Insider's view

Post by Mercy For Animals.

You have to love British radio

I thoroughly enjoy British radio which delves deeply into intellectual and artistic topics with insightful interviewers and articulate and intelligent guests.  This episode from BBC Radio 3- Free Thinking on feeling pain and animal rights is brilliant. If you want to jump straight to the part on animal rights go to 25:40.

Link

What I saw at the abattoir/slaughterhouse

While I was visiting South Africa this year, I had the opportunity to visit an abattoir. I didn’t really want to go, in fact the thought filled me with dread, but I had to go. I went in the spirit of bearing witness to the suffering of others as promoted by Mahatma Ghandi. In seeing the truth for ourselves we become more connected to the victims and more able to promote their cause from our direct experience.  

The abattoir property is large, sprawling, grey and ugly. In the distance we could hear continuous and torturous screaming of pigs. We drove us closer to where we could see the cause of the screaming. I switched on my video camera hoping to get good footage, although it is not allowed. A truck driver and his assistant were offloading large pigs into the holding pens.  The pigs, in their panic from being chased off the truck had fallen and were stuck in a “pile up”. The pigs at the bottom were crushed by the pigs above them who in turn were trapped by pigs pushing up from behind.

The poor pigs were completely helpless and trapped. As I looked closer, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The driver, in frustration, was using an electric prod over and over again to electrocute the backs and faces of the trapped pigs. This explained their terrible screaming and terror.  I couldn't take it and ran forward asking the handler to stop and be kind. He made excuses for himself, but amazingly he did stop! An assistant used a plastic bag to chase the pigs and somehow managed to get the pigs unstuck and they were left in their holding pen. Even though I couldn’t walk up close I could see that many of the pigs had bulging protrusions near their anus/genitals and others had sores and welts on their backs and faces.

I went home in shock knowing that those poor pigs were waiting in their pens overnight to face an even worse fate the next day.  That dreadful day we witnessed was the first time that those poor pigs felt a breeze on their back and the earth beneath their feet. I could not get the images of their sad terrified eyes and the sound of their terrible screams out of my head. I knew I had visited hell on Earth. I want to share it with the world, but unfortunately, my footage was terrible because my hands were shaking too much from shock and panic. In some ways, I wish I hadn’t intervened so that I could have filmed it calmly and shown the world what I had seen. But, on the other hand I couldn’t stand to see those poor animals being electrocuted over and over again.  The other factor to consider is that there would most probably be legal repercussions for releasing footage filmed on private land without permission. Animal farmers and abattoirs will do almost anything to prevent the truth of their brutality being seen.

The experience has increased my commitment to release animals from their prisons, their enslavement and their violent deaths. This is not simply an animal welfare issue.  The use of an electric prod is legal. Leaving animals without food and water for 72 hours is legal. Killing is legal. Therefore, calling the SPCA or an animal welfare society will do nothing to help pigs and other animals trapped in this violent system. The problem is that the system of agriculture, which involves genetic manipulation, confinement and killing is inherently violent and is based on a system of domination, oppression and speciecism.  Once one adds a profit incentive, it is virtually impossible to ensure the well being of farmed animals.  Animals, like human animals, should be allowed to live free and natural lives. As Alice Walker said:

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. 

They were not made for humans any more than black people
were made for white, or women created for men.

Note: There are likely legal and other negative repercussions for taking photos and videos inside the abattoir property. For this reason I cannot disclose the location or anything that might reveal the location.

***

Photos from the abattoir:

A beautiful young calf discarded next to the meat bin

A decapitated calf

Medical researchers or sadistic bastards?

This is what our scientists do with our tax money, research funding....  Scientists feel that somehow scientific research is beyond the purview of ethics, but like any area of human activity it most definitely should operate within ethical limits. There was a time when my greatest ambition was to be  a top scientist, but now I want nothing more to stop people from being callous, sadistic bastards.  I want to protect vulnerable individuals, whatever their species, from exploitation, violence and cruelty.

A dream of a better world

Also, see this: I have seen another world

Powerful quotes by Isaac Bashevis Singer

It was Isaac Bashevis Singer, a Jewish author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 who first said in the Letter Writer, "In relation to [animals], all people are Nazis; for the animals, it is an eternal Treblinka." 

