Hello everyone, my name is Ryan and you are listening to The Vegan Report.
As you might know, Captain Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd and the Paul Watson Foundation,
has been arrested in July of this year by Denmark's authorities. And this podcast is your chance
to learn more about what's happening since we are talking to someone who is in close contact to Paul,
Representative David Michel. David Michel is an American politician who is a member of the
Connecticut House of Representatives from the 146th district in Fairfield County. In addition to
talking about Paul Watson's wrongful detention, in the second part of our conversation we delved
into the world of American politics. And you don't want to miss that because David shares with me
these unbelievable stories that clearly demonstrate how awfully dysfunctional the
political system is. David, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having accepted
my invitation. Welcome to The Vegan Report. Thank you, Ryan, for your invitation. I'm honored and
looking forward to have a fruitful discussion. Wonderful. So, David, I want to start by talking
about Captain Watson. And I know that you have been an activist with Sea Shepherd for years now.
And I want to get your opinion on what's happening. And maybe you could give us
a little bit of a behind the scene of what's going on with this arrest of Captain Paul Watson. But
before that, for people who don't know what's happening, let me just read a passage of an
article from the Japanese Times. So, it reads, this year Japan launched a new factory ship to
process whales caught and expended its catch list to include fin whales, the world's second largest
animal deemed vulnerable by the International Union of Conservation of Nature. Watson's new
organization, the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, says that its vessel was on its way to intercept
the factory ship, the Kangaimaru. Then Watson was arrested in Greenland's capital, Nook.
In mid-September, Watson's lawyers contacted the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders,
saying that he risked being subjected to inhuman treatment in Japanese prisons. So, basically,
Japan wants to have Watson in their prison and judge him on Japanese soil. The lawyers have
argued that Japan's extradition request is based on false claims and say they have supporting video
evidence. And then some new developments this Wednesday. So, we're recording this on Friday.
The Nook Court has refused to view the footage, arguing that the hearings so far, including one
this week, extending Watson's detention until October 23, are solely about his detention
and not the question of guilt. So, I'll give you the mic, David.
Thank you, Rohan. It's an important subject, obviously. So, yeah, I've been a
campany, a volunteer and campany for, I think, maybe 15 years, maybe more than 15 years. I'm
not sure. I don't count. I count my vegan years. I'm about 10 years vegan now. Close.
Yeah. So, first in the media and also in the blogs, you could see that the Kenge Maru is the new
Death Star, the new factory, whale factory ship that Japan has just built. And the idea,
of course, with the John Pond DeGioria vessel from the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, the Neptune's
Pirates, was the idea is to refuel in Nook, Greenland, and then go through the strait in
the north and then fall back down to the Pacific Ocean and meet the Kenge Maru while it does its
whale. And of course, try to interfere as it's illegal whaling. It's not for research.
It's for business. It's for food. And... Because that's...
Yes, that's what they say. They say they're doing this for research.
Yeah. And we know that it's not true. And even their activities, which pulls back to the Interpol
Red Notice in 2010, 2011, 2012, all their activities in the southern ocean in the whale sanctuary
were deemed illegal by the International Whaling Commission, I believe in 2014,
and addressed what was happening before. Now, the Interpol notice is for sending Paul...
I'm missing the word right now. Extraditing.
Extraditing Paul to Japan is based on truly on him ridiculing Japan and by trying to uphold
international law where nobody else is upholding international law and fighting against and
interfering with these illegal activities. Now, there's also the idea that somebody got wounded,
like a Japanese sailor, or got burnt by a Sting Bomb. A Sting Bomb doesn't burn.
We have footage of the Sting Bomb landing on a deck with no one on the deck, where no one can be
seen. And we also have footage of a Japanese sailor with the big equipment shooting something in his
back and shooting pepper gas at the Sea Shepherd vessels against the wind and literally coming
back in your face. And I believe that pepper gas will burn your face. If it's liquid in liquid form
and hitting your skin, you're definitely going to have a problem with that. And so that footage is
being refused and dismissed by the judge and prosecutor currently. Now, it's not Japan that
really got him arrested. First, I consider Interpol part of the reason of this. They shouldn't have
such a false pretense of a red notice. Red notices are for terrorists, people who kill people,
violent people, dangerous and violent people. And Pol is not that. And so there's a problem with the
use of the Interpol's red notice. That's a problem. And I think Interpol there is responsible in some
part for what's happening to Pol, which is, I truly see this as injustice. But let's also bring back
the issue to the Danish territories. We found out a couple of weeks ago, and this is late in the game,
that the Faroes police who are Danish. So the Danish territories like Greenland and the Faroes
are part of the Danish territories. And the Danes or Denmark wants to keep those territories.
And for example, the Faroes voted, a majority of the Faroes is voted to be independent and Denmark
ignored it. It's a great geostrategical point area for Denmark, politically speaking. And so that's,
I think explains why the Danish Faroese police use their own boat and participate in the slaughter
of dolphins. They call it the slaughter of whale. Grinde drap means grain of the
slaughter of whales or killing of whales. The idea was the Faroese police called the Greenlandish
police to tell them, Hey, we know that the John Paul DeGioia with Paul Watson on board is going to
stop a nuke in Greenland to refuel. And that's also Danish police in Greenland. They're Danish
as well. Like the whole judicial system and the police and the service, they're basically
they're Danish living on those islands with the islands uniforms of the police. And so the Faroese
police, which is Danish called the Greenlandish police, which is Danish to tell them, you should
use the Interpol red notice to arrest Paul Watson. Now, why would the Faroes do that? Because we are
there every year in the Faroes, not only Captain Paul Watson Foundation, Sea Shepherd France,
and I'm sorry about that. And the rest of whoever was in the past involved like Sea Shepherd Global
in the US, they have very little presence there, actually, practically none, but they pretend that
they're there and use that for donations. I will not go into that too deeply because that's
another story. But we're present every year documenting dolphin slaughters. And so we're
present every year documenting dolphin slaughters. They prefer it to be called the slaughter of whales
because whale quote unquote is traditional food for them. But to kill dolphins, mass like a slaughter,
mass slaughter of dolphins, an entire gene pool, like a whole pod with engine boats,
revving their engines and scratching the dolphins and making a wall of sound just like in Taiji,
the cove, and to herd them into a beach. That's not what was done traditionally. They were
traditionally hunting from boats with no engines and with spears. That is far from what they're
doing now. So there's nothing traditional about what they're doing. There's nothing cultural
it's just a blood sport. So they hate the fact that we interfered with that. I believe it was
in 2014, Sea Shepherd France and then Sea Shepherd UK at the time. Sea Shepherd UK became Captain
Paul Watson Foundation UK, by the way, just making sure people understand that. Sea Shepherd France
remains Sea Shepherd France. And so they've always been present. And the only way of interfering
with it is really to have boats that counter the work of the other boats. That's pretty much the
only way. A year ago, the John Paul DeGioria did breach their borders. And there was a court case.
I was at that court just as a witness where they basically, it was like a kangaroo court,
like a farce, just like the other court of call right now in Greenland, where there was nobody
to defend themselves. And they just held the court and declared they were guilty. And that was it.
And most people that spoke were the police, which are Danish and the Faroese police. And they were
the ones putting the case up and everybody knew each other in the court. We did have,
I think, a decent lawyer from the Faroese. And so, but there were fines given to it,
attributed to Paul and to the crew of the ship for breaching international waters. Yet nobody
heard the defense that the reason why they did this is there was an emergency in accordance to
the maritime law. And there was going to be a slaughter of cetaceans, which is enough reason
in the eyes of the captain to breach Faroese waters and try to interfere in an emergency situation.
Could he make it on time or not? That's also debatable. Probably not. But at least he tried.
And they tried to make a presence there. So to bring also the eyes of the world on this issue.
So Paul now is in jail for over 70 days. He went to court on Wednesday, which was two days ago.
