Vegan Activist Inbar Schütte-Perez

Inbar Schütte-Perez is very well-known in the vegan community of Hamburg. Among many other events, the vegan activist was the founder and organiser of Anonymous For The Voiceless Hamburg, and organised the so-called "cubes of truth". Recently she has a new project. In my interview I talked to her about it - among some other things.

Anne: Hello Inbar! Thank you very much for taking the time for this interview! How are you doing? You have quite a lot to do: Job, family and your activism. How does your day look like today?

Inbar: Hey Anne, thanks for the opportunity! I never thought someone would interview me about my activism and this is already the second time I am doing it!

My day consists of taking care of two super active, cute, funny, and handful little kids of five and a half and three years.

Besides being a full-time mom, I dedicate endless time to activism. Every demo and event that we have, has a profound planning process in the back.

Nowadays I am involved in a new project: We (I am part of a wonderful team!) are building a new street activism organisation that will revolutionise the way we do what we do. We put our hearts and souls into this project - and many hours.

For living, I work in Germany's first vegan cooking school, the beautiful "Kurkuma" cooking school in Eimsbüttel. I work there for years already and offer the Israeli Cooking Evening¹. They are super popular, and I am very proud and honored to be working there.

Anne: In Hamburg you are known as a very active vegan activist. How long have you been living vegan now?

"Not going vegan earlier - one of my biggest regrets"

Inbar: I am vegan for more than ten years already. I went vegan after being vegetarian for 20 years and one of my biggest regrets in life is not going vegan earlier.

Anne: This is something we have in common. I feel the same way about that. What came first - activism or the change to your vegan life?

Inbar: I guess it depends on what you call activism. I did volunteer with homeless people before going vegan at Hamburg's Mitternachtsbus². It was one of those very hard and very fulfilling activities.

I had to stop with the Mitternachtsbus once I became pregnant. When the time was right I knew I wanted to do a different kind of activism, and knew it has to be with animal rights.

Anne: Did you have a special role model when you became vegan?

"Israel's leading activist Tal Gilboa inspired me"

Inbar: Not really. I went vegan before the recent wave of veganism with its videos, movies, and inspiring figures. It was the step I needed to take and I finally took it. I did get inspired to go into activism by Tal Gilboa, Israel's leading activist. Tal is a friend of mine and I kept seeing her activism posts and felt the fire to do something as well. She inspired me to become active!

Anne: Today you are an inspiring figure yourself! Does your whole family live vegan?

Inbar: Yes! My kids are vegan from birth (or pregnancy, or forever!), my husband is vegan by default and even our cat is vegan!

Anne: What makes Hamburg so special in terms of the vegan community in the city?

Inbar: I didn't know much about activism in Hamburg before I started Anonymous For The Voiceless Hamburg, so I can only judge by this experience and based on my group.

Hamburg has a wonderful community of activists. Our group is diverse, hardworking and dedicated. We have a family/tribe like feeling, welcoming and non-toxic atmosphere. We created a healthy and sustainable culture, which is especially important for animal rights activists. Every time we are having guests in our events, they tell us how special our group is. How friendly, supportive and loving.

Anne: At the events you organise, you manage to connect an incredible number of people and inspire them for the good cause. Have you always been a communicative person?

Inbar: Pretty much all my life, yes. I was a teacher, and I am a tour guide. I always worked with people and I love them very much. Also, I am like an organisational wizard - super meticulous and sometimes excessively detail-oriented! I guess it is the perfect combination for a successful group!

"This amazing people always have my back"

It is important to mention, that everything I do is possible because I have a group of amazing people who always have my back. We work together on most of the events and I know I can trust them 100 percent. That's another unique aspect of my group here in Hamburg – it can function perfectly even without me!

Anne: For a long time you organised the cubes of truth in Hamburg on behalf of Anonymous For The Voiceless - with great success. Recently, the Cubes of truth in Hamburg are taking place under a different name. You also founded the new group "Active Vegans Hamburg”. When (and why) did you decide to do so?

Inbar: This story is so long - I can write a book about it, it's also very boring so maybe I'll better not write about it!

Anonymous For The Voiceless was my home for a long time. I started Anonymous For The Voiceless Hamburg in winter 2017 and created one of the most successful, diverse, and biggest chapters ever! I was very proud to be part of Anonymous For The Voiceless and very loyal to the organisation.

