Why anarchism implies the abolition of animal exploitation

We, people having anarchist political opinions, do not believe in the nonsense that God created humans and gave them permission to subjugate all other inhabitants of this planet. This belief, propagated by Christianity for centuries, has contaminated our entire culture, causing humans to make suffer, kill, and cage other sentient beings simply because they are not of our species. Even some atheists are influenced by this view, so much so that it has permeated the whole society. We, people having anarchist political opinions, will fight this outdated belief and make sure that even the smallest residues of it are totally wiped out in our culture.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are against the destruction of the environment caused by the lust for profit and capitalism. We see that the first victims of this degradation are the other animals who see their habitats destroyed for the satisfaction of the futile interests of some humans. We can only realize that such destruction could not take place in a society in which everyone respects the lives and interests of other animals.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are for the end of oppression. When you see that billions of domesticated animals live their entire sad lives in closed buildings and never see the color of the sky, it is easy to realize that they are being oppressed by humans.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are aware that oppressions persist in a culture because an ideology is put in place to try to legitimize them in society. The oppression of racialized people is legitimized by the ideology of racism that permeates all social spheres. The oppression of women is legitimized by the ideology of sexism that floods all minds (including those of women) and this even from childhood. It is easy to see that the oppression of other animals by humans is also legitimized by the ideology of speciesism, which tries to defend the belief that the lives and interests of these other inhabitants of the planet can be disregarded simply because they are a different species. We anarchists fight ideologies that attempt to legitimize oppression and will therefore work to bring down the ideology of speciesism as well.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are for the end of all discrimination, such as racism, sexism and homophobia. It is also unjust discrimination to allow a sentient being to suffer, to be killed or to be deprived of her/his freedom simply because s/he is of another species.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are radical and therefore attack evil at its root. We will always remember that before the recent genocides in our history could take place the populations concerned were animalized. We will always remember that before the genocide of the Armenians, they were called cattle by their oppressors. We will always remember that before the genocide of the Jews, they were called vermin by their oppressors. We will always remember that before the genocide of the Tutsis, they were called insects by their oppressors. Could these genocides have taken place if we lived in societies in which the lives and interests of all sentient beings were respected? Furthermore, according to studies in social psychology, the more speciesist views people hold, the more likely they are to also hold racist, sexist, and homophobic views (Caviola L, Everett JAC, Faber NS. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2019 Jun; Dhont, K., Hodson, G., and Leite, A. C. (2016) Common Ideological Roots of Speciesism and Generalized Ethnic Prejudice: The Social Dominance Human-Animal Relations Model (SD-HARM). Eur. J. Pers. 30: 507- 522). Attacking the root of the evil thus implies attacking the ideology of speciesism head-on.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are for justice. Of course not the institutional justice that allows the imprisonment of activists who act to free animals from cages or macabre buildings where they never see the light of day, but we are for true justice, the one that requires that the interests and needs of everyone be respected. Other animals also have needs and interests, and justice therefore implies respect for them.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, value freedom. Our position is that everyone's freedom must be respected, including that of other animals. Locking them in trucks to the slaughterhouse against their will and cutting their throats against their will is against their freedom. Respect for the freedom of each individual therefore demands the closure of the slaughterhouses.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are critical of societal norms and do not consider them legitimate simply because we were born into societies where they were already in place. Indeed, the fact that our parents, our education and our culture have taught us to behave in a racist, sexist or homophobic way that corresponds to a certain cultural norm, does not mean that we should not violently get rid of these behaviors that are detrimental to the interests of other individuals. In the same way, the fact that our parents, our education, and our culture have taught us to eat animals and engage in other speciesist behaviors does not mean that we should not violently get rid of these behaviors.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are for the end of patriarchy. But patriarchy allows our culture to legitimize the law of the strongest and to make violence commonplace. This has disastrous and often deadly consequences for women, children and other animals. Instead of a culture that legitimizes the rule of the strongest and trivializes violence, we promote a culture based on empathy, altruism and care for vulnerable individuals.

We, people having anarchist political opinions, are against competition. We consider that instead we must act on the basis of cooperation, mutual aid and solidarity. In view of this, we are against species competition between humans and other animals. We therefore consider that instead of systematically destroying the habitats of other animals, humans must show solidarity with them and start learning to coexist in peace with those other sentient beings with whom they share this planet.

In light of all of the above, we, people having anarchist political opinions, take a firm stand for the immediate abolition of animal exploitation and will take the strategic actions necessary to make speciesist practices a thing of the past.

Anarchists for the end of all oppressions (collective)