love animals; if they knew what they were really eating, they would be shocked. If you cannot explain without lying to your child where her meal has come from, there must be a problem.»
At Lyon the assembly point will be the Place des Terreaux at 2 pm on 16 May. The march will cross the Presqu’Île and will be enlivened by various happenings, terminating at the Place de la République, where stands will offer information about vegetarianism or the rights of animals.
Press contact: +33 6 77 02 29 53 (David Olivier) ; +33 6 15 11 18 80 (Sara Fergé).
For more information : www.veggiepride.fr.
* Information based on data provided by the French Agricultural Bureau.