 What are you touching dude? I don't even need to do my speech now. That was enough Yeah, really good to see everyone together here. I've had such an amazing time already some of the speeches have been just overwhelming to listen to namely Ed's was really really full-on Showing my love all the other amazing activists out here deserve much respect. So I have quite a colorful past I'm gonna get into that a bit. I mean If you've seen my YouTube channel, you might know a little bit about my story, but It's quite interesting and I'll try to start it from Day dot see how we can go, but there's a lot to it. So we'll try to get through it, but So I'll start with the story when I was a really young kid I was about five years old and I still remember this story and it come back to me when I went vegan I was at the backyard of my mum's house and it was Christmas morning, right? And my little brother was playing close to these ants and he nearly stepped on one, right? And I was like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Don't just step on the ants. It's Christmas And I was like something so Insignificant in many people's eyes as an ant. Oh, I didn't want to see the aunt get hurt and now that just speaks to children's innate compassion that they're born with and somewhere along the line That is programmed out of us. We're taught that eating Animals is natural that it's normal like I went from not wanting my brother to step on an ant to thinking It's normal to eat a piece of a cow who'd been bolt gunned in the head and suffered greatly So we were deceived we've been deceived by society and you know, I Had an awakening. So let's get into my how I fell into The the colorful past I did so Around 15 14 15 years old. I started experimenting with drug use Um, I had some trouble with sleeping. I had some nightmares and sleep paralysis And I don't know whether I found solitude in the drug use But I know that I had a very extreme personality and I wanted to Explore my psyche and I wanted to take things to the extreme and I found Because I was such a lost youth. I feel like I found solitude in these drugs and It started off just experimenting, you know as you do having fun. I didn't think there was nothing to it I thought it was pretty cool really and I Really didn't know that I had this Predisposition to addiction which many people do a small Percentage of people have a predisposition so some people can have used recreational drugs and they're fine They can do it on the weekend, but I wasn't one of those people I wasn't and what ended up happening is I fell into this drug use I started hanging around with you know a group of kids from a similar demographic to me You know they might have had they might have lived in a poor neighborhood They their parents might be split up. They've had a bit of a rough Bringing up and we shared a brotherhood. So we started hanging around and you know We were boxers will we all had a head shaved and we thought we were pretty cool and tough and all that stuff, but What ended up happening is as you progress in this lifestyle and you grow up and Things started to get more serious. It started off with just you know Hanging out with street gangs, you know having street fights with people You know committing acts of violence in the street for reputation Major Pub rules where there was bottles being thrown people going to hospital. This was a normal thing I mean twice a weekend during the week this started happening and it started progressively getting worse And I progressively got more conditioned to the violence Because of the environment that I was in the environment you're in is the most determining factor to how you turn out So a lot of these kids they're in this environment with violence and gang life and stuff. It's all they got That's all you've got like, you know, they they they're living in poverty They're there's drugs everywhere and they there's no purpose. They have no purpose. See I fell into it and Like I cultivated this side of myself That was just there's two wolves and there's a great Indian proverb It speaks of two wolves a negative wolf and a positive wolf and The wolf that wins is the wolf that you feed the most Now I had a good compassionate heart a heart inside I know I was a compassionate person, but it didn't take long for me to condition this this side out out of me And I had to do what I had to do in that environment that I was in I mean, it was a very tough time and what what ended up happening is it My drug use Got worse. I Was using it more frequently. I started dealing drugs and then I fell into it went from a normal You know street gangs to a more serious organized crime groups Some of the most notorious criminals in my part of Australia. I was hanging out with our my friends and if anyone knows anything about Friends you become them you become them. So these were my the people I looked up to the most so there's things that you did to earn respect and They're not moral. They might be in that in that world The code of morality is a lot different to a normal society So I felt like it was you know, it was okay like it was justified to commit these acts of violence When it's not but that that was just my conditioning, which is interesting if you think about Carnus conditioning is very similar to think that violence is normal natural necessary or justified so what ended up happening is I As because I was dealing these drugs I started using them more often and I got into a toxic relationship Which was very detrimental to me and I wear my heart on my sleeve and I was using these drugs in the toxic Relationship hanging around a new group of friends that didn't have my interests at heart and I had a really really hard time And this is where my depression was rampant my anxiety. I didn't know who to trust. I had paranoia I I remember sitting on the edge of my girlfriends. I always had a gun on me I always had a gun