Deep Roots: Animal Rights Blog

Welcome to the 9th Carnival of Empty Cages! It is amazing how many great posts were written in the past month (and to think of all the posts that weren’t submitted or I didn’t find). There are a lot of topics covered in this edition of the carnival. I hope you enjoy. Be sure to submit your post (or someone else’s post that you really enjoy) for the next edition. You can submit by emailing the link to chris (at) deeprootssanctuary.org or use the submission form.

Last week I posted the call for submissions for Coming Out for Animals: Queering Animal Liberation. Before even posting that call, it had already generated some discussion here at Deep Roots.Let me start by saying that I am Queer. And I love the idea of an anthology that looks at the connections of any liberation struggles. But the wording of the call does pose some questions.

A Problem with Words

Dani, at The Vegan Ideal, has already stated outrage over the notion that animal rights activists are the most targeted segment of the U.S. population. Or as the call asks:

Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of “cultural” practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power?

It is not exactly the victory we would hope for, a year-round ban on live-caught coyotes, but earlier this month, the Indiana Natural Resources Commission (NRC) adopted a new rule change prohibiting the sale of live coyotes caught outside the hunting and trapping season, which runs from October 15 to March 15. Although not a total victory, this is a huge blow against the live-export industry and thus the hunting and trapping industry.

Indiana is the largest exporter of live-caught coyotes. These coyotes are often used in dog “training” sessions where multiple dogs are released upon a single coyote trapped in an enclosed area. The dogs are scored on how quickly they find and kill the coyote. This “training” is nothing more than legalized dog fighting, but its multiple dogs against one coyote.

via Queering Animal Liberation:

Coming Out for Animals: Queering Animal Liberation

What do queer liberation and animal liberation have to do with each other? How does the construction of homosexuality as both “unnatural” and “bestial” hurt both people and animals? How are speciesism and heterosexism interrelated and how do they fit into the matrix of race-sex-class oppression? Why have both homosexuality and veganism been dismissed as “white things” beside the point of real liberation struggles? What are we going to do about homophobia among straight-edge vegans? About those dreadful gay rodeos? Should we be arguing for pleather or against sexual practices that mimic the subjugation of animals? What’s so sexy about whips, chains, and choke collars anyway? What do hip hop “video vixens” and activist “vegan vixens” have in common beyond the performance of animality for the heterosexual male gaze? How does vivisection hurt people with AIDS? Why, within the USA, are both the queer and animal liberation movements less diverse than they should be but portrayed as more white than they are? Why do queer activists in Uganda but animal activists in the USA bear the brunt of police suppression in their respective countries? Are they similarly subversive of “cultural” practices that turn out to be critical to the maintenance of state power? What keeps many gay men in the animal liberation movement from coming out? Why are so many lesbian potlucks vegetarian and what does this mean in the era of FBI infiltration of the vegan potluck?

No excuses, the Carnival is simply late. Despite the fact that I’ve been collecting blog post links for the past few months, I’m only going to include items from June. Enjoy! And remember to send your submissions for the 9th edition to chris [at] deeprootssanctuary.org or at blogcarnival.com.

I decided not to break the posts into categories this edition because there were a lot of posts that didn’t easily fit into a box. I guess that’s a downside to seeing the interconnectedness of everything:)

Animal Rights 101 [An Animal-Friendly Life]
Eric Prescott has started a series of posts to introduce people to the fundamentals of the abolitionist approach to animal rights. The series now consists of three parts. Part One: The Need talks about why we need to clearly define animal rights. The second part, Rights, breaks down the differences and connections between legal and moral rights. And part three, Animal Rights, delves into the notion of sentience and the basis of equal consideration.