This past Labor Day, Animal Voices replayed an interview with Jason Hribal on how "Animals Are Part of the Working Class." Hribal offers a insightful analysis on the agency, labor, and resistance of other animals and a call for solidarity with them and recognition of their role in creating history. (Read more...)
October 2008
Speak Out!
In his article "Beyond Diversity," Paul Kivel writes, "The first step in diversity work is assessment—determining who has access to power and resources, who is safe and who isn't, who participates and who doesn't." As Kivel advises, we should begin by talking about "how we got to this point where diversity is an issue."
I believe the problem with the a many of the projects, campaigns, and policies I write about on this blog is the lack of any prior claim by oppressed people whose exploitation is being criticized. If, for instance, the oppression of people of color or transgrender people is considered from the start with their full participation then there really shouldn't be much need for criticism. (Read more...)
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."
Class Bias and Nonhuman Animal Advocacy
The following is from "A Discussion with Tom Regan" in Ahimsa Oct/Dec 1987; I think it illustrates the class bias inherent in well-resourced nonhuman animal advocacy:
Tom Regan: People think of activists as antagonists in confrontation, and so on. I think of activists in terms of people with a dollar bill in the wallet; that's the way I think of the real activists.
An activist is anyone who goes into the marketplace with a dollar in hand, who says "I'm going to buy this rather than that because it has something to do with the way that animals are treated."
This would mean that the more disposable income a person has the more potential that person has of being a "real activist." (Read more...)
Boca Burgers are to Veganism as Virginia Slims are to Feminism
OK, beyond the fact that both of these products are manufactured by the Altria Group, Inc. (formerly Philip Morris Companies Inc.), both represent attempts to transform social movements into consumer markets. And just like smoking a Virginia Slim isn't going to challenge sexism or patriarchy, eating a Boca Burger isn't going to challenge speciesism or human supremacy. Consumer marketing is not a pathway to liberation, yet many organizations are pushing "veganism" as a niche market. (Read more...)
Transphobia and PETA
In 1992, PETA launched the transphobic "Fur is a Drag" element of its fur campaign. This anti-trans element was added to the PETA campaign just months after it launched the "I'd Rather Go Naked than Wear Fur" campaign.
Know Your History
Yesterday (Oct. 1) was World Vegetarian Day, an day founded by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977.
Above is vegetarian activist and comedian Dick Gregory (center) and founder of the American Vegan Society (1960) and the NAVS (1974) H. Jay Dinshah (right).
