Here's Random Radical's response to this ableist ad campaign:
"Got Autism?" Actually, yes, I do. And being vegan hasn't done anything about that.
September 2008
Ableist Ad Campaign
PETA, always the exploitative opportunist that it is, has a new anti-milk campaign titled "Got Autism" that, according to Autism Vox, is "providing misinformation about autism and oversimplifying what autism is, and what can be done to help a child."
Here's Random Radical's response to this ableist ad campaign:
Here's Random Radical's response to this ableist ad campaign:
The Green Party and Nonhuman Animals
Nonhuman animal advocacy has always been a part of Green Party platforms. However, this year the US Greens made an important change in the draft of the Green Party of the United States platform by moving the section concerning nonhuman animals from the ecology chapter of the platform to the social justice chapter, aptly reasoning:
The Need to Address Classism at Conferences, Seminars, and Festivals
I know a lot of people get excited about conferences, seminars, and festivals organized around vegetarianism and/or nonhuman animal advocacy. I wish I could get as excited about these events, but I tend to be put off by the ever present class privilege that is built into the vast majority of them. (Read more...)
Nonhuman Animals and Colonialism
I watched Nature's Africa series over the last couple weeks. What interested me in the series was the promise of showing Africa through the eyes of the people who actually live there. In this way, the series consists of eight episodes with each episode covering a different geographical region of Africa through the personal stories of a couple different individuals in each region. While the first seven episodes focused exclusively on the stories of Africans, there was a sudden change up in the first part of the second half of episode eight.
The Assimilationist Appropriation of 'Liberation'
Debates between the movements doing nonhuman animal advocacy often revolve around "welfare" and "rights." (I say "movements" because there are many different ideologies driving several divergent social movements.) I'm increasingly less interested in the welfare-rights debate. I think both welfare and rights are limited, although the former is more conservative than the latter.
One of the things I'm very interested in communicating with this blog is the difference between assimilation and liberation, and where veganism fits in.
One of the things I'm very interested in communicating with this blog is the difference between assimilation and liberation, and where veganism fits in.
Racism on Animal Planet
I come across an interesting post from Fair Weather Vegan, via apoc of IllVox, discussing the racism of programs like Animal Planet's "Animal Precinct" and the colonialist gaze of its other "wildlife" programing:
PETA = Indefensible
I really do wish people who apologize for PETA would wake up to the fact that PETA is an oppressive organization. As I've posted in the past, PETA helped lead the Non-Profit Industrial Complex takeover of nonhuman animal advocacy, works with the far-right, promotes militarism, colonization, and occupation, and appropriates "vegan" for White supremacy and a neo-liberal agenda.
This is a Vegan Issue
On Feministe, Latoya Peterson wrote an inspired post about feminism in the context of other issues and intersectional oppressions. She also talks about running an anti-racist blog in the same context.
When Latoya writes, "I don't think there is any kind of shit that pisses me off more than 'Is this really a feminist issue?'" you could replace "feminism" with "veganism" and that is exactly how I feel. In fact, I'd say that everything Latoya wrote about feminism and anti-racism applies to veganism. (Read more...)
'Low, Dishonourable and Cowardly'
For three years I worked at a national nonhuman animal advocacy organization that was campaigning to end the aerial massacring of wolves in Alaska. This is just one of the Alaskan government's many campaigns to control, manage, or eliminate native nonhuman animals. As the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has the power to end these violent programs. As governor, Palin is actively supporting and promoting these violent programs. So I think it is significant that the acceptance speech Palin gave last night at the Republican National Convention was written by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully. (Read more...)
Feminism Beyond Transphobia
I no longer feel that continued education about trans issues within women's communities would change their oppressive behaviors in any significant degree, unless they are actually willing to change. It is not the lack of knowledge or information that keeps oppression going; it is the lack of feminist compassion, conscience and principle that is. -Emi Koyama, "Whose Feminism is it Anyway? The Unspoken Racism of the Trans Inclusion Debate"
When it comes to asking, "What are we going to do about transphobia among feminist-vegetarians/ecofeminists?" Emi Koyama just about sums it up. These are people who currently dominate the feminist discourse on nonhuman animals; as authors, speakers (in some cases very well paid speakers), and academic they have a vested interest in continuing the status quo. (Read more...)