Again, the judge for the third time refused to see the evidence that exonerates him and said,
well, it's not even about that. It's about the accusations that are worth him staying in jail
and being extradited. Now, what a lot of people are not saying is that in order for him to be
extradited, first, this would have to go down to Denmark first and go to their, I guess, Supreme
Court, so-called, and also to the International Court of Justice. Because there is the idea that,
not the idea, the knowledge that Japan's judicial system is back from the medieval times and is
violations of human rights. And Paul would definitely be a dead man going into jail in Japan
because there's a price on his hand with the Yakuza and the Yakuza involved in the welding industry.
So this is the work pretty much of the Faroese with the help of Interpol, who's letting these
kind of an elective, I would call it a bullshit red notice. Sorry, this really bullshit red notice.
So already Interpol is involved in this and I think that they really should act better.
And then also with the help of Japan. But Japan and the Japanese red notice with Interpol
is really being acted upon because the Faroese called the Greenlanders. And that's what's going
on. And so Denmark, now where is Denmark? Denmark is a country that seems to believe in climate
change. Where is their understanding of real laws? Where is their position about human rights?
Normally they have good, by the way, Paul is treated differently than the other detainees.
I think there was a 60 minutes, there was a 60 minutes about jails in Greenland and how it's like
incredible. It's like a spa almost. But Paul doesn't get the treatment that other detainees get.
He has no access to internet, to computers. Not even, they don't even want to give him a typewriter
so he can answer to people writing to him. And if I remember correctly,
I heard on the Vakita news channel that I believe there were over 2000 letters that he had received.
And he's replying to another, he replied to my letter. I sent him my letter, my sort of report
of things going on through Lania, president of Sea Shepherd France, who was going to see him in jail.
So she printed it and he replied to me. And in his reply, he explained why his handwriting is
tough to read because his hand got injured by the handcuffs the day on his first court date.
And they tried to help him out of the van and his hands were stuck and that hurt his left hand and
he can't write the way that he normally writes. So, and it was difficult to read.
But I also think it was difficult to read because most people are not used to reading
but I also think it was difficult to read because most people are not used to read handwriting
anymore or not used to writing anymore. Even myself, I found when I write, my writing is
becoming worse and worse. So that's what's going on. I'm calling the judge and the prosecutor in
some way corrupt with a bias and not doing their due diligence because they're dismissing evidence
that dismisses the accusations of the Japanese. Although they're just also going, I believe they're
also using the boarding of the ship. But again, we had one of the members, which was, oh my god,
Pete Bethune, who actually went on the ship, boarded the Japanese ship, then ended up in
jail in Japan and they made him sign a document that was a lie. And then as soon as he was out of
jail, then he went to see lawyers and dismissed that he was forced to basically make that comment
in the Japanese jail system. And that the allegation was that Paul ordered the boarding of the ship.
Absolutely not. There was no premeditated action against that ship. There was just
reaction to actions from the Japanese. Big injustice. I think that it's important to write to
the Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. I think it's important to write to the young new
head of the Ministry of Justice in Denmark, whose name is Peter Hummelgaard, H-U-M-M-E-L-G-A-A-R-D.
And I think that these are the two key people to target with letters, emails, hashtags,
tagging them on posts and saying, what's going on? Why is Denmark doing this? And I've often mentioned
that this is becoming a huge carbon footprint for Denmark, the arrest of Paul Watson. Why is it a
footprint? Very simple. If you understand the science of the ocean and the role of the whales
in the ocean, they're the gardeners, right? The gardeners of the seas. These are Paul's words.
They'll never take them from him. The whales are the gardeners of the seas. They maintain the sea
forests. And the phytoplankton that benefits from the whales is basically the main carbon absorption
and oxygen production part of the ocean, and including the phytoplankton is the food for the
zooplankton. So it's the food for the baby fish and baby crustaceans. So without the whales,
you lose biodiversity and you lose carbon absorption and oxygen production. There's the
cruelty part. And then there's also the impact on the planet, which is people ask, why do you go in
the pharaohs? That's their thing. Why are you going to go there and tell them what to do? I said,
no, I'm just hoping that the pharaohs themselves realize what they're doing because it has an
impact on the whole planet. Citations are precious. They're part of the operators, again, Paul's words,
the operators of our life support system. Why am I using Paul's words to make you hear what Paul says?
And that's what he's about. He's not about hurting a Japanese cell. He's not about
war. He's about peace. He's about ending suffering and protecting sentient life. And he always
mentions the science because sometimes people don't care about protecting sentient life. And
then brings back also the science behind it. It's very simple. We're eating and we're killing
the operators of our life support system. So how much longer can our spaceship function,
spaceship Earth without its operators or the operators of the life support system?
So there we go. Of course, I wish all the best to Paul. It's very saddening. It's frustrating.
It causes anger. There's no questions. I want to say that the Danish are incredibly crazy, insane
to let this happen. And how can the Danish Ministry of Justice have such an obvious
dismissal of due diligence by a judge? And how can a prosecutor inflict a very different treatment
on Paul as a detainee than other detainees? Why does she have a word on what medication you can
have? I don't know if you read about it, but for a couple of weeks, they no longer want to take his
medication and they give their version of the medication and he has apparently it's not working
well for him. So Lamia showed up two days ago, or I'm sorry, three days ago, and to give him the new
meds and they refused the new meds. They refused anything she brought. So suddenly they're becoming
even more strict. He can't receive anything. He doesn't have access to a typewriter. He has,
I think, 20 minutes a week to speak to his kids and wife. I read 10 minutes. I mean, 10 minutes.
I mean, it's absurd. And regarding his medication, this is non-assistance to Personne au Norge in
France. That means non-assistance to somebody who is in danger in terms of health-wise and they're
not assisting him. So what? They're going to let him die in the jail in Greenland? The Danes are
insane. They should immediately stop this charade, this farce, this kangaroo court, this clown court.
It should end immediately. That's my personal thoughts. I'm not speaking on behalf of the Paul
Watson Foundation. I'm not speaking on behalf of Paul. I'm speaking on my own terms and also kind
of as an elected person, as a state representative, because as an elected official, that's one thing
you don't want to see is the judicial system being purposely biased, the judicial branch. So I'm
shocked at the Danes for letting this happen. It's in the Danish territories, but I think they also
don't want to cause a rebellion in the islands and then they don't want to lose those islands.
And so that's why they're assisting them in all of this stuff. And I think it's a tragedy and it's
making them look like a kind of a country that's actually not really down with climate, fighting
for fighting against climate change and protecting our climate, protecting people. If you don't care
about the one hero that's capable of leading a fleet to interfere with illegal activities
in international waters, which no other country does, you're going to allow him to be arrested
in your territories and accused on BS charges by criminals and he's the one in jail. That's a
serious problem with their judicial system. So I think a lot of tension should be put on the
Danish Ministry of Justice. Yes, my perception of Denmark has completely changed from this
story. It looks like a banana republic now from my point of view. It's crazy. Now you mentioned how
many people wrote to Captain Watson. I also read that the French president tried to influence this
outcome and talk on behalf of Paul Watson. So this is Emmanuel Macron. I also read that Brigitte
Bardot, the famous actress, the famous animal rights activist spoke on behalf of Paul Watson.
Then you have so many human rights organizations that are denouncing this treatment in addition to
environmental organizations. With all of that, are you optimistic?
Do you think that he will be freed or do you think that this is already, we don't know,
but the outcome has already been decided and he will end up being extradited to Japan?
I think there are too many steps until an extradition. I think a lot of the public
is not necessarily aware of, but again, I'm seeing a failed judicial system.
I think everybody was pretty convinced that there's no way they're going to extradite him
to Japan where he'll be a dead man, clearly, and because they violate human rights in their
judicial, in their prison system. But there was always the question of what are the Danes going to
do since he's an enemy of the pharaohs. Clearly, the pharaohs consider him an enemy and Greenland
as well because Greenland has the, they have the actual ability to will, they want to will.
I think it's worrying a lot of activists. I think it's a message. I tried to get US Congress involved.
Even Senator Blumenthal called me back on my phone a couple of times. I'm only a small state rep,
but he called me back under his jurisdiction. That's Senator Blumenthal in Connecticut.
