The meaning of animal/human/earth liberation

You, my readers, have probably noticed that my blog is subtitled as an animal/human/earth liberation blog. What does this mean, exactly? Well, to me, the most important thing to recognize is that these three forms of liberation are all interconnected, as oppression of animals, humans, and the earth all spring from the same source. Think about it: humans are oppressed when some humans think that they have the right to mistreat other humans (i.e. racism, sexism, heterosexism and homophobia, oppression of lower classes, etc.); the earth is oppressed when humans think that they have “dominion” over the earth, and thus the right to do as they please to the land, air, and water without thinking of the consequences; and animals are oppressed when humans think that they can treat them any way they want to for any number of reasons.

But what can be done about this? More has to be done than just leafleting, writing letters to people in high places, and protests. The problem is the way all too many people think. As I mentioned, all of these forms of oppression stem from some humans believing that they are superior to, and thus have the right to oppress other humans, the planet, and nonhuman animals.

Because these three forms of oppression are interconnected, it is imperative that activists for one of these cases understand that, or none of them can be fought for effectively. One animal rights activist/thinker who writes excellent essays and guides for activists about this very concept is Dr. Steven Best (his essays can be found here and here). Moreover, Dr. Best connects these forms of oppression to another source: capitalism (I agree with him on this, but I’ll go more into that in a future post).

I urge you all to read Dr. Best’s works, and check out this blog for more information. Also, if you are a human rights advocate, an environmentalist, or an animal rights activist, I urge you to learn more about the other rights movements and the issues they tackle. Remember, they’re all interconnected!

~ by lunacoyote87 on December 4, 2010.