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Averting the China Syndrome

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Jason Miller

26. Moreover, mainstream animal advocacy – reformist, single-issue, and pro-capitalism, whether by commitment or default — is perfectly compatible with right-wing, militarist, and imperialist philosophies (e.g., Matthew Scully, author of the widely-hailed book, Dominion, wrote pivotal speeches for George W. Bush and Sarah Palin).

27. http://www.animalperson.net/animal_person/2009/02/on-pacifism.html#comments.

28. Cudahy did, however, write a blog entry on building bridges to other social movements, which shows that he understands the need to break out of individualist ideology. See, “On the Strengths and Limitations of Alliance Politics,” November 21, 2008, Unpopular Vegan Essays, http://unpopularveganessays.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-strengths-and-limitations-of.html.

29. John Zerzan, “Summarizing Primitivism for purposes of exploration and debate with Michael Albert,” North American Animal Liberation Press Office Newsletter, Volume One, Number 2, January 2006, http://www.animalliberationpressoffice.org/Newsletter/archives/2006-01/economicsab.htm

30. As seasoned activists like Paul Watson point out, while the US animal advocacy movement is lily-white, this generalization does not apply universally as throughout the world people of color oppose animal exploitation. For a critique of the single-issue, elitist, and maladroit aspects of the mainstream animal advocacy movement, PETA above all, while more than a bit speciesist on his side, see Tim Wise, “Animal Whites: PETA and the Politics of Putting Things in Perspective,” August 13, 2005, Counterpunch, http://www.counterpunch.org/wise08132005.html.

31. Freeganism is a quantum leap beyond mainstream veganism in that it commonly adopts an anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist philosophy and mode of living. For many freegans (some are carnivores), veganism is the starting point, not the ending point, of thinking and lifestyle changes that challenge consumerism as a whole. For an excellent statement on the politics of freeganism, see Adam Weisman, “The Revolution in Everyday Life,” in Best and Nocella’s, Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth. Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2006, pp. 127-136.

32. Francione interviewed by Bob Torres in a Vegan Freak radio show, at: http://veganfreakradio.com/index.php?id=143.

33. Joan Dunayer is much better than Francione or Hall on the validity of liberating animals. When discussing rescues of individual nonhuman animals, including illegal liberations, she says: “Such actions are non-speciesist, akin to saving individual Jews from the Holocaust or helping individual African-Americans escape from slavery. Providing sanctuary to those in need in no way violates their rights. It gets them out of danger and frees them from abuse,” Speciesism (Derwood Maryland, Ryce Publishing, 2004), p. 151. Similarly, in Animal Equality: Language and Liberation (Derwood Maryland, Ryce Publishing, 2001), discussing the liberation of imprisoned dolphins in 1977, Dunayer comes out on favor of liberation: “I wholeheartedly support the illegal liberation of oppressed nonhumans. But someone must provide for liberated animals’ safety and well-being if they seem unable to defend themselves. Kea and Puka were released - while debilitated - into the Pacific rather than their native Atlantic. No one prepared them for freedom or took measures to protect them. Almost certainly they died” (p. 240, footnote 7). This passage makes clear that she supports ALF-style liberations, provided the rescuers plan ahead to make sure the liberated beings can survive on their own or are cared for by humans, which indeed is what the ALF does according to its credo.

34. Derrick Jensen, End Game, Volume I: The Problem of Civilization. (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2006, pp 9-10).

35. Elliot cited on Mary Martin’s blog Animal People, at: http://www.animalperson.net/animal_person/2009/02/on-pacifism.html#comments.

36. Robin McKie, “President ‘has four years to save Earth,’” The Observer, January 18, 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/01/scentist-letter-hansen-barack-obama

37. Results vary significantly from survey to survey with none exceeding 2%, little information on the vegan population outside the US and the UK is available, and most polls show the vegan populations in the US and UK to be closer to .5%. See the Vegan Research Panel, at: http://www.imaner.net/panel/statistics.htm.

38. “United States Leads World Meat Stampede,” July 2, 1998, Worldwatch Institute, http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1626.

39. http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/2/16/21496/7516.

40. Mark Bittman, “Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler,” January 27, 2008, The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html.

41. http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-02-642704429_x.htm

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Jason Miller, Senior Editor and Founder of TPC, is a tenacious forty something vegan straight edge activist who lives in Kansas and who has a boundless passion for animal liberation and anti-capitalism. Addicted to reading and learning, he is mostly (more...)
 
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