Resistance Ecology #2 by Resistance Ecology

In This Issue Dear Reader Opening Introduction :[YVUN /LHY[Z HUK (TWSPÄLK =VPJLZ! I\PSKPUN H TV]LTLU[ for a better world Rod Coronado From the Ground Up: The Importance of Creating Coalitions lauren Ornelas Capitalism, veganism and the animal industrial complex Lauren Corman =LNHUPZT PU [OL 6JJ\WPLK ;LYYP[VYPLZ! (U[P *VSVUPHSPZT HUK Animal Liberation Dylan Powell With Love & Rage The Bunny Alliance =LNHUPZT PU [OL 6JJ\WPLK ;LYYP[VYPLZ 7[ 00! +LJVSVUPaH[PVU Land and “Choice” Dylan Powell Bioregionalism Against White Supremacy Alexander Reid Ross and Elona Trogub ;OL 0U]PZPISL *VZ[ VM 7H[YPHYJO` Jennai Bundock Animal Liberation, Movement Building, and Solidarity: 6YNHUPaPUN H[ [OL 0U[LYZLJ[PVUZ Justin Kay We Need Your Help! Continuing This Publication INFO@RESISTANCEECOLOGY.ORG RESISTANCEECOLOGY.ORG

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Dear Reader, Welcome to Resistance Ecology, a forum for animal advocacy, land defense, social justice, and solidarity, discussing the relationships between them. We started this publication as a channel for networking and communication, as well as an informational resource for activists, both seasoned and uninitiated. This is [OL ZLJVUK W\ISPJH[PVU HUK HM[LY T\JO ^VYR HUK THU` Ă&#x201E;UHUJPHS ZL[ IHJRZ ^L are proud to bring it you. This is a particularly special issue of Resistance Ecology, and we hope that it stands the test of time as learning material that provokes critical thinking about animal and ecological activism and what we can do to strengthen the resilience of our movement. When soliciting our community for submissions, we had one ZWLJPĂ&#x201E;J NVHS PU TPUK! ^L ^HU[LK [V JYLH[L H SHZ[PUN YLZV\YJL MVY [OL NYHZZYVV[Z that would serve as a primer on OVYPaVU[HS TVIPSPaH[PVU JVHSP[PVU I\PSKPUN HUK solidarity. Our inspiration was the Earth First! Direct Action Manual, as it has become a mainstay movement asset for grassroots activists. We wanted to create a similar end product, that instead focused on the why and how questions surrounding grassroots organizing, momentum building, and cross-movement solidarity. In doing so, we may be raising more questions than we are answering. But we cannot shy away out of convenience or discomfort. These are very big questions, these are very important questions, and these are questions that need our sincere attention and dialogue. We hope you enjoy this special issue, Animal Liberation, Land Defense, and Solidarity: A primer for animal activists. There are some really amazing submissions from a diversity of perspectives and we are eternally grateful to those friends that took the time write for us. These pieces do not construct a complete resolution to the challenges that we face, but taken together, they form a springboard from which we begin face them. Thanks for reading. Resistance Ecology

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

:[YVUN /LHY[Z HUK (TWSPÄLK =VPJLZ! building a movement for a better world by Rod Coronado Since the 1990’s, the radical environmental and animal liberation movements have become an effective enough threat to corporate interests so as to garner the attention of multiple law enforcement agencies. It is not uncommon for grassroots groups to be targeted, investigated VY PUÄS[YH[LK MVY KVPUN UV[OPUN TVYL [OHU what we did as activists in the 1980’s. We all know why this has happened. The growth of illegal direct action groups like the Animal and Earth Liberation Front, unleashed the counter-terrorism resources created by a post-9/11 State in the early »Z YLZ\S[PUN PU 6WLYH[PVU )HJRÄYL [OH[ led to the crippling of the ELF and subsequent “anti-terrorism” investigations. Since then, it is my belief, that we as H TV]LTLU[ OH]L Z[Y\NNSLK [V KLÄUL ourselves and continue despite the new atmosphere of repression that surrounds all radical communities and movements. No longer are we a movement representing a small subculture, the growth of awareness in environmental destruction and animal abuse has led to our previously “radical” views being held by an evergrowing majority of citizens. The average person on the street has heard of veganism, Earth First! Or watched and supported Whale Wars and understands why some people risk their lives and freedom for our one common home planet.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

We are the majority. We share the dream of a better world, where not only our families, but those of other species have access to clean air, water, food and shelter. As we mature and grow, we recognize the price that must be paid for standing up for such things, and more and more new recruits to our cause recognize that sacYPÄJPUN WYP]PSLNL HUK WSHJPUN VUL»Z ZLSM H[ risk of harassment and unwarranted police attention is necessary if things are ever to change. Let me say clearly, I personally do not encourage anyone to launch the kind of direct action campaigns that led to the ALF and ELF being labeled the most active terrorist organizations in the United States. This is not an article debating the merits of whether such strategies or tactics are Q\Z[PÄHISL VY TVYHS P[ PZ HU HY[PJSL KPZcussing how our movement, which has a strong history of such resistance, can continue to survive and grow despite efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies to neutralize us. Our engagement in strategies and tactics that can be compared to a guerrilla-style resistance struggle has also meant that we have gained a lot of respect from other liberation struggles that previously saw our movements as a primarily First World,

privileged white cause. We have paid our dues for our beliefs and we are learning the value of solidarity with others targeted by the same policies and corporations currently destroying our planet and most animal life. :V ^OPSL ^L OH]L THKL [OL ZHJYPÄJLZ begun to draw the comparisons, and recognize that we are no longer insulated from persecution and intimidation from our own governments, we still are struggling to get along with people who are not SPRL \Z 0U V\Y LUKLH]VY [V ÄUK V\Y ]VPJL

strictly through armed struggle? Of course not, his struggle and imprisonment was ZLLU HZ [OL ZHJYPÄJL VM HU LU[PYL WLVWSL not just his own. The same can be said for the Irish Republican movement and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation ^OPJO IV[O HJJVTWSPZOLK ZPNUPÄJHU[ NHPUZ without ever condemning their most radical insurrectionary tactics or isolating their constituents. No, we are not a standing army like the IRA or EZLN was, but we are a segment of society that recognizes the worth in challenging the status quo and questioning its core principles.

BUT WHAT IS LACKING IS A STRONG FOUNDATION OF TOLERANCE FOR OTHERS WHO MAY OR MAY NOT BE AS LIBERATED AS WE SEE OURSELVES.

we have built allies with others in the radical environmental and animal movement, because that’s the easiest place to start. But what is lacking is a strong foundation of tolerance for others who may or may not be as liberated as we see ourselves. Instead, for some of us, we set a sort of house rules of whom we will work with, which still leaves the majority of everyday people outside of our circle. No movement can survive without a broad base of community support. Let me say that again, no movement can survive without a broad base of community support. We might have an awesome website and thousands of followers on social media, but without constituents from everyday life who are willing to recognize us as part of their community, we are destined to isolation and fragmentation from popular society. Did Nelson Mandela achieve victory for his nation

