Animal Rights Concerns

Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror

Author: Lee Hall
ISBN-nr: 0
Category: Animal Rights Issues
added by Liberacion-Igualdad

In a smart critique of violent actions taken in the name of “animals”, the author argues that this kind of activism is not only theoretically and ethically problematic, but also that it usually backfires -in a practical level- to the goal of abolishing other animals’ slavery.

Advocating for a non-violent approach, having the Vegan message (though she calls it “ethical vegetarianism”) as its baseline, Hall argues that the advocate’s integrity is not just a matter of opinion but a ‘must’ for everyone that aims to make an effective, deep and long-lasting societal change.
We cannot really challenge violence and oppression using violent and oppressive methods, Hall’s argument goes. In other words, quoting Gandhi, “We must be the change we wish to see, not the darkness we wish to leave behind.”

I found especially interesting how Hall links some of the major militant organizations to the 'animal husbandry' reformist ones (as she calls it), by showing how both regularly focus on the “worst” cases/atrocities, fail to show and address the roots of the problem, and how even their actual messages are usually, and incredibly similar.