Support Peace and Liberty

    {where I have indicated human man or human woman 

               of some kind, I meant "human people",

                             please pardon the error}

“'[W]hen you teach a child to be kind to a caterpillar, you do as much for the child as you do for the caterpillar.' ...[W]e cannot seek respect and consideration for ourselves while chewing on the bones of small, tortured birds.”1 “We should recognize that there is a necessary connection between the animal rights movement and other movements for social justice. Animal exploitation involves species bias or speciesism, and is as morally unacceptable as other irrelevant criteria such as race, sex, sexual orientation, or class, in determining membership in the moral universe.”2 This past Thanksgiving Eve two turkeys, about 16 weeks old, of about 46 million Thanksgiving Day Turkeys, were graciously “pardoned”3, presumably for their incarnation as animals. The cathexis of the Thanksgiving Turkey is a symbol of the country's narcissism regarding the literal and figurative consumption of animals throughout the year. Named Peace and Liberty, perhaps these turkeys support a message of change for the country. Grown for this occasion, as many animals have been, bred, or “domesticated” over the past 50,000 years to accommodate human appetite for food, fabric, fuel, and fetish. But a time for the pardoning of all animals is upon us. Whether animals are like humans, or humans like animals, beauty and diversity dictate we assist each other in the march toward the future. However, domestication, aside from meaning incorporation toward the household, and to cause animals to be “comfortable at home”4, simultaneously has come to be defined as “train or adapt (an animal or plant) to live in a human environment and to be of use to humans.” There is dichotomy within the meaning of care and demand. The “use” in the matter is sexual exploitation of youths, confinement, early death and customs and laws that utilize every part of the animal, such that none of it goes to waste [sic]. This positional view of the richness that are animals has largely become marked by sexual assault, informing the culture of which they are a part. We must, as MacKinnon writes of issues of sexual dominance and submission, analyze the “situation in order to face it for what it is, in order to change it.”5 Animals in this system of domestication are more plentiful than those outside of it. It has been increasingly a case of being bred or dead, exploited or extinct. But, domestication's role to “bring down to the level of the ordinary person” lacks the level of basic rights that non-human animals could be granted, as compared to human animals, in order to improve the relationships of both. Examining the intersectionality6 of animals must include awareness of sex, age, reproductive issues, and difference of abilities. The blurring of nature's bounty with exploitation must be examined by those interested in eradication of participation in violence, sexism, and slavery. As an outsider to the subjectivity others, including animals, I am interested in the investigation of the treatment of animals. Can the practices of the domestication of animals be understood as a war on animals? How is child trafficking like the exploitation of animals? How can animals become free of the binds of domestication that means child-aged-reproduction, subjugation, even demise? Is there a greater potential richness to apparent animal experience? “It is obvious that since we should live as to give the greatest possible happiness to all beings capable of appreciating it and as it is an indisputable fact that animals can suffer pain, and that men who slaughter animals needlessly suffer form atrophy of all finer feelings, we should therefore cause no unnecessary suffering in the animal world.”7. Many liberal minded investigations into animal life consider the slaughtering of animals to be the ultimate proof of war on animals; to this argument I wish to offer the additional betrayals of confinement and interventional child-breeding practices. “Breeding toms (male turkeys) are confined for most of their lives in the dark and then 'milked' by manually stimulating the copulatory organ once or twice a week.”8 Animals have also been electrocuted to produce semen, and placed on suctioning devices. In crowded internment females are turned upside down or held in copulatory devices and inseminated, both artificially, with syringes, swabs, or by male animals.9 In their current captive condition animals have been bred into early estrus/sexual maturation, which is shown in humans to suppress longevity, and mated in childhood, perpetually stalled in infancy, generation after generation. These practices have been selected for for thousands of years. Estimation of the length of time that animals have been subject to the human-touch of domestication range from about 50,000 years ago10 when canines were included in human exploration in East Africa, to more recent recordings of the human effort to gain control, domesticating Cranwell's Horned Frog in the late 20th century for human companionship in Argentina. The friendly beginnings of seeking to incorporate animals into daily life, mirroring our desire for fauna, has led to 10 billion11 land animal breedings, imprisonments, and killings per year in animals-for-food industries alone in the United States of America in a constantly overturning, child-bearing system. Additional to being sexually exploited, their life span is severely limited. Turkeys for instance, live about 17 weeks of their 25 year estimated natural life span. Bovine12, similarly, live only 12 months to 6 years, veal determined calves, are even younger, only weeks old, of a recorded potential of 20-25 years. In a “Kidz Zone”13 propaganda article of animal ages it is reported that a seven year old 25kgs medium build canine is equivalent to a 58 year old human, in dog years. Yahoo reports 10.5 dog years per human year for the first 2 years, then 4 dog years per human year for each