"How can we speak of right and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood?" 

"When a human kills an animal for food, he is neglecting his own hunger for justice. Man prays for mercy, but is unwilling to extend it to others. Why should man then expect mercy from God? It's unfair to expect something that you are not willing to give. It is inconsistent. I can never accept inconsistency or injustice. Even if it comes from God. If there would come a voice from God saying, "I'm against vegetarianism!" I would say, "Well, I am for it!" This is how strongly I feel in this regard."

The need for feminism

Long before I became interested in veganism and animal rights, I was an ardent feminist and supporter of women’s rights. I still am, although it has taken a backseat to my passion for promoting animal rights.  While I don’t see animal rights as being more important than women’s rights, the tremendous numbers of animals that are killed, mutilated and tortured and who have their homes and habitats sacked, polluted and destroyed, the extreme degree of cruelty and torture that we inflict upon animals such as boiling them alive or ripping their skin off while alive, and the breadth and depth speciecism which allows such rampant abuses to occur, forces me to focus most of my attention on animal rights.  However, I recognise that animal rights, women’s rights and other human rights are related and interlinked; that sexism, speciecism, racism, etc., are similar psychological processes and constructs.

In the past, before I became aware of the atrocities committed to animals and my own speciecism, I was similarly shocked and disturbed by how 50 % of the human species, i.e. women, could be treated so poorly and have so few rights to varying degrees in different parts of the world. That this unequal respect and treatment was the norm for almost all cultures for millennia was (and is) deeply disturbing to me and I concluded that the gains that some women have achieved in some countries was extremely fragile. The natural inclination to discriminate and dominate women appears to be deeply ingrained in men.  This reinforced the need for feminism and to continue to fight for women’s rights, respect and dignity all over the world, including those countries where significant gains have been made. Even in the west, where things are better for women, women still suffer from sexism, rape, objectification, discrimination and domestic violence. There is still much to be done.

I just finished reading the poignant, beautiful and tragic novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini which has prompted me to revisit my previous passion for women’s rights. The book centres on two women in Afghanistan whose lives are held captive by men, the patriarchy and a lack of legal rights and social supports to allow them to break free from the domestic abuse and enslavement they face daily.  It is also about their relationship with each other, their strength and love. I highly recommend it because it is a great narrative and it allows the reader to care deeply about the characters. Through the narrative the reader can see how dangerous it is to allow men to make all the decisions on behalf of women and not to have laws that are enforced to protect women’s rights.  If there are no enforceable laws, any degree of extreme cruelty and violence can be inflicted upon the vulnerable without any repercussions for the guilty.  This allows ordinary people/men to become brutal slave masters. This is similarly the case with animals today all over the world who have almost zero laws to protect them from death, violence and confinement inflicted upon them by humans. 

The violence, disrespect and loss of liberty that these two women faced was appalling and tragic, and made my heart go out to all the women who have experienced such violence at home. It doesn’t just happen in Afghanistan or the Middle East.  A white South Africa man was convicted of holding his wife captive at home and inflicting upon her the most vicious and brutal physical violence that has left her permanently physically damaged for the rest of her life. This is of course an extreme case, but it goes to show you it happens everywhere. South Africa is actually not a good place to be a woman – physical and emotional abuse, murder and rape of women are extremely common despite laws that make this illegal.   I recommend this resource from the Rape Crisis Trust Cape Town which provides some possible explanations of why rape and violence against women is so high in South Africa.  We have to try understand the problem if we are to eradicate it. 

While animal rights may always be my first focus, I believe I also have a duty to South Africa, to help make it a better place and women’s rights would be an excellent place to start.  Violence spreads, like a cold, from person to person, from person to animal.  The greater violence people experience in their day-to-day lives the less likely they are to care about the suffering of animals and the more likely they are to perpetrate violence to animals.  That’s a generalization of course. Some people who have been hurt, oppressed and dominated by others, indeed empathize more deeply with animals who are also hurt and opporessed and find great comfort in helping and spending time with innocent creatures.

What is my duty to share information on international conflict?