on me because I was afraid of these Enemies in my head artists and there was imminent danger in my environment. So it was a very serious thing I had to do that for my own defense But I remember sitting on the end of my girlfriend's bed and I stuck it in my mouth And I was just like flirting with the idea of pulling the trigger because I felt like that was the way out I almost thought like a Wow, this is the way out. I want to talk about another epiphany. I had after a violent confrontation with another game I'd went out I had an argument with my girlfriend and I went out that night and I had a weapon in my pocket So I already I already come went out with this anger inside of me And I already had a preconceived idea of what was going to go down and as soon as I as soon as we went to this Bar there was some some blokes there that looked like they would want it to fight I knew I was waiting for that opportunity. Okay, so I already had that in my mind and I started Fight that could have been avoided it could have been avoided and it turned out really bad It was a really bad thing and people got hurt Badly and what ended up happening is they got in the car and they drove past us once and I moved out the way Okay, and I thought that left they'd circle back around and come back through that same Bar and like in the car park really fast and one of my friends was on this side of me The other was on that side and they broke up just in time and as the car hit me I jumped up in the air and I flung he hit me really hard And I went about roof height in the air and I remember while I was in the air was like Slow motion and I thought to myself. I've brought this myself My actions are repeating on me and that was the first time I sort of understood that concept of karma and I was like I'm dead. I mean, yeah, I'm dead right now and I caused it through my actions now. I didn't learn my lesson then I needed to learn lessons the hard way You would have thought that would have brought me out of the games. Yeah, yeah, Joey's clear now No, I wasn't like that. I learned I hadn't made many mistakes and it took me a long time to finally learn my lesson But what ended up happening is it all come to a head around the time my grandfather died and I was very paranoid this time. I was carrying a gun as usual I was afraid that people would kind of get me. I was paranoid and I was Running away from the police and they come to my mother's house And I couldn't attend my grandfather's funeral because they come on the day of the funeral thinking I was going to be there But they ended up getting me at a hotel room with it down my pants They they found it down my pants I was out the front of this hotel room and they pulled it out and that was it so my first experience with prison lasted a week and It was in I was on suicide watch in solitary confinement and that is also punishment unit So there's ten guards that come in twice a day search yourself has to be perfect It was a horrible experience I was mourning the death of my grandfather and coming off of all these substances very hard I was released on home detention for 18 months. Okay now while I was on home detention I hadn't learned my lesson again Just it wasn't enough for me. I still fell back into the games even though I couldn't leave my house on home detention You can't leave your house. I still fell back into the games I fell back into the drug use and back into the violence It's very seductive lifestyle and that's all I knew What ended up happening is I put on a lot of weight. I'm talking a lot. I put on 30 kilograms I was 115 kilograms obese depressed Very negative mindset and I was looking for a way to lose weight and I was on the internet and I found this guy His name is Dan McDonald the life regenerator. He's a raw vegan and he does juices and I was watching him for weight loss advice and He said something really significant to me and What he said was if you eat suffering and death it becomes you And already understanding the concept of karma it really spoke to me And it wasn't like he was telling me something you knew like it was like he was telling me something I already knew Like he it was the truth and when you hear the truth, do you understand it? You know it? Time goes by That was the seed that was planted, but I didn't go vegan from that. I lost a lot of weight got down to 90 kilograms I've got I went to prison Okay, when I went to prison to serve my sentence it was I was given 11 months and I had to serve six in there Okay, now this was the longest period of time that I've ever been sober for 12 years since I was 14 So that was 12 years of drug abuse 12 years of these games 12 years of fighting these demons inside of me And I've never stopped to look at my life and look at the mistakes I've made I Was sitting there in a cell and I could see the other prisoners and I was like this is no life to live That's where all the gang members go That's where you go you either go to jail hospital you end up with a serious drug addiction and you know possibly dead I know people that have died from that lifestyle so I Looked at things from a new perspective Like a bird's eye view of every mistake I've made and that led me to there. I had an epiphany and The thing was I was forced to be sober I changed my environment I was pulled out of the environment I was in I was put into an environment where I couldn't use And I had to just be there with my own thoughts So when I was released I was released of where all I had to stay sober Okay, and I had this spiritual awakening. It was like my true self come out and I was still involved thickly in these in these games is the organized crime games so as I was on Home detention the second time when I was released from jail I Was talking to my mother about smoking now I'd already been sober and I'd stopped smoking So I was like giving her a bit of stick for I was like my money doing smoking and she's