Fragment on the importance of a council system approach in AR

Untapped Animal Rights expertise and Animal Rights as an immediate concern to human individuals

A fragment by Palang L. Arani-May. Download as a PDF.

We want and we need to empower people in terms of thinking and speaking about their positive relations to the ‘nonhuman animal world’, and our broad goal is to include a rights language for nonhumans into our democratic political systems and into legislation.

I think we are moving too far in two different opposing extremes as what regards the message that we are bringing out to our newfound allies in AR, and that is also the message that will form a basis for Animal Rights politics in the future.

We express specific alert and we give answers:

  1. On one hand we hand out leaflets and make demos confronting people about issues in the way of showing our protest and raising awareness to those who are no yet much familiar with AR issues and concerns.
  2. On the other hand we lead (or some lead) a relatively detached expert-based approach to thinking about and discussing Animal Rights related issues.

Where does that leave the thinking individual who is starting to make AR a top subject for themselves?

We could say that’s their problem, they can either join a group to demo, donate, sign important petitions or become an expert and hold a talk / write a paper, or do both, or … ?

Inasmuch able to reflect on the rights of your nonhuman “next”, as about your own rights …

What I would hope to see is that we encourage others to understand that they are already able enough to phrase their own positive theses and opinions about AR. We all have a lifetime experience that we can draw upon, we can think, we can speak. We can transport our knowledge and thoughts about AR related issues to other people as a form of activism.

If we want to break the speciesist divides, we must overcome separating immediate human rights concerns from an immediate relation and understanding that anybody is inasmuch able to have about the rights of his – nonhuman – next.

To defend rights we have to postulate them. But we can only postulate and claim due rights (to live, to be free, to not be labelled as property, etc.), if we learn to stand for Animal Rights just like we stand for our own Human Rights.

People do have reasonable and common sense answers and solution for problems such as: whose life is “more important” in a specific situation where you have to decide about life and death (i.e. both lives are as important), or is something morally wrong or right, or how can we change difficult societal constellations, or how can we find new approaches to deep-rooted problems, etc, etc, etc.

I believe we need to create rather a councilsystem that enables and empowers, to increase the potentiality in society to thus create a healthy revolution with the goal of embedding Animal Rights and extending and readjusting our “own” ethics.

Image: Oil on canvas painting by Farangis Yegane.

Anastasia Yarbrough: White Supremacy and Patriarchy Hurt Animals

White Supremacy and Patriarchy Hurt Animals

Anastasia Yarbrough

This text as a PDF (Link opens in a new window)

This talk is about the stories we tell about animal oppression. We as animal rights activists have an opportunity to tell deeper stories that don’t rely so much on tokenizing the struggles of people of color and women. Nor do they have to rely on tokenizing animals as romantic symbols of human identity. Instead, we can talk about animals’ struggles and lives, to the best of our knowledge, and reveal how they’re interconnected with different human groups’ struggles by telling the stories of the forces (and the identity groups behind the forces) that bind them all.

I. Who am I?

My name is Anastasia Yarbrough. I am facilitator consultant, musician, and community educator. I have been doing animal advocacy work for over 15 years, and most recently, in the last 5 years, I have been vocally and logistically active in the animal liberation movement. I used to serve on the board of Institute for Critical Animal Studies, and I currently am on the advisory board for Food Empowerment Project.
Acknowledgments
Breeze Harper for hosting this online conference. Adam Weitzenfeld and pattrice jones for being wonderful, inspiring scholar-activists who have also been attentive listeners with these issues I’ve been grappling with. And to all the activists out there who work for total liberation, even amidst the tremendous challenges.

II. Why talk about white supremacy and patriarchy specifically?

• These pervasive, intertwined forces serve as a major backbone to the Animal Rights Movement. The AR movement is concentrated in Eurocentric countries, and within these countries, the majority of the members are white, and the bulk of the leadership comprise of white men. As a result, the ideological basis for human-animal relations tends to be very Eurocentric and it’s not uncommon to see animal advocacy and vegan campaigns that promote a European ideal (i.e. campaigns against dog-eating in China). The eurocentrism makes it difficult for people who aren’t white to feel like they have a place in the movement, especially when they’re animal ethics don’t necessarily reflect the “mainstream.” And the influence of patriarchy becomes very obvious when the majority of the movement comprises of female activists but over 50% of the leadership in major, active animal advocacy nonprofits is male. When major events in the movement like the national conference don’t allow these issues to truly be addressed and are treated as trivial, not central to the strengthening of the movement, we have a problem.

• Great majority of AR organizations and leaders compare the modern AR movement to and use examples from anti-racist, anti-sexist movements of US history without an understanding of how racism and sexism operate in America, but rather just assuming they know because they’re activists for a similarly oppressed group (the diverse array of beings called “animals”).

o At the AR National Conference 2013 in Washington DC, Norm Phelps told participants in the opening plenary that AR activists are the Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman of our time. Nathan Runkle, at the same plenary, also said that the AR movement is the next evolutionary progression in the advancement for social justice; animal rights is the new major social justice movement.