Paul had a proclamation from my governor, and he said, I'm going to extradite him to Japan.
Paul had a proclamation from my governor. I helped with that. He got a proclamation from
Governor Ned Lamont that he was a hero for the ocean. And so I haven't heard a thing from my
governor's office, and I'm going to contact him directly on his cell phone this afternoon.
I plan to do that, Governor Lamont. And Senator Blumenthal and I exchanged a couple of phone calls.
He did call me a couple of times. He asked me for an update on Paul. And then he said he wanted to
speak to Paul's legal team. And so I put Senator Blumenthal in touch with Francois Zimray, who is
one of the three lawyers behind Paul. And he was the French ambassador to Denmark. He was French
ambassador to the human rights, and he was a member of the European parliament. And he was the one who
attacked Japan for violating human rights in their jail system in the European parliament, and who
won against them. They slapped Japan in the European parliament for that. So he has, I believe,
the top, most famous lawyers in Denmark. And he has also Julie Stegge, that's I believe known to be
really strong on human rights and a new young emerging lawyer. So he has a fantastic team.
Again, it's, you know, then I also try to get in touch. I got in touch with his state reps,
state senators, because that's what I am in Vermont. And I asked them if they could put me in touch,
because I tried Senator Bernie Sanders office, and I tried Peter Welch's office, I get no callbacks.
And I asked them to help. And there was this one senator kept coming back to me said, but do they
really live here in Vermont? And I was like, his wife is French, and he's American. And they live
here, then live there, come back here, come back there. What's the point of asking me that? I was
kind of shocked. She's lucky I don't remember her name right now, but she's a state senator
in Vermont. And I was disappointed with those exchanges. And I have never been contacted by
Senator Sanders or Senator Welch that have met poll in the past. So where are the Americans? He's
American Canadian. I'm not even asking about Trudeau because I'm not even going to go there.
That's your problem. Sorry. But I'm American, and I'm an American state legislator. And I'm baffled
at the lack of any of his own, even the state senators and state reps or his US Congress.
I'm already like, where are we at with Senator Blumenthal, who's always been supportive of animal
rights legislation. Outside of Cory Booker, Senator Blumenthal is a go to for certain issues when
it comes to animal rights. So that's why I've always had a liking for Senator Blumenthal, and
he seems to be where people in suffering are and kind of tackling that. I also work with his son,
who's a state rep like me. We became state reps at the same time, representing Blumenthal, Matt
Blumenthal. But it's different than his dad. That's normal to different people. I'm not expecting
anything to be the same. But his father is incredible with the animal rights and has been a
champion. So I think that's why he also kind of communicated back and forth. He tried to help with
an elephant. We have a zoo in Connecticut that is a traveling zoo. And one of the elephants died,
they never told the public. Then the second elephant died at the Big E, which is the Massachusetts
or the Northeast Regional Agricultural Fair. And that elephant died after carrying people on its
back during that day and died on concrete instead of where an elephant should die. It was terrible.
And then the third elephant has been alone and is in their hands. And even Senator Blumenthal
couldn't get that elephant out. But he tried. His office was active on this issue. So just saying,
I think he's good there for the animal rights when there's a big deal, then Senator Blumenthal will
kind of try his best to step in and intervene. So I'm kind of disappointed at the American
politicians for not being more outspoken about the whole situation, especially his own politicians.
I'm really shocked that Senator Sanders, I'm saying it again, Senator Sanders and Senator Welch,
and his state reps and state senators are not trying to help in this situation.
No understanding for that. But anyway, maybe they don't, you know, he was a taxpayer there too. So
I'm just curious. He's probably still paying taxes there. What are they doing for their taxpayer?
Exactly. I did not think of that. But yeah, he's an American citizen. He should be defended by,
you know, the US. I don't know if Senator Blumenthal made a statement or not. I don't know.
I mean, I had the honor of conversing with Francis Zemmire before he was hired as one of the three
members of his legal defense. But that was quite incredible. And I put him in touch with Senator
Blumenthal. So they talked. After that, I don't know what happened. I have no idea. But I didn't
see any statements from any US legislator outside of myself. Maybe there are others like state
levels so that I might not see them in the social media and stuff. I don't know. I just think it's
crazy that the US are nowhere there. But France was first. France is always first to respond.
I might say it's the opposite with Haiti, where France is the last one to respond. And they're
actually suing Haiti, which is incredible. And where the US are the ones who are most helping
financially Haiti. But I think that has to do with several things. And that's another conversation.
Yes. And I'm thinking of the words. I watched a video of Paul Wilson and he said,
I'm being punished for being kind. That's basically it. And he's missing his grandson's birthday,
being stuck in that place.
His sons, yeah.
Yeah. I feel, yes. And I feel so sorry for him, truly. So sorry for him. Yeah, it's incredible
that they felt emboldened to go this far and to take that step. And I don't want to not take
seriously all of this. Because yes, I take it very seriously. But do you think there is a silver
lining to the situation that all of this crisis has brought more attention to what's happening
in the Faroe Islands and the incredible, because I learned so much from this situation.
I thought I knew a lot about welling in the situation there. But just from
this situation and the media cover and how all of the animal rights movement mobilized around that,
I learned so much from this issue. And I'm sure that for the general public, it's the same thing.
So I'm just wondering if there is a silver lining to all of this.
Yeah, I think you've shown part of the silver lining. And I'm sure Paul is also aware of that.
That's probably part of the strength is he sees the good and the bad. But
yeah, the silver lining is that there's a couple of layers. There's the layer where, yes,
it's educating even a lot more people that were not educated on the whaling and the Danish
territories and the red notice from Interpol. Or that maybe some people are not even familiar
with what's going on in Japan and stuff like that. So it's definitely a form of outreach. I mean,
getting attention from international media is a form of outreach.
Then there is also the fact that, and another part of the silver lining is the fact that this
is a wake-up call, not only for activists and advocates, but it's also a wake-up call for
whistleblowers. You have whistleblowers throughout the world. People who are about to, like I'm a
state rep, so sometimes people will come to me, they want to blow the whistle on something and
they need to be protected. And they have to feel confident that they are protected and that nothing,
they will not be suffering from being a whistleblower because it could affect their
family, their kids, their wife, their husband, whoever, their brother, their parents. So
typically I'd say maybe one out of 10 whistleblowers really makes the step in the end.
That's how tough it is to be a whistleblower. I've got so many people who tried, were, I was like,
I'll make sure I get you with the right journalist, this, that, and then they disappear
in the last minute because they're afraid. This is something that could make people more afraid
of being a whistleblower. Maybe it could even tell an activist that goes to the pharaohs,
watch out, because if you get arrested over there, it doesn't seem like the Danish territories
uphold any justice at all. It's like they do anything. It's like, like you called it,
Banane Republic. It's clown courts, kangaroo courts, however people call it.
I like to call them clown courts. I don't like when we use animal
as an adjective. So I think it's a warning signal. We need to be ahead of the curve. We need to show
that this is not acceptable. How do we do that? And that's difficult while Paul is in jail also.
That brings it to the story of when I was in the pharaohs a couple of weeks ago.
I was going in there because I was there the previous year. The previous year we're not active,
not interfering, nothing, not anything of substance. We're very friendly,
taking pictures, documenting, and I'm like, you need that, but you need the interference.
And the interference will bring the eyes of the world. Right now it's dormant. It's like this.
Nobody's paying too much attention. People know about it. So you, you know,
that the idea for me was to possibly do civil disobedience.
But then upon reaching those shores and starting to think, and I'm talking to other people that
are also involved in this world, and I'm thinking Paul is in jail in the Danish territories. If
anything I do and is considered to be illegal, this could actually, considering the way they're
treating him, now it's even more validated. Maybe it's better not to do anything that could be
considered illegal, like interfering with a grind or trying to help a juvenile not suffocate on the
beach and push him back out. I mean, I have a video when I'm live viewing a tagging,
and it was like heart wrenching. I'm not saying it when I'm talking and I'm trying to not film
the juvenile because I'm like, I'm just looking easy upside down. If she's upside down, somebody's
got to do something because that means he's about suffocating. But so I didn't really move and go
in the water and move the juvenile. And there were kids that were sent to go and take care of the
juvenile. Thank goodness, because I was, this was minutes, minutes of very long,
when you have somebody in distress, it's very long. And, but he kept turning back. So when I
was looking at him, he was on the side, but not upside down on the side, normal on the side.
