All Discussions Tagged 'ableism' - Animal Rights Zone2024-03-29T14:11:03Zhttp://arzone.ning.com/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=ableism&feed=yes&xn_auth=noARZone Vegfest London 2018 Series ~ GEERTRUI CAZAUXtag:arzone.ning.com,2018-10-25:4715978:Topic:1726112018-10-25T23:52:18.717ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this interview we were very pleased to welcome our special guest, Geertrui Cazaux</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Geertrui (Trudi) graduated in criminology and environmental sciences . As a research assistant, she explored the sociology of human, animal relations, and has a (PhD in anthropocentrism and speciesism in contemporary criminology). Geertrui edited the book 'Mensen en Andere Dieren' (Humans and Other Animals) in 2001, which is in…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this interview we were very pleased to welcome our special guest, Geertrui Cazaux</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Geertrui (Trudi) graduated in criminology and environmental sciences . As a research assistant, she explored the sociology of human, animal relations, and has a (PhD in anthropocentrism and speciesism in contemporary criminology). Geertrui edited the book 'Mensen en Andere Dieren' (Humans and Other Animals) in 2001, which is in Dutch</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">She later worked in youth care and as a policy adviser.</span><br/> <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now full time at home because of chronic diseases, she enjoys gardening and taking care of other animals. She writes about veganism and animal rights at Graswortels.org and Brugesvegan.com.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Geertrui will be speaking at Vegfest UK London this year and joins us to give us some insight into those talks and her work in general.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">To listen to this interview <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://ia801502.us.archive.org/15/items/ARZoneVegfestLondon2018SeriesGEERTRUICAZAUX/ARZone%20Vegfest%20London%202018%20Series%20~%20GEERTRUI%20CAZAUX.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE</a></span> or use the player below.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><iframe width="100%" height="200" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/519970623&color=%234574bf&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe>
</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Please also visit <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arzone-animal-rights-zone/id555064645" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this webpage to subscribe using iTunes</a>, and please remember to <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/page/podcasts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visit the podcast page</a> to view a complete listing of all ARZone podcasts.<br/><br/></font></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">*******</font></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">**</font></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038393059?profile=original" target="_self"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038393059?profile=original" width="295" class="align-center"/></font></a></strong></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">*******</font></strong></span></div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p> ARZone Total Liberation Interview 8 ~ Svetlana Chibireva and Laura Schleifer on Holocaust memes.tag:arzone.ning.com,2017-12-20:4715978:Topic:1673022017-12-20T22:25:09.389ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this interview, we are joined by two very special guests, Svetlana Chibireva and Laura Schleifer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Svetlana is a pro intersectional vegan with an interest in looking at veganism as a political and ethical philosophy through a critical lense in order to challenge current narratives in mainstream veganism. She was born in Stalingrad, a city recovering from the atrocities of nazi occupation during world war 2. She…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this interview, we are joined by two very special guests, Svetlana Chibireva and Laura Schleifer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Svetlana is a pro intersectional vegan with an interest in looking at veganism as a political and ethical philosophy through a critical lense in order to challenge current narratives in mainstream veganism. She was born in Stalingrad, a city recovering from the atrocities of nazi occupation during world war 2. She grew up with relatives, family friends and members of the local community who experienced the horrors of concentration camps as well as medical experimentation under fascism.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Laura is a Jewish American who has been researching the deep interconnections between animal exploitation, eugenics, Nazism and animal rights as part of a book she is working on, "Liberating Veganism; How Dominance and Control Issues are Sabotaging the Movement--And How to Free Ourselves" for Vegan Publishers. She also gave a talk relating to these themes at Vegfest UK earlier this year.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Svetlana and Laura joined us to speak about Holocaust and genocide analogies in animal advocacy and about the type of advocacy that can turn marginalised groups away from the animal movement.<br/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To listen to this interview please <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><a href="https://ia600104.us.archive.org/6/items/HolocaustMemes/ARZone%20Total%20Liberation%20Interview%208%20%20Svetlana%20Chibireva%20and%20Laura%20Schleiffer.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE</a></span>, or use the player below. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/> <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>**This interview requires a trigger warning for language and subjects associated with the Holocaust, including talk of rape**.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/> <iframe width="100%" height="166" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/372377063&color=%234e7cd6&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /> <br />