year after.14. This type of erroneous measurement trains the cultural mind to believe in reduced life span for animals, lessening the expectation for animals to live, mature, and thrive. “And it is happening for a simple reason. There is nothing complex and difficult about the reason. Men are doing it, because of the kind of power that men have over women. That power is real, concrete, exercised from one body to another, exercised by someone who feels he has a right to exercise it, exercised in public and exercised in private. It is the sum and substance of women's oppression.”15 In the above, Dworkin comments of the phenomena of human rape. In the scenario of this writing, sexual exploitation has become as common place as hunger that informs the community in their desire for more at any cost. Subsidized meat by the government is a sign of the national obsession and countermanding of sexual safety for the community. All humans may have a political kinship16 with animals as they understand the sexuality issues involved in animal care and husbandry. Identification with the sexed body may motivate value systems based on corporeal reality and compassion for life in a sexed body. Not just a sexed body, but a child's body. Believing that animals mature at an early age allows for fit into an acceptance of sexual labor: poultry have been bred at six months old17; 15-20 month old cows, have been impregnated, while bulls have been started as studs at only 12 months old. Cows are kept pregnant, though separated from their calves, for 5 or 6 years before their milk starts to dry up, after which their body, their flesh, is consumed. Dog breeders have been known to breed 6 month old18 puppies. “Although a majority of states have laws that prohibit sexual contact with animals such as that which occurs during artificial insemination procedures turkeys and other farm animals have been excluded from these laws.”19 “A judge does not have to walk into this room and say that according to statute such and such these are the elements of proof. We're talking about any kind of coerced sex, including sex coerced by poverty... You can't have equality or tenderness or intimacy as long as there is rape, because rape means terror. It means that part of the population lives in a state of terror and pretends-to please and to pacify you-that it doesn't. So there is no honesty. How can there be? Can you imagine what it is like to live as a woman [or an animal] day in and day out with the threat of rape? Or what it is like to live with the reality? I want to see you use those legendary bodies and that legendary strength and that legendary courage and the tenderness that you [the consumer] say you have in behalf of women [or animals]; and that means against the rapists [animal breeders], against the pimps [distributors]; against the pornographers [advertisers]. It means something more than a personal renunciation. It means a systematic, political, active, public attack.”20 In the United States of America an estimated “244.000 - 325.000”21 youths are susceptible to becoming exploited sexually through pornography, juvenile prostitution, sexual trafficking. Full knowledge of statistics are difficult to grasp due to the hidden and illegal nature of this “worst form of child labor”22. Comparatively, 10 billion23 animals are reproduced and consumed every year24 in sexual slavery. Risk factors that appear to be root causes for human child exploitation include lack of protection from family and institutional environment, low social status, and poverty25, which are also used as a justifying motives. Consider a system wherein it is possible that these values are reflected in the name of charity. Heifer International's26 solution of giving poor families a variety of female and sex-paired animals to be used in upstart entrepreneurial livestock business ventures has gained humanitarian appeal. Animals, for token donations, can help a human family achieve financial independence, even where care for the animal might be remote, even non-existent. Former President Jimmy Carter is quoted in the catalog: “Heifer International has inspired hope in hungry communities, where the gift of one animal can bring health, prosperity and peace.” Through the use of animal bodies, even where agricultural farming could be explored, human families express gratitude for the animal life... “because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, every gift will be passed on and eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self-reliance. Now that's a gift worth giving.”27 It is a gift of animal exploitation in the false name of dignity.28 It is a gift of war mongering on animals, simply from having grown accustomed, or becoming accustomed to such things as animals contain. In the beginning of animals' domestication legacy, animals became the absent referent of wealth. The war on animals is seen in their absence of representation as whole, private beings. They were offerings and had become wealth. They were raw materials.29 They were owned. They were objects for trade. Their value was in how they could be effectively reproduced and dismembered. As animals were accumulated wealth was conferred, where fahee, or fee, is rooted in the Norse ruin for “cattle”, and animal gods and goddesses were stamped on some of the earliest (even current) currency for good financial luck, animal bodies were the financial back. Animal husbandry techniques increased wealth, while acknowledgment of the life of the animals were displaced by the goods and services their bodies afforded. Trade in animal futures became serious business. Efforts to protect wealth cause complicity toward animal exploitation. Additionally. because some humans have learned/been trained to identify hunger for warmth, ease, minerals, fats, and proteins as hunger for meat, whose absent referent according to Carol J. Adams30 is living animals, it is difficult to find sympathetic ears to convey the unfortunate machinations of animal industries. Many falsely associate the denial of using animals with infringement of moral and civil rights. Even Adams claimed in 1990 that ,“Rape has a different social context for women than for the other animals”31, because animals have been denied the rights not to be immured, sexually assaulted, and killed, they have not been opportuned denial of participation in the actions against them. Instead they have been surveilled, controlled, and removed from situations in which to behave naturally. These variables are conditions similar to those experiencing a body enslaved, acted against, and in the grip of war. “The emancipation of men from cruelty and injustice will bring with it in due course the emancipation of animals also. The two reforms are inseparably connected, and neither can be fully realized alone.” 