like You know, there's a lot of vices people have that they don't change and what whatever she said was very profound it's significant for me because it Made me reflect and I was like I've always said I'm gonna go vegan I've always said like since I've got planted that seed that it's hypocritical to say that you care for animals Like save the whales, but you've got a stake on your plate. I've seen the hypocrisy on that I've seen I knew it and I've never taken action and when my mom said that to me I was like I'm going vegan the next day. I lived in alignment with my own beliefs and I went vegan so Further on from that. I was released again, and I was on parole and I went and left the gangs I went and met up with them and I said this life isn't for me and they understood They'd seen the awakening that I had and from that day, thank you Not everyone sees it that way a lot of them did see the waking I had But there was a serious thing happening at the time, and I really had to pull myself away. I Didn't associate with any of my friends anymore. I was on my own So once I left my my game. I was on my own any enemies. I've made in the past I was on my own anything any rivalry I had to look after myself and it was a very hard thing to deal with I was just learning to read socializing like Reconditioned myself to communicate sober. I was just like what is this sobriety thing everything was new to me And at the same time I had this major anxiety because I just didn't know what was going to happen to me It was like a big question mark. So I have to spend a lot of time by myself it was Really full on really fall on but the same time the message of animal rights was galvanizing in me every day And I just had this story. I had to share I remember saying to a girl that I was seeing at that time I was like all my inspiration like when you first go through You just want to tell the world and no one wants to listen mom dad everyone Listen to this and you think they're gonna be like, oh, well, I'll just go big a bit. Never happens like that. So Anyways, like I felt like my inspiration was falling on deaf ears And I was like I need a platform to share this I need a platform to share this and there was a few people on YouTube doing it and I was like I've got to do that one day Spontaneously, I just whipped out my phone and started filming and I let a lot of things out I felt like I needed to help people. It was like right here burning inside my chest and once I've expressed myself and started Speaking what I had in my heart. I didn't have that anxiety anymore. I felt like Wow, this is what I need to do. This is what I need to do now The reason I mean I help people getting sober I help people get off drugs and if they if they want to talk about that But the reason I focus on the animal message so much It is because animals are so innocent like they have done literally nothing wrong to us I remember my friend said this joke He said Joey used to be that guy who would walk up and just stab a human And I was like and he goes now you won't even heard a chicken They're laughing at me and I was like, yeah, but dude the chicken never did nothing wrong to me or you okay? I mean this person might have done something to affect my life personally like really bad to me That's what happens. It's you know this chicken and that's what I understood I said these animals are so vulnerable and innocent and they trust us They trust us and we're their guardians and we chuck them in a gas chamber and chop them up into pieces We betray them on every level and I just think that is the that is the worst betrayal To lure someone into a false sense of security feed and nurture them look after them and then put them in a slaughterhouse This is just an injustice on a massive scale. So that's why That's why I felt obligated to the animals to speaking the animal message and I know it's easy to get set off track There's a lot of things that send your training just gonna remember the animal the animals need us the animals need us So YouTube is a fantastic platform for that. I mean, it's just look at this festival How many people would never have heard this message if it wasn't for the internet? How many wouldn't have seen James's speech it interviews, you know, Gary Rofsky, but wasn't on YouTube This is the platform now social media is where to spread this message. I mean We can talk about types of activism when our first Started doing my activism. I was angry. I was angry I was just going out of games and I didn't know how to like not swear when I talked I didn't know how to not get aggressive and angry like you remember the environment I came from Like this is actually the longest I haven't sworn for Give me credit for that. Come on So I have to be training this side of me but you find with my older videos I was angry and I was swearing and I was aggressive because I was like this is Use the bullies. What are you doing? You're eating that burger like this But now I've realized that the best way to communicate with people is like they're your friend You know that your brother you were there You know where they're at, you know what I mean? And you can do you can be just as powerful as I was when I was swearing and carrying on being aggressive and brilliant motion But by logically responding calmly and asking them a question that will lead them to the conclusion You just have to ask the right questions. I mean as a human being they already know that they desire a life of freedom and justice And a life without slavery and suffering. We know that as a human So you need to speak to that compassion and then we need to put them in the animals position Okay, explain it to do you think would you would you accept a bolt gunner in your head for humane slaughter? But you do you think that's justified so we need a sandwich with some flesh in it No one does unless they're being intellectually dishonest, but they wouldn't