Nathan Runkle, the executive director of Mercy for Animals (MFA), was attacked recently outside a gay nightclub in Dayton, Ohio. The attack on Runkle is not an isolated act of a single hateful individual, and I think anytime we hear about violence like this it is an opportunity to integrate a broader understanding of violence and oppression into our thoughts and actions.
legal system
Dr. Guillotin's Reform
The guillotine is perhaps one of the most infamous weapons of capital punishment. It was the guillotine, after all, that became the symbol of France's Reign of Terror, from which the term "terrorism" came. As such, it seems hardly imaginable that the guillotine was thought up by a reformer who supposedly wanted to abolish the death penalty.
Animal Rights and the Humane Treatment Principle
Gary L. Francione's theory of nonhuman animal rights, or "the rights position," is based on the "humane treatment principle," in combination with the "principle of equal consideration." The humane-treatment principle is, according to Francione, the moral principle that it is wrong to impose unnecessary suffering on other animals. In the "Introduction" to his book, Introduction to Animal Rights, Francione says that granting other animals one right, the right not to be property,
How PETA Exploits Black Men
The juxtaposition of the lynching of Black men and the slaughter of a bull, from a PETA exhibit in 2005, offends many Black people and anti-racist activists who object to the juxtaposition as dehumanizing and representative of White supremacy. Many of those (mostly White) nonhuman animal advocates who defend the comparison counter that those who object to the exhibit are just being "speciesist."
Anti-Oppression and Law Enforcement
By way of Emily's The Partial Muse, I came across a comment Tim Wise left on Racialicious that backlashes against veganism. Now I think White vegans and other White anti-speciesists can learn a lot from Wise about White privilege and anti-racism. In this respect, I'd recommend people read Wise's work, start with his "Animal Whites" article. However, Wise's comment on Racialicious shows some confusion over anti-oppression work and law enforcement, not to mention a need to learn more about human supremacy and the oppression of nonhuman animals.
Is it Safe to Come Out?
Chris from Deep Roots makes some critical comments about the Coming Out For Animals call for papers, including some discussion of my thoughts on "animal activists" promoting police violence more than being targeted by it. Chris suggests I might have misunderstood the context of the questions being asked in a call for papers. I also got an anonymous hate comment that more aggressively insists that the misunderstanding was intentional. Chris says that the context might have been that in terms of "activist groups" "animal activists" "bear the brunt" of police violence. (Read more...)
Veganism and Prison Abolition
I've noticed that whenever people talk about "humane treatment" they're usually referring to either nonhuman animals or humans who are imprisoned or otherwise institutionally confined and controlled. I guess this makes sense since keeping people in cages and under complete control resembles how nonhuman animals are general treated in our society. Similarly, the term "cruelty" is usually applied to the treatment of nonhuman animals, human children, and human prisoners. In fact, "humane treatment" and "cruelty" are really paired terms, with the former suggested as the remedy to the latter.
Asking the Right Questions
A call for papers has been sent out by folks "looking to anthologize the voices of queers involved in animal liberation." I think it would be wonderful to see more interaction between queer theory and veganism. But some of the questions suggested as topics for this book really bothered me
, specifically:
Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of "cultural" practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power?
Recalling Missed Connections
About six years ago I co-organized a panel discussion on the connections between domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty. The panel featured a professor of psychology distinguished for his work on the subject; an executive director of an ecofeminist and animal defense organization who founded a program addressing the issue being discussed; and a staff member of the area YWCA (where the discussion was held) who worked on domestic violence issues.
At the time I thought this panel discussion was "progressive" in addressing the interconnections of violence against women, children, and other animals. In hindsight, I realize the panel lacked a real commitment to anti-oppression, social change, or a true intersectional approach. There are many things that are problematic with the discussion's framework. (Read more...)
Health as Wealth
On July 19, Breeze Harper, founder of the Sistah Vegan Project, spoke at the University of Pittsburgh on connecting our diet to social justice in a talk titled, "Race, Class, Food and You!" [based on her book chapter "Decolonizing the Diet: A bell hooks approach to Nutritional Liberation for 'At Risk' Youths".]