June 09, 2021

59: "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views" - Lu Shegay - Institute of Animal Law of Asia - Sentientist Conversation

37 minutes

Lu (https://twitter.com/LuShegay) is an animal law attorney from Kazakhstan, now based in the USA. She is the co-founder and Managing Director of the Institute of Animal Law of Asia (https://www.ialasia.org/ and https://twitter.com/ianimallawasia).

In Sentientist Conversations we talk about the two most important questions: “what’s real?” & “what matters?” Sentientism is "evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings." The video of our conversation is here on YouTube.

We discuss:

0:00 Welcome

1:15 Lu's Intro - Animal law from Kazakhstan to the USA

2:07 What's Real?

- Kazakhstan as a secular country, with Islam and Christianity the main religions

- Being brought to Christianity by Lu's mother

- Learning about religion and realising "it's not real - god is not real"

- Believing "there's somebody above us but they're not like us"

- "I believe in the universe and I believe in science"

- Believing using facts and reason, but also believing there are some things that can't be explained

6:52 What Matters Morally?

- Morality can come from the heart. Listening to ourselves re: what feels right or wrong

- Having compassion & putting yourself in someone else's shoes

- As a child: loving animals but still eating animals

- Re-considering animal ethics while exploring animal law in Kazakhstan

- "The legal system doesn't work well in Kazakhstan even for humans" so many aren't ready for the animal law field

- Studying animal law in the USA and learning about animal suffering

- Dr Raj Reddy's class "changed my world" https://law.lclark.edu/live/profiles/7148-rajesh-reddy

- Going vegetarian

- Learning about what happens to male chicks in the egg industry. Giving up eggs

- Going vegan. "It came to me naturally that I was doing something wrong"

- Eating meat is central to culture in Kazakhstan but there are meat and dairy alternatives

- Family not understanding veganism. Questioning health and ethics

- "I've only met one other vegan in Kazakhstan"

- Biocentrism, ecocentrism and the interdependencies for sentients

- Loving space, but not understanding why governments spend so much more on exploring other planets rather than caring for ours and exploring our oceans

- Long-termism. Space colonisation

21:54 The Future

- Being realistic about moral scope expansion

- Raising awareness and educating people

- Recognising that different countries have very different contexts. Where there are serious human crises it's harder to prioritise non-human issues

- The non-human animal law agenda across Asia

- Does law follow culture and politics or can it lead and innovate as well?

- In many Asian countries politics & law don't respond to public opinion

- Some countries have animal laws but there is no enforcement (e.g. Kazakhstan animal cruelty legislation)

- Different animal law approaches (cruelty, personhood, farming/fishing)

- The EU and UK recognising the salience of animal sentience

- "I'm positive about our future... I experienced the rapid change in my own views".

Sentientism is “Evidence, reason & compassion for all sentient beings.” More at Sentientism.info. Join our "I'm a Sentientist" wall.

Everyone interested, Sentientist or not, is welcome in our groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sentientism.

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By Jamie Woodhouse

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