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By Jon Hochschartner
The wheels of business are implacable and totally lacking in compassion. This is a downed cow, being dragged to slaughter. Happy burgers! (Farm Sanctuary, flickr)
…
Did you see Bernie Sander’s speech the other night, when he came out in opposition to the systematic slaughter of farm animals in America? Did you hear the passion with which — in his thick, Brooklyn accent — he denounced the horrors of vivisection, the abuse of zoos and circuses, and the abomination of hunting? Did you notice how Hillary Clinton, not wanting Sanders to outflank her, adopted a similar stance, and even the Republican front runners were forced to discuss the issue in their most recent debate? No, you didn’t and neither did I. Because, as animalists, we’ve failed non-humans this election.
Of course, in the near future, it isn’t remotely likely leading presidential candidates will take an abolitionist position on animal exploitation. But we can’t even get welfarism, for which I imagine there is a wide base of support, on the agenda. In early October, I attended a packed Sanders speech in Springfield, Mass.; so far as I could tell, there was not a single mention of torturous treatment to which we subject intensively-farmed animals, let alone any other non-human group. This is what we get from the left-most candidate with any national traction: nothing. And to a certain degree, this is our fault.
To be fair, the animalist group Direct Action Everywhere has attempted to force the plight of non-humans into the presidential campaign. In late October a courageous DxE activist, Matt Johnson, stormed the stage at a Clinton rally in Iowa, carrying an animalist banner, before being removed by police. So far as I can tell, all that resulted from this was a few bemused quips from Bill Clinton, but we need far more actions like this. The example we should be following, in this primary, is that of Black Lives Matter activists, who after repeatedly heckling candidates, got those, at least on the Democratic side, to more specifically address criminal-justice reform.
I’ll admit I found the Black Lives Matter interruption of a Sanders event in Seattle annoying. The video of two young women shouting at an elderly candidate — who, as a socialist, I was predisposed to like — inches away from his face, didn’t sit well with me. Further, It seemed disingenuous when one of these women accused the crowd of racism for booing their hijacking of the event. But in retrospect, it’s clear these activists advanced their cause. Sanders made criminal-justice reform a regular and central part of his stump speech.
We need to, so much as it’s possible, do the same for animalism. We need to haunt the candidates. We need to be there with signs and megaphones at every campaign event. We need to shout them down until they address the overwhelming violence our country inflicts on its non-human brethren. We need to be unafraid of being obnoxious, a fear of which, I’ll be the first to admit, I have a hard time overcoming outside of print. So far this election cycle, we’ve failed animals. Let’s not allow it to continue.
The author with the woman who shares his life and two of his furry children.
Jon Hochschartner is an animal rights activist and socialist, fighting to establish justice for all sentient beings.
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2 comments
“this is at the heart and crux of the matter…that the Abrahamic religions begin with dominion, which makes all of its teachings based on a false premise –exclusive rather than inclusive. One cannot know the Divine through exclusivity. The Divine is everywhere and in all life forms. When you kill any life form you kill the Divine.” Sharon Azar
Ahh… the dramas of dominion… storming the stage with banners to call attention to the plight of animals in factory farms… Bernie Sanders proclaiming the horrors of Big Ag… as he sits down to a meat laden dinner of ‘appropriate’ meat.
When will activists in western nations grasp that all the brouhaha, the self righteous banners, the endless fund raising by animal organizations that peddle humane meat will lead nowhere… because all this noise is meant to cover over the original sin of dominion – Dominion sanctifies and legitimizes violence to animals and grants greater importance of human life – so that a 2 day old human zygote (a fertilized egg) has more value than a fully formed animal… one who feels pain, has emotions and cherishes his precious life. These are the words that must be challenged and eradicated if we are to have an honest campaign to end animal suffering:
Genesis 9:1-3 “The fear and dread of you shall rest on every animal of the earth, and on every bird of the air, on everything that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and just as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.'”
Activists attuned to dominion carry their anti-factory farm banners, some consider violence to liberate animals, others make deals for humane slaughter… No matter how loud they shout, how much they plead for compassion… they are not heard…. They are labeled fringe, radicals and worst if all ‘animal lovers’.
Politicizing animal abuse in a judo.christian nation may benefit politicians…. Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton may get some notice for their anti-factory farm stance, but then the right too has its dominion defenders… Mathew Scully.
If activists want real change – they must have the courage to recognize the evil of dominion. We don’t need the ‘stage stormers’, the endless dramas of dominion. We need a strong ideal, based on AHIMSA:
‘He who harms animals has not understood or renounced deeds of sin…
He who understands the nature of sin against animals is called a Sage.” Jain Acharanga Sutra
In India, where ahimsa (no-harm) is the basis for animal protection… Jains and Animal Organizations lobby quietly behind the scenes with politicians to produce effective, broad based legislation that has resulted in the complete banning of the import, production and use of foie gras in all states…
As the USA bans the serving foie gras in several cities, only to have the ban over turned… no restrictions against import or production. The basis for this shell game is dominion, which legitimizes violence to animals as ethical.