"We need to be able to discuss things"

First, it is important for me to emphasise that talking about reasons to leave a group (any group) is, in my opinion, crucial for the development of the Animal Rights movement. We need to be able to discuss negative things within the movement without being afraid to be accused of nonsense.

Too many good people left Anonymous For The Voiceless without saying why. They were afraid to be seen as contributing to drama and infighting or lingering in negativity. For me, honesty and transparency are more important and therefore I didn't think for a second to hide my reasons.

It's also important to say that not being an organiser for Anonymous For The Voiceless anymore didn't mean much. I am still an organiser, still an activist, still in touch with the many friends I made via AV, organisers and volunteers alike. I love them very much!

"We left Anonymous For The Voiceless As A Group"

As I stated in my exit post, I left because Anonymous For The Voiceless's leadership left me no choice. They crossed lines that I couldn't ignore anymore (and believe me I've ignored way too many things before). I felt that I could no longer represent the organisation. Also, we (because it is not just about my experience) had the notion that Anonymous For The Voiceless is going in a direction which is exactly the opposite of what we built and represent here in Hamburg, so we left as a group in January.

The new Active Vegans Hamburg group was created as a backup group – we started it to be able to have freedom of action in all our other events and it was a very smart idea as now it is our main group.

The Active Vegans Hamburg are continuing with street activism in almost the same form as Anonymous For The Voiceless. You need to realise that we never had issues with how we conduct the demos. We love that form, and we think it's working well. So we decided to continue what we do best. We made small changes but overall we are still outreaching weekly in behalf of animal liberation - just as we did before.

Anne: What do I need to do, if I want to be part of a Cube?

"Just press 'going'!"

Inbar: It's pretty simple: Press "going" on the event on Facebook, and read the description!

We have some specific guidelines and it's always recommended to read about it a bit before joining! We want to make sure that people know in advance what they are joining and what we believe in. Other than that no special preparations are needed! New volunteers are usually standing in the Cube/structure with a screen or a sign, and then shadowing an experienced activist. We want people to see and learn how we do what we do. We want them to feel comfortable doing what we do – therefore we give new volunteers some time to learn and observe, before they start outreaching.

Anne: Talking about outreaching. What exactly happens at a Cube? What are the goals?

"We are showing the standards in the dairy, meat and egg industry"

Inbar: The demo has two parts: the structure itself (the Cube) and the outreach. Inside the Cube, people are standing in a static position, wearing a mask, holding a sign, or a screen that is showing videos of animal abuse. Our videos are not the hardcore ones - they are showing the standards in the meat, dairy, and egg industry. We also have local videos from SOKO Tierschutz and small "family like farms" around Hamburg.

The people who aren't in the Cube are engaged in what we call "outreach". We start a conversation with those who stop and watch the video. A friendly, professional, and knowledgeable (at least from our side) dialogue about what we see and how it can be stopped.

My group is CEVA and AVO certified (Center for effective vegan advocacy & amazing vegan outreach). We pride ourselves on the ability to have difficult and challenging talks effectively and respectfully way.

"Listening to people is very important"

We actively listen to the people we speak with, we aren't there to lecture them or make them feel that we are better than them - we are there to look them in the eyes, tell them that we were once in their shoes. Answering their questions and helping them in every possible way to understand that what we see on the screens is wrong and needs to stop immediately is what we do. We hope that people leave our demo realising, that stopping the torture, abuse and killing, is in their hands and that they will continue looking into the topic, and we are hoping that they will go vegan.

Anne: How do the new independent Cubes differ from the Anonymous For The Voiceless Cubes?

Inbar: Well, we don't wear our Anonymous For The Voiceless gear anymore. That's the biggest change! We are not obligated and committed to following the Anonymous For The Voiceless line of conduct and I guess it lifted heavy weight from many of us.

"We are showing local footage"

At the moment we hand different cards to people than those we had with Anonymous For The Voiceless. We are proudly showing local footage, which was not allowed with Anonymous For The Voiceless (But we did it anyway).

Once the new organisation that I mentioned before will be launched (in May!), many things will change. Mainly our ability to measure our impact, not just count how many people got cards, but how many people used it.

Anne: Are you also active in other cities besides Hamburg?

Inbar: Not really. I've been to a few demos and events in other cities, but my main focus is here in Hamburg. As our group is connected with many other groups, like in Bremen and Hannover, we did some demos there as well.

Anne: What should every vegan do to make veganism more popular?

