| June: |
Hi there Lynda, it's fantastic to have you on board! Okay
– let's get straight to it ... my first question is – when and
why did you decide to go vegetarian?!! |
| Lynda: |
 I saw footage of Harp seal pups being slaughtered
and skinned alive and while many news stories have affected me
I've been able to dissociate. This one continued to haunt me
though and I spent hours researching alternatives to the uses
of seals, whales and dolphins. I worked as a volunteer for
Friends of the Earth during the early weeks of "Cop Shop" but
was still seeking more information about exploitation of
non-human animals. Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation" had just
been released and the reading of it was an epiphany. I felt as
though I'd "come home." That this philosophy was so obvious,
so right on so many levels, not just for non-humans but for
humans. The subjugation of races, women, children damaged not
only the sufferer but the oppressors. Greed and power were
elemental but not more so than societal acceptance of what was
considered at a time in history to be "normal" and anyone
arguing against those guidelines was speaking heresy. To
paraphrase Edmund Burke, "All that is needed for the triumph
of evil, is that good people do nothing." It is as relevant
today as it was 250 years ago. As an immediate consequence of
reading "Animal Liberation" I threw out all my leather
products, makeup that had been tested on animals and never ate
animal or fish flesh again. Unfortunately I was much slower
about adopting a vegan diet. I believe that the dairy industry
is perhaps the cruelest form of animal exploitation and wish
I'd done it much sooner. |
| June: |
It's definitely true to say that you've worked long and
hard for Animal Liberation in Australia, but how long exactly
have you been associated with the organisation? |
| Lynda: |
 I sought out Animal Liberation and other animal
rights groups soon after reading Peter Singer's book about 23
years ago. I felt a sense of isolation in my beliefs, they
were perceived back then as being a slice short of the loaf!
My beliefs were and still are the cornerstone from which I
make all life choices and as a reformed user-of-animals I
spent a considerable amount of time alienating colleagues and
friends by table-banging and arguing against their anger and
guilt and bewilderment. I assumed wrongly that everyone would
"see the light" once given the facts. I realise in hindsight
that was incredibly naive. Pack rule substantiates comfortable
complicity in the status quo. Easier all round not the rock
the boat, ruin a fancy dinner party, be a wowser, general
consensus that I'd become eccentric and uncomfortable to be
around. I learned much later that a friend would fling her fur
into the bushes and retrieve it after dinner at my house,
others continue to have "Your Special Food" announcements to
publicly distance themselves from My Friend Who Is Different
To Us. In the company of other animal rights activists
communication is immediate, there are no "awkward" areas, you
can come from the essence of life and move outwards, not the
other way around where your lifestyle mirrors directly the
consequences of what people eat, wear, do. Guilt, acknowledged
or not, is expressed through hostility, defensiveness and
ridicule. |
| June: |
Can you remember any significant events while growing up
that shaped your compassionate thinking towards animals? |
| Lynda: |
When I was growing up we shared the same hypocritical and
selective affection for some species while slaughtering and
consuming others. The Chosen Ones were predictably dogs and
cats and the exploited ones were all the others. My sister and
I used to help gut and defeather chickens and it was my
mother's awful job to kill them. It was a time of deprivation
and lack of education about nutrition and empathy and both my
Mother and my Sister haven't consumed animal or fish for
years. Information wasn't available about alternatives as it
is today. I believe though that my Mother killing the chickens
was less of a cop-out than consumers today who purchase
sterile packages that are a sop to their direct responsibility
for the deaths of hundreds of animals. Needless to say I
believe we can all live brilliantly without exploiting any
species in this abundant country. |
| June: |
Initially, did some people think that your new views were
just some sort of a wacky 'TV STAR FAD'? |
| Lynda: |
Yes, the TV Star Fad exclamation accompanied most
interviews initially but after a time that wore off as I