<span style="font-size: 18pt;" data-mce-style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>To listen to this interview, please <a href="https://ia601503.us.archive.org/19/items/HolocaustMemes/ARZone%20Total%20Liberation%20Interview%208%20%20Svetlana%20Chibireva%20and%20Laura%20Schleiffer.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-href="https://ia601503.us.archive.org/19/items/HolocaustMemes/ARZone%20Total%20Liberation%20Interview%208%20%20Svetlana%20Chibireva%20and%20Laura%20Schleiffer.mp3">CLICK HERE</a>, or use the player above. </strong></span></span></iframe>
</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Please also visit <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arzone-animal-rights-zone/id555064645" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this webpage to subscribe using iTunes</a>, and please remember to <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/page/podcasts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visit the podcast page</a> to view a complete listing of all ARZone podcasts.</font></strong></span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038397284?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038397284?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-center"/></a></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br/> <br/> <br/> *******</font></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p> ARZone Intersectionality Interview 25 - Dr. Kim Sochatag:arzone.ning.com,2017-04-29:4715978:Topic:1618832017-04-29T21:57:27.654ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Episode 25 features pro-intersectional social justice advocate, Dr. Kim Socha.<br></br> <br></br></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Kim joins us in this interview to speak on issues related to ageism and ableism, and about the national "animal rights" conference in the US and why we need to speak out about that conference more. …</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Episode 25 features pro-intersectional social justice advocate, Dr. Kim Socha.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Kim joins us in this interview to speak on issues related to ageism and ableism, and about the national "animal rights" conference in the US and why we need to speak out about that conference more. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Kim holds a Ph.D. in English and teaches writing and literature at a community college. Her publications include "Animal Liberation and Atheism” and "Women, Destruction, and the Avant-Garde". She is also contributing editor of "Defining Critical Animal Studies: An Intersectional Social Justice Approach for Liberation" and "Confronting Animal Exploitation: Grassroots Essays on Liberation and Veganism."<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Kim frequently publishes articles and chapters on intersectional social justice, and her work has been translated into German and Spanish. She is regularly invited to speak on her scholarship and activism. As an activist, Kim organizes with Minnesota Animal Liberation and Progress for Science. She also volunteer teaches English to immigrants and refugees from Africa and Central America.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><br/></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><br/> <strong><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">To listen, please click <span class="font-size-5"><a href="https://ia601503.us.archive.org/26/items/ARZoneIntersectionalityInterview25Dr.KimSocha/ARZone%20Intersectionality%20Interview%2025%20Dr.%20Kim%20Socha.mp3" target="_blank">H E R E</a></span>, or visit <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arzone-animal-rights-zone/id555064645" target="_blank">this webpage to subscribe using iTunes</a>, and please remember to <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/page/podcasts" target="_blank">visit the podcast page</a> to view a complete listing of all ARZone podcasts.<br/><br/></font></span></strong><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">To read the blog post Kim spoke about in the interview, <em>Show Up and Shut Up: White Animal Activists and the Racial Justice Movement</em>, please click </font></span><strong><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><a href="http://progressforscience.com/show-up-and-shut-up-white-animal-activists-and-the-racial-justice-movement/" target="_blank">HERE</a><br/></font></span></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><strong><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396744?profile=original" target="_self"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396744?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-center"/></font></a></span></strong></span></p> ARZone Intersectionality Interview 21 – Harold Browntag:arzone.ning.com,2017-02-06:4715978:Topic:1619052017-02-06T02:04:54.505ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Episode 21 features farmer-turned-advocate Harold Brown.</font></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif”">Harold Brown, who is featured in the documentary Peaceable Kingdom, The Journey Home, spent over half of his life working in animal agriculture. Growing up on a beef farm in Michigan and later working in the dairy industry, Harold has been involved in the behind the…</font></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Episode 21 features farmer-turned-advocate Harold Brown.</font></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif”">Harold Brown, who is featured in the documentary Peaceable Kingdom, The Journey Home, spent over half of his life working in animal agriculture. Growing up on a beef farm in Michigan and later working in the dairy industry, Harold has been involved in the behind the scenes operations of food production that uses other animals. Today Harold is an activist advocating for sustainable food production, social and environmental justice, animal rights and peace through non-violence. Audio podcast, approx. 25 minutes.</font></span></p>
<p><span class=" font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">To listen to the podcast:</font></span></p>
<p></p>