So here we are, as a contingent of citizens representing clear and reasonable concerns, struggling to survive against special interests whose greatest advantage against us is in labeling us as radicals and extremists, out of touch with the rest of society. How do we meet that challenge? By demonstrating our concern not just for animals or the environment, but for everybody HUK L]LY`[OPUN LSZL [OH[ ILULÄ[Z MYVT H more humane society and healthy environment. It’s not hard, it’s a pretty easy sell when you think of it, who do you think the H]LYHNL HK\S[ JHU TVZ[ PKLU[PM` ^P[O! [OL VUL WLYJLU[ VM ZVJPL[` ILULÄ[PUN MYVT [OL liquidation of the natural world or simple people, like ourselves, trying to stop it? Last month I participated in a ceremony where a local Odawa elder here in West Michigan gifted anti-Tar Sands activists with hawk feathers for their actions that led

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

to arrest and a stint in jail. I am both an indigenous warrior and radical environmentalist, so it made me tear up, seeing a representative from a local indigenous population honor and recognize our warriors as also their own. The humility and courage demonstrated by the wimmin warriors receiving the feathers was exactly what our movement needs more of. Listening to this Elder tell the story of going back to his community of tribal leaders and telling them of what we are trying to do, and hearing him recount how those other elders were proud of people outside of their own community was the kind of power that blows away anything we can accomplish within our online activist “community.” One of the hardest things for me to accomplish in my own campaigning is recognizing the trade off that must occur when you seek to represent not just your own interests, but those of a larger community. For me that means that while I condemn the killing of apex predators like wolves for any reason, there are others, much more invested in the issue than I am, who recognize that an allowance must sometimes be made to kill some individual “problem” wolves. This doesn’t mean we compromise for the sake of achieving any victory, it just means we recognize that sometimes our position is based on privilege and our removal from the communities most affected by our campaigning. So while I endeavor to represent Maaiingan, as the wolf is called up here in the Great Lakes area, I defer to the people who have represented the wolf centuries before I ever did.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

This movement is about broadening our YHUNL VM PUÅ\LUJL 0[»Z HIV\[ SLHYUPUN OV^ to speak to others who are not like us, and it’s about showing those who seek to destroy our resistance that we are allied with those humans who are also affected by the corporate and government interests that are destroying the natural world. It’s about recognizing that while in theory we support indigenous resistance and the struggles of simple families trying to provide for their children, we have far to go before those segments of society recognize us as part of their struggle. The way we do this is by building rela[PVUZOPWZ )` ÄUKPUN JVTTVU NYV\UK and listening to the needs of others and UV[ Q\Z[ [Y`PUN [V ÄN\YL V\[ OV^ [V NL[ other segments of society behind our own campaigns. It means we remain open to challenging our own principles and maybe making an allowance for people who may not have the same opportunity as we do to be a part of our pre-existing subculture. After 30 years of participation in the movement to defend Earth, I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes victory isn’t measured by what governments or corporate interests award us, but more so by how we accomplish such achievements. How we relate to one another, how we OHUKSL JVUÅPJ[ HUK OV^ ^L [YLH[ LHJO other as fellow human beings. Because when you practice your principles of respect and tolerance on a local level and on a daily basis, you begin to demonstrate to others another way. A way without violence, a way without treating people the way the State and corporations do. When people see us living such principles and practicing a way of living that allows for

others to also survive, that’s when we start to grow and strengthen our ability to UV[ VUS` Z\Y]P]L I\[ ÄNO[ ;OH[ PZ OV^ 0 ZLL [OH[ ^L ^PU 0[»Z UV[ H MHY VMM KPZ[HU[ victory, it is a victory that we can demonstrate when others see that despite our movement having taken a big hit from government repression, we will not be UL\[YHSPaLK ^L ^PSS SLHYU MYVT IV[O V\Y TPZ[HRLZ HUK V\Y ZHJYPÄJLZ HUK JVU[PU\L [V IL H MVYJL VM JOHUNL MVY H IL[[LY ^VYSK Rod Coronado is a Pascua Yaqui indigenous resister. For almost 30 years, he has been a source of inspiration and strength for the defense of animals and the earth. A former political prisoner, Rod has served multiple prison terms, for “offenses” ranging from arson to using Facebook. He now pursues strictly legal means to achieve his goals and his primary focus is the defense of apex predators through the Gray Wolf Field Campaign. Many have read Rod’s writing in publications such as No Compromise, Bite Back, and Earth First Journal.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

From the Ground Up: The Importance of Creating Coalitions I` SH\YLU 6YULSHZ lauren Ornelas is the founder/director of the all-volunteer Food Empowerment Project, H ]LNHU MVVK Q\Z[PJL UVUWYVÄ[ ZLLRPUN [V JYLH[L H TVYL Q\Z[ ^VYSK I` OLSWPUN JVUZ\TLYZ recognize the power of their food choices. They work in solidarity with farm workers, advocate for slave-free chocolate and focus on access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-income communities. She has done numerous factory farm investigations and with help from activists around the country she has been successful in achieving changes within large corporations. She served as Campaign Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for six years.

Coalition-building is important in any movement, as long as is it is done with respect, understanding, and a clear set of mutual goals. When a 6,000-cow dairy farm was built in Solano County, California (between San Francisco and Sacramento), an environmental impact report gave the farm a negative declaration. Mind you, according to the EPA, one dairy cow produces 120 pounds of wet manure per day. How, exactly, would that not negatively impact the environment? So, when another 6,000-cow dairy was proposed, as well as a 1,500-“heifer” farm (“heifer” is the ag [agricultural] term for the female calves before they give birth), I joined forces with a number of animal organizations, and we would speak at City Council meetings to make sure everyone was aware of what was happening. The proposed farms were outside of the city limits of one town, and the mayor of that town was shocked that

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

she had not even heard about the farms until we spoke at their meeting. We realized, of course, that we needed to get other organizations involved. It was easy enough to get a number of environmental organizations involved, which also brought in some small farmers and veterinarians. But we wanted to make sure we had people in the community engaged. In addition to letters to the newspaper and speaking at various policy meetings (planning meetings, board of supervisors, etc.), we also decided to reach out to the comT\UP[` PU H KPMMLYLU[ ^H`! ^L W\[ Å`LYZ on cars parked outside home improveTLU[ Z[VYLZ >L ÄN\YLK [OL` JHYLK HIV\[ their homes and might be interested in this issue. And we got them – Mothers Against Mega-Dairies. The farms were actually relocating from Southern California, so I went down south and investigated their farms. It was

important to show the community the type of neighbors that were moving in. Given the diversity of people at the table, we knew there had to be a level of understanding. We all had the same goal of stopping these farms from coming in, but we went about it from different angles. For my organization, I had to make it clear that we were a vegan organization (this is pre-Food Empowerment Project) and did not want people to consume milk (or animals), and that we would never be able to encourage small farms, etc. I also had to explain that, once the farms were stopped, if the discussion turned into what type of animal farms could be brought into the area, we could not participate as we did not want any of them. It was important to make this point so that when I did interviews (I acted as one of the spokespeople, and my group had just launched a campaign against the dairy industry), I was going to be speaking as a vegan and against consumption of milk. I

My main message for groups is to make it clear to coalition members where you stand and what your parameters are in terms of working on the campaign. We were able to create a strong coalition, but our role was only part of the process. I connected them with an attorney to help with the language, and that county now has the strictest standards in the state of California and no new dairies have been built. There are always obstacles when creating coalitions, and some might be better off not started at all. A lack of a clear and honest understanding of where coalition members are coming from will invariably be such an obstacle. Let’s take as an example a vegan group that is to work with a coalition of workers at a slaughterhouse or farm. If/when the workers’ demands have been met and there is a call to claim a victory and/ or applaud the offending company, will animal groups really do this when the company in question still kills animals?