And I was like, oh man, this sucks. Kids were throwing rocks at him. I said, stop throwing
rocks at him. He's your age. He's a kid like you. And then they ran away. And then people
started standing in front of my camera equipment and my camera on my tripod and my cell phones,
tried to do it live at the same time. And I'll never do that again. Only have one going and
everything else secured because it was a mess for me. Cause at one point I had my camera fell in
the center from the tripod. So catastrophe that never happened to me. But I had to move into the
water with my shoes. Cause I know I was looking at their shoes. Oh, they're so big. They're so
my shoes. Cause I know I was looking at their shoes. Oh, they're wearing regular shoes. Boom.
So I go straight in the water with my tripod and my camera, my cell phone to go very close.
There was no police line. It's almost never seen. And I was literally run over the guys
that had drilled. So typically the drill in the dorsal fin, like three holes and put like a
triangular device. And they put things right through like these gigantic screws with nuts
and keep like a geotag there. But they were doing different machinery and this, they did it on a
juvenile. So right behind the dorsal fin in this area on the back, right past the dorsal fin,
they drilled right above his vertebrae. And then they put a machine, look like a spider.
It's a machine with six wires going away from the little box, a crystal clear box with an antenna.
And then they were attaching each leg, each of the wires to the sticking out big screws,
sticking out of its back. I mean, it's so gross. A week after I came back from the pharaohs,
because I kept wanting to find footage of what a scientific tagging looks like versus their butchery
barbarian style, no science really at the core of it. The reasoning is not for science. They just
want to know where they go, what happens. I bet you none of these could ever come back, which is good.
They got tagged, they got traumatized. They'll never come back to these ferocious islands.
That's what I hope. I don't know if they do come back every year. I would say that if they
know they're in the same area, they probably stay away from it. But who knows? And so
a week later, I'm on a Zoom call, Noah is showing how they're tagging a whale.
It's literally a drone dropping something with three suction cups that stay stuck. As soon as
the back is out of the water, and it stays on for like a week, a week and a half. That's scientific.
They're not interested where this whale is going to go for like weeks and months and where they'll
be next year. At the same time, they just want to know where they're feeding right now. They know
it's feeding time. They know it's gestation time. They know it's that. And that's science. There's a
concept. You don't need to harass these animals for hours in the water, revving your engine and
cutting their skin by getting your engines right over them, making a wall of sound and hurting them
on the beach. That's incredible. So you're harassing, stressing to the utmost for like two
hours, two and a half hours. And then they're beached. So their stress level was already
danger. We were attacked. Now it's danger. We're going to die. And then they get drilled into a
couple of them. The juvenile immediately went back to where there was one being drilled in,
or that was getting one of the attachments. So when they scream, it's their family that comes.
So the juvenile had lost them, but then went back because there was a lot of noise splashing, I
guess. Kids were screaming and everything. So I imagine underwater, everything becomes a mess.
And then the juvenile that was beaching itself found its family right away. After seven or eight
attempts from the kids to push it back, instead of coming back to the sand, it started going the other
way to join the group. There was also a part of the pod that was waiting in the middle of the
harbor. I mean, it's very saddening. They're just waiting for the family to come back.
And that's just a tagging. That's just a tagging. And I wonder if they didn't play games also with
us because I called the police because I saw the M-I-K-A vessel, the Mika, on Mika, vessel harassing
them for like over an hour, an hour and a half from Lervik. And so I called the police and I have
recorded my phone call. It was first, I wasn't sure if they were going to speak English to me.
And I had no idea. And I imagine it's a public call because it's somebody calling the police
about some illegal activity. And it's illegal to harass a dolphin for dolphins for over an hour
in the Faroes. So I called them. I mentioned that I could send you the recordings if you want to
hear it. It's interesting. And well, I can't even play it now. You can hear it. I asked them,
yeah, there's a boat that's been harassing the dolphins. Oh, I don't know what you're talking
about. We know somebody is there taking pictures. I said, you know, I can see signs 130 with my
camera. I see the guy with his binoculars like following the pod and slowly pushing them towards
Fugla Fjord or the next harbor, which is where they wanted to do a slaughter. But the slaughter was
said no, no slaughter. Police said no slaughter. So the police eventually tells me, he is not,
they're not driving the dolphin, the grin. They're not driving the grin to the beach.
First, they're not whales, they're dolphins. But I mean, dolphins are part of the whale family. So
I'm not going to go there. But they are driving, they're not going to drive those animals to the
beach. That's exactly the opposite. They actually did that. So I had the police lying to me and
trying to defend somebody that I've been observing for an hour and a half and going over the dolphin
pod with his boat as well. So this was harassment. This was illegal in the Faroes. Eventually at the
end he understands I have footage of it and he goes, well, if we have time, we might send a boat
to go, the police boat to go and check. And if we find that what you're saying is true, then we will
do what we have to do. Then I change view spot. I go on the other side of the tunnel to go around
the point that they were all passing towards the next harbor. And I'm with somebody, the only guy
who's fighting the grin over there, who lives on the island, who is Faroes and that's Patti.
So I was with Patti and I go out, I put my tripod and I start setting my camera to try and find them
in the water because with your naked eye you can tell the white spot on my camera and the screen,
the boat is like nice and big. You can read the name. So I start setting up and then a van passes
by us. Patti says, oh, I recognize these are the people who do the tagging. They're going to tag
them. So now we knew they were driving them into the harbor. So then boom, we drive to the beach
and we were there before anyone at the same time as the tigers almost because we were right behind
them. There was no police line, which was rare. And there's a video being prepared about,
specifically about tagging in general and that their tagging is at, there's nothing scientific
about it. It's just cruel, needless, suffering with absolutely no real scientific purpose.
And I can't remember right now the name of the entity that does the research, that needs the
research. They have a gigantic research vessel that's usually in Klaxvik. I've seen the ship
in Klaxvik. No, not in Klaxvik. Oh, now I'm starting to get my towns in the Faroes. But anyway,
so I've seen their research vessel and they have a website, Vsona, something like that. I'll
figure it out. I'll send it to you. So that's kind of about the Faroes, totally linked with Paul's.
That's why we had to be particularly careful not to give the opportunity for the Faroes to accuse
us of breaking the law while Paul is in jail and in jail in Greenland because the Faroes
warned Vena and he was coming back. Crazy, absolutely crazy and disgusting, like you said.
And yeah, I invite anyone who's listening to take action. I will leave links in the description
below. Please do something. And thank you, David, for doing something. It feels good to know that
people are active and making a difference and trying their best. It's reassuring.
So one thing is, it's only really if you want to participate, you could participate with either
Captain Paul Watson Foundation or with Sea Shepherd France. It's only a matter pretty much
of a plane ticket. Over there, you might have to split your portion of the food, but you end up in
a compound or in an apartment with others. So the housing is covered. That's really the plane ticket,
the round trip. And sometimes they cover a portion of the flight. So if people are looking to
spend a vacation, they probably will spend less money doing something good, documenting the taggings
or the dolphin sluggers or doing other activities. And we'll spend less money doing that than going
on another vacation and sitting in a cafe and sipping on a couple of margaritas or whatever it is.
And I'm sure the friendships that you built through this are lifelong friendships.
Oh yeah, absolutely. You can spend a week and a half or two weeks. Typically,
two weeks is usually required at least for a grand campaign. The friendships you make are typically
for life. And you're doing something that's... It's basically being on the front line
of the fight for animals and against climate change. Literally. That's where the war is.
It's in all these hotspots. The Kangane Maru, the Faroese, Norwegian whaling. Sorry, I have
disappearing tattoos. It was vegan ink and it was temporary. I had a Phoenix and I had a...