<blockquote><p><span class=" font-size-4"><strong><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Please click <a href="https://archive.org/download/ARZoneIntersectionalityInterview21HaroldBrown/ARZone%20Intersectionality%20Interview%2021%20-%20Harold%20Brown.mp3" target="_blank">H E R E</a>, or visit <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/arzone-animal-rights-zone/id555064645" target="_blank">this webpage to subscribe using iTunes</a>, and please remember to <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/page/podcasts" target="_blank">visit the podcast page</a> to view a complete listing of all ARZone podcasts.</font></span></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class=" font-size-4"><strong><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">Please click here to see the talk Harold gave in 2007 that was mentioned in the interview: <br/> <br/> <a href="https://goo.gl/vzEAVB">https://goo.gl/vzEAVB</a> <br/></font></span></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396758?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="375" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038396758?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="375" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p> Chipping Away at Injustices ~ lauren Ornelastag:arzone.ning.com,2016-07-26:4715978:Topic:1590032016-07-26T02:59:23.466ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Chipping Away at Injustices</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Written by <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/forum/topics/arzone-intersectionality-interview-4-lauren-ornelas" target="_blank">lauren Ornelas…</a></span></p>
<div class="post-header"></div>
<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Chipping Away at Injustices</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">Written by <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/forum/topics/arzone-intersectionality-interview-4-lauren-ornelas" target="_blank">lauren Ornelas</a></span></p>
<div class="post-header"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div>
</div>
<div class="post-body entry-content"><br/><div class="separator"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400616?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400616?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>I consider myself a fan of sci-fi, but I also consider myself a Trekkie, though I don’t know the name of the grain that kills the Tribbles, and I am really more of a fan of the original and </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Deep Space Nine</i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">. Real fan or not, I do like to watch it. Those of us who like sci-fi know that one of the beauties about it is how cleverly writers can weave in commentary about things such as racism, animal exploitation, sexism, etc. – setting these issues in another time and place while making them relevant to the here and now. <br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">My husband and I have been watching all of the </span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Twilight Zone </i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">episodes, and one struck me that I can’t shake. The episode is called “He’s Alive,” and the description from IMDB is this, “Around 1960, a tiny neo-Nazi organization struggles pathetically to succeed in a big city. A mysterious figure begins to ruthlessly guide a young, insecure U.S. Nazi leader, and the group begins to draw more attention.”<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">An old man who survived WWII is speaking to a bartender across the street.</span></div>
<div><br/><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The bartender says, “<i>Used to be people would laugh at him, and lately he gets the crowd and not many people laugh either.”<br/> <br/> The old man says, “I’ve seen it before. I have seen it all before.”<br/> <br/> Bartender: “That was another time, another place, another kind of people that doesn’t go here.”<br/> <br/> The old man: “That is what we said, too. They were brown scum, temporary insanity, part of the passing scene too monstrous to be real, so we ignored them or laughed at them because we couldn’t believe there were enough insane people to walk along side of them. [Sigh]… and then one morning the country woke up from an uneasy sleep and there was no more laughter. … But not again. It must not happen again. I can’t let it. We simply can’t let it happen again. All that nightmare. Oh, no. No, not this time.”</i></span></blockquote>
</div>
<div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/>I guess it had me thinking about how people treat various forms of discrimination from racism, homophobia, cruelty to animals and the treatment of immigrants. You have those who speak hate and vitriol, those who listen and are uncomfortable with it but laugh as they do not know what to say, those who agree and those who speak against it.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I often think many of us are put into these situations, mostly with people we don’t know well or work with.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400785?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038400785?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a><br/>I was faced with this when my husband and I chose to protest Prop 8 in California (Prop 8 made marriage equality illegal) by having our wedding in Massachusetts, which has legalized marriage equality. I was asked, and continue to be asked, why we married out of state. People want to know if it is because we had family there or if we met there.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Every time someone asked, I knew this was an opportunity. An opportunity to make a statement against hatred and discrimination. I told the truth and said it in a way that would assume that any decent person who does not believe in discrimination would agree with me and understand why we had to make this choice. Did everyone agree with us and embrace what I had to say? Certainly not. Should I worry about offending people whose point of view is different? To me, that would be no different than being silent and not speaking up about other forms of discrimination.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And that is a small way in which we all can use our voice. It doesn’t mean we have to scream (although clearly there are times when this is necessary), but we must not be silent. We must not laugh or ignore the hatred that is being spouted these days. We should not listen to these shock jocks and laugh. We should not give them anything.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why should those with the most constant and loudest voices be those who speak such absolute disgust? Even if we don’t have the microphones they do, we must use our voices because collectively we can be loud.