9th Carnival of Empty Cages
1Aug2008 Filed under: Carnivals Author: ChrisWelcome 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.
Making Connections
Veganism and Prison Abolition [The Vegan Ideal]
When I first started the Carnival of Empty Cages (in 2006, I think), I named it that for a reason. I told be to “think creatively about what cages we need to empty.” I did this because I wanted people to include prison abolition in this discussion, but I hoped folks would come to this conclusion on their own. Nine carnivals later and I am ecstatic to announce the first such post… AND it connects veganism! Thanks, Dani! Now the veil is lifted… I (and Deep Roots) want to have sincere dialog about prison abolition and how it relates to the abolition of all oppression and exploitation (this is why we table with prison abolition literature next to our AR lit).
Now’s the Time (No Time Like Now) [SuperWeed]
Pattrice has a great post about the food-feed-fuel conflict that is driving the global food crisis. I particularly like her conclusion that vegan advocates should seize the day to tout the cost efficiency of a vegan diet (while not ignoring the ethics, of course). The Vegan Ideal has a post on food distribution arguing that veganism must create a shift in power.
Mutt, Mulatto, Mule? [Vegans of Color]
Amalgamated looks at the history of the word mutt and shows how people of color are referred to as non-human animals and how non-human animals are considered lower than humans.
Call for Proposals: Coming Out for Animals [Queering Animal Liberation]
Kim Stallwood, pattrice jones, and Olivia Lane are putting together a book looking at the links between Queer identity/activism and animal liberation. This is the call for submissions. The deadline is August 30th.
There have been some criticisms of this call (hopefully constructive criticisms) from The Vegan Ideal and us here at Deep Roots.
Stupid Things Herbivore’s Say: Worry About Human Rights, Not Animal Rights [Vegan Soapbox]
Eccentric Vegan responds to the notion that worrying about animal rights and being vegan are wastes of time until all humans live in an egalitarian society.
Torture: It’s A Dog’s Life [The Vegan Ideal]
Dani talks about how torture techniques used on prisoners in the so-called “War on Terror” were developed on dogs in the 1970s. The posts then goes on to examine how the original research into these techniques should also be considered torture. Its quite simple really.
Alliance Building and Militarism [The Vegan Ideal]
I know, a lot of posts from The Vegan Ideal. What can I say, Dani does good work. This is about how PETA, in its denouncement of the military’s use of pigs as targets, fails to make an important alliance between the peace and animal lib movements.
Animals and the Environment
Environmental Protection and Animal Rights [Happy Vegetable]
The Happy Vegetable talks about the need for vegans to recognize that veganism is a great step for the environment, but its not enough.
Living a vegan lifestyle is your personal protest against animal cruelty. So don’t let it stop with what you put in your mouth or what you wear.
Deb at Invinsible Voices also had a couple of related posts including one on transitioning to a bicycle and another visual post this month showing the connections between animal rights and the environment.
Random Animal Rights Stuff
Animal Rights 101, part four: Property Status [An Animal-Friendly Life]
Despite wearing a cast, Eric managed to put together the four part in his introductory series to animal rights.
Unlike bicycles and all other inanimate objects, sentient animals do have interests that merit consideration, and this presents us with our problem: Because they are legally classified as property that humans may use as a means to any recognized end, just like inanimate objects such as bicycles, they are prevented from possessing any legal rights that would protect their interests.
On Honest Meat and Absent Referents [Animal Person]
Mary talks about what isn’t being talked about when animal exploiters refer to “production.” Ok, I’m a sucker for discussions on absent referents.
Woman Sentenced to 2 Years for Rescuing Dog, “Terrorists” Rescue More Animals in Retaliation [Green Is The New Red]
Will writes about a UK activist who was just sentenced to two years in prison for rescuing a dog after animal agencies wouldn’t respond to calls of abuse.
H Partners Dumps All HLS (LSR) Shares [Food Fight!]
Food Fight shares the good news that the second largest institutional investor in HLS (LSR), the largest contract animal testing company, has dropped their entire $22,452,000 HLS portfolio. It took less than a month and all SHAC had to do was basically ask. Maybe H Partners care about animal rights, maybe they were just scared to be a SHAC target. Who cares.