became more informed and more recalcitrant. The issues then
such as intensive egg layers, or "battery hens" was becoming
public, testing on animals for cosmetics was just beginning to
be spoken about to the horror of many consumers, the cruelty
of circuses with animals and rodeos was starting to impact and
audience numbers dropped considerably. Issues that don't
affect what people eat or wear gain support quite quickly. If
people don't have to process their own lifestyle as being a
direct cause of suffering they are more ready to denounce
cruelty. You'll find that in general people will be damning of
other countries who harm non-human animals but be blinkered
about what's in our own back yard and the daily mutilation and
gross cruelty that they are directly giving money to and
supporting. It's a Them-and-Us thing, a deflecting away from
liability. |
| June: |
I believe you have a gorgeous 16 year old son, Luke, and
I'd like to know whether he's an animal rights activist
also? |
| Lynda: |
My beloved son Luke has been involved with protests on
behalf of non-human animals from the womb to walking and has
continued in his lifestyle to fight against injustice of any
kind. He has a very evolved social conscience and no
comprehension of sexism, homophobia, racism or exploitation of
humans and non-humans. As a golden-curled toddler of three he
raced down to the foreshore of a beach we were on and rounded
on three big boys who were stabbing at jelly fish, I hadn't
even seen what was happening. He has spoken at his schools on
animal rights issues. I know it hasn't been easy for him on
many occasions, his own life style is at variance with most of
his peers, even today at a progressive High School his is one
of only a few voices arguing for the rights of all species. He
consumes litres of soy milk and tofu products and is a
muscled, healthy and sport-loving testimony to the health
benefits of not consuming animals. |
| June: |
What's next for you Lynda with regards to promoting
cruelty-free living? |
| Lynda: |
What's next? Specifically I don't know, generally to
continue to help to bring awareness which will inevitably
bring change, everything evolves, some things just take aeons
longer than they should. The human species cannot survive
exploiting each other; non-human animals and the planet in the
way we are doing. Meat eaters probably contribute more damage
to the environment than any other single cause, and of course
by meat I include fish – pollution, soil erosion and salinity,
damage to the ozone layer, removal of trees and damage to
waterways. The inequity of so-called Third World countries
growing plant food to feed animals to be consumed by First
World countries and pay off debts while the people of that
country starve is horrifying. The Earth has enough food to
sustain everyone but consumption of meat is unavoidably cruel
and incredibly wasteful of resources. The lies and propaganda
put out by the meat and dairy industries of "eat this or die
or get very sick" are convincing and slick and very expensive.
The true message though of "eat this and you will die or get
very sick" is becoming louder. |
| June: |
What sort of things do you like to devour? |
| Lynda: |
I enjoy food, Thai, Indian, Italian, African ..... during
winter I devour soups and breads and in summer salads and
fruit. |
| June: |
Are you a good cook? |
| Lynda: |
After "How are you?" the most asked question in our house
is, "What's for dinner Mum?" followed quickly by, "how soon
will it be ready?" I don't take it as acceptance of a
stereotyped role that the question is posed to me, fact is I
enjoy cooking. There are workaday things I cook when pressed
for time and then the fun stuff when there's more freedom. My
Son is a capable cook who just loses his cooking ability if
I'm in the house, even 2-minute noodles become curiously
difficult. |
| June: |
In your opinion what's the best and worst country for
finding good vegetarian cuisine? |
| Lynda: |
Well, I can tell you that Mali in Western Africa out in
the desert is a challenge to vegetarians and touring country
towns in Australia used to be but it's changing. |
| June: |
I KNOW you've always taken a lot of flak for your beliefs,
and probably lost a fair amount of acting work because of
them, so over the years have you come to terms with people's
ignorance or are you bitter and twisted and out for
blood?!! |
| Lynda: |
I am as passionate about the rights of non-human animals
as I ever was but I think my way of doing things is different.