LACK OF A CLEAR AND HONEST UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE COALITION MEMBERS ARE COMING FROM WILL INVARIABLY BE SUCH AN OBSTACLE

did not want to create any issues within the coalition, and by getting this understanding upfront, we knew how we could move forward. And we did. We stopped the dairies, but when the county wanted regulations, we would not participate.

Another challenge is that of credit. It is so important for coalition members to agree on a particular spokesperson, and perhaps have certain ones for various topics of the campaign, while including all coalition members’ names on letterhead and ensuring they are informed of important decisions to keep everyone in the loop. It is also really important to not allow ‘cliques’ to form within coalitions.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Some coalitions will be an ongoing entity (like those working on legislation), while others dissolve at an agreed-upon point or when the goal has been met. /LYL HYL ZVTL [PWZ [V [HRL PU[V JVUZPKLYH[PVU ÔLU MVYTPUN H JVHSP[PVU! Â&#x2039; +L[LYTPUL ÔH[ [OL WYVISLT PZ HUK ÔV PZ PTWHJ[LK I` P[ Â&#x2039; +L[LYTPUL PM `V\ MLLS [OLYL HYL LUV\NO PU[LYLZ[LK WHY[PLZ [V Z[HY[ a coalition â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are there enough groups, is your organization committed to it, etc. Â&#x2039; )LNPU [V JVU[HJ[ V[OLYZ ÔV HYL PTWHJ[LK MLLS MYLL [V JVU[HJ[ organizations to see if they have connections) Â&#x2039; +L[LYTPUL ÔH[ `V\ HSS JHU HNYLL \WVU HUK ÔV `V\ ^HU[ to target Â&#x2039; ,]LY`VUL ^PSS ULLK [V NV HSVUN ^P[O [OL HNYLLK TPZZPVU VM the coalition Â&#x2039; +L[LYTPUL ÔH[ `V\ HSS HNYLL ^PSS IL H ]PJ[VY` Â&#x2039; (NYLL \WVU KLSP]LY` VM [OL W\ISPJ TLZZHNL Â&#x2039; (S^H`Z IL YLZWLJ[M\S VM LHJO V[OLYÂ»Z Z[YLUN[OZ Depending on the coalition, it can be challenging, and that is why honesty about where your group is coming from and what your angle is needs to be THKL JSLHY MYVT [OL Z[HY[ Â&#x2039;

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Capitalism, veganism and the animal industrial complex by Lauren Corman Lauren Corman is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Brock University. She is a former host and producer of the animal advocacy radio show, “Animal Voices” on CIUT 89.5 FM in Toronto, from 2001-2010. She lives in St. Catharines, Ontario. She can be reached at lcorman@brocku.ca and Twitter @laurencorman.

Back in the day… When I went vegan in the mid-’90s, friends and I told ourselves that tubs of rice cream were as satisfying as the real thing and that veganism didn’t mean giving up a stitch of pleasure. The truth is, though, at the time cheese substitutes largely tasted like barf and the endless plates of white pasta and watery “red sauce” at our cafeteria were a drag. We were regularly plied with the question, “But what do you eat?” For many omnivores, our meals were PTHNPULK HZ ÅHJJPK HYYHUNLTLU[Z VM PJLberg lettuce, or as blocks of uncooked tofu, like menacing white monoliths, heralding bleak and lonely gastronomic days ahead. When Lisa from The Simpsons pleads for a party without meat, Homer, Bart and Marge form a mini conga line, and dance around her chanting, “You don’t win friends with salad! You don’t win friends with salad!” So ubiquitous was the stereotype of the pasty and self-righteous vegan that a friend and fellow herbivore ordered a custom-designed shirt for me that read, “Humourless vegan.”

I’m supposed to swoop in here and JVU]PUJL `V\ [OPUNZ HYL KPMMLYLU[ UV^! Veganism isn’t about scarcity, and meat and dairy analogues are delicious and easier to access. Dinner no longer looks like a couple of peas rolling around beside a small pile of dirt. That is true, but as I grew into veganism, I learned that the limited cafeteria choices, while they did provide JLY[HPU JVUZ[YHPU[Z ^LYL HSZV YLÅLJ[P]L VM my own limited understanding of plantbased eating. What a load of beans Veganism increasingly felt like an invitation to become more curious about my MVVK! >OLYL P[ JVTLZ MYVT ^OV THRLZ P[ what kinds of possibilities exist -- different kinds of grains, legumes, and veggies -beyond the standard North American diet. Unable to rely on routine ways of eating (which, let’s face it, mostly meant microwaving frozen perogies), my commitment to veganism gave me a good nudge to become more engaged with food politics.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Fortunately, public perception of veganism is changing, including an awareness that herbivorous foods have rich and varied global histories and that Western heavy meat-centric meals are a fairly recent phenomenon, which many people drawing from other traditions already know. Yet noting the persistent stereotype that veganism equals deprivation, vegans have responded with a cornucopia of lush cookbooks, food blogs, and enough food porn to convince the most skeptical among us that veganism can be just as exciting, decadent, and comforting as the most lavish Food Network dishes. Similarly, confronting the stereotype of the sickly and weak vegan, vegans have broRLU ^LPNO[ SPM[PUN YLJVYKZ Z[HY[LK Ä[ULZZ and bodybuilding websites, and lauded veganism as essential to their ultra-marathoning successes. Battling the humourless vegan stereotype, the “Healthy.Happy. Life.” blog emerges in its stead. Advocates for veganism often take a tripartite HWWYVHJO! 0[»Z IL[[LY MVY your health, for the environment, and for the animals. Below I dig into that last reason, and nibble at the lentil loaf of stereotypes that plague nonhuman animals. Questioning animal stereotypes is a crucial part of The Vegan Challenge, a challenge to think differently about who animals are. But they’re just so tasty… For me, animals dominate the “why?” question of veganism. They’re the main reason I’ve stuck with veganism for almost 20 years, and why I spent shy of an eon in grad school studying the historical, social, and political reasons why conditions got so bad for most so-called “food animals” HUK V[OLY HUPTHSZ L_WSVP[LK MVY WYVÄ[ @L[

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

despite my previous decade-long commitment not to consume animal products, it wasn’t until I visited a farm sanctuary for rescued and abused animals that my consciousness most profoundly deepened. Which is to say, I met a pig and she rolled over for a belly rub, and I obliged. This was startling because it occurred to me that this pig acts like my cat, or maybe I should say, my cat acts like her. 7LYOHWZ [OPZ ZLLTZ SPRL HU PUZPNUPÄJHU[ point, or just a sentimental story. But if we consider that moment for a bit, it’s clear how much it rattles some rampant misconceptions about pigs, and potentially, other animals. Intensive animal agriculture, what anthropologist Barbara Noske calls the “animal industrial complex,” relies on consumers not making the connection between what’s on their plates and the animals’ biographies. Yet, if we do entertain this thought, discomfort can often be dismissed with the knee-jerk reaction, “They’re only animals.” This rote phrase helps keep the system clicking, because while we might even know that pigs in Canada are crowded together in windowless sheds on JVUJYL[L ÅVVYZ HUK NLZ[H[PUN HUK MHYYV^ing sows are commonly held in crates around the world that are so small they can’t turn around, we must believe there’s some morally relevant difference between \Z HUK [OLT [OH[ ZVTLOV^ Q\Z[PÄLZ [OLPY use and this treatment. We’re supposed to feel differently about the animals in our homes than we do about the dead ones on our plates. Sure, we might feel sad about it, but they’re only animals, after all. While Internet cat videos proliferate, so KVLZ [OL VIZLZZPVU ^P[O IHJVU ÅH]V\YLK

