S4. E23: Gemunu De Silva: The Quiet Man Speaks
“Bearing witness is difficult. It does hit your emotions... I think you've got to remember, these images that you take are not yours to keep… it's your duty to put them out there or let organizations get them out there. I think that's how you cope - it’s thinking, okay these aren't going to stay in my head. These are actually going to go out into the world and are going to create change.”
- Gemunu de Silva
Today’s episode is a special one.
It’s with Gemunu de Silva. Gem is a filmmaker and an activist who has been investigating and documenting animal rights abuses since the eighties, before there was even such a thing as a camcorder, instead he covertly filmed inside of factory farms with a video camera and a VHS recorder attached to his back. He was the first person in the UK to film in and expose the atrocities that happen every day on industrial farms.
He directed and produced programs for UK national television, including the documentary, Meathead. Watch it – it’s absolutely spectacular.
He left the film and television world to set up and run the Investigations Unit at Compassion in World Farming. Gem also lead the unit’s pioneering work on long distance animal transport. In the early 2000’s, Gem went to work as the Director of Research and Investigations at Cruelty Free International, where he specialized in exposing the vile international trade of primates for research.
In 2006, Gem co-founded Tracks Investigations. They have just completed their 250th investigative film project. That is an enormous number of investigations. 35 animal rights and protection organizations have benefited from their work in 57 countries.
The work that Gem has done for the past three and a half decades has changed laws, minds and the world for millions of animals. For most of that time, he has laid low, stayed under the radar and has not done any media in decades.
I want to thank Rich Hardy for introducing me to Gem. When he did, he told me, "I’m constantly in awe of what Gem has been able to achieve. For me, he is the movement’s ‘quiet man’, and is 100% proof that you don’t always have to shout to be effective for animals.”
It was an absolute honor to have Gem on the show to tell his story. I hope that you are as moved, awed, and inspired as I am.
Learn More About Tracks Investigations
Follow Tracks on Instagram
Watch the Meathead Documentary
Watch Animal Frontline on Animal Planet
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