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I remember when I started </span><a href="http://www.foodispower.org/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Food Empowerment Project</a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and explained to fellow animal rights activists about some of our goals. I was told that racism isn’t that bad. Well, I don’t think that anyone can deny now the blatant racist comments and actions that are taking place across the country. The time is up for us to ignore it; we must constantly use our voices to speak out against it. <br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Now most people who are reading this (if you have continued to read) are not ones who would remain silent when animal cruelty is involved. However, I start to worry that this trend is creeping into our movement in an insidious way. Every time someone talks about “humane” meat or cage-free eggs, it is as if the discussion of the reality of the actual suffering, cruelty and deaths of these animals is erased, because the conversation, for the most part, stops there. <br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Why is it that those who bring up these injustices are seen as not allowing others to have a good time? Why are not those who make homophobic, racist or sexist jokes seen as the killjoys? <br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">These conversations, as uncomfortable as they might be, must see the light of day and not be overshadowed by laughter or the thought that it will all go away if we don’t talk about it.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I don’t want to have to worry that my group will lose support because a racist or a homophobe reads this. Enough. We must take stands against those who seek to oppress people, even if they support animal issues.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">We must use our collective voices to speak out against all forms of injustice if we think we can ever chip away at it.<br/> <br/></span> <span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">And below is the end of that episode from the wise and talented Mr. Rod Serling:<br/><br/></span></div>
<blockquote><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><i>Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare (Adolph Hitler) - Chicago; Los Angeles; Miami, Florida; Vincennes, Indiana; Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. <b>He's Alive</b>. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to <u>your</u> town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because through these things we keep him alive.<br/> <br/> <br/></i></span></div>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038389302?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038389302?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>lauren Ornelas is the founder/director of <a href="http://www.foodispower.org/" target="_blank">Food Empowerment Project</a> (F.E.P.), a vegan food justice nonprofit seeking to create a more just world by helping consumers recognize the power of their food choices. F.E.P. works in solidarity with farm workers, advocates for chocolate not sourced from the worst forms of child labor<b>,</b> and focuses on access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-income communities. While lauren was the director of Viva!USA, she investigated factory farms and ran consumer campaigns. In cooperation with activists across the country, she persuaded Trader Joe’s to stop selling all duck meat and was the spark that got the founder of Whole Foods Market to become a vegan. She also helped halt the construction of an industrial dairy operation in California. She served as campaign director with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for six years. Watch her TEDx talk on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfVA0a-CBc&list=PLsRNoUx8w3rMhaZBXkbZ_FYbyfEAFKCro&index=6." target="_blank">The Power of Our Food Choices</a>. Learn more about F.E.P.’s work at <a href="http://www.foodispower.org" target="_blank">www.foodispower.org</a> and <a href="http://www.veganmexicanfood.com" target="_blank">www.veganmexicanfood.com</a>. <br/> <br/> This article was originally posted on the Food Empowerment Project blog, Appetite for Justice, which can be found <a href="http://appetiteforjustice.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/chipping-away-at-injustices.html" target="_blank">HERE</a><br/> <br/></span></div>
</div> Importance of Language ~ Ableismtag:arzone.ning.com,2016-04-25:4715978:Topic:1542082016-04-25T03:01:21.814ZAnimal Rights Zonehttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/admin
<p align="center"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Importance of Language- Ableism</span></p>
<p align="center"><span class="font-size-4" style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';">Written by Mychael McNeeley</span></p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br></br><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038388569?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038388569?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200"></img></a> Being vegan is a…</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Importance of Language- Ableism</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="font-family: 'arial black', 'avant garde';" class="font-size-4">Written by Mychael McNeeley</span></p>
<p align="center"></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038388569?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038388569?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>Being vegan is a way of living that seeks to cause less harm to other beings. It makes sense that as one begins to think about considering others in one’s actions, more will continually be revealed. Will Tuttle talks about expanding our “Circle of Compassion.” Not long ago, I was made aware of something into which it is time to put more thought. Until recently, I did not really know there was a term for it, but thanks to Carolyn Bailey, I have learned that this thing I would like to discuss is called “ableism,” or more specifically here, “ableist language.”<br/><br/></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Actually, becoming vegan is not what made me think about this concept. I have thought about it for years. As a young lad, I was part of a group that cared for people who were referred to at the time as “retarded.” That term has long been retired as an acceptable way to describe a person with certain developmental disabilities. Over the past thirty years or so, I have seen the term survive, and is obviously still in use today. I have never felt comfortable using the term to describe someone whom, or an idea that, I deem somehow unintelligent or ridiculous. Well, actually, I’ve never been comfortable using the term at all. Most likely, this is because I have seen how it can be used to degrade, to attempt to harm emotionally, how it can be used to negatively describe those we feel may be “lesser” than us. I personally knew individuals who were called “retarded,” and these folks were people I liked and respected.