• This heavy reliance on lessons from anti-racist and anti-sexist human rights struggles of the past is not a problem in and of itself. They are part of our heritage, and we can’t help but continue in their shadows. And the leaders from those movements are, after all, our ancestors and influential pioneers for social justice and environmental movements worldwide. But when leaders in the AR movement use lazy analyses to use them as leverage to further legitimize animal rights as a movement, it does not serve our movement and it misses the point. There’s a reason why the struggles of people of color, women, and animals look similar enough for comparison. That’s because they’re connected by systemic forces that fuel and maintain their oppression. Another speaker could do this analysis from any angle in the matrix. Today, I’m focusing on white supremacy and patriarchy.

III. How do white supremacy and patriarchy directly impact animals?

• Same forces, different groups

o White supremacy and patriarchy (what I will from now on refer to as “white patriarchy”) have been analyzed by critical race theorists and feminist theorists respectively for several decades in the United States. People of color have had to study whiteness and women have had to study patriarchy in order to survive. Whiteness and patriarchy are collectively understood to be social identity constructs reinforced structurally over time. That means, their initial creation were intentional and the people assumed the identities by choice. In the Anarchist Federation’s Women Caucus most recent anarchist analysis of privilege theory, they emphasized that identity groups like men and white people can’t actually give up their privilege no matter how much individuals from those groups want to. They’re born into those identities, raised in those identity groups, and are immersed in a system they cannot opt out of or choose to stop benefiting from. “You are not responsible for the system that gives you your privilege, only for how you respond to it.” Bell Hooks has often associated white patriarchy with acts of terrorism (i.e. slavery, rape, torture, and murder) against black people and black women, specifically. These acts of terrorism—slavery, rape, torture, and murder—are what we’re trying to abolish in the AR movement. It’s no surprise that they arise from the same system. How do we manage to live in society with all of this happening and be okay with it? Well, for one thing, white patriarchy doesn’t make itself visible. Like any social identity construct that maintains a social-economic system on the basis of exploiting more vulnerable individuals and communities, marginalizing those who interfere with the “mainstream” status quo, committing systematic violence for the benefit of privileged groups, and dominating the minds and bodies and space and reproduction of other groups, white patriarchy is an institution that manages to sustain all of this invisibly. We have to make a conscientious effort to make it visible. In the AR movement, when we talk about humans oppressing animals, we have opportunities to make visible the white supremacy and patriarchy behind the exploitation, the domination, the reproductive control, the marginalization, and the systematic killing. We can name the tokenizing of animals as mascots for their own exploitation and murder. We can call out shelter animal and feral animal killings as blaming the victim. We can talk about how wild animals are marginalized by habitat loss due to agriculture and urban development and “invasive/injurious” species become a convenient target for blame even though they’re not the primary cause. We can make visible the reproductive control, forced breeding, genetic manipulation, and rape that make institutions like laboratory research on animals, animal agriculture, pet-keeping, zoos and aquaria, hunting ranches, aquaculture, and animal entertainment industries go round. Tokenizing, blaming the victim, marginalization, and reproductive control are key tenets of white patriarchy. Under white supremacy in America, the mainstream tends to identify with animals and people of color once they’re dead or reduced into obscurity. This gives the illusion that we’re actually respecting these groups by romanticizing them and reshaping who they are in our imaginations for our own identities, now that our ancestors and contemporaries have removed them as a threat. But a major tenet of white patriarchy is the issue of citizenship. The only legitimate voices are those who are “true citizens” of the group. And in the AR movement, that is a huge obstacle in getting animals’ interests taken seriously.

• White patriarchy driving animal advocacy campaigns

o PETA campaigns are infamous for their racist and sexist campaigns. For that reason, I won’t go into too much detail with them here as another speaker in this conference will be offering an analysis of PETA. PETA, though, is an obvious example of white patriarchy driving its goals and strategies. Not just in the organization’s publicity stunts but also in their policies and practices involving animals directly. PETA has a track-record of killing more rescued dogs and cats than they place into homes. Nathan Winograd has been challenging PETA for years over their animal sheltering policies and practices. PETA sympathizers have retorted that what’s not mentioned in Winograd’s arguments are the animals who are adopted out and the dangers of overcrowding in shelters, that it’s better for animals to die a “merciful” death than to live a life in a shelter or worse, homeless. However, what this says to me is that for PETA the best kind of ethical relationship we can hope for with animals under PETA policy are with those who are dead because there isn’t enough capacity to hold them all under complete institutional control and it’s more efficient to kill them and congratulate ourselves on doing the right thing because we know what’s best. This is white patriarchy.

o Undercover investigations have been the primary tactic for exposing some of the worst offenses against animals. What often is not emphasized in undercover investigations of factory farm abuses or campaigns against dog-fighting or cock-fighting or exposés of illegal wildlife trafficking are the racialized components of these atrocities. The vast majority of the people who are doing the dirty work that gets plastered all over the news and bears the brunt of scorn and outrage from activists are people of color.

 Migrant workers from countries like Mexico and Guatemala comprise 1/5th of the agricultural workforce industry. They typically don’t have a high school diploma, so their options for work are slim, and they usually have very little say in the operations of these farms. They are just hands—often bloody hands—working 10-12 hour shifts. US imperialism and racism push them into jobs like this where options for livelihood are very few. They are more likely to be punished for animal cruelty than the operators of the farm who make the real profit. And animal advocacy organizations know this when they press charges; they’re just trying to take whatever “victory” they can get. In the end, this doesn’t help present or future animals because it allows corporations and their shareholders to avoid responsibility, it allows business owners to scapegoat impoverished and illiterate migrant workers who have very little legal protection, and it sends a misleading message to the public that the “bad guys” have been dealt with when in actuality they’ll just be replaced by another immigrant of similar standing who eventually loses his mind with the violence he must perform daily for several hours.