I have been thinking about the Palestine/Israel issue and other conflicts a lot since a recent Facebook discussion with a friend about why I don’t focus on more pertinent human issues like the said-conflict, Syria, Iraq, etc., rather than violence against animals.  I think I responded to the criticism well, but I do continue to ask myself what is my responsibility to share information on FB about Palestine/Israel like my friend suggested? Why don’t I share more?

I think it comes down to a few reasons:

1) The Palestine/Israel is just one conflict among many, but it is highly politicized and publicized due to the geo-politics of the middle-east. There are many other human conflicts and tragedies that are also important and of interest to me that don’t get shared on FB, especially those in Africa – the militia in Congo, the starvation of millions of Somalians in the 2010s, the recent terrorism in Kenya, the killing of 30 miners by South African police in 2012, the violent attacks on foreigners in SA in 2008, etc. So why must I focus on Palestine/Israel and not all of the other human conflicts? 

2) Due to the highly politicized and emotional nature of the Palestine/Israel conflict, I feel that I am likely to offend people and receive criticism no matter what I post or say.  This in itself isn’t a bad thing, but I am really sensitive and since I don’t have an excellent understanding of the situation I’m not sure how well I could defend myself. 3) While I do have some opinions about the Palestine/Israel conflict and I tend to sympathize with the Palestinians, believing that their human rights are being severely impinged upon, I am still afraid that my information is biased, one-sided, incomplete and/or simplistic. In fact, this is very much likely the case since things are always more complex and grey than they seem. I really don’t want to spread simplifications and misinformations into the world, especially in any way that may increases hate towards any side.

3) Just because I sympathize towards one side or the other and have my opinions, it doesn’t mean that I have any really good ideas about how a peaceful solution could be reached.  So what would be the intention or point of sharing information with others? What do I hope for them to do?  However, I do see a need to share information/opinions in response to other people’s posts which may be bigoted or ill-informed and I have done that in past.  Sometimes I just delete these people.  Is that wrong, should I try to engage with them?  It’s so exhausting.

4) Finally, if I never communicated about atrocities to animals and only shared messages on FB about my holidays, purchases, careers, etc., nobody would every criticize me for not saying anything about Palestine or other human issues.  That speaks of a severe and deep-seated prejudice against animals. Why is it that speaking up about animals offends people so much? Is it because they are implicated?  This is the very reason why I feel so compelled to speak up for animals. That’s for another blog post though.

However, given all my misgivings about speaking about Palestine/Israel, this is my simplistic understanding and opinion.   England gave land in Palestine to Zionists in the early 20^th Century. It was not their land to give. It was essentially a form of colonization.  Palestinians, with the support of other Arab countries, fought colonization as most colonized people do and a series of wars erupted over the 20^th Century. Israel, backed by the west and the U.S.A. was the stronger of the two forces and increased its land area during these wars. Millions of Palestinians became refugees. 

There’s no doubt that the history of this region stinks, but the past doesn’t necessarily tell us what we should do about the future. Not everything about the Israeli state is bad - they have some very progressive laws and I’m sure I would like Israeli people if I met them. As a South African, I know what it’s like to be born into a society that’s based upon the oppression and violence of others and yet think that’s a normal state of affairs.  I also know this as a former meat-eater.  It’s very hard to see outside of what seems normal, especially when there is deliberate propaganda to justify the status quo and information flow is controlled.  (South Africa only got T.V. in the 70s!) Most people are not willfully bad, they just don’t know better. That being said, I do not mean to let people off the hook for murder and torture!

I don’t want to see Israel destroyed or Israeli people killed or evicted, but since Israel is the stronger of the two nations, it falls upon Israel to make peace. It needs to start valuing Palestinian lives equally to Jewish/Israeli lives.  It needs to begin to restore human dignity and human rights to Palestinian peoples. At the very least it must stop the expansion of Jewish settlers into Palestinian areas! This is absolutely essential! If they do not do this then how can anyone believe that they want peace?

