Salon.com > Peter Brandt

Holy abuse

Mon, 02 Jul 2001 19:00:00 +0000

How do you compensate an adult who, as a child, felt bones in her hands shatter while she vainly tried to shield herself from a violently abusive teacher?

Seventy-nine former students of Hare Krishna boarding schools, known as gurukulas, are seeking $400 million from the religious sect in compensation for enduring a range of physical, sexual and emotional abuse -- abuse the Krishnas have acknowledged in the past. The plaintiffs' attorney, Texas trial lawyer Windle Turley, filed suit last year in federal court using the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute; it is a bold gambit that, if not dismissed, could put the former students in a good position to financially ruin the Hare Krishna movement. Any day they could learn whether the suit will be knocked out of federal court. If that happens, former students will have no choice but to pursue individual abusers and criminally negligent gurukula administrators rather than the entire Krishna establishment.

"I was a three-and-a-half [year-old] girl, mother away in India," reads one anonymous posting on a Web site for former students. "He [a teacher] took me into the boys shower room, stripped off my clothes and beat me until I was unconscious."

PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 19:00:00 +0000

At first glance, urging the murderer of 168 innocent people to give up meat, eggs and dairy out of consideration for animals seems either insanely optimistic or crassly exploitative. For Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder and president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, her group's letter to Timothy McVeigh made perfect sense. In a nation that matter-of-factly slaughters 9 billion animals a year, Newkirk and her colleagues must maintain an incredible amount of hope.

The letter to McVeigh, penned by PETA staffer Bruce Friedrich, reads as a sincere expression of concern not just for animals but for McVeigh's own spiritual well-being. Friedrich writes:

"I believe that your decision to go vegan would help the movement for compassion toward animals, and I am certain that if you made the choice prayerfully, it would profit your soul. As a Christian, I believe in acts of repentance, and it seems to me that you might benefit very much from such an act."

Dr. Neal Barnard

Mon, 12 Mar 2001 20:00:00 +0000

Dr. Neal Barnard founded the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in 1985. The group persuasively argues the health benefits of a vegan diet, one free from eggs, meat and dairy, and advocates higher ethical standards in medical research, including the end of reliance on animals as experimental models for humans. What elevates Barnard, a psychiatrist by training, above most doctors is his ability to pitch the idea of bean water and lemon juice salad dressing with such eloquence as to make the proposition sound almost inviting.

Although the American public is not noticeably clamoring for a well-spoken proponent of veganism, Barnard has sold approximately 1.5 million copies of his books on various aspects of nutrition. His latest book, "Turn Off the Fat Genes," looks at how emerging genetic information is redefining the long-held suspicion that genes play a role in determining body weight.

Ian MacKaye

Mon, 08 Jan 2001 20:00:00 +0000

If you frequented the Georgetown Häagen-Dazs shop in Washington in the early '80s you are probably familiar with Ian MacKaye's early work. The singer, guitarist and underground entrepreneur developed his scooping arm there, alongside childhood friend Henry Rollins. MacKaye soon cut the apron strings and pursued full-time work as co-owner of Dischord Records and as a member of many legendary D.C. bands, including Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace and Fugazi. Dischord turned 20 last month.

No one imagined that the then 18-year-old MacKaye and his Teen Idles band mates were launching a company, let alone one that would command the respect of critics and punks alike two decades later. It was an inauspicious launch -- the $600 for the production and distribution of an eight-song 7-inch came out of the band's cigar box -- but Dischord quickly became a fully articulated expression of the politics and passion that haphazardly brought it to life. Its sphere of influence has widened exponentially over the years, but Dischord has never veered from its original course. The two cd retrospective it plans to release by early summer attests attests to this.