 Dogfighting is as old as civilization itself. And cockfighting started to appear in Europe around the 1400s. Both of these blood sports were primarily the activity of wealthy landowners, merchants, and aristocrats—in other words, people with money. Nowadays, these blood sports are associated with poor people of color. So campaigns against these vicious customs tend to look like white people chastising people of color, now that middle/upper-class white people are culturally “removed” from such barbarism.

 Illegal wildlife trafficking is an issue pervasive not just in animal advocacy but in environmental conservation as well. Campaigns and reports emphasize the illegal portion of wildlife trafficking so that they can invoke CITES and have some legal, policy weight, but that hasn’t made a big difference so far in the number of animals, alive and dead, being trafficked out of their native lands and waters. The regions where the bulk of this activity happens are southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. News media, documentaries, and campaigns tend to focus heavily on the “poaching” side of wildlife trafficking, which is exclusively poor people of color these regions. Though the business of wildlife trafficking will be part of a big crime syndicate, the people who are splattered in imagery and news articles are those with fewer resources and less leverage in the overall syndicate—people who are easy to replace, easy to scapegoat. It’s harder to make the wealthy consumers of wildlife products visible, it’s harder to challenge the rich, privately owned hunting ranches that profit in the business of “exotic” animal trafficking, it’s harder to target American and European private investors of militias and crime syndicates in these regions—so nobody really does. Because it’s easier to target poor people of color committing the actual violence and the actual crimes, they are the poster criminals, and white supremacy and colonialism can continue to go unchecked, unnoticed in its maintenance of this system.

o Racism, classism, and colonialism drive people of color to overly depend on the exploitation of animals, and because they don’t have the protection of wealth and whiteness, these people bear the brunt of the consequences, while the heavy enablers can continue business as usual.

IV. Racism & Speciesism: Are they interchangeable?

• Race and species are arbitrary distinctions that arose around the same time in European thought. They are both driven by phenotypic differences but carry the weight and legitimacy as though they are biologically rooted, and biological is often associated with “fixed.” In biology, the biological species definition is considered the ultimate species definition. If groups are shown to have individuals producing reproductively viable offspring, then they are truly a species. More often than not, this primary definition is too difficult to test in the field or in the lab, so other definitions based on morphological and phylogenetic differences between groups are considered an acceptable substitution. But what the morphological and phylogenetic species definitions do is make the labeling of species just as arbitrary as race theory. For both, it basically comes down to: if you look a little different, do things a little differently, vary somewhat genetically, and even live in a different region from the basis of comparison, that’s good enough to label your group a distinct species (and historically, race and species have been used interchangeably) until some other “expert” comes along and says otherwise.

• In my experience, what we as AR activists often label as speciesism tends to be racism, sexism, and ableism against animals. Animal agriculture, aquaculture, laboratory research on animals, pet-keeping, and even commercial and recreational hunting rely on the oppression of specific species for the benefit of certain human groups. But the arguments used to keep them in oppression are not so much speciesist as they are racist, sexist, and/or ableist. While dogs are targeted as a species of commercial breeding, it’s the races of dogs (otherwise called “breeds”) that are used as justification and incentive to continue selective breeding and reproductive control of dogs. And it’s the races that rig a dog slated for execution in certain counties just by being born to that race. Ecofeminist animal rights activists have pointed out for years that sexism is a major force driving the oppression of animals in agricultural industries, particularly dairy and egg where they would not exist without exploiting female labor. And even animal rights activists play into the traps of ableism, emphasizing the social-cognitive abilities of animals in a desperate attempt to get people to care about animals. Abilities of animal individuals and species may perhaps be the ground for which we justify how we treat animals. Once we activists are able to recognize them when they appear, it becomes easier to see what we’re really working with.

V. Conclusion

• Making white supremacy and patriarchy visible is very important to making animal oppression visible. They are often behind the atrocities against animals we’re struggling against.

• White supremacy and patriarchy affect the goals of the movement and the strategies employed. We can evaluate how our goals and strategies are carried along and By practicing an intention to make these forces visible, recognize what’s actually happening acknowledge our role in them all, we can take responsibility for the direction of .

• As other activists incorporate analyses of ablism, heterosexism, cissexism, and queerness, we have an opportunity for animal rights to become a genuine frontier intersectional movement. Are we up for the challenge?

More examples of white patriarchy:

• “I just installed a nose plate…so that he wouldn’t be nursing on his mom. He doesn’t need to anymore…He’ll get used to it. We’ve done it to other calves. And there’s little spikes on that plate, and that’s to irritate the cows udder if he tries to nurse and she’ll kick him away…Anyway, another fun thing to do on the farm.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOMYfrFKHyE&feature=youtu.be

Park-Kim Sujin: The Concept of Human-Centrism in the Intellectual History of Both the East and West

The Concept of Human-Centrism in the Intellectual History of Both the East and West

Talking About Animal Rights: Philosophies and Ideas about Animal Rights (Part 1)

By Park-Kim Sujin
Translated by Kang Eun-sil

How come we don’t feel guilty about exploiting animals?