they wouldn't so so that's how you speak about being as you have to ask them a question Do you think it's justified to push a pig into a gas chamber for some bacon now? The gas chambers really spoke to me. Oh, I Just can't stress this enough when I've seen that footage that some courageous activists got out of those gas chambers It's just shook me. It's shook me. This is the most humane method For slaughtering pigs for stunning pigs dropping them into they did what they do is they've brought them through this cage-like tunnel And they are scared they're terrified and they brought them and forced them into this gondola this revolving cage And they drop them into this gas and they scream but it's horrible. It is horrible and I Just Can't believe this is the this is like the pinnacle of humane slaughter in Australia and UK like this is this is what we consider humane You know that it's humane dairy standards highest welfare standards for dairy that a 24-day I don't know a 24 hour old calf can be killed with blunt force trauma to the head a Sledgehammer to kill a one-day old calf in the dairy industry now This is she made this is humane. Well, check it out. She look it up. It's horrible what we're doing to these animals That's why we need We need to start thinking about how we speak to non-vegans as well. We need to Be be firm be truthful But be be careful of your approach because I'll let that lesson I'll let that lesson There's some great activists James with a major inspiration in that he told me two years ago Joey The truth is powerful enough. You don't need to swear You know what it's right what we are saying is so powerful. It's so horrific It's so meaningful that you don't need to go get all angry even though I know where you're at I know how that feels but we need to Respond calmly logically and ask legitimate questions. So How much time we got? Eight minutes Now I'll talk to you a little bit about Socratic questioning because there's a bunch of activists that do it really well Really really well and to be honest when I first started doing interviews I didn't even know what who's socrates was. I was like, I think like a pair of socks But I just found it come naturally because it's the least intrusive way to lead someone to the conclusion You don't they didn't you're not forcing anything on them You're not die downloading all this information into them, which is still good But you're just asking a leading question leading in there. So you just start off with one so The slavery is wrong. Oh Yeah, you wouldn't like to be enslaved, right totally against it. Okay, okay, so You know about the dairy industry, you know Cows held against their will. Okay, baby's stolen from them. Okay in slave for four years while they're serial Forcibly impregnated serial child kidnap. Okay, and then once they moved to production declines, they killed Okay, just in case there's any non-vegans in the crowd that weren't sure what I was talking about when it comes to dairy But that's the closest thing to slavery. It is literally slavery. Have you heard of the dairy industry? So did you realize that by buying? Dairy, you were directly funding slavery and Do you think that's justified for a glass of milk almond milk soy milk oat milk rice milk? See what I'm saying today. I've already told you they're against slavery because they wouldn't want to be enslaved They've already told you that you've got them to that point. You've already Now if they say that it's justified to drink dairy or enslaved cow it's cows They created the double standard they could they literally said they're okay with being a hypocrite and that's fine Well, it took me six months of being a realizing that I'm a hypocrite before I changed But I think once you get them to that stage and you really and you get them to understand that they're living Inconsistent with their own beliefs Their own beliefs that they've just stayed to show me that that is the first step now They can leave that conversation and and feel Uncomfortable for the rest of their life with the fact that they're what they're doing is hypocritical Or maybe one day it might just they might just take action But what all we can do is try and plant that seed and post it all over social media so everyone else sees And hopefully people are watching so and that's all we can do so Planting a seed plant them wherever you go and I would say if I would also say this There's a lot of activists out there that see what me James Edd other fantastic activists do and they like I feel inadequate because I Can't do that. I can't get up there and just I can't you know hang out the front of a slaughterhouse I can't stop a truck with my bare hands and save all the pigs that or you know, I can't get up there and talk That's fine. I'm not asking you to do that What we're asking you to be proactive Proactive spreading the message it might be at your house talking to your mom Just speak up about it. Just you know ask your mom some questions Do you think that you know so not everyone has to do what we do? But everyone can do something and just be specific to your skills like you know, you might be really good at baking vegan cakes Invite me over because I'll be there You know, you might be really good at you know, organizing, you know Organizing activist events for other activists, you know, that is a very important thing because sometimes it's stressful being an activist You know, you need people to do other things that we don't that's why all our skills together Is creates a stronger movement? So don't feel inadequate if you can't get out there and do these cool interviews and stuff But you just just be proactive. You know what I'm saying proactive. So I Will leave you with this quote. I think it's amazing. It says So the truth doesn't need to be defended. It's like a lion. You set it free and it would defend itself Okay, so you've got the truth on your side. All right