Building on the success of their 2007 animal rights benefit event at Horror Cafe, Uncaged has teamed up with Beauty Without Cruelty and the SA Vegan Society to host an all-day (starting at 12 noon) and night animal rights festival on the 4th of October at Roxy's in Melville, one of Joburg's most well-known live music venues.

Conceived as a 'protest within a party', Liberate aims to draw awareness to the unsustainable ways in which humanity exploits members of other species and the often unexpected moral and ecological crises that result from this, and to demonstrate to attendees ways of living in greater harmony with the planet and its inhabitants.

Speakers:
International guest speaker Dr. Steve Best (www.drstevebest.org) will be delivering a talk on the inseparability of animals rights, human rights and environmental responsibility; he will be supported by a number of prominent local activists, including Beryl Scott, Chairperson of Beauty Without Cruelty Michele Pickover, the author of Animal Rights in South Africa and Aragorn Eloff of the Vegan Society.

Films:
Liberate will host the African premiere of 'Meat the Truth', a gripping new documentary on the links between meat consumption and climate change. Best described as 'The Real Inconvenient Truth', this film is definitely not to be missed.

Other animal rights related films will be screened throughout the festival, including the Joaquin Phoenix-narrated 'Earthlings' and various shorts.

Party:
It's not all films and lectures though - a large number of rock, pop, alternative, folk and electronic bands have volunteered to play on the day, including The Gin, Hasten the Storm, One Mighty Atom, Owl, Scott Scot & Tryst. We've also got some awesome DJ's lined up.

Art:
Liberate will showcase a range of emerging creative talent, playing host to a dedicated exhibition space and several animal rights related performances.

Stalls:
Various members of the local animal rights / activist community will be hosting shops and info-stalls at Liberate, including Animal Rights Africa, BWC, FOR A & CLAW. Delicious and nutritious vegan meals will be served courtesy of the SA Vegan Society and a fully stocked licensed bar will be available throughout the day and night.

Charity:
Profits will be used by Beauty Without Cruelty to further their educational work and donated to various animal-related charities.

Details:
Address: Roxys - 1st Ave, Melville.
Entrance fee: R50 (includes access to all films, bands, etc.)
Time: 12PM till late.
More info: www.liberate.org.za
Contact details: Anne Van Vliet – 082 775 0711 / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Get involved:
If you feel passionate about the issues being explored at Liberate and would like to play live, exhibit some art, show a film, deliver a talk, host a stall or suggest another way in which you can be involved (even if it's sweeping up broken bottles at 4AM), please feel free to contact us - we'd love to hear from you!

After much designing, writing and technical tomfoolery we're delighted to present to you the brand new SA Vegan Society website!

A lot of effort has gone into ensuring that the new site is more informative and looks and works better than the old one did. For instance, there are now articles and FAQs on all things vegan, more usable forums, frequently updated news and even the ability to search the entire site for specific information. We're confident that the new site works pretty well - if you uncover any bugs though, or have any suggestions, we welcome them! Our site has been built using a dynamic content management system and is template-based, so any tweaks and changes are easy for us to implement.

PS: Unfortunately the old site was lost during the process of uploading the new one - while we will probably be able to retrieve all the posts from the old forums and a couple of the articles, those of you who were previously registered will have to register again. In fact though, this is probably for the best, as the old site was full of security holes and had thousands of spam-users registered, meaning sending out newsletters and administrating the site was a nightmare. So please register once more - we promise this new site is here to stay!

We hope you enjoy the new online home of veganism in South Africa and find everything you need to help you in your pursuit of a more ethical, saner lifestyle. Feel free to email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it whenever and for whatever you might need!