The philosophies or thoughts of prominent philosophers or thinkers have influence on those of ordinarypeople not only in the times of those philosophers and thinkers but also in later times. This becomes clear when we consider the male-centered ideology that has justified suppression of and discrimination against women, or the ideology of capitalism, which have exercised enormous influence for a long time.

The general thoughts members of society have regarding a specific object or matter are the outcome of the philosophies and thoughts that emerged in former generations and have had a great influence. This is also true of the debate over animal rights. The perception of non-human animals shown in Eastern and Western philosophies and thoughts are found in modern people’s thoughts and attitudes.

Behind human beings’ perception that non-human animals are a mere means to human ends, not living beings, are the philosophies and thoughts that regard non-human animals as things or means. It can be hardly denied that in both the East and West, human beings’ perception of non-human animals has been entirely human-centered. Highly influential philosophers in the East and West contributed to ordinary people developing such ideas.

Western philosophers’ perception of non-human animals and humans

On the premise that only humans have reason, Aristotle said human beings were justified in using non-human animals as resources because they were ranked lower than humans.

Descartes saw the ability to use signs, symbols and languages as an important difference between humans and non-human animals. He argued that it was justifiable to discriminate against non-human animals that had neither reason nor the ability to use languages. He said the sounds produced by non-human animals were not a language but automatic responses like innate gestures.

For Descartes, non-human animals were nothing more than machines without souls. So, he felt no guilt in dissecting a living dog placed on a table. For him, the scream the dog made during dissection was little different from the sound produced when the spring or gear wheels of a watch were disassembled.

John Locke said God granted reason only to humans. He argued that as humans were the only beings with reason, they had ownership of nature. For him, nature was something God permitted humans to conquer, and thus it was natural for inferior non-human animals to obey superior humans.

Amid the increasing presence of pessimists who believed human beings did not have reason, Kant tried to restore reason—which was disappearing from the attention of other philosophers—saying, “Only humans have reason.” He said “We humans do not have any direct duty with regard to non-human animals. As non-human animals do not have self-awareness, they are a mere means to accomplish a certain end. The end is humans.”

Even after discovering that non-human animals too feel pain…

In modern society, non-human animals are being exploited and abused in even more ways.<

If the arguments of the philosophers above—Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, and Chevalier—are accepted, the exploitation and abuse of non-human animals will be justified. Acknowledging humans’ ownership and control over non-human animals will allow humans to conquer, use, and kill non-human animals for the purposes of their interest and convenience.

Furthermore, as non-human animals are considered nothing more than machines, humans do not have to feel guilty or disturbed for using them. Reason is the exclusive property of humans, and non-human animals lacking reason cannot possibly have self-awareness.

The thoughts and arguments of the philosophers above have constituted the basis on which humans today understand nature, non-human animals and the world.

There is one thing more horrible about humans today, however. While people in the past did not believe non-human animals could feel pain, philosophers and many others today acknowledge that non-human animals can feel pain. In this respect, people today seem crueler than their predecessors because they are paying little attention to the exploitation of and violence against beings that can feel pain.

Which Is Crueler? Humans or Non-Human Animals?

There are a few things I want to discuss at this point. I found something strange in what the Western philosophers above argued. The world has changed, and humans no longer lead a life completely dependent on God. So, we should rethink the assertion that God granted reason only to humans.

Furthermore, we need to think about what “reason” really is. It is commonly said that only humans have reason. But, looking at things happening across the world, we may come to doubt that humans are really equipped with reason. If reason is a good thing and all humans have it, how can we explain numerous problems happening across the world such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, unfair labor issues, and discrimination and violence against minorities including the disabled, immigrants and homosexuals? If “a certain order” truly exists in human beings, as Chevalier put it, how can we explain the disorderliness of the world today?

Humans ranked non-human animals lower than themselves and dismissed the sound produced by them as not a language. They also differentiated themselves from non-human animals and defined the emotions and languages of beings other than humans from their perspective, saying, “They are not languages.” All this shows how selfish humans are.

I’d like to raise a question: who granted humans the right to rank non-human animals lower than themselves and to make use of them as they want? Some say humans behaving like non-human animals could bring about an catastrophe. But I think it may be the other way around. Non-human animals becoming as cruel as humans would cause a bigger catastrophe.

The understanding of animals’ rights may have to begin with raising questions about what we have taken for granted. A similar approach has been made to the understanding of homosexuality. While people in the past tried to explain the causes  of homosexuality, people today think about the causes of heterosexuality or ask heterosexuals questions like “How do you distinguish love and friendship?”

The lives of all living beings are equal in Buddhist philosophy

Then, how are humans and non-human animals viewed in Eastern philosophies? To begin with, let’s examine Buddhist philosophy, which teaches respect for life. Buddhist philosophy is highly different from Western philosophy in its perspective on non-human animals.

The respect for life that Buddhist philosophy teaches is not confined to the lives of humans. It holds that the lives of all living creatures, humans and non-human animals, should be respected. From the perspective of Buddhism, the phenomenon of appearance is nothing more than an outer cover created by karma. The nature of all living creatures is permanent and completely free, and thus no discrimination exists between humans and non-human animals.

The absolute freedom and equality of Buddhism are applied to all living creatures regardless of their status in the hierarchy. Life should not be used as a means or tool to achieve something because it itself is the goal to be realized. Any living creature must not be killed, discriminated against or repressed.