everything. This bizarre paradox acts as a kind of ideological grease that keeps the system running. Professor Una Chaudhuri argues, Our relationship to animals is kind of the great open secret of our society and culture. Anthropologists have this theory about how cultures are often organized around certain things that you know not to know.... You are aware of something, but you do not acknowledge that you are aware of it. The animal industrial complex offers a tradeoff between more affordable and widely available meat and dairy products and the welfare of animals whose existences necessarily become TVYL JVUÄULK bleak and invisible through the intensive practices that dominate today’s agricultural landscape. But I could never give up cheese… Generally speaking, we’re not supposed to think about farmed animals as relational beings who have great capacity for pleasure, enjoy the company of others, have preferences and desires, form friendships, and suffer not only physical but also psychological trauma through common industry practice. (These are practices that are exempted from our animal cruelty

statutes because they are common.) The animal rights organization Mercy for Animals, who just made headlines with their Quebec veal farm investigation, gives \Z ZVTL YLHZVUZ [V JY` V]LY ZWPS[ TPSR! Cows are extremely gentle and affectionate animals. They form strong bonds with one another, particularly between mother and child. As Michael Klaper 4 + YLJHSSZ! ¸;OL ]LY` ZHKKLZ[ ZV\UK in all my memory was burned into my H^HYLULZZ H[ HNL Ä]L VU T` \UJSL»Z dairy farm in Wisconsin. A cow had given birth to a beautiful male calf… On the second day after birth, my

uncle took the calf from the mother and placed him in the veal pen in the barn -- only ten yards away, in plain view of his mother. The mother cow could see her infant, smell him, hear him, but could not touch him, comfort him, or nurse him. The heartrending bellows that she poured forth -- minute after minute, OV\Y HM[LY OV\Y MVY Ä]L SVUN KH`Z were excruciating to listen to. They are

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

the most poignant and painful auditory memories I carry in my brain.” As a sociologist, my task is to analyze social relationships, but the discipline [LUKZ [V HZZ\TL [OH[ O\THUP[` KLÄULZ [OL boundaries of the social, and therefore the importance of nonhuman animals’ social relationships remains beyond the reach of analysis. Similarly, sociology’s sister discipline, anthropology, overwhelmingly begins with the assumption that culture is strictly a human phenomenon, despite the growing evidence that many nonhu man animals possess their own cultures. For sociology and anthropology, the challenge to address these dynamics is a major hurdle, because society and culture are largely thought to be key phenomena that make us human. Although the bulk of my research and teaching considers the social relationships among humans and other animals, and among animals themselves, these dynamics are mostly unthinkable to my discipline. Drawing on the work of naturalist Charles Darwin, cognitive ethologist and evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff argues that emotions evolved in group-living animals to enable social bonding. Although we are largely willing to grant evolutionary continuity with nonhuman animals, given our similar physiology and neurobiology, to recognize that evolutionary continuity also implies emotional continuity is a much tougher sell because it involves some \UH]VPKHISL L[OPJHS YHTPÄJH[PVUZ =LNHUNLSPJHS¯ All right, let’s just stop there for a minute. Discussions like this can quickly slip into

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

a sense that what we’re talking about is “good people” who acknowledge animals’ emotional lives and their suffering and who become vegan, and “bad people” who heartlessly eat animals and animal products. Arguments about veganism are often experienced as judgments about identity, as comments about people’s characters. This is another big challenge of the Vegan *OHSSLUNL! ;V ^YLZ[ [OL JVU]LYZH[PVU H^H` from “what are you saying about me?” (nothing, I swear!) toward one that asks “how might we respond to the profound VIQLJ[PÄJH[PVU HUK JVTTVKPÄJH[PVU VM animals’ lives?” given that factory farming is now the rule rather than the exception. ;OLYL»Z H ULJLZZHY` HUK KPMÄJ\S[ YLJRVUing with forms of violence that many of us help enable, but that almost no one supports just because they really love hurting animals. =LNHUPZT PZ H NVVK Ä[ MVY TL ILJH\ZL while it’s not the only way to be a more compassionate person, it’s been an important way to minimize my negative impact on others. I carry around mental images of cows straining against fences to get to their babies, and it makes giving up dairy feel like not giving up anything at all. I hear the voices of slaughterhouse workers I’ve interviewed, who are also IY\[HSPaLK through their labour, and I know there are harms inherent in a system that treats pleasure-seeking and social animals as unfeeling as concrete blocks. Animals’ lives are much richer than industrial agriculture can possibly acknowledge and HJJVTTVKH[L (UK [OH[»Z UV[ H TPZ[HRL! The ideology that animals are lesser beings, less endowed with the potential for

rich emotional and social lives, and less conscious of pain, must hold for the system to function. 6MM [OL ZVHW IV_ VU[V [OL ZWYPUNIVHYK Animal advocates who expose the suffering of animals (activists who are increasingly criminalized for their efforts through “Ag Gag” and anti-terrorism legislation) must also challenge the pervasive belief that there’s something so different about animals that allows them to be treated as solely means to an ends. That animals destined for agriculture, and other industries, are born exclusively to serve human interests is so naturalized that Homer’s response to Lisa, “All normal people love meat,” continues to resonate (before breaking into a conga line). Veganism doesn’t solve all the world’s problems, but it can offer a springboard into rethinking human-animal relationZOPWZ OLSW YLZPZ[ [OL VIQLJ[PÄJH[PVU VM animals’ lives, and interrupt the idea that animals exist for us.

The Vegan Challenge for many animal advocates has been to build coalitions across social justice and environmental movements, develop a stronger analysis of capitalism as a key driver of animal exploitation, and centralize the analyses of those who have always made the connec tions. In absence of these understandings, veganism is destined to stay a fringe activity of those who want their soy lattes free of animal products, and thus “crueltyfree,” but saturated with other forms of misery. Veganism isn’t about being better than anyone else, but about more closely aligning with animals who resist, grieve, and long to live full lives. “When we keep animals in impoverished conditions -- such as factory farms, laboratory cages, and zoos -- we deny animals the opportunity to express euphoria, exultation, and excitement,” argues Jonathan Balcombe, H\[OVY VM 7SLHZ\YHISL 2PUNKVT! (UPTHSZ and the Nature of Feeling Good. “And when we kill animals we cause harm by denying them the opportunity to experience rewards that life would otherwise VMMLY [OLT ¹

>OLU 0 ÄYZ[ Z[HY[LK ^YP[PUN HIV\[ HUPTHS issues, I was accused of growing up on Sesame Street and being naïve to life’s harsh realities. Yet it was my experiences of witnessing violence and participating in other social justice movements that motivated me not to consume animal products. This individual daily boycott, when tied into a larger analysis of structural inequalities and domination under capi talism, unsettles animals’ degradation as property and the ways other groups, such as women, have been subjugated because they are seen as animal-like.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

=LNHUPZT PU [OL 6JJ\WPLK ;LYYP[VYPLZ! (U[P *VSVUPHSPZT HUK (UPTHS 3PILYH[PVU by D`SHU 7V^LSS Dylan Powell is an organizer in St. Catharines, Ont. Co-Founder of Marineland Animal Defense, #OurScars and the Live Free Collective, Dylan is active in the animal and earth liberation movements, as well as involved in solidarity organizing with the Haudenosaunee of the Grand River, the migrant justice advocacy community and at risk youth in the Niagara Region. Dylan is graduate of Brock University (Honours History) and current Addiction Education student at McMaster University in Hamilton. Through advocacy work Dylan has lectured and spoken across North America and been featured in International news media outlets.