Hog Wrestling in Wisconsin [Veg Blog]
Ryan talks about an annual hog wrestling event in Wisconsin (complete with disturbing picture) and why no amount of claims cannot make such events humane. Kelly at Smite Me! also wrote a little more in depth about the hog wrestling event.
William Saletan: The new hierarchy of GAP [An Animal-Friendly Life]
Eric responds to the Spanish parliament’s decision to extend the right to life and freedom to great apes. His conclusion is beautiful:
Animal activists often take approaches like GAP to be tactical means to the end of extending rights to all animals some day (as points of spears and such), but this kind of thinking misses the mark. We don’t need to extend the hierarchy, we need to erase that hierarchy entirely
Shouldn’t we simply avoid cruelty? [That Vegan Girl]
Alex writes about how we do not avoid certain actions because those actions are considered cruel (or because laws tell us not to), but rather because ethical imperatives stop us.
It’s not euthanasia! [That Vegan Girl]
Alex explains that using “euthanasia” to describe the process of killing animals in shelters is a misnomer. Thanks, Alex! The misuse of the term euthanasia is a pet peeve of mine.
The motive of the person who commits an act of euthanasia is to benefit the one whose death is brought about. The individual who is suffering has an exceedingly poor quality of life, for example, and is, therefore, the direct object of concern.
2 Responses to “9th Carnival of Empty Cages”
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About this blog
This is the official blog of the Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary. Here we will talk about animal rights theory and action. The views written in the posts are those of the author and don't necessarily reflect the views of Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary. If you are interested in guest posting or being a Deep Roots blogger, email Chris.
pattrice jones
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:04 am
Thanks for another carnival and for selecting my post on the urgent opportunity for strategic action in the context of the current economic crisis. As I note in that post, we need concerted action among different segments of the movement in cooperation with other movements if we are to have hope of the substantial changes the animals need us to engender.
In the service of such concerted action, I’ve spent the better part of two decades focused on building solidarity within movements and forging coalitions across movements. One principle I follow is to always bring critiques of allies directly to them, giving them a chance to respond and perhaps even change in response, before making any kind of public challenge of a named ally or project.
So, of course, it was pretty distressing to me that both you and Vegan Ideal elected to post critiques of the QAL proposal — which is the very first stage of a project intended to build the diversity (and, thus, capacity) of the animal liberation movement, increase awareness of animal issues within queer communities, and stimulate coalition work between queer and vegan activists — without first writing to us directly to allow us to clarify, or perhaps even change, the words with which you had problems. It is, after all, just a call for proposals with a list of questions intended to spark the creative juices of potential writers of all sorts — which, judging from the flood of ideas we’ve been getting from both scholars and activists from *both* movements, it has.
pattrice jones’s last blog post..Against “Spiritual Vivisection”
Chris
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Pattrice - first let me say that my intent was never to damage the validity of the project. This is why I said I hoped that it was constructive criticism and that I hoped the book succeeded. It is also why I first published the call in its entirety without comment, even though the discussion I posted had already occurred. And why I listed the call in the Carnival, but put the critiques as notes to the call. It is also why I didn’t trackback to the original call from the critique. I merely wanted to share the thoughts that were generated from the proposal and to further encourage people to think critically.
As a Queer animal liberationist, I am sincerely interested in the book and its success. But I have never been one to hold my tongue or to ask permission to speak my mind. Sorry if this tendency has caused you and others in the project any grief. That was certainly not the intention.
Let me also say that I am very aware of your work. You’ve been a bit of an inspiration to us here at Deep Roots (to say the least). When we first started discussions about starting ths sanctuary four years ago, it was Eastern Shore that we turned to as a model. We even made you a rubber stamp and patch, but I don’t think it ever got sent (the stamp was lost).
It sounds like you are getting some good submissions. And just because I critique a book doesn’t mean I won’t buy it:) I look forward to reading it.
If it makes you feel better, I have not had anyone tell me that they were glad to see my post. I’ve merely gotten comments like the one posted in response to my critique.
Good luck with the book. Please keep me informed.