In Buddhism, the concept of “Buddha” does not refer to Sakyamuni [the historical Buddha] alone; everything in the world is thought to be a Buddha. All of the things that comprise the world, including mountains and fields, sky and wind, humans and non-human animals, are Buddhas, no discrimination is found among them.

Buddhism does not allow dividing animals into humans and non-human animals, calling the division a sort of “delusion.” These fundamental ideas and attitude of Buddhism prove that Buddhism, unlike other philosophies, sees non-human animals as beings, not things.

Mercy belongs to humans, and hatred to non-human animals?

However, the Buddhist ideology that does not allow discrimination among all living creatures does not seem to have any direct effect on modern people’s perception of or attitudes towards non-human animals. That is because many Buddhist followers and teachers still see non-human animals as things.

Many Buddhist leaders who put emphasis on reaching nirvana believe only humans can reach nirvana and see non-human animals as lowly things. We can find many passages in Buddhist books that associate humans with affection and mercy, and non-human beings with hatred, jealousy, and other negative emotions. Furthermore, many Buddhists believe being born as non-human animals is the result of bad karma in a past life.

Park-Kim Sujin, who interviews lesbians for her Ilda column “Over the Rainbow,” is writing another column called “Talks of Animal Rights.” This column will provide an opportunity to learn of animal rights, a still-unfamiliar concept to Korean society, and to lead an ecological life that seeks harmony between humans and non-human animals.

*Original article: http://www.ildaro.com/sub_read.html?uid=6386&section=sc3&section2

Posted 2nd December 2013 by ILDA: http://ildaro.blogspot.de/2013/12/the-concept-of-human-centrism-in.html

Steve from the The Drag Hook about ethical veganism

Steve, vocalist of the vegan hardcoreband The Drag Hook from Cleveland, about ethical veganism:

Veganism is an important step on the road to acknowledging and ending suffering worldwide. The fact that the human body has evolved to run most efficiently on a completely vegan diet is a side benefit of living as close to a cruelty free life as is humanly possible in the world today.

Once we stop ignoring the fact that creatures with the capacity to love and enjoy their lives are being tortured and murdered every day in the name of gluttony and greed, we can start addressing this problem and every other form of needless destruction we inflict on this planet and all those we share it with.

We as human beings have a long history of doing terrible things to each other and to all of our fellow earthlings. We must right these wrongs or go extinct trying.

-Steve Osborne XVX
The Drag Hook

Ignorance Is Complicity

they live in the space you ignore
they die on the killing room floor
because they’re born for you to waste
they give their lives for the way they taste
this is real monstrosity
ignorance is complicity
Breed them in new mutated forms
so fat they cant lift themselves off the floor
dying in numbers too large to record
sold to your plate before they are born
this is real monstrosity
ignorance is complicity
everyone knows the difference
between chained and free
there will be a war
until every cage is empty

Not In My Name

let them suffer no more for me
let the walls that cage them topple over, let them be free
let the hand that grips the whip be severed clean
let eyes that witness and do nothing, no longer see
carry their cries out to every ear
let no one enjoy their pain without having to hear
Bread to be tortured and killed
raped into existence then fed to the world
this will not be my legacy
i wont go down with the rest of my species.

Both these tracks are from their January 2014 release: Lethal Dose.

The band is not active anymore in this formation. Their album ‘Lethal Dose’ can be downloaded in bandcamo under adrress however: https://suspendedsoultapesandrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lethal-dose

Marseille based vegan band Velvetine

We asked Stef from the Marseille based French band Velvetine about how they would describe themselves as a vegan band:

Ethically / politically: The members of Velvetine are vegan, antispeciesist, antisexisist and antiracist. Our third opus “Un jour ordinaire” is dedicated to animal liberation. Velvetine plays in places militant as in not militant places, to spread the antispeciesist message as widely as possible.

Velvetine’s style: using guitars, voices and machines, distilling an electro-rock blend of savage poetry. Colored by subtle harmonies, Velvetine draws up a tormented and powerful mood from deep running roots in ethnic and noisy music. The release of our next album is planned for spring 2014.

Un jour ordinaire

Des oiseaux empalés rôtissent dans les vitrines.
Des corps démembrés garnissent les étals.
Sur le pont des bateaux, des poissons tressaillant
Lentement s’asphyxient

Dans des hangars fétides, de mornes vies s’écoulent
On coupe à vif, des becs, des dents, des testicules
On enfonce des embucs jusqu’au fond des gosiers
Partout roulent des camions bourrés de condamnés
Ceux qu’on va égorger, saigner.

En ce jour ordinaire, ceux qui ont peur et mal
Se comptent par millions
En ce pays en paix, la torture et le meurtre
Sont le lot quotidien
Et maintenant, et maintenant
Ça dure encore
Et maintenant, et maintenant

From Velvetine’s album Septembre which also thematized Animal Liberation.

