Challenging Racism and

Ableism within the Animal Liberation

Movement and Fighting for Total

Liberation

Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D.

• Explaining Critical Animal Studies …

• My story …

• My activism …

• My scholarship …DIY and DIT

Normalcy is Violent

• Propaganda slide featuring a deformed infant. The caption reads "... because God cannot want the sick and ailing to reproduce.“

• Disabled Polish and Russian survivors stand in front of a tank from the 11th Armoured Division, Third U.S. Army, in the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Purification

Testing EugenicsMedicineExperiments

ImprisoningArresting the homelessBecoming Mentally Ill in prison From Mental Ward to Jail

KillingExecutionAbortionAssisted Suicideeuthanasia

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The Oppressor Leading the Movement

Capitalism Reinforcing Normalcy

Individualism

Competitiveness

Efficiency

Production line

Consumer

Animal Testing

Service Animals

http://www.students.stedwards.edu/bruiz3/tribute.html

American Flag: $23Gasoline:$2Cidarrete llighter: $1.50Catching yourself on fire because your a retarded terrorist: PRICELESS !!!

The state of the Arab Nation: Deaf regimes (left), blind terrorism (right), and mute masses (in between). (Emad Hajjaj, Alquds Alarabi, 11/12/03).

Opposed to Technology

Opposed to interdependency

Opposed to Capitalism

Against Transgender identity

Opposed to Civilization

Opposed to Domination and Oppression

Romanticizing the wild and Native

Torres and Torres write,

So, regardless of how ‘normal’ you are, in a world where consuming animal products is the norm, you’re always going to be seen as the freak if you obviously and clearly refuse to take part in an act of consumption that is central to our everyday lives, our cultures, and even our very own personal identities. (2010, p. 8)

Freak is a term historically applied to those with disabilities. As defined by Robert Bogdan in Freak Show (1988), a freak has historically been referred to as either those that are not colonial and European, such as Native Americans, First Nations, and Indigenous groups or,

the second major category of exhibit [in the freak show] consisted of ‘monsters,’ the medical term for people born with a demonstrable difference. Lusus naturae, or ‘freaks of nature,’ were of interest to physicians for whom the field of teratology, the study of these so-called monsters, had become a fad. (1988, p. 6)

Law Professor Gary Francione writes,

Some people accuse me of confusing moral schizophrenia with multiple/split personality … When I talk about moral schizophrenia, I am seeking to describe the delusional and confused way that we think about animals as a social/moral matter. That confusion can, of course, include conflicting or inconsistent ways of looking at animals (some are family members; others are dinner) but that does not mean that I am describing a classic split or multiple personality. Our moral schizophrenia, which involves our deluding ourselves about animal sentience and the similarities between humans and other animals, and an enormous amount of confusion about the moral status of nonhumans, is a phenomenon that is quite complicated and has many different aspects.

(Francione, 2009)

Law Professor Gary Francione writes,

Some people think that by using the term, I am stigmatizing those who have clinical schizophrenia because it implies that they are immoral people. I am sincerely sorry—and I mean that—if anyone has interpreted the term in that way and that is certainly not what I intended. Schizophrenia is a recognized condition that is characterized by confused and delusional thinking. (Francione, 2009)

Peter Singer writes in his book, Rethinking Life and Death,

To have a child with Down syndrome is to have a very different experience from having a normal child. It can still be a warm and loving experience, but we must have lowered expectations of our child's abilities. We cannot expect a child with Down syndrome to play the guitar, to develop an appreciation of science fiction, to learn a foreign language, to chat with us about the latest Woody Allen movie, or to be a respectable athlete, basketballer or tennis player.

“STOP BEING A MORON AND START GETTING SKINNY: If you

can't take one more day of self-loathing, you're ready to

hear the truth: You cannot keep shoveling the same crap

into your mouth every day and expect to lose weight.”

Making Social Justice Inclusive • Not Equality Equity• Not Voiceless Allies• Not March Rally• Don’t Stand Up Fight Back• Not “He is an Idiot” He is dangerous• Blind to Racism Ignorant of Racism• They are Deaf They are Avoiding• Crazy Not Constructive• Lame Boring• Moron Not Correct or Not • Freak Unique

Any More …

Animal Rights Supporting RacismMike Vick For Profiling and

Criminalization of People of Color

Cultural Imperialism For Bully riding against bully fighting and cock

fighting

Jailing Abusers For Punitive Justice

Opposed to AETA For Totem Pole of Oppression

ALF For Stigmatizing them as Terrorists

Fighting for Total Liberation

UnityAccountabilityResponsibility

HolisticRadical

Anarchism• Nonhierarchical • Direct Democracy• No Ownership• No Property• Community• Transformative

Justice

Savior Mentality

Solidarity• Develop Our Own Narrative• All experiences are

different• Do not try to understand,

but respect• Focus on oppression • Do not compete on who is

more oppressed“The Oppression Olympics”

Being a White Allies • Be invited to the struggle not movement• Listen • Articulate one’s commitment • Explain one’s skills • Explain motivation and personal goals

Being a White Allies • Be willing to follow and never lead • Be willing to not get credit, but give credit to

non-dominate voices • Be willing to take accountability and own

one’s supremacy and domination • Be willing to be challenged and be called out• Be willing to learn new processes and cultural

practices

Being a White Allies • Be willing to take more risks • Be willing to do more • Be willing to not take money or other benefits• Challenge acts that tokenize, patronizing, and

cooptation by white individuals and agencies• Be willing to leave and not blame others