What did I have? A Phoenix and a dragon, of course. Yeah, so that's all of that. But I've
been a troublemaker also in the Connecticut General Assembly.
Yeah, let's talk about this. I find it fascinating and incredible that you were an activist long
before getting into politics. And let's start with that. How did you get elected?
When did you decide to run for office? What motivated you? Yes.
So I went to Taiji in 2013. I was a cool guardian there. And after I came back,
that's when I went vegan. I went vegetarian for two weeks and then decided to be vegan.
I thought it was ridiculous. I was vegetarian. I was going there for animals. So there's no
point in ignoring then a large part of the animal suffering that comes from the dairy industry.
Even though I grew up in France and eating everybody and every parts of everybody. And
so I guess I did a dramatic shift. And that was after Taiji. Taiji was life-changing for me.
I think I realized what's the difference between the dolphin, the fish, the cow, the pig, the dog,
the cat, the chicken, the little bird that's being eaten by the coyotes because the deer
eats all the bush, a certain type of bush that protects the little bird.
Once you understand, I was like, yeah, there's no difference between anyone. They're all sentient
and everybody has a life, a family life, kids and do their part. And I think that we are the most,
probably the most destructive species of all animal species. And so anyway, so my life changed
after Taiji quite a lot and before and right after I went vegan. And then I was kind of becoming this
local activist because I learned how to use my camera to pinpoint on what was bad. So I started
doing that locally. So I used my camera to document pollution getting straight into the water from
our transfer station, Stanford transfer station. I started working with the homeless,
doing cleanups, but with the homeless and et cetera. I mean, I had volunteers. So I started mixing
all kinds of stuff, but mostly I was documenting and then I was sending an email and I saw like,
oh, the environmental protection agency on whichever level doesn't respond. So I figured
then I should put all levels. And I started sending these emails that caused change because
I would have my hundred and something people in line copy that do the beach cleanups.
And then I would send to the mayor her assistance or special assistance or his special assistance
at the time and the entire legislative branch, 40 border reps and the environmental protection
local and at state level and the EPA. And it was such a mess in the two and copy, mostly was in
the two, big group in the two and then in line copy. And then I would tell my volunteers,
feel free to reply all so they understand. Cause I never talked about myself. I never said,
I have a problem with this or I have a problem with that. I always said, we have a problem with
this and we have a problem with that. Then suddenly you see people that are blank copy that are
responding that are also constituents, makes things a little complicated. Now you're like, wow,
nobody's answering. So nobody's doing anything. So somebody is going to have to answer and
eventually somebody answered and I would send my emails on Monday mornings or Friday afternoon.
See right now I should probably, I should be planning a couple of FOIA requests for the city
of Stanford that I should send in a couple of hours. But I already send them two of them
on Monday morning. So I'm starting back. I lost my primary by the way, after six, so three terms
of two years, it's very short terms. And after having, I'm very proud of what I achieved during
my six years. I think I moved the conversation in different subjects and passed, managed to get some
bills passed without necessarily my name on them. Cause sometimes my name was a poison pill,
but always with working with advocates in labor, social justice, housing justice, food access,
and working on bills and strategy before the session starts and always getting our things
and said, he's going to be the, or she is going to be the, the legislative champion.
Then, then we can make sure that it goes from this committee to this committee instead of that
committee first. And then we're good. It should, and sometimes it works. It's much harder to
pass a bill and kill a bill. There's a thousand millions ways of killing a bill. There's only
one way to pass a bill. But then how, who recommended that you try politics? Because for me,
because it made sense to me. I mean, I'm always, I'm a stirrer. I'm, I wrote the boat, no matter
what I do, I ended up rocking the boat. So I might as well focus my energy at rocking the boat where
it's needed, not where it's not needed. So I have to always find an area of contention so I can make
sure that I'm rocking the boat in the right spot. And sometimes I don't rub the boat. I shake it.
I put it upside down and then I throw it back in the water. Because I think sometimes we need to
do even more than rocking the boat. I mean, so people were pushing me to run for, for elections.
And I'd gone at one point, I left the democratic party. I became a green party member because they
liked what I was doing locally. And they asked if I could be a placeholder, a placeholder.
You're not really doing a campaign. You're just putting a name on that line. You have to petition.
So it's easy to petition. It's a small amount of number of signatures. You do that in a week or two.
And then you have the position on the ballot and then you just hope that you get at least 1%.
So you don't have to petition two years later. And so you could be on the ballot again. So they
just asked me to be a placeholder so they can have a ballot placement. I was like, sure. And I didn't
care about politics. But then I got frustrated because I was like, okay, I'm not doing a campaign,
but my name is on this. I'm not doing anything. And a lot of friends were like, go get back to the
democratic party because you're not going to be able to do anything in the green party. I was like,
no, I understand that. And I'm truly a Democrat, a real Democrat. Yeah. A liberal Democrat. That's
the kind of the equivalent to an old French socialist kind of. And socialist is a kind of a
correct kind of a heavy word in the US. It's mixed up with communist. It's mixed up with national
socialist. And people get so confused in the US, you have no idea. So it's a word where you have
to really come with a following after you use it. But it was very funny. And I said, yeah, I'm going
to go back to the democratic party. I started running. And then they dismissed me during the
election process. I was already knocking doors. I was recognized several times as a candidate.
Then they told me, you know, this statute says that you cannot run for this election, but the
next one in three years. What? Yeah. But this other statute says that what you're saying is actually
unclear. And so it doesn't work. And then I had a call from the chair of the party, local party,
Josh Fidelity. And he said, no, you can't run because of this and this and this statute.
You cannot run. I said, okay, well, I have to take the registrar to court because he's the one who
has to take me up the ballot. And then I took my registrar to court and the registrar is the brother
of the governor. That was registrar Ron Malloy, who is the brother of Dan Malloy. So now I'm
becoming really an enemy of the local establishment because I'm not holding back. And Ron Malloy is a
nice guy, but he was doing what the chair of the party was telling him to do. And that's why I took
him to court. And I wanted to fight. I said, you recognize me and stamp me as, and you're saying
that this, but so what if I get my petitioning redone, the ones that I did myself by somebody
else and you give me three days to get it done and I'll get it done by somebody else as reparation.
They recognize me as valid. If you're saying that this is what should have been done, then the judge
give me the opportunity. The judge was appointed by the governor in his position of judge. There's
no way I was going to win this almost like a clown court in the Faroese court or in the
Greenlandish court. Yeah. Sometimes we have those here also locally. And so that's what happened.
So they kicked me out. Then the next year, now I was upset and I'm an activist and you don't do
that to an activist. You don't dismiss an activist. And I was like, I'm going to take this one. And
then by some miracle, no, the miracle was my campaign manager, also vegan, Nina Sherwood,
who has a Bernie Sanders delegate at the time before that. And she became my campaign manager
and she was a force not to beckon with. I was told I should go and talk to her by one of the
insiders of the establishment. He said, oh, you should go and talk to the Nina Sherwood and
the people that are like her because you all like to make a lot of noise. Okay. Then I discovered
Nina Sherwood. Thank you for telling me. And then Nina managed to convince the delegates.
It's all about delegates and endorsement. Unfortunately, the voters are kind of
disenfranchised or they disenfranchise themselves because they don't go to vote on the primary.
And she turned the delegates around saying there is nobody who is going to work harder on the
issues that you care about and your constituents care about than David Michel. He multitasked and
that's what he does. And she sold me to everybody and it's unfortunate because she was right. So
once I got the endorsement and then I was eventually elected, we knew I was going to
get elected because the district is gerrymandered for Democrats to win. So automatically the Democrat
wins the general election. The only real election is the primary. That's where it counts. And
unfortunately, the primaries are not open. So not everybody that's going to have repercussions from
whoever wins can vote on it. It should be open primaries. That would be the Democrat's
process. You said you lost the primary. This primary I just lost. I lost the endorsement.
