On Voice for the Voiceless

[Aaron Wissner]

https://www.facebook.com/aaron.wissner.9/posts/1624146144420217?__tn__=K-R

Voice for the Voiceless

In August, I was invited to the Animal Liberation Toronto conference and the Official Animal Rights March

My memories of Toronto are all good ones.

My parents drove us there when I was about 15, in 1985 or so, we could go to the Ontario Science Center, the CN Tower, and the Medieval times: the Science Center experience was the best I'd ever been to, the CN Tower the highest I'd ever been, and the Medieval Times the strangest, as we had to yell "Wench Nightshade! Get your duff over here!" in order to have more water to drink. She was pretty. I didn't order any meats.

At the top of the CN Tower, in the restaurant, that revolved, we had sat over an hour, watching the skyline slowly turn. The waiter was snooty. We wanted something basic. "We don't sell hott - daug's, the waiter with the French accent said". We were not dressed in nice clothes like the others. We were not rich, and barely middle class for that matter. After we had made it all the way around without being served as much as a glass of water, I knew, because I had a watch, and it revolved every 70 minutes, and it now was 72, my dad stood up, which cloth napkin in hand, held in aloft, and said "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" throwing down the napkins with a violent motion of his arm. I don't remember if we ate anything there. If we had, it wasn't memorable. I didn't know that was a quote, nor had I ever seen my father express such anger in public. He used a French accent. The entire restaurant cheered.

Later, in 2006 in October, we flew there, to enjoy a weekend in a city "filled" with vegan restaurants. I'd been vegan since 2002. I refused to buy animal products; and to visualize the exploitation that were the inevitable result of my purchases. The restaurants were wonderful, my wife was feeling ill, she was pregnant for the first time, it only had taken one night of loving sex after she'd went off the pill. I had no idea pregnancy could happen so instantly. My life was changed as I suddenly felt a excited love for the one that would be my first son. He is almost thirteen now. He's been vegan since before his conception.

A few years later, in September 2011, after attending the animal rights conference in Los Angeles, I saw that Marisa Miller Wolfson was premiering her Magnum Opus, the documentary Vegucated, at the same time as the Toronto Film Festival. I drove there alone, six hours, passing through Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Port Huron, Sarnia, London, Hamilton, and Mississauga to arrive in London. There was a vegan food festival in the downtown park, overlooking Lake Ontario to the south. I'd never seen so many vegan booths. It took me hours just to look at them all.

I could not find the premiere, and got lost, but eventually found it, and after watching, recorded the Q&A on my video camera, the audience was fascinated, I went out with Marisa's friend afterwards to a bar, powerful amazing women, and they reminded my sister Marissa W Grossenbach who is that way too. They were confused, "Why did you drive all the way here?" I answered, "Your film was so powerful, I had to see it again."

After I got home, I think I sent Marisa a $100 payment, to support her "Patreon", and she sent me a fresh new DVD, that is currently setting next to me on the floor, in a pile of nutrition books that I'm taking over to drop off at my doctor friends house this afternoon

I'd actually been there earlier that summer, now that I think about it. Steve Keen was teaching there at the university. I'd just finished attending my first vegan nutrition conference, "The Summerfest" it is called. Mostly conference, but also a gathering of the most loving community that I'm one with. Steve and I set a meeting. I asked him about money. He was extremely patient. A couple vegan friends put me up for the night for free. I contacted Henry Warwick, he seemed happy to share some city tips. At the border in Sarnia. I was stopped and detained. And asked why my trunk was filled with video camera gear. I'd taken it to the conference to volunteer to record the talks. I later gave them to the conference as a gift on a hard drive. My feeling of compassionate love broke free again after that trip. It was difficult to hold back after that. But I had to, because I taught in public schools, and compassionate love is not allowed in school, because men are not allowed to touch students, even when invited

Then in 2018 August, I took my family there, to Toronto. The boys loved it. We had just been to Niagara. I took them to the Ontario Science Centre, we ate at many vegan restaurants, on own way back from Montreal, they wanted to stop to go back to their favorite. I love that they are vegan. It is my best gift to them. Now, as adults, they will have a choice how to live, without as much guilt about their upbringing, before they saw this empire, for what it is

Finally, my most recent trip to Toronto, August 2019, I was invited to the Animal Liberation Toronto conference and the Official Animal Rights March. I offered to bring all my video gear. To be used to document the event. So others could learn from the teachings, in the future. It is my activism. To use this skill and equipment of mind. To amplify the message, and be in solidarity with those who love the world. The movement is mostly women. Beautiful, powerful women. Women connected with their maternal love unleashed, what is called compassionate love, when it has no focus, but is an unleashed drive for giving

I arrived first at the university, and set up all the cameras, and found out where the parking was, and how to get the lights on in a couple of the rooms, and welcomed the organizers. They asked me if I was "staff". I laughed aloud and said. No, I was just their to help. Let me know what they needed. I was at their service. I was grateful that they welcomed me, and invited me in

Two days later, the March. It was raining. I walked from the hostel. It took about half an hour. I got lost on the way. I was one of the first in the park. The organizers were putting up the free vegan food tent. I offered my help. And wondered how many would arrive. There were less than 100 when I arrived

But they did arrive. Mostly women, but many, many others who felt that freedom being constrained, is an atrocity against life. It is a subset of the spread, of unleashed compassionate love, which drives all "movements" for social justice and peace

It was time for the impromptu conference. The young female organizer passed around the mike to anyone wanting to offer a session. I wanted to attend. Only one was offered by a women. I joined that one of course. I had not interested in being told things by yet another man, no matter how loving they can be. The session was small, a circle of a dozen, sitting on overturned buckets, which were later made into drums, to play in the impromptu band in the march.