<br/><br/></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Fast forward to April 24, 2002. My five-year-old son, Jamie, was involved in a violent car wreck. He was Lifeflighted to Children’s Hospital in San Diego. After several horrendous hours waiting, we were told that Jamie’s brain had been without oxygen for forty minutes. My son was, in the strictest sense of the term, brain dead. To this day, whenever anyone throws that term around when they cannot remember something, or they are just exhausted, it is hard for me to hear.<br/><br/></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">These are just two examples of language that are often used without a lot of thought that, for me, strike a personal chord. I am not struck so much by every other ableist term, but knowing how two of them have affected me makes me want to not cause that same response in others. So, now that I have learned about ableism and ableist language, I am attempting to incorporate into my own speech an awareness of that language. I have no desire to hurt others with my language when I am in daily dialogue.<br/><br/></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">I will not focus on every ableist word here. I am providing a link to a really good article that does that, and the best part of the piece is that the author presents the problem, but also gives a solution, or acceptable terms to use to try to replace the old language. It gives me something to strive for.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html" target="_blank">http://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Here’s another, brought to my attention by Annie Hudson:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"> </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-cohenrottenberg/doing-social-justice-thou_b_5476271.html?fb_action_ids=1423940851218474&fb_action_types=og.comments" target="_blank" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-cohenrottenberg/doing-social-justice-thou_b_5476271.html?fb_action_ids=1423940851218474&fb_action_types=og.comments</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><br/><br/><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038393110?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038393110?profile=original" width="500" class="align-center"/></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Jamie Morgan Mychael Bratton-McNeeley May 24, 1996- April 24, 2002.</span><br/><br/></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">*******</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p> Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rightstag:arzone.ning.com,2015-06-02:4715978:Topic:1500572015-06-02T22:18:02.499ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<h1 class="headline" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="color: #000000; font-family: impact, chicago;"><strong>Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights</strong></span></h1>
<div class="subhead-items"><div id="byline" style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">By GEORGE YANCY and PETER SINGER<br></br> <br></br> <br></br></span> <em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is…</em></div>
</div>
<h1 class="headline" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7"><strong>Peter Singer: On Racism, Animal Rights and Human Rights</strong></span></h1>
<div class="subhead-items"><div id="byline" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">By GEORGE YANCY and PETER SINGER<br/> <br/> <br/></span> <em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is the 12th in a series of interviews with philosophers on race that George Yancy is conducting for The Stone. This week’s conversation is with Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous books, including, most recently, “<a href="http://www.mostgoodyoucando.com/" target="_blank">The Most Good You Can Do</a>.” <br/> <br/></em></div>
</div>
<div class="article-body"><p class="p-block a-ok"></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>George Yancy:</strong> You have popularized the concept of speciesism, which, I believe was first used by the animal activist Richard Ryder. Briefly, define that term and how do you see it as similar to or different from racism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>Peter Singer: </strong>Speciesism is an attitude of bias against a being because of the species to which it belongs. Typically, humans show speciesism when they give less weight to the interests of nonhuman animals than they give to the similar interests of human beings. Note the requirement that the interests in question be “similar.” It’s not speciesism to say that normal humans have an interest in continuing to live that is different from the interests that nonhuman animals have. One might, for instance, argue that a being with the ability to think of itself as existing over time, and therefore to plan its life, and to work for future achievements, has a greater interest in continuing to live than a being who lacks such capacities.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">On that basis, one might argue that to kill a normal human being who wants to go on living is more seriously wrong than killing a nonhuman animal. Whether this claim is or is not sound, it is not speciesist. But given that some human beings – most obviously, those with profound intellectual impairment – lack this capacity, or have it to a lower degree than some nonhuman animals, it would be speciesist to claim that it is <em>always</em> more seriously wrong to kill a member of the species <em>Homo sapiens </em>than it is to kill a nonhuman animal.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.:</strong> While I think that it is ethically important to discuss the issue of failing to extend to other (nonhuman) animals the principle of equality, we continue to fail miserably in the ways in which we extend that principle to black people, the disabled, women and others, here in the United States and around the world. What is it that motivates the failure or the refusal to extend this principle to other human beings in ethically robust ways? I’m especially thinking here in terms of the reality of racism.</span></p>
<p class="p-block"></p>
<div class="span-image type-image related-asset p-block"><div class="imageholder proportion-image spanTouchstate"><div class="spacer"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=#modal-lightbox" target="_blank"><img src="http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/05/27/opinion/27stone/27stone-articleLarge.jpg?width=500" width="500" class="align-center"/></a></span></div>