They eliminated my delegates one by one during the last six years. So it's not like I didn't see it
coming. So you've done a great job and your constituents might want the opportunity to vote
for you again. Why are they pushing you out of the primary? Why are they pushing you out of the
primary? Why are they pushing you out? So the establishment is pushing me out because I'm saying
you talk about affordable housing, yet one third of our new homeless in Fairfield County are elderly
retirees and one third of the children from the lower income. And we're not building anything
affordable to those two parts of society that are becoming homeless. And if today there's nothing
That means that whoever is falling under in the next two years will be homeless
Without room in shelter without section eights vouchers and without etc. So
You talk about affordable housing
All you do is incentivize developers to build what they want but not what we need and that's enough and they keep building in small
Neighborhoods so the developers have more value in what they build instead of just building downtown
We should be building a building downtown for the middle class and for the low income and for the retirees you retrofit
fix
Remediate historical structures keep their historical value keep protecting the environmental
The environment around it. So keep the environmental standards strict
Refurbish
Lower income elderly whatever they pay goes towards ownership
State program we've done it before it works. But for the past three four decades. It's all been for developers
unscrupulous
Credential developers in Stanford and I think the rest of the US pretty much
So if our Democrats are not going to be fighting for housing justice, they're not going to fight for capping the rent
They're not going to fight for
They're not going to fight for democratic things
Then of course somebody who is a populist and an insane populist can have a chance of making it
Because it's either those who don't do anything or the insane guy
That's the problem in politics if the Democrats if my party was doing what they're supposed to do
We would not be in the situation. We're in
And
Yes, I I completely agree with that stands housing crisis people can't find food
Animals being abused department of environmental protection being nowhere when big corporations are polluting
Everything is upside down and it's under leadership under the Democratic Party
What's happening
Why why do you think Trump can make it that far?
Because we're letting him get that far. That's why thank you for making that point because you know
They always say Trump Trump Trump this Republican Party and all but can you it's not about what we're doing
We're doing exactly the Democratic Party with the protectors of reproductive rights
We're the protectors of the vaccine where the protectors of this of that and this and that
yet
Looks like the world is going to shit to me. I'm sorry. I'm saying it pretty bluntly, but that's why I'm sorry
Of course your path is to protect the world
Of course, you're passionate and yeah, I this is something I
I thought about a lot how you know, they're responsible in a two-party system
You're also responsible of the success of the other party
by by failing
But anyway, yes
It brings me to the thing the vegan world and the animal rights activists
We have to get involved in other things than just because it's more difficult for environmental
Act like environmental advocates to get into animal rights advocacy
But we agree with all this and we can be there
We can lead also people to join us in the animal rights movements and that i've been putting these connections between
Between the animal rights world and
environmental orgs on the state level
We're lucky in connecticut because the hs us the connecticut uh, human society of the united states
This chapter here is run by annie hornish. She's the director
She's vegan for the animals and it's not what you'd expect when you hear hs us
Uh, the connecticut sierra club has now wildlife divisions
And the one in connecticut there have always been allies of my caucus
So even the connecticut, uh league of conservation voters same thing the nylc
These are not entities you'd think would get involved in animal rights stuff or animal rights bills
Yet in connecticut they have been supported. We've been starting to work all together now what happens on the other side with the hunters
They're redoubling and tripling their assaults now and trying to put in really bad bills and we are in danger in connecticut
Because we came up so forcefully now. There's an equal and opposite reaction
Which doesn't mean they're going to succeed and they should not succeed if we are a democratic state
Uh, this is not a state of hunters
Uh, but the hunters are going to try and pass really terrible bills this year. They're going to try to pass
Hunting black bears. They keep trying to do that
I have this nice speech describing how stupid a bill is that everybody is passing because the senate
Is holding the house hostage
They're holding seven environmental bills in their hands saying we're going to kill the seven environmental bills
If you don't let that black bear bill come up to the senate
So I went after the language and said of course i'm voting against that but uh
I also knew that my colleagues were going to vote in favor of it just because we had to save those seven other bills
But seeing that's very difficult
Animal rights bills are very difficult. We finally passed the greyhound ban
Whoa, but we were in one of the last two states. So every year i'm like sweating. Are we gonna pass it this year?
What's going on? It seems to be
No, brainer. Everybody's fine with it, but it still doesn't come up in both chambers
Because you know connecticut was the first
uh constitution
And so it's the same way that washington works except we're a little bit more flexible
A bill can be born in the senate and then come to the house, but it has to go through both chambers whichever order
so
Usually we uh the house of the people
Uh, we are the ones whose bills get or get uh become hostage of the senate
And we have to pass their bills if you want some of our bills. It's absurd every year. It's been like this
Uh since i've been there. It doesn't mean we don't pass good bills, but
Yeah, and every year you have a
Army of americans going to canada in order to hunt
bears
Um, really? Yes. There's a big tourism industry of americans
Is it legal in all the provinces? I think yes most provinces
I think yes most provinces and you know, it's it's easy to explain that
They think there's always this convincing in within the the legislative bodies that
Hunters pay for permits and they bring money
and conservation
Conservation forget i'm not even going to go there
But so you and usually you have your own agencies like deep my agency is department of energy
And environmental protection. Oh those two together crazy danneloid merged them together
While they were laying the algonquin
Frag gas pipeline through the state of connecticut
So I got to bid there was an incident with a frag gas pipeline in the state of connecticut
The uh enforcer and the one who has to explain what they allowed were the same agency
So, okay
Wow, but like deep in connecticut there was a
There was a research done 70 of deep has hunted or hunters
That's the mentality in our environmental protection agency. So the wildlife division is run in part by hunters
How does that work?
and every time there's a
So so you have that but yet what they don't seem to understand is
A lot more people want to do eco tourism
Even than the few hunters hunters are a dwindling down number they have
Becoming not important, but they just talk so loudly
uh
In the legislation they come and when they when they come and testify
Yeah, all of them and they all just repeat the same thing for hours and hours and without end
And they can say the same about animal rights advocates
But there's a lot more people wanting to respect nature than people wanting to use and rape nature
And for their fun and entertainment
uh
So and this is where the agencies you know that the agencies are
Derby in their mode of thinking they're really from a time that's passed
They those people
Still let this kind of stuff happen or belong to the past
Now people the majority of people the majority of the public wants to protect bears not have them hunted
So it should make sense that you would make more money at doing eco tourism
And have a safe environment where you can see bears in their natural habitat
You'd make more money at that as a government than selling permits for hunting
And and such an old mentality
And and just a few words to say it's the worst kind of hunting, you know, you just sit there and um
Put you know some food somewhere and you wait for the bear to approach and then you kill it
And you do you do nothing with the bear, you know, you don't eat it
You just take a picture with the the the animal and that's it. That's
Yeah, let me bring some humor in this horrible world
of uh of hunting and politics
um
I knew a certain year that they were going to come hard with hunting bills
So I was purposely putting out bills they would hate
But that I would not really work on so I had one bill that was
Uh, you can't drink and hunt
Does it make sense? Yes, you're using a firearm
or a weapon or a
Whatever bow and arrow you can't drink doing that
That would pass
And so I put a bill you can't drink and hunt so those guys that have to think well shit
I thought I was going to drink my deers
Up in a tree while some innocent animal comes and I can shoot it
Uh, and if I can't drink and do that, I think i'll just go to a local bar
I'd rather you go to the local bar than you go in the woods and and and violate the sanctity of nature
um
That that was one of my bills another bill was
um
no hunting within
400 feet on a blaze trail a blaze trail is not only trails
But whatever anybody has used as a shortcut and you can see people walk there. That's a blaze trail and 400 feet was so much
They basically made almost all of connecticut impossible
So I I just dropped those but I knew I had an important black bear bill to put out
In against their black bear bill that was stupid
So now in the state of connecticut you can shoot a bear if you feel that bear is a is a is threatening you
So now you see the yahoo going in the woods wants to shoot a bear
Finds a way and just shoots him and says no, I felt like he was going to kill me. That's why I shot him
We had a police officer
Off duty in his backyard shoot bobby the bear number 217
uh, hashtag 217 bobby the bear and um
um
He picked up the shells
So they couldn't see where he shot the bear from
and then deep deep before the uh district attorney made a statement that
He was acting in self-defense when in the report he went back inside his house
And then came back out with the gun to shoot the bear. That's not self-defense
That's murder
And that's an off-duty police officer and guess where that was
Because the town of newtown, do you know why the new town is famous in the world the school shooting the most famous shooting?
connecticut
Incredible incredible and that guy got away with it. Normally you're not supposed you're not allowed to use firearms within residential area
And he's a police officer off duty
It's incredible we have really
Uh, okay, so this year they're going to try black bear hunting in connecticut. They're going to try
I think they might succeed unfortunately because the chair of environment is in favor of that which is
um processing
uh facilities for rabbits
They want to open a farmer has been asking for that one farmer one senator
One rep and that's enough almost to pass it now everybody's like oh we want to eat rabbit
But you can eat rabbit you can go to the charcuterie and get your rabbit right now
You can go to the supermarket and buy rabbit
And it's very unpopular people. It's actually people would rather see rabbits like our fluffy regular connecticut rabbits
In their backyard than on their plate
So i've argued with duag the department of agriculture
Commissioner do you have a study that shows that people?