Connect via

Bandcamp: http://velvetine.bandcamp.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Velvetine/377544125513

Knives and Forks for Freedom on awareness and the complexity of ethical veganism

Vegan punks, Knives and Forks for Freedom

Cody, multitasking member of the political hardcore punk band Knives and Forks for Freedom from Canada, tells us his thoughts on the complexity of ethical veganism:

For me, living in the industrial capitalist world, there is almost no reason not to be vegan. I believe that not enough people are truly aware of the consequences of supporting industrial animal agriculture. It is safe to say that the majority of the population is mostly unaware, or chooses not to acknowledge the reality of the practices of factory farming and slaughterhouses. Animals are born into a life of confinement in poor conditions until their brutal slaughter, very often done without anaesthesia. It’s very obvious that this is the reason slaughterhouses are not made of glass walls and are often located in remote areas, safe from public awareness. Otherwise, so much less people would knowingly support this industry.

I generally have a reasonably optimistic view on humanity though. I’m sure most people would be opposed to these practices if they were more aware of them. After all, many people like animals, such as their pets. No one would want their dog or cat to have to experience a life of confinement, neglect and torture. But because of the complete disconnect with where this food comes from, no one really thinks about it. It seems that most people are led to believe in vague myths that this food comes from traditional family farms where animals live happily. But instead, what we have is intensive factory operations whose primary goal is to create profit as efficiently and cheaply as possible.

On top of all of this, industrial animal agriculture generates so much pollution and causes great environmental damage. It also requires so much more grains, soy and water to feed livestock than the food created from plants. It’s just very inefficient and unsustainable. So by simply refusing to support the industry, it creates less demand for the products and then creates less harm. So for me, the refusal to support these industries is also rooted in an anti-consumerist and anti-capitalist way of thinking.

At a larger level, we live in a culture based on hierarchy and power. Animal’s being forced to spend their lives in confinement and poor conditions for people’s benefit is one example of that. I think we’re also vaguely led to believe in a “survival of the fittest” myth, which ultimately just serves to normalize the idea that it’s completely fine for the dominant class to rule and exploit those who they consider “inferior”. In the case of non-human animals, this denies them their sentience and their own right to live. As such, it’s absolutely essential to be critical of power relations in all levels in society. In the case of veganism, it is simply about making small daily choices to simply not support industries built on exploitation. Our comforts and pleasures should not exist at the expense of the lives of others.

Please Don’t Eat Me

Well I know it’s not the best you’ve ever had,
but I sure don’t think it’s all that bad.
Is it enough knowing that nothing living had to die?
I know you’re used to your meat, but soy is worth a try.

The cows never saw it coming,
relaxing in the green pastures of lies,
never knowing the humans’ insatiable hunger.
No time for this cow now, but who is next?!
Please don’t eat me!

“This tofu tastes terrible”, is all you can ever say.
And “who cares about a fucking cow anyway”,
but have you ever thought about the life they live?
We take so much from this planet, that we never give.

To the death you’d argue it’s about health for you.
Well what’s good for that cow to eat, is fucking good for you too.
If we planted that grain in the fields where they eat,
it would end world hunger and no one would have to eat meat.

There’s no reason for us to still do this.
We have the technology to surpass this savageness.
Humans are much smarter than all other animals on earth,
but when we act like animals,
do we doom ourselves to die…like animals?!

Album: I’m Not Fucked Up, The World Is, released 2011

Dic of the Hour

The dictator of choice wasn’t chosen by you,
but chosen for you.
Believes in America and his country,
believes we do not have a voice.

Put in place, by the powers that be.
I’ve learned enough, they’ll never have control of me.
I’ll keep screaming, ‘til I have no voice.
One day, we’ll remove the dictator of choice.

They laugh, while you slave for your daily food.
People are slaughtered in the streets every minute,
people just like you.

A new dictator; how many times will they do it?
How many times will no one notice?
Until the whole world, is fucking third world!?

Album: Who’s in Control?, released 2012

Connect through:

Bandcamp: http://kafff.bandcamp.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/4freedom4all

Holy on their AR veganism, on belief systems and intersectional approaches


Holy vegan hardcore from Milan

Stefano, singer of Holy told us about animal rights, veganism, belief systems and intersectional approaches:

The four of us approached veganism in very different ways and time, I think that mostly what we share is that we all became vegans because we have a critical view of the world around us.

The biggest strength of the meat industry is the “don’t question” approach, consuming animals or animal product is something that in most cases is done without consciousness, no one ever wonders about how cows turned into steak, it’s not something considered questionable at all. Just part of the everyday normal life.

It happened in a certain moment of our life that we started questioning it, of course punk has had a huge influence in the process of making this choice. It’s because of punk that we perceived veganism for the first time as a political choice, and not only as some kind of fashionable hippy diet. When we started this band, we’ve put our opinion about animal rights in the spotlight, so we knew that there could have been misunderstandings about our band name’s origin and meaning.

During these years, more than once we had to make ourselves clear about the fact that we are not a religious band, but we are 4 rationalists/atheists. The way we practice veganism, as I said, is as a conscious lifestyle, and I can’t imagine anything further from this than religion.
It is a CHOICE, not an act of faith, and we’re committed to this not to save our souls, or empower our karmic whatever. We are vegan because we care both for human and for non-human life; we don’t see humanity as the center of the universe, nor the top of food chain.

I grew up in Italy, which has still a Catholic culture. This made me think how deep the roots of speciesism are. If you try to think about the idea that men are created in the image and likeness of God, you realize that this people is basically telling you “you are not an animal.” You’re something above all life, and below God only, and this is not only because this is written in the Old Testament, this is because the Catholic Church is still against evolution theory, and still supporting and spreading this shitty idea of creationism. This is a hetero-normative patriarchal Church of a god that created man out of clay (but not women of course, who are just a product of an extra rib.)