</div>
<div class="image-caption"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><br/> <br/></span></div>
</div>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Although it is true, of course, that we have not overcome racism, sexism or discrimination against people with disabilities, there is at least widespread acceptance that such discrimination is wrong, and there are laws that seek to prevent it. With speciesism, we are very far from reaching that point. If we were to compare attitudes about speciesism today with past racist attitudes, we would have to say that we are back in the days in which the slave trade was still legal, although under challenge by some enlightened voices.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Why do racism, sexism and discrimination against people with disabilities still exist, despite the widespread acceptance that they are wrong? There are several reasons, but surely one is that many people act unthinkingly on the basis of their emotional impulses, without reflecting on the ethics of what they are doing. That, of course, invites us to discuss why some people have these negative emotional impulses toward people of other races, and that in turn leads to the old debate whether such prejudices are innate or are learned from one’s culture and environment. There is evidence that even babies are attracted to faces that look more like those of the people they see around them all the time, so there could be an evolved innate element, but culture certainly plays a very significant role.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Having referenced the slave trade, I think that it is important to keep in mind that it was partly constituted by a white racist ideology that held that Africans were sub-persons. There was also the European notion that nonwhites were incapable of planning their own lives and had to be paternalistically ruled over. As a white Australian, are there parallels in terms of how the indigenous people of Australia have been treated, especially in terms of sub-personhood, and paternalism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Yes, unfortunately there are parallels. The early European settlers regarded the indigenous people as an inferior race, living a miserable existence. Because the indigenous people were nomadic, they were regarded as having no ownership of their land, which in British colonial law therefore belonged to nobody – the legal term was <em>terra nullius</em> – and so, very conveniently, could be occupied by Europeans. In some cases, when indigenous people killed cattle that were grazing on their traditional lands, Europeans went out in “shooting parties,” killing them indiscriminately, as they would animals. Some of the Europeans justified this on the grounds that the indigenous people, like animals, had no souls. Although such killings were never permitted in law, enforcement was another matter.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">When the Commonwealth of Australia was formed from the separate colonies in 1901, indigenous people were not able to vote, nor were they included in the census. Voting rights were achieved in stages over the next 60 years. The <em>terra nullius </em>doctrine was only overturned by the High Court of Australia in 1992 and indigenous communities then became able to claim rights over traditional land still in the possession of the government.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Australian government policy toward indigenous people became more benevolent, but it remained paternalistic until well into the 20th century, and some argue, to the present day. Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Australia’s Northern Territory, where many indigenous people live, can be seen as evidence that paternalism still prevails, even though the restrictions do not, on their face, take into account the race of the person purchasing alcohol. Against that, it has to be said, many self-governing indigenous communities, acutely aware of the devastation that alcohol has caused to their people, restrict its use in the areas under their control. Indeed, some indigenous leaders have themselves promoted a swing back to more paternalistic policies.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Yet, it seems to me that the issue of alcohol abuse would perhaps not exist had indigenous people in Australia not been subjected to forms of oppression and marginalization in the first place. This is not to deny choice, but to acknowledge that structural forms of oppression, poverty and marginalization should be taken into account. Native Americans and First Nations people in Alaska also have huge problems with alcoholism. Some indigenous people in Australia are even sniffing petrol, which has it own specific devastating consequences. In what ways do you think that the alcoholism and the substance abuse described above are linked to these larger structural issues that disproportionately impact indigenous people?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>You are correct that the situation of Australia’s indigenous people is in some respects similar to that of Native Americans and First Nations in Alaska, or for that matter in Canada too. The destruction of indigenous culture, and of the way of life that for thousands of years gave meaning and a social structure to the lives of indigenous people obviously play a role in leading some of them to drink or try to get high on petrol fumes. Indigenous Australians receive housing, health care and sufficient income to meet their needs, but what has been taken away can never be restored. The problem goes so deep – and is now often compounded, as we have been saying, with alcohol and petrol abuse, which in turn lead to domestic violence and serious health damage – that it is hard to know how the situation can be turned around.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.:</strong> Above, you mentioned “emotional impulses,” but don’t you think that white racism is also based upon institutional structures? Racist practices are expressed systemically through banks, education, the prison industrial complex, health care, etc that just need to keep functioning to continue privileging and empowering some (white people) and oppressing and degrading others (black people). Historically, the concept of institutional racism was systematically deployed during the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and was popularized by Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Touré) and Charles V. Hamilton.