32 In human war situations custom calls to the Geneva Convention of 1949 as a guideline for behavior to protect, preserve and promote the innocence of the victims of a war effort. Any “impartial humanitarian organization”33 is encouraged in the caring for the new mothers and all children caught in a conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)34 is designated by name as a group that can enter as a organizing force for the victims. Similarly, I believe the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) functions in the role of “impartial humanitarian organization” for animals, as the ICRC might in engage in securing humans away from harm, ALF removes animals from dangerous situations. Interestingly, the Geneva Convention's text could be taken verbatim to begin to include animals as they evolve away from domestication ills, possession status, victimization by war. ALF's mission seeks to “effectively allocate resources (time and money) to end the 'property' status of nonhuman animals”35 In the Geneva Convention provisions are arranged for: “Art. 50. The Occupying Power…shall not hinder the application of any preferential measures in regard to food, medical care and protection against the effects of war which may have been adopted prior to the occupation in favour of children under fifteen years, expectant mothers, and mothers of children under seven years.”36 Animals can benefit from safekeeping in sanctuaries, wild spaces, city dwellings (zoos), and as part of families in homes as pets. I believe the government funding that currently manifest as tax-breaks, rebates, and subsidies for supporting the war on animals, can effectively go toward preservation measures, health care, and conservation for the same animals. Instead of the cycle of breeding and killing, it is advantageous to sustain those of species that still exist by supporting animals and learning from the diversity. Extenuation of human childhood, as has been popular since at least the 1800's, can inform the prolongation of animals' right to come out of the shock of exploitation toward security in the heart of the community they helped advance. “Non-violence and kindness to living beings is kindness to oneself.”37 The tide of consciousness toward animals' role and the prescribed human orientation to their existence can be seen as it changes away from dependence on their servitude. Compare texts such as the 1990 National Cattleman's Association principles that included the words, “I believe it is the purpose of food animals to serve mankind and it is the responsibility of all human beings to care for animals in their care”38. Similarly, “I believe it is the animal's purpose to serve man; it is man's responsibility to care for the animals in his charge. I will vigorously oppose any legislation or regulatory activity that states or implies interference with that responsibility”39, reads the Pork Producers Creed. These statements allow for the domination of animals, and even facilitate a way to argue in favor of domination in the political sphere. Recently, however, in December of 2010, the tides of grace have turned to a more salient existence for our animal partners. What will become of the updated oath for veterinarians: “Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.” As the community evolves a better set of rules for how we extend our hands toward animals it will be important to allow for animals to have a unique sense of self, as objects and as epistemological beings, as we wish upon our selves; taxonomy must be set aside.40 As Animal Studies emerge from the bird song and enrichment arts that we already find we must accommodate the differently-ableness of our whole group with esteem.41 “Humans who enslave, castrate, experiment on and fillet other animals, have had an understandable penchant for pretending animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between humans and 'animals' is essential if we are to bend them to our will, wear them, eat them—without any disquieting tinges of guilt or regret. It is unseemly of us, who often behave so unfeelingly toward other animals, to contend that only humans can suffer. The behavior of other animals renders such pretensions specious.”42 “Animals are sentient beings with an intrinsic worth.”43 In addition to arguments that bring concern to the suffering44 that animals might experience in the course of their lives, it is imperative that joy be given a place in the vocabulary and view of expectation for animal experience. The concept of jouissance is important in bringing animals' legitimate right to pleasure into focus. Notions of “love”, in particular will be in need of revision. Loving for the opportunity to dominate is different kind of love than that which is from mutual kindness, care, respect, and admiration. “Most all people in agriculture have a passion for it, and thus, continue to raise crops and livestock because they love what they do!”45 “We love our animals.”46 “Love” must be found anew. Delight in the body; cherishing relationships with kin and community; opportunities to express self and be acceptable; authority; authenticity; representation; free will; determination: these are the concepts to understand about the human/animal connection in the 21st Century. Peace and Liberty: lead the way.