You have to know that in Italy the relations between church and state are still regulated by a 1929 agreement Between Mussolini and Pope Pio IX. Catholicism is still considered the main religion, is still a class in primary school (although it is optional), and we still have crucifixes in our classrooms. This means that the Christian imprinting is pretty effective on children at first, and also on the whole population.

Some eastern religions are known for being more “animal friendly” or even for preaching explicitly not to eat meat. Through the years these religions fascinated western people because for some reason they’re perceived, as more “human” and peaceful compared to monotheist religions.

What really depress me is not religious people themselves (as an Atheist, I stand for the freedom of questioning), but the fact that most of the people (to be honest 100% of the ones I’ve met) who approached vegetarianism through religion, seem to be incapable of connecting it to other aspects of life and politics. I mean, I don’t care if the Bhagavad Gita tells you to eat cheese and yoghurt, but how can you consider yourself and intelligent person if you stop eating meat to spare animal lives on one side, and on the other you are still contributing to death, consuming dairy products, because your god told you so? An act of faith is weak by definition: an individual makes choices and reinforces those choices, themselves, even thou it’s oblivious that the choice could be wrong.

This is one of the many ways of how veganism is intersectional to me, it’s both the result of many choices that lead me to what I am today and one of the foundations of what I will be tomorrow. As a thinking person, not just as a vegan.

Asleep

Give us today / our poisoned bread / our daily piece of trash / our dose of forgiveness / altars for those who torture / gallows for those who care / how long will the lambs / be so bloodthirsty? / the sleep of consciousness / built cities and gold paved streets / monuments to its own failure / to praise / to bless / to sleep / forever.

Album: Self Titled 12″ released by Hell Yes! (2012 release)

FREE DOWNLOAD: www.mediafire.com?a5bt7rzkz7rhnae

Restless

I’ve been told a better place awaits
I’ve been told we’ll lay and rest in peace
I’ve been told love lasts forever
Over our dead bodies
I’ve been told no more suffering
I’ve been told no more pain
I’ve been told but if I ask now nobody answers
And my knuckles hurt, my nails are worn
There’s no gold at the end of the road
I’ve been told but if I ask now
Nobody answers
Is anybody out there?
It’s only gravity
Pushing us down so fucking down
Until the ground will swallow us

Album: The Age Of Collapse (2013 release)

Live at Aladdin Jr in Pomona CA (USA) June 2013

Connect via:

Bandcamp: http://holyvegan.bandcamp.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/holyvegan

Band of Mercy, Texans, Veganocrats


Band of Mercy, courtesy toomanyweapons.com

Band of Mercy, Texans, Veganocrats

Singer, guitarist Daniel from theHoustonTXbased vegan hardcore Animal Liberation Band of Mercy told us about vegan effectiveness, possibilities of leading by example and basic intersectional veganism:

My main concern, at this point in my life (after being vegan for 8 years, and being an animal rights activist for more than 5 of those years), is the issue of promoting vegan culture. Of course, the basis of why someone stays vegan throughout their life usually comes from maintaining veganism as a philosophy based on ethics, as opposed to being a  lifestyle that affords them the most personal pleasure (let’s face it, most dietary vegans will make exceptions to what they feel is a restrictive lifestyle). Unfortunately, the ethics of veganism aren’t the most appealing aspect of veganism to most people. So what is our best approach to help the most animals and reduce the greatest amount of cruelty to them?

As activists, we must consciously remind ourselves that most people DO care about animals to some degree, and that most people do not wish harm upon them. Most people accept animal cruelty as an obscured part of our food system, fashion industry, clinical fields, and so on, simply because they think things have always been that way, and that they are powerless to change things. It’s not that they wish cruelty onto animals–rather, they feel their personal sacrifices to help animals would likely not be worth the effort.

What I have found has worked best for me, in my personal life with friends and family, as well as in my activist life, is to be an educated example of personal empowerment. I have taught myself how to thrive as a vegan, and I have made it a point that all those around me see how I am thriving as a vegan. After all, everyone wants to thrive in their lives. We must aim to show people that veganism requires more discipline than sacrifice– and more importantly, that the discipline we teach ourselves to live by will enhance and benefit our lives, not wear us down or limit our potential to have fun and be happy.

I have become stronger and healthier on a vegan diet. It requires some education to learn how to eat optimally as a vegan, and it does require some planning and discipline, but my physical and mental gains from eating optimally make my life more enjoyable, as I am able to do more activities that I enjoy for greater lengths of time, even as I get older. I eat a wider variety of foods, and I enjoy the rituals of eating more now than I did as an omnivore. Food is now a celebration in my life, not just something I must consume as a matter of hunger and convenience. Not only this, but many variations of vegan food and clothing are in fact cheaper than animal-based alternatives. Through veganism we all stand to gain physically, mentally, financially, as well as knowing the peace of mind that comes with thriving while causing the least amount of harm to others.

We must empower ourselves with the knowledge of how to live vegan in an optimal way, and then we must share that knowledge with those who are curious about veganism so that we may build vegan culture. For those who are not yet curious, we must live so boldly that we invoke their interest. We can not tear down the ways of old without offering the population newer, better ways to live. They will join us when they see us laughing, when they see us succeed and lead in the workplace, when they see us staying lean and healthy into old age, when they can see that our intellect is not just one dimensional–that we read books and make creative contributions to the world outside of the concepts of animal rights. We must show that we are well-rounded, well-developed individuals who have educated views.