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>What you are here referring to as “the institutional system” includes distinct sectors of society, and each of these sectors has its own divisions and subdivisions. The extent to which they are racist will vary, and it would take detailed evidence and analysis to demonstrate that each of these sectors, and each of its divisions and subdivisions, involves or expresses racist practices. So all I can say, without getting into all the detailed evidence that would be needed to consider each sector and then build back to an overall picture, is that where there is institutional racism, it can take the place of racist emotional impulses. Often, however, there will be racist emotional attitudes as well, and they will then support the institutional structures, making them more difficult to change.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>And, in turn, can we say that institutional structures can instill and support certain racist emotional impulses?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Yes. Where racist institutional structures continue to exist, they will provide a specific channel for racist feelings and attitudes, and in some situations, will serve to legitimate and reinforce them. But we cannot say how important this is without first determining which institutional structures are still racist, and to what extent and in what ways they are racist.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>There is, however, data that shows that black people suffer disproportionately with respect to bank lending practices, quality of education, quality of health care, arrest rates for nonviolent drug offenses. However, returning to what you said earlier, do you think that racism is innate or cultural? Even if there appears to be a proclivity toward a kind of xenophobic tribalism expressed within the human species, racism seems to be of a different order, yes?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>Racism is certainly different from xenophobia, or tribalism. Racism develops its own ideology and, as you pointed out, institutional structures. But if by “a different order” you mean that racism and xenophobic tribalism have distinct origins, I am not sure about that. It’s possible that xenophobia is the underlying impulse that, in different cultures, expresses itself in varying forms, and racism is one of those forms.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Yes. I think that racism may very well have its roots in a kind of xenophobic tribalism, but white racism expresses itself in all sorts of perverse ways and is perhaps motivated from psychic needs/places that transcend xenophobic tribalism.</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong><br/> P.S.: </strong>Maybe. We have strong hierarchical tendencies. We like to think that there is always someone below us, and for many people, having power over others seems, regrettably, to reaffirm their sense of self-importance and thus to make them feel good. That may be a psychic need that finds an outlet in racism. For some people, it also finds an outlet in the abuse of animals. In particular, jobs in factory farms and poultry processing plants are poorly paid, high pressure and low status. That may be why, year after year, undercover investigators in factory farms and slaughterhouses continue to find evidence of <a href="https://www.mercyforanimals.org/investigations.aspx" target="_blank">the most atrocious abuse</a>, like workers bashing pigs with steel pipes, or <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/business/kfc-supplier-accused-of-animal-cruelty.html" target="_blank">using live chickens as footballs</a>.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>To what extent do you think that biases against nonhuman animals are grounded within a certain unethical stewardship toward nature itself? Do you think that this is a specifically Western approach to nature where nature is conceived as an “object” over which we ought to have absolute control? Certainly, Francis Bacon seems to have had this idea. Of course, then there was René Descartes, who argued that nonhuman animals are mere machines.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>It is true that Western thinking emphasizes the gulf between humans and nature, and also between humans and animals, to a far greater extent than Eastern thinking, or the thinking that is characteristic of indigenous peoples. Yet it is also true that the treatment of both animals and nature is, today, generally worse in the East than in the West. Every visitor to Beijing has breathed in evidence of what China has allowed its industries to do to the air. Laws protecting the welfare of animals in Europe are far in advance of those in Eastern countries, including those with strong Buddhist traditions like Japan and Thailand. China still doesn’t even have a national animal welfare law. So if the domination of nature and of animals was originally a Western idea, the sad fact is that it is being taken up avidly in the East, precisely at the time when it is being vigorously challenged in the West.<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Today black people are still fighting to be recognized as fully human, to assert that our lives matter. Historically, we have often been compared to nonhuman animals. On various occasions, President Obama has been depicted as a monkey. Obviously, this image is meant to degrade, and can only be understood against the backdrop of black people in the United State fighting against a reduction of our humanity. How can black people, on the one hand, reject the reduction of, say, Obama to a monkey, and yet be against speciesism?<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>P.S.: </strong>I don’t see any problem in opposing both racism and speciesism, indeed, to me the greater intellectual difficulty lies in trying to reject one form of prejudice and oppression while accepting and even practicing the other. And here we should again mention another of these deeply rooted, widespread forms of prejudice and oppression, sexism. If we think that simply being a member of the species <em>Homo sapiens </em>justifies us in giving more weight to the interests of members of our own species than we give to members of other species, what are we to say to the racists or sexists who make the same claim on behalf of their race or sex?