Suddenly now want to eat rabbit
No, what triggers you to be in favor of this processing facility that you will have to inspect when you can't even do a proper job
with the um
with uh the uh
Uh, the shelters the state uh animal shelters
No answer and that's the duag commissioner they're all a joke
They're jokes yet. They get away with it. Even if it's in public hearing and you so sometimes I can kill a bill by doing that
But I don't know most of my colleagues will think oh, you know, like uh, it's in my culture
I like to raise rabbits and barbecue
Why would you like want to get in the way of that? Like i'm not getting in the way of that you can get your rabbit
So just we don't need a processing facility in the state of connecticut
And we have the the actual federal processing facilities. Yeah, but there's a waiting
You have to wait for six months to a year to have your rabbit
Uh skinned and processed and to get it back
Okay
So we're facing that we can talk about the legislation on the kangaroo skins
um
for um
That was a couple years ago
Annie again, she's the one who brings the best bills
Annie hornish from the connecticut hs us
Brings me this language for the kangaroos
um and um
She goes, uh, I don't think you'll go anywhere. I think and i don't think it'll go anywhere either but
Let's put it through the system and I usually typically put between
28 and 40 bills
Every year when it's the first session there's a long session and short session long session
You I can introduce bills short session is the committee's that means it's whatever my chair likes that he will introduce to the community
so
Most mostly short session you can't really pass an animal right bill
It has to be done in the long in the long session with the first year right after you get elected or re-elected
Because it's three years terms. It's horrible. So it's like one year you can be affected on the second year. You're like
Because it's an election year
So we can be controversial because we want to make sure people support us so we can get our power back
That's what it's about
uh
so
I put in this bill
And I kid you not the australian consulate got in touch with me sent me an email
Right michelle. I don't understand. It's this was uh
the acting consul
At the time of new york australian consul of new york at the time acting
So I guess it was in between
You know somebody who was stepping up in the seat. That's not theirs
um
and saying to me
That I don't understand what you have against
This kangaroos are nuisance. We have too many of them
uh, this is a conservation practice and instead of
Wasting I think she might have gone into the waste
blah blah blah
I said well first my question would be what do they do with the joeys?
The joeys are the juvenile kangaroos
and
Oh
Yeah, she
I heard that they just beat their head on the trunk of their cars
To kill them
Or they are end up orphaned
That is really already a bother for me second I said
Uh, you are telling me that there are too many
I believe in the three laws
of uh ecology
And that nature balances itself
You don't need to do anything as a human zero
In order for nature to balance itself with whatever is happening in that area
So who are you to tell me there are too many kangaroos?
And their scientists were saying the opposite
Well, it is debatable because one side says this and one side said that so she's trying to dismiss it by saying oh
Well one side says that but the other side says the opposite
And then eventually I on the phone I
I started I don't know if I put it in writing, but I started asking her what I don't understand is
you know
You're acting like a lobby right now. You're lobbying me, but you're paid by the taxpayers australian taxpayers
to handle
social services for australian above so i'm not
Understanding what the role of the consulate is right here
And eventually she said that her office
Had set up
An appointment with my office and then I looked in my government emails and there was this acknowledgement that will be meeting that time
With a lobby and I usually tell my office
I'm fine with meeting anyone they might be in for a bad time
They just have to know who they're coming to see and if they know that i'm not in favor of what they they shouldn't waste their time or my time
And I had this appointment set up for my office with a lobbyist that represents
The the the the cells of the skins of kangaroos
So eventually at that time I said I canceled that appointment you're acting like a lobbyist it's inappropriate for somebody from the consulate
To even go that far and help like a business entity from australia to set up an appointment with me when i'm entirely against them
They would not have a good time with me and um
And I said plus you're too late
My bill doesn't need to go every anywhere. I know adidas is always making the effort and I know
Now through a statement a national statement that you should have already on your desk that nike is going to stop buying that stuff
And then that was the end of the
And then that was the end of our communications, but I was shocked that the australian consulate was going out of their way to come after me
For putting a bill that was against the use of an australian product that involved cruelty animal cruelty
It was pretty interesting it was fun in a way because I was like, you know, my father's australian
so
I've never been to australia yet, but i'm not sure I want to go at this point
So yeah, that was an interesting moment. I know adidas is working in that my understanding through somebody who works at adidas
Is that they are intending to go vegan by 2035 or 2040?
So it's in the works as well
uh, I just
I'm surprised they haven't made a public statement yet because the entire vegan world is
Sort of waiting for that and asking adidas especially in new york if they can make a statement
Uh, i'm not against asking them to make a statement. They need to make a statement, but I also know that they're already
Working on that and i'm guilty of having a bunch of shoes that are made of recycled net from the oceans
Ghost nets and ghost nets are the most
Uh, it's it's like a killing machine
That is responsible for a lot of life
disappearing
very fast in the ocean so
um
That that was a collaboration with parley. So a lot of my shoes are adidas with parley collaboration
I think they call it prime knit prime knit
But I invite more people to literally directly contact adidas and ask them what are they planning to be vegan?
And they have the stella macroni line that's already all vegan
Uh, they have the the all the parley stuff, which is all vegan
um
So that's already kind of a big part of their products
So i'm i'm trying to encourage them to just continue
Um, and I know somebody works there that told me that they intend to be full vegan by 2035
They even have this recycling shoes program
Like if you know you're not wearing them anymore and they're just you can send them back
They take them apart and then you rebuild new shoes with the parts that they take apart
So right back from the consumer to the manufacturer
And being remanufactured. I think that's incredible. Not many companies companies do that
But i'm a fan particularly of parley and the small idea of parley.tv. I'm
Giving them a little spot. Uh, they're very supportive of uh of paul. They also were in the danish territories
with their cameras
Vakita is a french news
Uh in social media network
Uh, they're doing pretty good. They're covering paul every time he's there at the going to court case
um
Sea shepherd france, obviously captain paul watson foundation
um
All interesting, uh to support and that's that's where you find the latest information
You can go to the cpwf uk
Uh, they post a lot as well. Um, I tend to stick to cpwf and cpwf uk and sea shepherd france
That's my main source of information vakita and lania the president of sea shepherd france
I mean she is paul number two
She's definitely another force not to reckon with and she's genuine
She's extremely loyal and devoted to paul protective of paul, which is
So appreciated, uh
And based on all the values that we know of paul is a kind man and he's arrested for kindness
And while the criminals are the accusers
Denmark think about that matter frederikson
prime minister
matter frederikson
Uh head of ministry of justice of denmark
Uh peter humboldt think about that because right now it looks like your danish ministry of justice
Is corrupt biased and unfair and unjust
And and david now that you're leaving
The political scene and and resting from this world of corruption and you gave us a window into that
kind of
corruption
Who is replacing you?