Background I’ve written about 50 versions of this in my head. An original working title was called ¸.\LZ[ ,[OPJZ! =LNHUPZT PU [OL 6JJ\WPLK Territories.” I liked it for a while but then realized that talking about developing a “guest ethic” for settlers would be a problem. I decided on something that continued to place veganism on Turtle Island as being on occupied territory, while also presenting anti-colonialism and animal liberation as two distinct and important streams of theory and praxis that could potentially have over lapping and intersecting interests. Aside from thinking about this issue, I’ve been living my experience as a settler raised on the Haldimand Tract since 1984. Born and raised in Port Maitland, On – where the mouth of the Grand River meets Lake Erie – I was made aware of that from a young age by parents that stressed learning about land theft, justice, and the six mile wide tract on either side of the Grand River which was supposed to be Haudenosaunee Territory. My father kept

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

contacts with folks at Six – Six Nations of the Grand River – passed down from his MH[OLY ^OV JH\NO[ HUK ZVSK ÄZO [V MVSRZ from the Reservation and also traded in the corpses of hunted animals. Those relationships and ideas were not popular where I grew up, and hysteria and fantasy surrounded every side. My father, to this KH` [HSRZ VM ÄNO[PUN VU [OL ZPKL VM [OL 6UR^LOVU!^L PU H YL]VS\[PVUHY` ^HY When the land reclamation at Douglas Creek Estates began over eight years – Kanonhstaton “The Protected Place” – my father was public in his support and our family company truck would later be one of the main parade trucks at the walk for “Peace, Respect and Friendship” to commemorate the reclamation. We were both proud. The background is an attempt to give the reader some idea of the social position I am claiming. I was raised around animal use – my father is a fourth generation boat I\PSKLY HUK ÄZOLYTHU 4` H\U[ ^VYRLK H[ [OL ÄZO WYVJLZZPUN WSHU[ HJYVZZ [OL bay and some of my oldest memories VM OLY J\[[PUN \W ÄZO HUK VM VUL VM T`

father’s best friends who owned the local slaughterhouse. All of this violence visited upon other animal species was normalized by all of the adults around me. It made me MLLS KPZN\Z[PUN ¶ 0 UL]LY H[L ÄZO HZ H YLZ\S[ and didn’t like to eat food with bones or easily recognizable as animals – but my response was not considered “normal.” At the same time, I was raised around the idea that a massive genocide had occurred where I lived, that land and resources were stolen and was supported to be public in my opposition to it. My father was kicked out of his high school and my mother graduate but did not go on to a post secondary institution. This wasn’t an academic setting where these issues where theoretical, they were experienced and understood as part of my social reality. I couldn’t divorce them, or divorce myself from them. Later in life as I went to University, struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and tried to involve myself in student activism these two things would re-emerge and begin to move together. One summer of sleeping on friends couches and being broke I’d realized that I’d gone a week without eating any meat. Immediately I was hit with a realization that for me eating other animals was a preference. I did it not because I had to, but because I took pleasure in it. That realization OVYYPÄLK TL HUK KPZY\W[LK HSS VM [OL JVUÅPJ[ 0»K MLS[ ZPUJL H JOPSK 0»K ^P[ULZZLK animal slaughter from a young age, but also always been encouraged to rescue, care for and rehome animals and wildlife as well. Vegetarianism then become a reality for me with the idea of that I would go vegan once I actually knew how to cook. I lucked out and found a partner

who shared a lot of my thoughts and goals and we worked through it together. Neither of us knew any vegans – but we made it work. Around this same time a white rights/ reverse racism activist by the name Gary McHale had been holding protests outside and on Kanonhstaton claiming that all levels of Government and policing were actually discriminating against white settlers in the Caledonia community and not enforcing the law. I went to a Social Justice Forum at Brock University where the documentary “Six Miles Deep” was being screened. The documentary illustrates the decision making at the height of the reclamation and contrasts the matriarchal structure in contrast to settler fantasies and decision making in settler society. I contacted the director and got a screener copy and, with the help of another local youth Eric Smith, would go VU [V ZJYLLU [OL ÄST H OHUKM\S VM [PTLZ on the Haldimand Tract – in Dunnville – and in the community I now live in of St. Catharines. Those screenings lead to answering support call outs from land defenders at Kanonhstaton to counter McHale demonstrations and over the last three years since I’ve been involved with organizing solidarity marches, court and legal support for land defenders at Six, and continued with outreach and solidarity organizing outside of the area. Veganism has come up frequently over that time. In my own personal experiences I’ve never brought veganism or animal advocacy to solidarity organizing with 6UR^LOVU!^L 0M P[ JHTL \W PU YLN\SHY conversation, or just through the process of getting to know someone then that

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

^HZ ÄUL I\[ 0 ^HZU»[ Z[\MÄUN T` JHY ^P[O =LNHU 6\[YLHJO SLHÅL[Z HUK OLHKPUN down to Kanonhstaton. Surprising to some, the most resistance and disdain came from other settler solidarity organizers and activists and not any Haudenosaunee folks. Gene, a Tuscarora land defender and peace activist at Kanonhstaton controlled much of the kitchen because of his decades of work helping out and running soup kitchens in Toronto. Gene would go out of his way to make sure I was fed, or had food to eat. Experiences will always be different for others – but for me veganism has never once been a JVUÅPJ[PUN PZZ\L VY ZV\YJL VM JVUÅPJ[ ^P[O Haudenosaunee folks at Six, or any other 6UR^LOVU!^L 0»]L VYNHUPaLK ^P[O V\[ZPKL of the area. I think the central reason for [OH[ PZ [^V [OPUNZ! 0»]L UL]LY IYV\NO[ T`

of face-to-face communication and not having any kind of relationship to be accountable to. In that, there is also no YLHS KLÄUP[P]L [L_[ VY ^VYK VU UH]PNH[PUN these issues. The mainstream animal “rights” movement is simply not interested and as a result of a lot of that advocacy 6UR^LOVU!^L HYL [`WPJHSS` UV[ PU[LYLZ[LK either. At the heart though, there is a ton of common ground between those who wish to protect the land and species on it and those who wish to liberate other animal species from human society. I frequently get emails and messages from other animal advocates looking for help in navigating this issue, or messages from others wondering just exactly what my position is. It’s for that reason that I [am] writing this.