"All vegans should be active"

Inbar: I don't know if "popular" is the right term here, but we need more animal rights activists. Even here in Hamburg, where we have a relatively big group, and I cannot complain about not having enough volunteers. Even here we are always talking about how important it is for us to encourage and inspire vegans to become active. Just like every vegan is regretting not going vegan earlier, every vegan activist is regretting not going active earlier, and we make sure to tell that to the vegans we meet. We do believe that the more we are, the more people we can reach. We need to be massive, if we want our impact to be massive.

So let me use this interview to call every non-active vegan out there: Go out and do something! Find the activism that resonates with you! Preferably our demos (smiles). Do it. The animals need us! Many of us!

Anne: Someone tells you that they would like to be vegan for life, but they don't think they can do it and/or they keep on pretending, that they don't like vegan food. How do you convince him*her?

Inbar: Listen, if someone puts the taste of vegan food as a reason not to go vegan then this person is not ready for life of compassion and love. Veganism isn't just about what you eat. It is the way we live, life that exclude animal suffering. There is a victim in the picture, so our taste buds aren't really a factor here.

"Vegan food is based on food basics"

However, as a vegan cook, when people tell me that they don't like vegan food I try to understand which food they tried and what is it that they don't like. Fries and apples are vegan. So is popcorn. And watermelon. Not liking vegan food is a statement that's too broad and general.

Vegan food is based on food basics: rice, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, pasta, veggies, fruits, herbs. If someone failed in creating delicious food from those basics than the problem is not the food.

"We miss nothing"

In addition, it's 2020. The amount of processed vegan food and substitutes goes beyond every vegan's dream. We live in an era of vegan luxury products. And believe me, I know how it is not to have vegan cheese in every supermarket. From cream cheese to parmesan, from salami to bratwurst, from excellent vegan burgers (the hype is real) to vegan pizza. There is vegan Magnum for crying out loud. We miss nothing. Absolutely nothing.

This excuse is one of those "funny” excuses. As meat is not usually eaten plain, just like that. Spices, herbs, veggies, sauces etc. are usually involved. So the same with vegan food.

"Instagram can be very inspiring"

If someone sees vegan cooking as challenging they should come to my cooking evenings at Kurkuma! For more food inspirations I recommend Instagram. There is amazing world of vegan food out there!

Anne: Is there a reason why everyone should go vegan today?

Inbar: The only reason for me is the animals. Yes, it is also amazing that we can save the planet and be healthier as vegans, but the main cause is ethical. What we do to more than 65 billion farmed animals, what we do to trillions of fish and other marine animals, EVERY YEAR, is humanity's biggest crime. We are abusing, using, torturing and killing animals. Just to fulfill needs that aren't necessary. This is morally wrong. Every single thing that involves animal products involves violence, as those products cannot be made without violence. This needs to stop. Now.

Demos every Saturdays

Anne: What are your next steps? What is next on the agenda for you and for "Active Vegans Hamburg”?

Inbar: Well, we have our regular weekly demos, almost every Saturday. We are also famous for our "off demo" events, like social events, workshops, training, movie screening, lectures, and many more. Our next workshop is on March 21st*, an introduction to Street Activism.

We are also going to host the second Worldwide Vegan Chalking Night in May like we did last year. In the summer I am hoping to host a non-violent communication (NVC) workshop. We are always eager to learn and evolve as humans and especially as activists!

"I'm super excited about the new organisation"

The biggest item on the agenda is the pilot for the new organisation, also sometime in May. I am super excited about this one!

Anne: What was the biggest milestone for you so far concerning animal rights activism?

Inbar: Hm, I am not sure! Everything I did for the first time as an activist was a wow-moment for me. My first Cube in Berlin 2017 was my first step into activism and Anonymous For The Voiceless.

"We hosted Earthling Ed and Dr. Melanie Joy in Hamburg"

My first Cube as an organiser here in Hamburg in winter 2018. The first workshop I organised and all the workshops that followed. Leading the Anonymous For The Voiceless block at the Animal Rights March in Berlin last year. Hosting Dr. Melanie Joy, and Earthling Ed a few months ago. All those things contributed to my experience. I see them as personal achievements. I learned from them and use them as inspiration to do more, organise more and create more.

But maybe the biggest milestone was to realise, that I have a big part in building a community here in Hamburg. A community that is based on support, understanding, healthy communication, dedication, and love. Oh, and hugs. We hug a lot.

Anne: Thank you very much for the exciting interview! See you at the next event!

Inbar: Thank you, Anne!

*Note: Due to the ongoing Corona Crisis the workshop on March, 21st is cancelled for prevention reasons.