I do also wonder what the responsibility of Europe and the U.S.A. is to help resolve this conflict. I would say it is large. We know that millions of Jews fled to Israel after the Holocaust and I don’t blame them for that. Surely Europe has a responsibility to invite Jews of European origin back into its embrace and promise them safety and security? When has Europe taken responsibility for its past actions, including colonization?  Africans must suffer from the devastating effects of colonization and still send their wealth overseas via European corporations, while Europeans live such a pleasant and safe life.  I know the children are not responsible for the sins of their parents, but surely neither are the African children? So why should they bear the greatest burden? 

Is it natural to eat animals?

The first time I heard that a friend was going vegetarian I laughed and thought it was a silly, although harmless, idea. After all, other animals eat animals, so not eating animals would go against the very laws of nature!  But does being “natural” really determine what is right? What is “natural” anyway? Are we, human beings, still a part of nature? In what sense are our societies governed by natural laws? Would we want it that anyway?

It is clear that humans have long moved away from the “laws-of-the-jungle” and “survival-of-the-fittest” as a means of managing our relationships with each other and the rest of the planet.   Through religion and the progression of moral thought and social institutions, we have created laws and mechanisms which aim to protect each other from theft, murder and rape, as well as help those that are struggling. Yet, aren’t murder, rape and theft natural instincts? Isn’t it natural to exploit those that are weak or natural to leave them to die?  The idea of naturalness being equivalent to rightness is something that we, as a society, should seek to avoid.  Due to our also natural abilities to experience empathy and compassion and to reason ethically, we as a society can choose to create and reinforce a more compassionate and just world.  Other animals, particularly those that live in social groups, also have capacities for compassion, friendship and cooperation. So it turns out that “nature” is not what we perceive it be anyway.

Most people would agree that we should move away from the cruel “laws of nature” for managing our affairs, but they may still implicitly believe that eating animals is not only natural, but also necessary. Therefore, farming and killing animals for food is a necessary and acceptable use of our power over other animals.  However, upon further investigation, they would find that millions of people around the world are vegetarian and vegan and many have been so for their entire lives.  For instance, many religious groups have eaten vegetarian diets for millennia including Jains, Hindus, Sikhs, Hare Krishnas, Black Israelites and some Buddhists.  Most of these groups also refrain from eating eggs and Black Israelites are vegan. From a western, scientific perspective, the American Dietetic Association has stated that we can lead healthy lives on vegetarian and vegan diets!

Since eating meat and animal products is not necessary for a long and healthy human life, we cannot say that the act of a modern human killing and eating an animal is equivalent to a lion killing and eating a buck.  Lions must eat animals to survive, but that is certainly not the case for us. Therefore, we make a choice to kill and consume the flesh of other animals.  Given that other animals clearly do value their lives, as anyone would know who has had a pet or companion animal, it is wrong to deprive animals of their very existence and the opportunity to enjoy their lives for trivial reasons.

In addition, in practicality, there is no painless way to kill animals, who experience pain and fear just as we do.  Lethal injection may be the kindest way to kill, but it would make their flesh inedible.  The next “kindest” way, might be a gunshot to the head. But how would a person ensure each and every time that the bullet enters the right part of the brain to cause immediate death? Also, how can they ensure that the animal is unaware of being hunted or stalked so that it does not experience fear?  The only possible way one might attempt to ensure a death that is free of pain and fear would be to develop a close relationship with the animal so that he/she has complete trust in the person who would kill them, thereby allowing the person to come close to the animal. The person would then have to hope that the animal doesn’t make any sudden movements before pulling the trigger. Besides being completely impractical, surely this would be a betrayal of a trusting relationship between two individuals, akin to shooting one’s own beloved pet in the prime of their lives?  Surely, this goes against all moral feeling and kindness?  Surely, it is a little psychopathic?

The reality is, that human beings are so far removed from living naturally, that ad hoc attempts to be “natural” are a farce.  To feed our massively growing human population, now close to 7 billion people, we must employ industrial methods of agriculture.  There is nothing natural about industrial agriculture which depends on scientific research, large machines, genetic engineering, manmade fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, intensive feeding operations, confinement, artificial insemination, antibiotics, etc.  To provide meat to a vast number of people at cheap prices requires an intensely mechanistic and economical approach that treats animals as nothing more than production units.  Compassion, respect, dignity and ‘naturalness’ are not and cannot be part of this system. From start to finish - birth, growth and death – the lives of farm animals are controlled by external, heartless and unnatural human, economic and scientific processes. 