THERE IS A TON OF COMMON GROUND BETWEEN THOSE WHO WISH TO PROTECT THE LAND AND SPECIES ON IT AND THOSE WHO WISH TO LIBERATE OTHER ANIMAL SPECIES FROM HUMAN SOCIETY

advocacy there as something that others should recognize and strive for (even though some settler solidarity organizers and animal advocates have pressured me to) and I’ve also always recognized that the work the folks were doing at Six was part of defending wilderness and combatting sprawl and development – all things that in and of themselves were helping to defend and protect wild animal populations and the land. They didn’t have to do my activism to be helping other animals, or to warrant my concern and friendship. Online is always a different story though. The online world complicates this issue ^P[O THU` WLVWSL UV[ OH]PUN [OL ILULÄ[

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Setting up to attempt to write something KLÄUP[P]L PZ ZL[[PUN T`ZLSM \W MVY MHPS\YL – but I did want to write this for those ^OV HYL Z[Y\NNSPUN [V ÄUK HU LU[Y` WVPU[ Z[Y\NNSPUN [V KLHS ^P[O [OL JVUÅPJ[ WYP]H[L concerns that can’t be addressed in the broader “animal rights” community and hopefully as a nudge to animal advocates of all stripes to recognize the ^VYR 6UR^LOVU!^L OH]L ILLU KVPUN MVY centuries to advocate for other animal species and protect their habitats. This is not a critique against veganism, it is a call for veganism rooted in something broader

and hopefully a resource for folks who want to make that a reality. Lonesome Dove Euro-Settler animal agriculture has existed on this continent for only around 500 years. It seems so hard to visualize, but over 500 years ago this land did not know domesticated captive species of cows, pigs or chickens. The entire continent was free of European agriculture that itself is KVTPUH[LK I` [OL PULMÄJPLUJ` VM MLLKPUN large captive animal populations in order to later eat that animal – diverting food crops away from human populations and towards captive animals. This practice of agriculture takes a lot of land and it imposes a food system that is hierarchical and expansionist. You need an increasing amount of land to carry it out, and you need an increasing amount of wealth and control from the top in order to continue it. Although animal agriculture is not the sole motivating factor for settler expansion – it plays a major role. The iconic American TV drama mini series based a novel – “Lonesome Dove” – shows this process as semi-retired Texas Rangers move cattle from Texas to Montana with the dream of settling these animals in an area barely touched by settler society. As they move the cattle north the cattle themselves are only ever backdrop to the story – the motivation for moving North. As they move North they encounter the villain – )S\L +\JR HU 6UR^LOVU!^L IHUKP[ [OH[ rapes women and kills children. Saving people from Blue Duck, the Rangers continue with their incursions into Sioux territories. One of the emotional highlights

of the series is where Danny Glover’s character – a Black Ranger along with the group (how progressive and post racial!) is speared to death by a starving 6UR^LOVU!^L HM[LY TPZ[HRPUN OPZ H[[LTW[Z [V OLSW HUK JHYL MVY H ISPUK 6UR^LOVU!^L baby (a child blind via starvation caused through the destruction of his people’s food sources by Settlers). The animals provide the motivation for the men to enter into this territory, and the actions of [OL 6UR^LOVU!^L WVW\SH[PVUZ ZLY]L HZ H [OL Q\Z[PÄJH[PVU ;OL` HYL LP[OLY PTTVYHS or incapable. The mini series serves as a small snapshot to something which is now a much larger web. Animal agriculture dominates the use of more land in North America than all remaining reserve land combined – and one third of all land mass globally. Exhaustion of resources, soil and expansion has brought this same process South – something now further complicated by global capitalism and food markets. “King Soy” now reigns in the South – with rainforest environments HUK 6UR^LOVU!^L ILPUN KLJPTH[LK [V make room for cattle grazing and/or soy production as feed for foreign (largely European) captive animal populations. ;OVZL KPZWSHJLK WVW\SH[PVUZ VM[LU ÄUK themselves involved in migratory labour ^VYRPUN PU [OL 5VY[O H[ ÄZO WYVJLZZPUN plants or chicken and pig farm operations as migrant workers. Resistance to expansion in the South has always existed – but again invisible in the dominant animal advocacy community. Factory farming – which generally gets more roundly denounced than animal agriculture as a whole – is actually the

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

WPUUHJSL VM LMÄJPLUJ` MVY [OPZ Z`Z[LT HZ P[ uses the least amount of labour, land and resources for the most amount of animals. The environmental results of this kind of farming are disastrous and comparable to resource extraction industries of mining and fracking. The emissions from the industry as a whole dwarfs the entire transportation industry – leading many to place it between 1-3 as the top man made carbon emission industry in the world. The effects on animals in this system are beyond nightmarish as the scale combined with the practice excuses almost anything. All of this should be of concern to more than just animal advocates. The implications for displacement, land theft, environmental destruction, exploitation and expansion are all clearly there. ;OL PZZ\L [V TL H[ SLHZ[ PZ ÄUKPUN H coherent politic placing all of this in a context which does not make other ZWLJPÄJ VWWYLZZPVU PU]PZPISL (UPTHS advocacy is dominated by white people, and positions of power are dominated by white cisgender able bodied men – even though statistically there is typically a larger population of females involved than males. An issue then that should have a broad focus gets presented through H ]LY` ZWLJPÄJ HUK UVYTH[P]L SLUZ HUK typically one that is very demanding – “You can’t be an environmentalist if you eat meat!” “You can’t be a feminist if you eat meat.” All of this outward directed energy allows for that same power base to excuse that known rapists and sexual WYLKH[VYZ OVSK WVZP[PVUZ VM PUÅ\LUJL within the movement, and that as a whole the animal advocacy movement is largely uninterested in broader environmental Z[Y\NNSLZ ¶ SL[ HSVUL 6URO^LOVU!^L

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

land defense and reclamation or migrant justice – unless it can be used as some kind of advocacy leverage. Some base analogy or demand that again prioritizes its own position.* In this environment, most of the messaging continues the tradition presented in Lonesome Dove. Other populations are either immoral (don’t care about violence against animals and need to be saved from) or they are incapable (and need their autonomy removed from them and their choices restricted). Few animal advocates trace this history of Euro Settler expansion through animal agriculture, even fewer trace the framing of how we talk about that and the broader implications of how we still use the same framing to advocate for animals. If the struggle for animal liberation is to acknowledge anti-colonialism it will need to not only trace back this history [V [OL ÄYZ[ JV^ WPN HUK JOPJRLU ^OV OP[ this land – but they will also need to be mindful of how their messaging, framing and the power dynamics of their own communities and movements will be seen as merely a continuation of the same SPUL VM [OPURPUN ^OPJO ÄYZ[ WSHJLK [OVZL animals here. Anti-colonialism in this instance is the intentional and conscious acknowledgement that although we might know – we do not know best. Euro-Settler animal agriculture has had a disastrous effect on this continent, reaching a political consensus on confronting that with a broad politic will largely mean Euro-Settler animal advocates demand more of their own community and provide more space for others to act to address the situation themselves in their own

communities. It’s not enough to simply diagnose the problems ourselves and force our own solutions. =PVSLU[ :L[[SLYZ HUK [OLPY 5VU =PVSLU[ 7VSP[PJZ “When the native hears a speech about Western culture he pulls out his knife—or at least he makes sure it is within reach. The violence with which the supremacy VM ^OP[L ]HS\LZ PZ HMÄYTLK HUK [OL aggressiveness which has permeated the victory of these values over the ways of life and of thought of the native mean that, in revenge, the native laughs in mockery when Western values are mentioned in front of him.” – Frantz Fannon There have been recent protests against traditional Haudenosaunee deer hunts in my area that have exposed much VM [OL ZV\YJL VM JVUÅPJ[ HYV\UK [OPZ issue. In each instance a section of the settler animal advocacy community has attempted to mobilize through local corporate media and through local settler governance – in every instance presenting themselves in the language of non-violence and as “peaceful” advocates. Many have raised concerns against this group and used this split to acknowledge differences between animal liberation and animal rights positions as these groups involved are clearly illustrating that the State will only protect or advance the “rights” of other animal species when it is in the States interest to do so. In this case the practice of the Haudenosaunee being on the land upsets the local population and the State in that allows them the practice of their traditions outside of the reservation