No one no one is replacing me, but uh, my replacement on my seat is not some somebody who has the interest of animals
By that I mean
Who is going to take up the fight?
of well
I have I have the so annie hornish as a matter of fact that I mentioned several times
Was a legislator for one term and she managed to create the connecticut animal advocacy caucus
It's a caucus of legislators that are for animal rights
And and you were the chairman of that
Yeah, and so I had 20 democrats and 10 republicans
at least
Uh that were
part of that caucus
And so I was co-chair
I assigned another co-chair was republican nicole claret is ditria. It's it you would not think that but when we're confronting
People either in the caucus or in public hearing
Uh, i'm more like the good cop and she's the bad cop so it and it pleases me because i'm usually the bad cop
Uh, and she she's absolutely phenomenal. We call claret is ditria
Uh, and cathy kennedy two republicans two republican women. They got cornered by the by the bully
Uh hunters of our state they were invited to him to a town hall and there was a trap made by uh
Hunters who tried to bully them two amazing women legislators
And I knew that are republican and that are in favor of protecting animals and then on the democratic side
I need to replace myself or I need to find a replacement somebody that would be strong
And I have an idea of who it is. He was a former chair of environment
um
Uh, he doesn't necessarily told what he does what he's being told which is a virtue in that caucus
um
If they don't want to pass a very good bill that
Probably 90 of connecticut would support then it looks bad on them, but not on the caucus
The caucus is going to continue pushing. So we have like a version of the tip spa, which is basically the uh,
um
Traveling shows with exotic animals. We want to ban this out of connecticut. We are trying to cut cut off the um,
The public meal supply chain in connecticut by banning shops pet shops from selling dogs and cats. We only have
15 now I think 17 or 18 because since new york stopped now they're moving into stemford in my own
Town and in connecticut and so I think we're up to 19 now. We had 12 or 13 when we were fighting
Uh those shops
Um, and we've had difficulty passing that in connecticut for over a decade since before I was there
There's been a fight on banning pet shops and selling dogs and cats
And it still hasn't happened
um
Do ag has been fighting that connecticut do ag has been fighting that
um
So who's going to replace me somebody who is compassionate somebody who is kind?
Uh, and somebody who is not afraid of asking the right questions and that will be the person that will be replacing
Uh, i'm i'm thinking of mike domico state representative mike domico
Um, and he's not from the environmental right circles
But he's been one of our strongest allies in the committee of environment and he used to be the chair of environment and was
He was the one who actually
Helped us pass in the house
Uh the shark fins ban on my first year
It was such a crazy event. They even played videos of sharks on the scorch screens
Nobody knew they were like tv screens. He thought it was like the old school little lights
It was like their tv screens and they were they played videos and they played baby shark
While we had a little pause they played the music from jaws
And the whole general assembly
In the house started laughing. It was quite a phenomenal event in my first year
And we had a lot of fun that year and it was the year before the pandemic
uh
And uh, yeah, and then he was no longer the chair of environment two years two years later
Uh, they put somebody who's more moderate on environment and on animal rights who is actually in favor said himself is in favor of
processing facilities for rabbits and who's been
Kind of in the middle on hunting black bears. He's against but he's not against but he's against and
Uh, unfortunately, he's not been somebody who's been sticking to his word. Joe gresko. My chair of environment has not been sticking to his word
Uh, and hopefully in connecticut people will be putting pressure on him
Particularly from his district
To make sure that they put pressure by the way how you find out who is a legislator in your district
You go to cga.ct.gov
That's connecticut general assembly cga.ct for connecticut.gov for government
And then you uh look for your legislator somewhere
You'll put in the search engine and it'll take you to the right link
You put in your address and you'll find out with your state rep and state senator
I'm i'm so happy
To have had this conversation with you because you're a straight talker
Um, you're not um, you haven't been bought by the the the establishment
um, you
Are truthful you're what?
What we want our politicians to be
we
What's what's you know?
What would you say to animal rights activists or vegans?
Who might be tempted to?
um
You know go into politics
Run run run for politics primary primary. They hate primaries. Everybody hates primaries
They hate primaries then primary them. You don't even have to run a full campaign. You can influence their campaign by putting pressure
You say I will run against you if you don't want me to run
I want you to cover animal rights in your legislation if you don't cover animal rights and if you don't go the right way
Then I will primary you even the next term but uh, so you tell me what you want to do
If not, i'm running against you. I'm putting my name on the ballot. No
No way i'm not
And if you start it's not only about voting. It's before you vote
Putting pressure on the elected officials you want my vote
You want my vote?
Then you take care of animals you take care of human animals and we're fine meaning you take care of protecting animals animal rights
You take care of housing justice you take care about
food access
real equity
Mental health support peer peer to peer support covered by insurance aid in dying and all that stuff
I'm yours. Tell me where you're not supportive of that and I we need to talk about it
Put pressure you cannot you cannot go at them with all your entire agenda
But you can certainly go at them with your top of your agenda and say I will run against you
And you find out everything you need to do to run. You don't have to be endorsed. You can be
Just a troublemaker in the wake and they don't like that. Nobody likes being primary that forces you into uh,
Especially in connecticut that forces you into a campaign in the summer. That means goodbye to your summer
Now you have to knock doors
every day
And if you knock doors every day
You basically do it like this you work during the week after work
You do two three four hours whatever you can put and go knock doors and on the weekends
you do
Saturday you can do from 11 to 5 or 11 to 6. There's a time where you're bothering people
So you might want to figure that out
And then on the sundays, it's less because sundays is more critical people are resting
And so you do like maybe 11 again to maybe 4 or 3 pm
It depends or you can go later and you can go earlier
But if you're going to run and you want them to like shake in their boots
Knock doors because a lot of them don't knock doors and you could win just by knocking doors
Wonderful you've heard that people run
Run for office if you work from home if you can work from your phone
That's an advantage obviously
If you have a if you're paid salary from
from
8 to 8 to 6 it's certainly more difficult
But you're excused from the legislation when you're at work
The thing is you want to be there when it's time to vote especially
but part of the part of your work is the first part of your session is build introductions
And through committees and everybody every legislator is a part of in connecticut three committees
I was an environment planning and development which is zoning and transportation
I did I was kicked out of public health not kicked out officially but
Because I was gonna I was gonna actually change some some big bills that the speaker at the time wanted sorry
I was not
Very welcomed in public health although I was doing a heck of a job and I was pushing for really good bills in public health
So you know you pick your three committees your areas of interest clearly environment animal rights is going to be environment
You can put public safety or you could put judiciary and things like that
You have three committees of cognizance
The bills go through the system and they're discussed by the committee then if
If if you're strong enough at pushing for your bill, then they get a public hearing
Or a bill to get a public hearing in its first year is a huge step already
And then and then it could die or then you could save it and make sure that it goes out of committee more
That's the first half
If it comes out of committee now, it's going to be called in the house or the senate chamber wherever it started from
And then it's going to be called in both chambers and that's the other half
Of the session. So that half of the session, which is usually we only have six months session in connecticut shame on us
Not a full year
So typically on the long session you're really at the capital four or five times a week
only in the end of session, which is
End of april the whole month of may and early june and then it's over. That's it and starts in mid january
And and let me ask you if people have questions or need oh come back me. Yes email cell phone fine
You're fine to share both my cell phone number is nine one four eight. Four three seven five four five
You have it in my email and then you can share it with your friends
914-843-7545 uh, you have it in my email and then my uh,
My personal email free to use they can use my government email if it's about government stuff in connecticut
um
Which is david dot my last name michelle m i c h e l at
cga.ct.gov cga for the connecticut general assembly and uh, everybody's welcome to send me emails
I answer i'm responsive. I've always been responsive. Uh, you know somebody who's falling to homelessness
Please email me immediately
in connecticut
Anything housing access whatever issues, uh bullying
Whatever i'm here to help until the end of december first week of january
And then I resume my personal life
And my activism
Wonderful. Thank you so much david
Um, thank you for having answered my questions. Thank you for all of your great great work in politics
and
Uh, of course, you're always welcome to come back on the show. Thank you everyone for listening
I kindly invite you to share this podcast with the vegans, you know, let's encourage more people to take action
Again, thank you so much for caring and I will see you next tuesday for a new episode
You