notes for 2011 Support Peace and Liberty

1. Newkirk, Ingrid E. Sister species: women, animals, and social justice, ed.Kemmerer, Lisa, 2011, p.67

2. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm – Gary Francione (1954-current), 10/4/2011, p.5

3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/23/obama-turkey-pardon_n_1110281.html; http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pardon

4. http://www.the freedictionary.com/domesticate

5. Mac Kinnon, Catherine. Sexuality, p. 476

6. Crenshaw, Kimberle. Intersectionality and Identity Politics: Learning from Violence Against Women of Color

7. Wheldon, Rupert H. No Animal Food. Health Culture Co. New York-Passaic, New Jersey, 1910 pp. 11-12

8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ZMx7w9DD7k&NR=1

9. Searches for things like “animal insemination” on YouTube produces alarming results

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_domesticate_animals

11. Wolfe, Cary. “Human, All Too Human: Animal Studies” and the Humanities, 2009, p. 567

12. http://answers.yahoo.com/questions/index?qid=20080217045727AAyx4Jv:

http://wili answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_life_span_of_cattle

13. http://www.thevets.com.an/animal_ages.htm

14. http://answers.yahoo.com/questions/index?qid=20071220004847AAZj1UX

15. http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/WarZoneChapt111E.html

16. Haraway, Donna J. Simians, Cyborgs and Women. p.156

17. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_age_does_a_rooster_breed_with_a_hen_and_get_chickens

18. http://akc.org/breeders/resp_breeding/steps_8.cfm

19. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=ZMx7w9DD7Xk&NTR=1

20. http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/dworkin/WarZoneChaptIIIE.html. Brackets mine

21. Henschel, Barbara. The Assessment of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Review of Methodologies. p.21

22. Henschel, p.10

23. Wolfe, Cary. “Human, All Too Human: Animal Studies” and the Humanities, 2009. p.567

24. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm. Francione, Gary, 10/4/2011. p.3

25. Henschel, p.8

26. http://www.heifer.org/gift

27. The Most Important Gift Catalog in the World, Special 2010 Holiday Edition.

28. Winner of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/2004-heifer-international-video

29. Berger, John. The Animal Reader, Why Look at Animals. Eds. Kalof, Linda & Fitzgerald, 2007, p.256

30. Adams, Carol J. The Sexual Politics of Meat.

31. Adams. p.54

32. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm Henry S.Salt (1851-1939)

33. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Human_Rights/geneva1.html Art. 10. The provisions of the present Convention constitute no obstacle to the humanitarian activities which the International Committee of the Red Cross or any other impartial humanitarian organization may, subject to the consent of the Parties to the conflict concerned, undertake for the protection of civilian persons and for their relief

34. http://www.icrc.org/HOME.NSF//060a34982cae624ec12566fe00326312/125ffe00326312/125ffe2d4c7f68acc1256ae300394f6e?OpenDocument Mission: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusivelu humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armend conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.

35. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALF.mission.statement.htm 10/4/2011, p.2

36. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Human_Rights/geneva1.htm Art.24. The Parties to the conflict shall take the necessary measures to ensure that childgrn under fifteen, who are orphaned or are separated from their families as a result of the war, are not left to their own resources, and that their maintenance, the exercise their religion and their education are facilitated in all circumstances. Their education shall, as far as possible, be entrusted to persons of similar cultural tradition. Art. 34. The taking of hostages is prohibited...

37. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm Mahavira 599bce-527bce

38. Herren, Ray V. The Science of Animal Agriculture 4^th Edition Delmar Cengage Learning, 1993 p.417

39. Herren, p. 418

40. Haraway, Donna J. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature p.159

41. Wolfe. P.565; Siebera, Tobin. Disabilities Studies Reader 2nd Edition Ed. Davis, Lenard. New York Routleledge, 2006 p.181

42. http://www.animalliberationfront/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm Dr. Carl Sagan (1934-1996) & Dr. Ann Druyan (1949-current) in Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

43. http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Saints/Authors/Quotes/ARscientistQuotes.htm Margareta Winberg (1947-current) Swedish Agriculture Minister

44. Derrida, Jaques. The Animal That Therefore I Am p.28

45. http://agonthe4front.blogspot.com/2011/03/vets-recognize-animal-welfare-in-oath.html

46. Comment from an animal experimenting scientist at University of Utah, 2011