and outside of the assimilationist food system they are supposed to accept. As an animal advocate with a history in this area of around 7 years, and who has studied this movement intensely, there are few examples of settler political consensus for respecting the “rights” of an animal species then what occurs when a settler population opposes a traditional 6UR^LOVU!^L \ZL VM HUPTHSZ ;OL ZJHSL VY L]LU ZWLJPÄJ WYHJ[PJL HYL \UPTWVY[HU[ to these advocates or their state – what matters is that in the performance of protecting or attempting to protect these species advocates and the state allow for themselves to be positioned HZ ¸UVU ]PVSLU[¹ HUK 6UR^LOVU!^L HZ “backwards” or “violent.” The political capital for the state furthers the goal of encroachment and incursion by following the same logic – these populations are either immoral or incapable and we must step in. Setter colonialism and the settler Z[H[LZ L_PZ[LUJL PZ [OLU Q\Z[PÄLK 3PRL^PZL this framing makes the impact that the settler animal advocate community has on animal populations outside of just eating or wearing them invisible – the issue is framed as “eating or killing” and far removed from any understanding of how our highly technical and industrial corporate society destroys land bases and the animal species on them. Capitalism, sprawl, development, mining, fracking, pipelines, resource extraction and the violence necessary to them are all invisible – as long as you do not eat animals you are “peaceful” “compassionate” and “non violent.” One extremely important and missing point to opposition to these local hunts is that the Haudenosaunee operated

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

a rather rich and complex agricultural tradition prior to contact and destruction through settler expansion. The “Three Sisters” – corn, beans and squash were the traditional backbone of the Haudenosaunee diet with matriarchs controlling decision making and farming with men infrequently hunting during scarcity. They were instead needed to JSLHY ÄLSKZ [V WYLWHYL [OLT MVY HNYPJ\S[\YL This turns the hunter-gatherer settler myth on its head – how did we save people from an agricultural system that was LMÄJPLU[ OVYPaVU[HS HUK ULLKLK TPUPTHS animal and land use and no captive animal populations? In response to settler expansion, land theft and encroachment, hunting rights were negotiated into treaties as the physical land to provide for an autonomous food system no longer existed – a recognition that without an autonomous food system and some land there was no hope for surviving assimilationist and genocidal policies of ZL[[SLY LUJYVHJOTLU[ *HUHKH»Z ÄYZ[ 7YPTL Minister Sir John A. Mcdonald is well known for his policies of intentionally Z[HY]PUN 6URU^LOVU!^L VU[V YLZLY]LZ or into accepting policy. This was, and in large part still is, the fear. In 2014, little has changed in this process as the Haudenosaunee at Six Nations of the Grand River currently face encroachment through GMO impact on traditional food crops on the reservation and attempts to secure food outside of settler food systems are still met with open demands from the settler community that

the Haudenosaunee can “just go to the grocery store” if they need food. It is in this context that the settler animal advocacy community, local nimby-ists, and settler hunters have joined together to denounce traditional deer hunts on crown and park land as “violent.” It is their encroachment into their communities which is violent – not the centuries of land theft, genocide and the continued attempts to destroy any food security or system outside of the settler state’s control. This is just one example that has been played out for decades since the development of the “animal rights” movement in North America. 6UR^LOVU!^L JVHZ[ [V JVHZ[ ^PSS repeat similar stories in how framing of traditional use of just about any animal – seals, minks, polar bears, salmon, etc. is all seen and presented through this lens in settler society. It is their practice which is backwards and violent, it is their desire to exist “outside of” that needs to be broken and “animal rights” activists have almost always been willing to facilitate the state in this aim. This discussion itself is one largely repeated from the Makah Whale hunt of the mid» Z ¶ H ZPTPSHY JVUÅPJ[ ^OPJO KP]PKLK [OL animal liberation community with active animal liberationist and Pascua Yaqui Rod Coronado breaking with his Sea Shepherd roots and supporting the autonomy of the Makah community to come to their own conclusions free from outside settler animal advocate pressure. The long view illustrates how that is the correct position. No matter how many times the settler animal advocacy

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

community bows to the State to aid in the YLWYLZZPVU VM 6UR^LOVU!^L WVW\SH[PVUZ V]LY ZWLJPÄJ HUPTHS \ZL VY WYHJ[PJLZ ¶ the gains are rarely long term and the consequences usually are. The open hostility that some animal advocates LUJV\U[LY PU 6UR^LOVU!^L ZWHJLZ HUK MYVT 6UR^LOVU!^L OH]L H ZV\YJL Most importantly, framing the issues in this way and siding with state incursion, repression and encroachment allows for the State to offer crumbs to animal advocates while continuing on with settler animal use industries that are somehow normalized in their massive ZJHSL HUK LMMLJ[ ;V T` RUV^SLKNL [OL ÄYZ[ traditional Haudenosaunee Deer Hunt in 2013 at Short Hills Provincial Park killed 3 to 5 deer. Of the 3 or so slaughterhouses in the Niagara Region there has not ever once been a demonstration – most animal advocates in the area could not name or locate them – even though they’d kill that many cows, pigs, chickens or lambs in \UKLY [LU TPU\[LZ Ä]L [V ZP_ KH`Z H ^LLR What advocates are inadvertently doing is normalizing the violence visited upon animals within settler society while PU]PZPIPSPaPUN [OL ^VYR 6UR^LOVU!^L have been doing to protect other animals species and the land. This kind of work ensures that animal advocacy on this continent continues to be isolated, reliant on the relationships with the state to leverage other marginalized populations for small gains, and disconnected from a broader politic that instead rightly positions the state as “violent” and ¸IHJR^HYKZ ¹ 0[ Q\Z[PÄLZ [OL ZL[[SLY state and genocide. This has negative consequences for all marginalized and

oppressed populations within the settler state as well as for the vast majority of animals within the Euro-Settler animal agriculture system and the wild populations of animals still left on the continent. Unless animal liberationist can resist this framing and instead position the (corporate) state as the one source of “violence” and “backwardnesss” there can be no animal liberation politic that embraces anti-colonialism. Returning Land Aside from charting the history of animal use on this continent and resisting the framing of the dominant “animal rights” movement, animal liberationists have to root their practice in supporting 6URO^LVU!^L SHUK KLMLUKLYZ VU [OL SHUK as well as the process of returning land. The practice of reclaiming, returning and re-occupying land is a necessary practice in ensuring any kind of threat to EuroSettler animal agriculture and any kind of return to food security outside of settler systems. Perhaps hardest to visualize, this means that if liberating animals from human society is of serious concern to you then you should openly and publicly be supporting resistance to uranium mining, pipelines, road, sprawl, development [OH[ PZ 6URO^LOVU!^L SLK ;OPZ TLHUZ working to ensure that the actions taken I` 6URO^LOVU!^L [V YLZPZ[ ,\YV :L[[SLY animal agriculture and to advocate for animals are no longer invisibilized through a framing that prioritizes what people eat and what can be gained through relationships with the state. Other animal species and the land have always been spoken of at every reclamation site,

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

blockade and demonstration I have been H[ ^OLYL 6UR^LOVU!^L OH]L YLZPZ[LK [OPZ system. Vegans themselves on the other hand – have typically not been present. That line needs to be broken. The returning of stolen land opens the WVZZPIPSP[` MVY 6UR^LOVU!^L [V HJJLZZ food security and food systems on their own. In some cases this may mean a return to agricultural traditions prior to contact. In others it may mean a continued use of animals with a focus on protecting the land base around them – air, water, soil – and the continuation of that species. This is a tough pill to swallow for animal advocates who while happy to acritically aid state repression and settler colonialism for small gains – demand a strict observance of veganism before choosing other coalition partners and shaping their relationships. In the end this is the leap of faith advocates must take in order to move forward with any kind of anti-colonial politic tied to animal liberation. There can be no control, no pressure, no demand. For a population used to an opposite