Sure sometimes I still "lose it" but most times I tend,
hopefully, to be more constructive about getting the message
out. And please, any sanctimonious, holier-than-thou,
I'm-better-than-you-Vegans – stay away!!!!! That kind of
fundamentalist holy-roller exclusiveness just alienates people
from our cause. People's awareness comes from informed
discussion not from being heckled or told they're not good
enough to play in your sandpit. We need for the sake of
non-human animals to encourage people not send them running.
|
| June: |
What are your feelings about zoos, circuses with animals,
and rodeos? |
| Lynda: |
Zoos, circuses with animals, rodeos, bear baiting, fox
hunting, bull fighting, cock fighting, horse racing, greyhound
racing ..... has there ever been any justification for cruelty
and loss of behavioural needs so the human animal can exploit,
profit from and gawk at another species? I don't believe
so. |
| June: |
Hens in battery cages, pigs in cramped stalls, cattle
feedlots ... I can feel your ire rising from here Lynda ....
can I have your thoughts here please? |
| Lynda: |
 "Intensive "farming" of animals is an abomination.
To mutilate another species, to prevent it from its most basic
comforts, to alter and cause it minute-by-minute physical and
mental trauma and suffering so that it fits the system not the
other way round is unmitigated human savagery. It beggars the
thinking that humans are an evolving species that profit is
put before compassion and consideration. And I am so tired of
the "empirical evidence" that one learned person after another
gets letters after their names from proving: that the system
is cruel. To what degree or more is not relevant. It is cruel.
End of story. And if consumers stopped propping up these
industries it would be the end of the most tyrannical abuse of
animals in the history of humankind. And ingesting second-hand
antibiotics is backfiring? And "Mad Cow" disease came about
from shovelling chicken shit and offal into a vegetarian
species? And humans whose teeth and intestinal tracts and
stomach acids and skin pores and hands and salivary glands are
so different from carnivores are dying as never before from
meat-related cancers and disease? How unsurprising. |
| June: |
Is there one area of animal exploitation that you find
particularly disturbing? |
| Lynda: |
I am disturbed that most people still view fish as not
being sentient and therefore needing no consideration. For a
fish to die out of water is no less agonising than for us to
drown, it is the same process. The nerve endings in the mouth
of a fish are similar to ours so fisherpeople might like to
imagine a hook being shoved through their own mouths to try to
empathise with their "sport." I am disturbed that wild catches
of fish have increased to nearly 100 million tons per year
decimating fish populations and that approximately 1 in 5 fish
consumed today have come from intensive fish "farms" which are
terribly cruel and polluting. The horror of vivisection is
beyond my ability to describe. At least progress is being made
there though in vet schools thanks to the courage of people
like Andrew Knight and Lucy Fish. People are questioning the
"necessity" of medical experiments on animals and indeed are
learning that medical progress has been retarded by this cruel
and historically shameful practice. |
| June: |
Do you know of many other vegetarian/vegan actors? |
| Lynda: |
The first vegetarian actor I met was Gerard Kennedy, he
didn't even wear leather "back then." I thought he was one of
the coolest people in the world. A great actor, a gently
spoken man, nobody messed with Gerard and I never heard him
raise his voice, he didn't have to. He just invoked respect.
He'd hear me ranting and raving in Crawford's canteen about
animal rights and smile, he just was. Judy McBurney, my very
dear friend from "Young Doctors" has been vegetarian for
longer than anyone I know. |
| June: |
Wow – I have always loved Gerard Kennedy and Judy
McBurney. I'm impressed! |
| June: |
You look pretty damn good to me but how have you felt
since you became a vego? |
| Lynda: |
I feel even better since I've been vegan! Cholesterol
plummeted to healthy. I've never been plagued by colds and flu
no matter how many bugs are sneezed on me. |
| June: |
Did you have to encourage your partner (top Aussie actor
Peter Sumner – he was in Star Wars you know!) or your son Luke
to eat a vegetarian diet? |
| Lynda: |
When I met Peter he was "almost vegetarian." I took him to
see Victor Schonfeld's "The Animals Film" a couple of weeks
before we got married and he staggered out and never ate meat
again. He bought Chinese cloth slippers to get married in.
