by Nicole Hsiang

   The Coalition Against Factory Farming (CAFF) was started a couple weeks ago and is specifically aimed at trying to abolish factory farms.

   On Halloween you may have met its creator Joel Bartlett ’03 inside a bright, furry pig costume bearing a sign that read, “When you eat bacon, you eat me.”  People also recognize him by his month-long dedication to only wearing a cow-adorned t-shirt advertising “Cows with Guns,” a free concert by singer/songwriter Dana Lyons.

   When Bartlett started CAFF, one of his friends thought the acronym was a witty name for an animal rights group.  However, the name comes purely from Bartlett’s goals for the new organization.  “I wanted CAFF to be a coalition to reflect beliefs and ask ourselves what we want.” 

   What do they want?  Other than to abolish factory farming, Bartlett said, “To educate, to change consumer habits. I just think that everyone would be against factory farming if they knew the implications.” 

   Tito Cuadrado ’05 eats meat, but not because he is misinformed. “People just don’t want to think about where their meat is coming from,” he said. “I know all about how meat is produced and I still eat it.”

   CAFF is a campaign of the Wesleyan Animal Rights Network (WARN), but it also involves six other groups — the Feminist Network (FemNet), Queer Alliance (QA), E3, the Student Unity Network, United Student-Labor Action Coalition, and the combined Economic Action Coalition (EAC) and Students Allying to Reform Corporations (EAC-STARC). 

   Lisa Bergmann ’03, a member E3, thinks it is important to be involved with CAFF. “We thought that there should be a representative. It is good for us to get connected with other groups.”

   According to Bartlett, the philosophy behind integrating all of these groups is that all social justice actions around campus are linked to the horror behind factory farming. Not only does factory farming concern the suffering of animals, but it also concerns the mistreatment of the environment, underpaid meat pack workers, workers who become ill by contaminated meat, and the millions of starving people who are deprived of grain that Americans feed to animals which are slaughtered for food. 

    “We are all fighting against oppression.  The more network, the better,” Bartlett said. 

   He also hopes that CAFF will not only bring together social justice organizations, but individuals as well.    

   Katie Takayanagi ’02 is one of them.   She first got involved with CAFF from meeting Bartlett at a lecture about vegetarianism and Judaism. “Joel said he was starting an organization against factory farms which involves issues like animals, environment, and health. I haven’t really gotten involved with groups before, and being a senior, I figured I should.”

   At CAFF’s second meeting, Takayanagi was one of only three members present.  She and Bartlett went over some of CAFF’s future events and campaigns.  Along with showing movies like “The American Dream” they also talked about trying to eliminate factory farm products from WeShop, such as eggs. 

   When addressing the low attendance of the meeting, both Bartlett and Takayanagi say that the events of September 11 had a huge effect on activism.  “It made me aware ... it made me want to get more involved in groups like CAFF”, she said. 

            Bartlett, a vegan, says that his diet is a form of activism. “It is a non-violent lifestyle. It is important to act on your beliefs, not just to go to a protest. The way we spend our money has so many consequences. [Veganism/Vegetarianism] gets people to realize their interaction with things. It tries to get people to change their behaviors.”