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.

With greater clarity, precision, and stronger claims-making, our movement will be more coherent as it strikes at the roots of animal exploitation, rather than spending vast resources on efforts for nonhuman beings that on the surface seem good, but which ultimately do very little for them individually and may well further entrench their status as property for humans to use for the foreseeable future.

Veganism, Privilege and Liberation [The Vegan Ideal]
Dani, at The Vegan Ideal, writes about veganism as an ideology of liberation that renounces human privilege.

Theory and practice are one; you can’t “renounce absolutely … the right to use” without, at the same time, renouncing the actual use and the benefits of that use.

Full Frontal Factory Farming [Elaine Vigneault]
Many of us radicals and progressives have challenged PETA’s use of women in their campaigns. This is an excellent post from Elaine that challenges us to take a closer look at what is going on with these demonstrations and to open our minds to the idea that perhaps PETA may have a feminist perspective after all.

Speciesism: It’s Only Human [The Vegan Ideal]
The thing I like most about this post is that you could easily substitute some words and be talking about ableism, classism, racism, sexism, sizism or any other systematic oppression. Dani wrote a good follow-up, too, called Challenging the Structure of Nonhuman Oppression.

PPS Calls for Change in Direction of Vegan Advocacy [Animal Person]
Mary Martin, of Animal Person, toots the horn of the Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary and breaks down why the change in vegan advocacy is essential. Be sure to check out the original article from PPS, too.

if you believe there’s no such thing as humane farming, you do your own message a disservice by using “factory farming” as your descriptor because that creates an opening for the acceptance of an alternative.

On Speciesism, the ALF and the Media [Animal Person]
Mary sets a great example with this post. She opens her mind to the possibility of expanding definitions and encouraging new tactics in the name of strengthening strategies for an end goal: animal liberation. She also does a great job at address the concern of “negative media image” of ALF actions hurting the animal rights cause. And if that post wasn’t enough, she has a great follow-up responding to the backlash.

When one claims to be against speciesism, but would use certain tactics in the service of humans but not nonhumans, I have no choice but to say that’s a profound contradiction (a.k.a., hypocrisy).

Robot Monkeys [The PETA Files]
Grace gives us a perfect example of unnecessary animal testing. While the implications of a prosthetic limb can prove to be helpful to amputees, the argument for using monkeys in the experiment becomes morally bankrupt when it is leaked that the study has already been conducted… with humans.

The electrodes in the monkeys’ brains were attached to a computer, and the computer was attached to a robotic arm. The vivisectors restrained the monkeys’ arms and had the animals use their thoughts to move the robotic arm to their mouths so that they could get the food.

Earth Balance, palm oil, rainforests and RAN [Invisible Voices]
Deb over at Invisible Voices openly shares her struggle with coming to terms about the fact that the beloved vegan butter, Earth Balance, kills animals by destroying habitat, not to mention displacing communities, exploiting workers, and killing other species. Not that palm oil is particularly insidious (as Deb admits in the comments), environmental destruction is a part of industrial farming, but there is an active campaign to stop the deforestation caused by palm oil.

Every time I turn around, I’m reminded about how intertwined these issues are. Social justice, environmental protection, animal rights. Palm oil is a hat trick of issues, and it is something we all need to pay attention to.

Francione’s recent post, Abolition and Incremental Reform, is an important piece for those who are dedicated to animal rights and liberation. Francione continues with the point that veganism must be at the root of our movement (“Veganism is the application of the abolitionist principle to the life of the individual.”), and continues by highlighting examples of other actions that can and should be taken on the path towards animal rights.