The session was about how compassionate love is crushed by this empire of fear

Then the organizing of the march. Everyone pick up their signs. The maps were distributed. It was about 10,000 people by then. It took me 5-minutes just to walk to the back of the line, and another 5 to walk back to the front. The mike was available. Those with histories of leadership were invited to share words of unity and strength, as many had never been part of the march of love before. It is so rarely visible

The police officer was baffled. He said the march could not go on. The organizer explained that she'd personally contacted the department any number of times over the preceding month. So that they could prepare to close the street, and to direct traffic and keep the marchers safe. I recorded the conversation on my phone and stood back and listened. The is how a man supports one he loves. I would have jumped in if he had lashed out. But she had it covered. Her friends were at her shoulders. He said the paperwork must have been last. She said that was their problem, and that he ought better call in all of his on duty friends, because Torontoers get rather miffed when they can't drive their cars down the streets, and it was going to take at least ten minutes, for the march to cross each intersection. She handed him the colored Google Maps printout. Showing him the route and the turns, and the endpoint at the a building of exploitation, where the demo would take place. She also told him that they would be leaving at set certain time, so his friends better hurry

When she was done, she thanked him for his service, and went back among the people, to make sure the lead pickup truck had the amplification all set up

I checked in with my friends, who had been handed the lead banner. It said "Join the Animal Rights Movement" with white letters on black. I which it had said, "Unleash Your Compassionate Love Again", but this was not my march, I was only there to serve. I took my own agency. And stood on the pickup truck, not on the roof of the cab which would have dented it, but on the bed rails just near the cab, and behind the loudspeakers. I used my phone to take hundreds of pictures. I used my video camera set on continuous record, to then walk all the way to the back of the line, going right down the center of the heard, and turning around and going back to the truck. The police were protecting us, and holding back the traffic. I smiled at them and thanked the ones that smiled back. As I walked back to the lead.

A rainstorm flooded the street in a sudden blast. I ducked into a doorway to save my camera from destruction. I made my way with my friends to a vegan restaurant for lunch. The march continued to the destination. The demos was successful. The shop of exploitation and locus of suffering in the city, was called out and shut down for the day, by the inability of the workers to get in or get out. The press covered it of course. They explained how a window was broken by a small demo of angry animal activists in a 60-second news segment on one local station. The women were not deterred. Their is no deterring compassionate love.

On our way back to the restaurant. We spotted another demo. I was curious and asked if my friends could wait. On turned my phone on to record and crossed the street. It was the line of freedom vs tyranny for Hong Kong, apparently there were issues there, I had not been attending to that. I found myself on one side, I wasn't sure. I walked around past the line of police. I trying to understand what was going on. I tried passing back to the other side of the line of police. They gently pushed me back and told me to stay on my side. I didn't know I had a side, so I walked around the end of the police lines, back to the other side, and back to my friends, to tell them what was going on, and reflecting that this much smaller rally, would probably headline the local news, because three were two sides, and conflicts is always more interesting to empire

There is no conflict between compassionate love and empire, since empire is the system itself, and the few who benefit from it the most, are having paid sex with our daughters and sons, our sisters and brothers, in their Florida Mansions, and Mega Yachts, and Penthouse Apartments, and as long as we stay divided between us, divided into "movements" and "parties", there is nothing to worry about, so they just tell their servants to get some more food for them, and go about exploiting the world, by their apathy for us, and desire for self-satisfaction

I had to leave before the end of the conference. I collected my cameras, and packed up my car, and thanked them for such a wonderfully cleverly organized event. They'd done a dozen different actions, each one decided in advance. From lie downs on the street, to witnessing atrocities, to Cubes of Truth, to blockading the home of one of the imperialists

I gave hugs were I was invited to, and drove home to Michigan, and put all the recordings on a hard drive, and sent them to another who had volunteered to make good use of them for the movement

In reflecting on the current events of today, June 1, 2020, I invite the men of the world to support the mothers of the world, and all those who stand with them. I encourage the men, to keep watch for threats of violence, and the most powerful way to do that, is to wear your own head mounted camera, that is broadcasting live to Facebook and/or YouTube. Make sure your batteries are charged in advance. Bring along a power bank or two, just like I did in Toronto, in fact, I brought two. I couldn't stream because I had a US phone on a Canadian network, and data was like 50 cents per MegaByte

Of course most people, don't have head mounted equipment, so just do like everyone did during the "Arab Spring" and use yours phones as our window into reality. The more angles uncut, the more reality we can see. Keep an eye out for disruptors, people trying to incite violence, and keep the camera on them broadcasting, and don't stop till they leave. And keep the camera on the women speaking, and any who are invited to speak, and play your role as the watchful and alert sentry, to any threats, and sound the alarm, and step in front, and die if necessary, to protect the power of compassionate love

Truth is Power but ONLY if Shared

Love is Unlimited but ONLY if Freed

Freedom is Unbounded but ONLY in Community

We are One

https://www.facebook.com/aaron.wissner.9/posts/1622578994576932

You are invited to share this as you wish, with all of your groups, and your friends. I do believe it works best when read in its entirety, so I declare it and gift it to the Creative Commons, Share-Alike, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives (excerpts are okay, Aaron's Voice for the Voiceless post on Facebook as attribution), Attribution not really necessary, I stand only on the shoulders of the women in my life, and the men who loved them, and so this is really their story, and the story of the return of compassionate love, to our hearts and souls. I wish I had more time to do more. And I wish my left hand would stop stinging as I type. Sometimes pain is necessary to be true to oneself. I love you all.

Aaron Wayne Wissner  |  269-487-6952  |  11355 Rita Dr, Middleville, MI 49333-8911

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