If a person truly believes in the “naturalness” of eating meat which makes it ethical to eat animals, then they must give up on formal meat production. Even so-called family animal agriculture, with its management of breeding, confinement, cutting, separating of kin, killing, butchering, transporting, packaging and selling, is a departure from the natural process of hunting and gathering as our long gone ancestors once did.  If we wish to embrace a truly natural lifestyle, then we must become a part of nature again, giving up modern day privileges including the Internet, washing machines, houses, electricity, running water, grocery stores, refrigerators and medical treatment. We must live in the bush and on the land. Everything we use must come from our immediate surroundings and be returned to them.  If we eat other animals, we must also allow ourselves to be eaten. When we die, we will lie where we fall and let other animals scavenge off our bodies. Our bones will be cleaned by insects, worms and bacteria and our flesh will return to the soil as compost. Yes, then we will truly be a ‘part of nature’ and on equal terms with the rest of the natural world.

Dr. Alice Hovorka on animal geography

Dr. Alice Horvorko from Guelph University argues that animal geography is one of the most stimulating and challenging areas of academic research and social activism today.  She links the ideas of feminism and animal geography and considers intersectionality and hierarchical relationships of power.

Animals are not simply objects to be backgrounded, counted, mapped and analysed as part of the environment or nature.  They are active agents in their subjective worlds.

Here's the MP3

More evidence that diets high in meat and low in veggies are bad for you, even if it is fish

by Dr Neil Barnard: link

Interdisciplinary animal studies growing

I must follow this group: UC Davis Interdisciplinary Animal studies Research Group link

Could the singularity help us reach animal liberation and peace?

On one hand I am quite scared of the developments of artificial intelligence and the singularity. What will it mean for humans? Will AI be used for evil, war and mind control? Will it allow humans to degenerate into stupid blobs?  On the other hand, perhaps it is the only possible hope for humanity, other animals and the Earth.  Humans do not have a good record for promoting peace and kindness for all on this planet.  The very essence of nature seems to be cruel. Think of disease and animals eating other animals.  Perhaps a supreme intelligence is needed to solve our most pressing problems and manage the world so that peace, kindness and justice can truly be manifested on Earth. 

Article about AI

Are we doing the best we can to help animals

Some good questions to keep asking ourselves as we try to help animals. link

This looks like a nice website too follow.

This is an interesting perspective

Humans and our domesticated animals far out number all the wild land animals on the planet: http://xkcd.com/1338/

Face your food: A new video by Peter Dinklage and PETA

Face Your Food

Is meat, eggs and dairy good for you?

Not necessarily. Story here

The conservation and educational value of zoos

Here's a great piece unpacking the contribution of zoos to conservation and education. ;)

The science of denial

Interesting journal article here

Intelligent chickens?

Yes, very much indeed:
Scientific American
The Chicken Challenge by Carolyn Smith and Jane Johnson

Inspiring

I'm very happy to have discovered Dr. Nadia Sanger who seems to have such a strong understanding of the intersectionality of oppressions, particularly in the South African context!  I'm looking forward to reading more of her work:

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/nadiasanger/2013/01/04/love-thy-neighbour-love-thy-dog/
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/nadiasanger/2013/05/28/ungrievable-life/
http://mg.co.za/article/2010-04-09-animals-have-feelings-too

So much suffering

I've always worried about the immense amount of suffering inherent in nature. This talk argues we do have responsibilities to reduce suffering in nature.

We must embrace our animalhood

From the Beyond Personhood conference:

Photos of slaughter - industrial and family

http://freefromharm.org/photo-galleries/photo-gallery-a-day-photographing-in-a-slaughterhouse-made-me-vegetarian-francesco-scipioni/

http://freefromharm.org/photo-galleries/the-dark-side-of-an-italian-culinary-tradition/

Standard farm practice is 58 seconds - Mercy For Animals

Compassion in World Farming

While this organization doesn't seem to promote veganism (directly), it provides some seemingly great resources and information for the South African context. I will definitely check them out while I'm in SA.  http://www.animal-voice.org/