Animal Liberation and Social Revolution

by Brian A. Dominick

a vegan perspective on anarchism
or
an anarchist perspective on veganism
by Brian A. Dominick
with Preface by Joseph M. Smith

Genres: Vegan, Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Animals, History

19 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first, I’m not one for anarchist beliefs as I lack the requisite faith in eight billion homo rapiens (copyright John Gray) chasing their desires without any limitations. Undoubtedly a nice intention for smaller tribes and groups but in the real world as it actually operates I’m more of a pessimistic The Tragedy of the Commons type of fella. I am also a vegan who aims to opt out of causing unnecessary suffering to other sentient beings.

Nonetheless I found this 1995 pamphlet an interesting time capsule to explore. As an anarchist writer he has disdain for progressive leftists and their blindspot in largely excluding other animals from the moral community. In this sense that echoes the current trend for intersectionality that many animal rights activists feel often gives the thin end of the wedge to their cause whilst maintaining the anthropocentric status quo.

To be fair to the author he does unapologetically push veganism and insists that his comrades become “veganarchists” in order to maintain any semblance of moral consistency. However these demands cut both ways as he bizarrely insists that vegans are actually vegetarians unless they sign up to his arbitrary list of human causes.

“Ageism” gets a mention, where has that one gone in the intersectionalist arsenal? Nowadays we expect slurs about “boomers” and wanting the older generations to be even less visible. It was good to see the usage of the all encompassing term of speciesism rather than the etymologically flesh-focused term of carnism that is doing the rounds these days. It was also interesting to see Gary Francione’s name pop up at this juncture as he is known for firmly pushing veganism as the moral baseline. Sadly the quote included here is an essentialist and lazy stereotyping of “white males.”

With all of this said, my two favourite pieces of featured content came not from Dominick but rather two other voices in the text.

Joseph M. Smith’s foreword:
“As a philosophy, veganism stands in defiance to ideologies touching
the core of Western thought. Opposed to the irrational belief systems
which establishment institutions socialize people to "accept."
the principles of veganism challenge individuals to confront the dogma they are
issued and to construct new ethics and values based on the premises of
compassion and justice.”

Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation:
“…when nonvegetarians say that "human problems come first" I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.”

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and straight to the point.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short pamphlet on animal liberation that talks of veganism as a social movement and relates it to other liberation struggles. As a person who's unfamiliar with the topic, I found that the information was presented accessibly but not simplisticly, which is a really hard balance to achieve in writing like this.

[Carlos Marques · Rating 3 out of 5]

Um panfleto curto sobre a ligação entre libertação animal, veganismo e anarquismo. Nele Brian A. Dominick critica o veganismo liberal por reduzir essa luta a uma escolha de vida e ao mesmo tempo critica o anarquismo e a "velha guarda da esquerda" (palavras minhas) de ignorar o problema da libertação animal por outros assuntos mais "importantes", ignorando a ligação entre a opressão animal e os modos de opressão humana (racismo, sexismo, homofobia, agism). Para Brian ambos estão errados. O veganismo liberal por ignorar os processos capitalista que governam a indústria da carne e assim pensarem que o final de acabar com o consumo de carne vai ajudar de alguma maneira acabar com a fome e a esquerda por achar que a distinção entre animal e humano é real e não parte da mentalidade capitalista de classificação e hierarquia. Para acabar com este estado Brian pede uma ligação entre as 2 correntes: em que a libertação humana e animal seja uma luta conjunta em que se luta pelo o humano e o animal ao mesmo tempo (vinda do anarquismo) e que a escolha individual sirva para preparar o terreno em que o mundo pós revolucionário possa existir (vinda do veganismo liberal).

Esta é das partes que gostei mais: o conceito de revolução social, apesar de não poder substituir a meu ver a revolução política, pode em si servir como espaço de experiências que iram moldar o pensamento dos revolucionários e da sua construção politica e judicial após esse evento. Além de que a conclusão que praxis têm de abraçar todas as facetas da nossa vida, apesar de um pouco idealista, ser absolutamente necessária.

Contudo sai daqui sem perceber o que é a libertação animal. Brian afirma que libertação necessita de uma mente capaz de perceber conceitos abstratos e que assim o animal não se pode libertar, querendo com esse termo disser uma mudança dos comportamentos entre humanos e animais. Como é que isso seria? Não sei nem ele diz. Sofre também (como todos os panfletos anarquistas) de idealismo demasiado pronunciado. Mas talvez nem isso nem seja uma falha. Afinal precisamos de sonhadores. Como panfleto serve para criar perguntas interessantes e abrir caminhos de pensamento diferentes.

[hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humans must even be kept alienated from the simple rationale behind veganism. In order to maintain an us-them dichotomy between human and “animal” (as though we are not animals ourselves!), we cannot be allowed to hear basic arguments in favor of transcending this false sense of duality.
We are told that humans can employ complex linguistics and intricate styles of reasoning. Non-humans cannot. Humans are people, all others are beasts at best. Animals are made less than human not by nature but by active dehumanization, a process whereby people consciously strip animals of their worth. After all, the inability to speak or reason in an “enlightened” capacity does not subject infants or people with severe mental retardation to the violence non-humans suffer by the millions every day.
Let’s face it, the dichotomy between human and animal is more arbitrary than scientific. It is no different than the one posed between “whites” and “blacks” or “reds” or “yellows”; between adult and child; between man and woman; between heterosexual and homosexual; local and foreigner. Lines are drawn without care but with devious intent, and we are engineered by the institutions which raise us to believe that we are on one side of the line, and that the line is rational to begin with.

[M]

A pretty straightforward argument for total liberation, Dominick’s book underlines the need for both anarchism and veganism, the necessity to be both anti-state/capital and anti-animal oppression, and of always trying to account for the multitude of systems of oppression that work together. Interestingly, Dominick underlines the importance of the individual liberation within oneself, as essential for total (societal) liberation. While recognizing a dialectic between changing the self and changing the rest of the world, he emphasizes the internal work of liberation and even argues that it might be that only humans can become liberated (non-humans can only be freed). The pamphlet is about twenty years old though, and cognitive research has advanced a lot since then. Still, it's a nice short text.

“Revolution is the process - it’s not an event - of challenging the false wisdom and values we’ve been indoctrinated with and of challenging the actions we’ve learned to make and not make.” /10

[June Amelia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great primer on a radical approach to veganism and animal liberation.

[Niels Werij]

niet heel sterk geschreven argumentatie, maar wel interessante punten: meer moet je niet verwachten van een pamflet

[jj · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little rushed and abstract overall, but good bones in here.

[Simden Kur · Rating 3 out of 5]

katıldığım yerler de vardı katılmadığım da ama güzel bi okuma

[AsimovsZeroth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Animal Liberation and Social Revolution is the essay which coined the phrase Veganarchism, a social philosophy that takes socialism, anarchism, radicalism and pacifism and squishes it all together. It posits that all societal problems are interconnected and that the cycle of oppression feeds into itself, using examples such as the tendency of abuse victims to become the abusers. It’s a short read (only twenty pages, or an hour time commitment if you prefer audiobook) and thus, I wouldn’t start reading expecting an in-depth explanation of this 90’s movement. Don’t read if you’re the type to be particularly irritated by masculine pronouns being replaced by feminine pronouns.

I found this to be a much more even handed essay than I expected, but while convincing in many ways, and there are many things we can agree with in theory, I don’t agree with all of his points. The author recognizes that simply stopping the consumption of meat will not feed the hungry from our grain reserves, saying that animals issues are more important than human issues is just as bad as claiming the reverse, that it is impossible these days to live up to his ideal of avoiding all products of animal suffering and that social change has to take place on many fronts. He sees capitalism (or any structure that allows for the development of elites) as the root of all evil, a socialist system the ultimate goal. However, he seems to imply that the elimination of animal testing and the harm that would do to medical research, would be completely counterbalanced by the destruction of the capitalist system, because cancer is man made. He fails to elaborate further.

Part manifesto, part persuasive essay, this is certainly an interesting read. While the author is good at arguing for his vision, he is nonspecific as to solutions. The closest one gets to specificity in that regard, is his encouragement of people to do their best at taking action on their ideals, even if in small, everyday ways. He praises a socialist view, without delving into how a socialist view, without a system of organization is expected to handle many of these social problems such as hunger/abuse. If he expects an actual socialist system (rather than a utopian agreement on a worldwide moral view) he fails to argue how one would do this without creating a “cage”, that is – what he describes as the oppression of a system. If one is willing to accept the oppression of a system, does one not also accept that there will be elites, as he describes them? It was unclear which he was advocating for.

Interesting bit of Veganarchism history and quick read if you’re generally interested in knowing a little bit about everything (guilty), but certainly only meant as an introduction to a complicated subject. Good read if an introduction is exactly what you’re looking for, but probably not worth it for anyone who has even a passing knowledge of the subject. Granted, considering that this was published in the mid-90’s, it may not be fair to judge it too harshly on today’s general knowledge.

[Grazia Parolari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Come componente chiave per la perpetuazione dell'oppressione, ogni
alienazione deve essere distrutta. Fino a quando ignoreremo la
sofferenza nel mattatoio e nel laboratorio di vivisezione, ignoreremo le
condizioni del Terzo Mondo, il ghetto urbano, gli abusi domestici, l'aula
autoritaria, e così via. La capacità di ignorare una qualsiasi oppressione
è la capacità di ignorare qualsiasi altra oppressione.“