While the ethical arguments are always abound in the world where people want to question us or be skeptical of us for not eating animals, and in this world of cruelty as the norm where protest is so often necessary, we must be able to shift our focus beyond the ongoing debates when necessary. We must become leaders who shed the light on a better, healthier, more positive way to live. In the end, that is how we will save the most animals.

Band of Mercy – Eat to Win

There is a war, and me must fight
But we won’t win if we don’t eat right
Billions are suffering, so we must prevail
You want Vegan Power?
You better eat KALE!!

Tofu, rice, and beans – BEANS!
And dark leafy greens – GREENS!
Fruits and nuts and seeds – SEEDS!
Partake of these to smash enemies

War is upon us, like it or not
No hippies or weaklings, we need juggernauts
‘Cause change never comes from asking nicely
You want Liberation?
You better eat broccoli!!

Tofu, rice, and beans – BEANS!
And dark leafy greens – GREENS!
Fruits and nuts and seeds – SEEDS!
Partake of these to smash enemies

Born to lose, eat to win!
Toughened by tempeh, strengthened by seitan
Born to lose, eat to win!
We scoff at the phrase “protein deficient” (HA!)

(“Where do I get my protein? What, are you a fuckin’ idiot??”)

Show them a vegan like they’ve never seen
Primed to deliver one million ass beatings!

Tofu, rice, and beans – BEANS!
And dark leafy greens – GREENS!
Fruits and nuts and seeds – SEEDS!
Partake of these to smash enemies

Connect via:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Band-of-Mercy-the-band/130053330369316
Bandcamp: http://bandofmercy.bandcamp.com

Davey xSABOTEURx on vegan AR intersectionality!

xSABOTEURx at the Asylum 2 – Birmingham, 8.04.2013

We asked Davey, the bassist of the former UK vegan band xSABOTEURx, about his view on ethical veganism and animal rights intersectionality:

Basically for me veganism has always been for the animals and that’s how I would imagine it would stay. The band tackled issues of homophobia and sexism too with our vocalist at the time being gay.

We also come from a background where there’s a lot of privilege and consumerism in hardcore and honestly that’s just never been what it’s about for us.

Our politics have always been about liberation, both human and animal, and that’s something that should always continue on for us.

xSABOTEURx – Reaction

“In a world that’s fueled by the suffering of others,
ignorance is no longer an option. I would rather see
the world for what it really is than blind myself with
excuses. No longer will I stand by and watch as the
innocent fall victim to selfish desires. No more.”
Abstinence from a culture guilty of atrocity,
industries that profit off other beings misery,
mind altering substances that keep thought distracted,
pay heed to our crimes,
this is my reaction.
How many more have to suffer?
I can no longer stand by and do nothing,
as life is destroyed by human consumption,
slaves to convenience,
faith in a bottle,
this is my reaction in a world so hollow.
VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE
Rape,
Vivisection,
Murder,
Exploitation,
Suffering,
Misery,
This is my reaction,
I won’t stand still.
Won’t stand still.
Won’t stand still.

xSABOTEURx – Unjustified

Compassion for those you once called friends,
lost among false notions of survival,
tradition is delusion in a modern age,
where substitute can take deaths place.
Slaughter, unjustified.
Slaughter, unjustified.
Animals aren’t commodity
or ours to control
industry to industry,
all will fall.
The hunters hunted,
the demons exposed,
no compromise for those who oppose.
Mass liberation from the hands of moral corruption,
those who’d brand a currency on sentient life.
Now is the time!
Mass liberation
from the hands of moral corruption.
Righteous vengeance on those who oppress.
It’s time for us to recognize,
retribution of nature’s calling.
Every second that’s spent waiting,
leads to another demise.

Both track are from xSABOTEURx – Demonstration, released in May 2013.

Via FB: https://www.facebook.com/saboteurxvx

Orel Ofoi, singer of Paris-based vegan band FTA, on animal ethics and veganism as global ethics

Orel Ofoi is the singer of the Paris-based vegan band FTA. We asked Orel about how she sees animal- and vegan ethics and their contexts:

My idea of the ethic regarding the respect of animals and animal protection is really a global ethic: The respect for animals will have an impact on environmental protection and on the respect for human beings themselves.

In the Judeo-Christian religion, for instance, the majority of people read the biblical text with the notion that humans stand at the centre of the world, and that they have to dominate the earth and the animals, thus dismissing the image of the human as a shepherd: who is a friend and protector face to face, on the same ground with the environment and other lives … .

I think that we should see the relationship between humans and animals as a relation of “co-creatures”, based on respect, love and protection of the others.

The Earth is our mother, and the human is the most dangerous animal for her and her environment.

An individual awareness all over the world would be necessary to see a real evolution; one, by fighting those who’ve become cancerous to the planet, who murder us physically and alienate us on a daily basis; I speak about Monsanto for example or also the lobbyists (pharmaceutical or agro food, etc.).

I believe that it is necessary to support ethical producers and to not hesitate with sharing the message, because we need to stick together and to be united to see a real revolution and a real ethical evolution.