</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The more perceptive social critics recognize that these are all aspects of the same phenomenon. The African-American comedian Dick Gregory, who worked with Martin Luther King as a civil rights activist, has written that when he looks at circus animals, <a href="http://www.peta.org/living/entertainment/dick-gregory-circuses" target="_blank">he thinks of slavery</a>: “Animals in circuses represent the domination and oppression we have fought against for so long. They wear the same chains and shackles.” (Alice Walker, the African-American author of “The Color Purple<em>,” </em>also has a memorable quote: “The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women were created for men.”<br/> <br/></span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong>G.Y.: </strong>Given that we have not even figured out how to treat those of our own species with dignity and respect, as someone who continues to fight against speciesism, do you have thoughts on how we might effectively dismantle racism?</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><strong><br/> P.S.: </strong>With all of these “isms” – racism, sexism and speciesism – I’m an optimist about making progress, but a pessimist about achieving complete success any time soon. I’m encouraged by the facts compiled by Steven Pinker in “The Better Angels of Our Nature.” Pinker draws on and completes the argument of my own work, “The Expanding Circle.”</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I do believe that we are slowly expanding the circle of our moral concern. Pinker provides evidence for the claim that, notwithstanding the media headlines, we are living in less violent and more enlightened times than any previous century. This will surely help marginalized, disempowered and oppressed groups. We can hope to isolate and reduce the impact of racism and sexism, but eliminating them altogether is going to be a long struggle. With speciesism, unfortunately, we still have much further to go, because it remains the mainstream view.</span></p>
<p class="p-block a-ok" style="text-align: center;"><strong> </strong><em>This interview was conducted by email and edited. Previous interviews in this series (with Linda Martin Alcoff, Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, Charles Mills, Falguni A. Sheth and others) can be found <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/philosophers-on-race/" target="_blank">here</a>.</em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em>George Yancy is a professor of philosophy at Duquesne University. He has written, edited and co-edited numerous books, including “Black Bodies, White Gazes,” “Look, a White!” and “Pursuing Trayvon Martin,” co-edited with Janine Jones.</em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em>Follow The New York Times Opinion section on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nytopinion" target="_blank">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://www.twitter.com/nytpolitics" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, and sign up for the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/opiniontoday/" target="_blank">Opinion Today newsletter</a>.</em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font-size-3">This interview was originally published at the <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=" target="_blank">NY Times blog</a></span><br/> <br/> <span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=">http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/05/27/peter-singer-on-speciesism-and-racism/?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad&_r=1&referrer=</a></span><br/></em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="font-size-3">***</span></em></p>
<p class="p-block" style="text-align: center;"></p>
</div> Engaging With Eco-Ability ~ First Annual Conferencetag:arzone.ning.com,2013-05-06:4715978:Topic:1292062013-05-06T23:41:23.974ZCarolyn Baileyhttp://arzone.ning.com/profile/CarolynBailey
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="font-family: impact, chicago;">Engaging With Eco-Ability</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">First Annual Conference…</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: impact, chicago;" class="font-size-7">Engaging With Eco-Ability</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">First Annual Conference</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-5" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038404094?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3038404094?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><br/><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">On April 27 and April 28 2013, the first annual conference "Engaging with Eco-Ability: A Politics of Disability, Animal Liberation and Queering" took place at Binghamton University, New York. This conference was hosted by Anthony Nocella and Joe Lesson-Schatz, and included presentations from many other advocates, all of which can be found <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyy2bSohh0&list=PLJ4vL9fRIzfIJ0vbVM-I0_07q7uixAaSB" target="_blank">HERE.</a> </span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Eco-ability, in the words of Dr. Nocella, refers to and examines the connections between "ecology, dis-ability, and animal advocacy, couched in terms of interlocking social constructions and the interwoven web of interdependent global life." In <a href="http://arzone.ning.com/forum/topics/arzone-podcast-65-the-rise-of-the-eco-ability-movement" target="_blank">this recent ARZone podcast episode</a>, we were joined by five other advocates to explore eco-ability, and the role of language in oppression, what "othering" consists in, and how advocates for the oppressed can be more effective through an appreciation for intersectionality.</span><br/><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Below is part of Dr. Nocella's presentation, in which he addresses the problematic language often used in the animal advocacy community, and how the language we use can be a form of oppression and discrimination in itself. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><br/><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vt3r2bYKbpg?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"><br/></iframe>
</span></font></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">All presentations from the conference are available</font></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-4"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><span class="font-size-6"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPyy2bSohh0&list=PLJ4vL9fRIzfIJ0vbVM-I0_07q7uixAaSB" target="_blank">HERE.</a></span><br/></font></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span> </span></p>