#bob torres

[the-animal-tern]

If animals are going to be considered in our struggle for social justice, veganism is the first place where that struggle must start. As a direct protest against the commodity form and property relations that animals are subject to, it is a great refusal of the system itself, a no-compromise position that does not seek reform, but which seeks abolition. For anyone who wants to end animal exploitation, living as a vegan is living the end that we wish to see - no one will exploit animals for mere choices of taste and convenience.

Bob Torres. Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.

[howieabel]

If we're all led to believe that poverty is just a matter of laziness or stupidity or whatever other justifications we can come up with, then we're not likely to be in a real position to do much about it when it comes to attacking the root cause of the problem. Instead of demanding a more equitable system for the distribution of social and economic goods, we blame the victim. This is insidious, because ideology is something we carry around with us in our heads; it forms the basis of our day-to-day understanding of the world.

Bob Torres, Making A Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights

[the-animal-tern]

This property relationship is one that is woven into our economy, our society, and our laws. To return to the example I used earlier of my dog, Emmy, the law grants me the right to own her exclusively. I can then use that ownership to do with her almost as I please, including making a profit from her, selling her, using her as collateral on a loan, or forcing her to labor for me. If I wanted to, I could even donate her to science or sell her to a lab for experiments. Under the law, any of these activities are completely legal, and are my absolute right as the owner of this particular piece of animal property. The property relation, when applied to animals, is a form of violent domination over them, constantly subjugating them to human whims.

Bob Torres, Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.

[the-animal-tern]

This inclination to purchase one's activism is certainly larger than the animal rights movement (in truth, the environmental movement pioneered its use several decades ago), but it has impacts within the movement that cannot be ignored. First and foremost, leaving activism to the "professionals" creates an environment where most people assume that the only way to be effective is by following the lead of the big organizations, the ideas and thinkers they promote, and the campaigns they head up. With the broad feeling that activism is being handled by responsible and capable professionals, many people do not feel the need to do activism in their own communities, in their lives, or in other places where it might count the most. This donor-member model of activism is radically disempowering at an individual level.

Bob Torres. Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.

[the-animal-tern]

As a needless and unnecessary form of hierarchy, anarchists should reject the consumption, enslavement, and subjugation of animals for human ends, and identify it as yet another oppressive aspect of the relations of capital and a needless form of domination. Anarchist or not, anyone concerned about the cruelty animals experience at human hands should take the first and most immediate step to stem that suffering by going vegan.

Bob Torres. Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.

[the-animal-tern]

Of capitalism, [Murray] Bookchin wrote that persuading a green plant to stop photosynthesizing was probably an easier task than to get capitalism to desist from accumulation. We could say the same of animal industries and the commodification of animals. While we may be able to make that commodification "nicer" through "compassionate" or "happy" meat, or measures like eliminating gestation crates, commodification will never simply fade away on its own, as it is the foundational logic of the system itself. Provided it can continue to commodify animals as property, the system will adapt, even to the most stringent regulations. What's more, if those regulations become too onerous domestically, it seems likely that the industry will simply increase the already substantial offshore production taking place to skirt around these domestic regulations. For these reasons, our activism must fight the system at its roots, targeting property and the imposition of the commodity form on animals, rather than hoping that an ethically bankrupt system will do the impossible task of reforming itself given demands to do so.

Bob Torres. Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.

[the-animal-tern]

We tend to approach every animal use as an emergency situation, a "them-or-us" scenario in which we must decide between the interests of animals or humans as a life-or-death situation. As Francione points out, "the overwhelming portion of our animal uses cannot be described as necessary in any meaningful sense of the word; rather, they merely further the satisfaction of human pleasure, amusement, or convenience. This wholly unnecessary animal use results in an enormous amount of animal pain, suffering, and death".

Bob Torres, Making a Killing: The Political Economy of Animal Rights. 2007.