He's always been incredibly supportive of fighting for
non-human animals and is currently Vice President of Animal
Liberation NSW. Luke was conceived as vegetarian and breast
fed and nurtured on vegetarian food despite all the alarmist
warnings from well-intentioned people, "it's alright for you
but your child needs proper nutrition." And he got it – from
not eating other species. He makes his own food choices now
and checks the labels of everything to ensure there is no
animal content. |
| June: |
Do you take vitamin supplements? |
| Lynda: |
Whether it's placebo or not I take a handful of garlic
every single night! My personal belief is that garlic is a
cure-all and preventative for most things. Works for me. |
| June: |
Could you tell me about your pets please Lynda? |
| Lynda: |
 OK here we come to a delicate place. Lobo my
beautiful dog has his head literally in my lap at this moment
and is encouraging me to take him for a walk. I don't need to
look into Lobo's eyes to understand that non-human animals
have memory and comprehension but his eyes kick my soul. There
is no difference looking into his eyes or those of a
restrained pig in a factory or a chicken in a cage. He
remembers and comprehends and has likes and dislikes as do all
species. But I will not have another companion animal when I
no longer have the joy of Lobo. Needless to say we revolve
around him. He sleeps on Luke's bed leaving little room for
Luke but he'd rather that than not have Lobo with him. But
when the awful day comes that Lobo is no longer with us, I
won't have another animal. I know I am at odds with many
people but it's my own evolution. I don't believe that a truly
carnivorous animal such as Lobo should be made to be
vegetarian to accommodate my ethics and make me feel warm
inside. He eats vegetables and grains but his diet is meat. I
don't have the courage to go into a butchers, haven't for 23
years, Peter does the dirty deed. And therein lies the
conundrum. How can I justify the death of other animals to
feed my own pampered Chosen One? I can't any longer. And not
having a dog in the family will be harder than any other
changes I've made since I've been in the movement but it is
one I will do. People argue that as long as animals are killed
for humans then companion animals may as well be fed from the
same source. To me it's a bit like saying, "I'll wear leather
because it's a by-product of the meat industry," it's still
providing a market for death. But that's just my personal
opinion, it is not the view of Animal Liberation.
I am not prepared to go out and feed up another animal or
bird with the intent of using that animal's life to feed Lobo.
Nor am I prepared to kill that animal or fowl when it's big
enough to be eaten. So then, how can I expect another person
to take that responsibility and commit an act of slaughter
when I find it repugnant? And continue to fight against
exploitation of farm animals and slaughter houses. I can't.
While Lobo is with me I acknowledge that I have a
responsibility for the deaths of animals that he is consuming
because he is a carnivore but in the future I don't want to
participate in any way in the suffering and death of any
animal. |
| June: |
How many animal rights protests do you think you've
attended/organised over the years?? |
| Lynda: |
June I don't know any longer, literally hundreds. There
have been three arrests, the first at the ghastly Keating
piggery*, two others at "battery hen" factories. The rest is a
blur of wonderful, committed people all fighting for a single
cause, to stop the exploitation of non-human animals.
* Editorial Note: the "Keating piggery" was an intensive
piggery that was partly owned by the then Prime Minister Paul
Keating. Pressure and actions by Animal Liberation
significantly improved the conditions of the pigs including
the removal of hard-metal collars that kept the sows chained
by the neck in the metal stalls. |
| June: |
You must have influenced so many people over the years
towards a cruelty-free lifestyle ..... but for the
still-uninitiated (!) what finally would you like people to
know about vegetarianism and animal rights? |
| Lynda: |
If Einstein can be quoted by all manner of people in areas
to suit them, why do they not take up the great man's edict,
"It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living, by its
purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most
beneficially influence the lot of mankind." In this as in so
many things he still has much to teach. Non-human animals do
not belong to us, we should not have ownership over any other
life. It is grotesque to consider "owning" another human life
or forcing that life into subservience for our own ends. Why
then with the abundance and choices available to most of us do
we still collude with exploiters? Until we nurture our young
and provide them with love, confidence and empathy the damage
we do to our own and to other species will continue. The
optimism I feel though comes from younger people, the amount
of young people coming into the movement as vegans and people
from all walks of life who despise exploitation of non-human
animals and are extending that consideration to other humans.
Now that's evolution! |
| June: |
Thank you, thank you, thank you Lynda! You truly are an
incredible person. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that at I've
always been in awe of you – so now's a good a time as
any! |