YLSH[PVUZOPW ^P[O 6UR^LOVU!^L [OPZ PZ H barrier. However, in the end it is the right and just choice. Outside of building a broader politic, confronting the massive scale Euro-Settler animal agriculture and the land theft and genocide that occurred here which policies, effects and resistance to all continues – these positions are consistent with anyone who claims to care about justice. In the end, it will be the differences between these positions ¶ 6UR^LOVU!^L WLVWSL VU [OL SHUK HUK animal liberationists within their own communities – which would provide the strongest possible front against animal use on this continent. That is what the state fears and that is what we should be working towards. Notes *Unfortunately, since the late ‘80s the animal advocacy movement has professionalized with resources being dedicated to celebrity/shock tactic driven public advocacy – all of which ensures YLZV\YJLZ YLTHPU ^P[O SHYNLY UVU WYVÄ[Z

9VK *VYVUHKV *VUJS\KLZ BX\V[LK MYVT HU PU[LY]PL^ I` WYVMHUL_PZ[LUJL JVTD PE: How can we build bridges between Indigenous resistance and movements for animal liberation? 9VK *VYVUHKV! )` ÄYZ[ UV[ ILPUN ZV M\JRPUN Q\KNTLU[HS VM WLVWSL ^OV LH[ HUPTHSZ Long before there was an animal rights movement, there were indigenous peoples defending the earth and her animals with their lives. And they still are! Just because they eat meat doesn’t make them the enemy. Until we learn tolerance we will continue to be disenfranchised. It doesn’t mean WE have to be like them, but there’s such beauty in diverse worldviews that all hold nature and animals on the same level as us. It is the VWWVZP[PVU»Z ^VYZ[ UPNO[THYL MVY \Z HSS [V IL \UPÄLK HNHPUZ[ [OLPY WVSPJPLZ [OH[ KLZ[YV` the same world we all love.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

instead of the grassroots and that the focus remains isolated, while the message becomes chaotic. Attention seeking, vertical, corporate advocacy structures implement the same â&#x20AC;&#x153;growth for growthsâ&#x20AC;? sake models that are incapable of any broad analysis or tactics. Animal liberationists must build their own capacity in this environment. ;OL \ZL VM ;\Y[SL 0ZSHUK HUK 6UR^LOVU!^L 4VOH^R TLHU Â¸6YPNPUHS Peopleâ&#x20AC;?) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; both Haudenosaunee words â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is not to signify pan-Indianism but to honour the territory I am on. I recognize these terms are not interchangeable and do not signify a broad shared experience. *** I could write 4,000 more words on how the broader left should address these issues but in keeping with the theme that demands should be made within movements it was not included or made a focus. Still, I must mention that I fundamentally oppose settler hunting outside of necessity and do believe that all settlers should use whatever capacity they have to use the least amount of land and resources possible. At best we are welcome guests â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who and what we eat should YLĂ&#x2026;LJ[ [OH[ (SS HK]VJHJ` ZOV\SK IL MVJ\ZLK VU Â¸W\UJOPUN \WÂš HUK UV[ shaming or judging people â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but there needs to be a recognition that we can do much better than our current situation. Also fuck radical MVSRZ JV VW[PUN HUK J\S[\YHSS` HWWYVWYPH[PUN 6UR^LOVU!^L WYHJ[PJL HYV\UK HUPTHS \ZL [V ZOPLSK HUK L_J\ZL [OLPY V^U ILOH]PV\YZ Â&#x2039;

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

With Love & Rage by The Bunny Alliance The Bunny Alliance is a grassroots animal liberation organization, currently working as a part of the Gateway to Hell network, to end the transport of animals to laboratories. They recently launched a campaign against Delta Air Lines because of Delta’s intimate relationship with Air France and its transport of primates, dogs, and other animals to laboratories where they are tortured and killed. On a broader scale, The Bunny Alliance is working to build and strengthen grassroots activism, both within the animal liberation movement and with other environmental and social justice movements, to strategically and effectively resist the exploitation of both human and non-human animals.

Millions of animals suffer and die every year in laboratories. These animals are dogs, primates, mice, rabbits, cats, pigs, ÄZO HUK ZV THU` V[OLYZ ;OL` HYL SHILSLK with numbers—reduced to objects by the vivisection industry—yet in their minds they are still beings, and they suffer in pain, loneliness, fear, insanity, and desperation. They bang their heads against the walls of metal cages, starve themselves, rip out their own fur, cower away from human touch, and are routinely subjected to scalpels and restraint devices. This torture is possible in part because of the airlines that continue to be involved in the transport of animals to labs, and this torture is also possible in part because of us. It is time that we change both of those contributions to the nightmares from which these millions of animals cannot awake. The Bunny Alliance formed with two objectives in mind. First of all, we wanted to launch a campaign against Delta Air Lines as a part of the Gateway to Hell network, a global effort to stop the transport of animals to labs. Gateway

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

to Hell has seen success after success in getting airlines to enact permanent policies against animal transport, with Air France (Delta is Air France’s North American representative and strategic partner) being the only major commercial airline left that is transporting primates and other animals to labs. Second of all, and perhaps more importantly, we wanted to actively and consciously work to revive the grassroots animal rights movement in the United States. The animals who are in labs—and who are victim to other forms of exploitation—are there because some humans want them to be and too many other humans don’t do enough to stop them from being there. In going up against Delta, we are very aware that it is an international multibillion dollar corporation, and its executives are getting paid off in blood money to help facilitate the torture of animals in labs. The vivisection industry is powerful, with both corporations and the government in its back pocket, and we have to treat it as the powerful force that it is in order to have a chance at saving

animals from it. Treating it in this way means thinking about what we are doing as a movement and engaging in strategic campaigns and using a variety of tactics. The Gateway to Hell approach of targeting airlines—which don’t need to be involved in animal exploitation to continue their business as vivisection labs do—has been both strategic in targeting this weak link and involved a variety of tactics (email HUK WOVUL ISVJRHKLZ VMÄJL PU]HZPVUZ media demonstrations, letter writing, international coordination of groups, etc.), and the successes prove the effectiveness. To add to the strategy and tactics being used in the Gateway to Hell network, our campaign against Delta is a secondary targeting of Air France, which will care more about the interests of a partner airline than the direct demands of activists, and we launched the campaign with a national tour. The tour visited Delta’s hub cities, where we held airport HUK JHYNV VMÄJL KLTVUZ[YH[PVUZ HUK led up to demonstrations at Delta’s Atlanta headquarters and the homes of CEO Richard Anderson and VP Glen W. Hauenstein. The tour also included activism workshops and collaboration with local animal rights groups in an effort to use our tactic of touring to start to develop a network of grassroots activists. (Z ^L KYV]L [OL ÄUHS TPSLZ OVTL MYVT [V\Y HUK YLÅLJ[LK VU ^OH[ P[ OHK ILLU and accomplished, we knew that we’d done something right. When we knocked on the door of Richard Anderson’s house and told him that we were The Bunny Alliance, his eyes grew wide and he yelled, “Don’t come to my house!” At Delta’s headquarters, the head of security admitted to us that he’d been following

our website. Delta was forced to respond to media attention that we generated. Clearly, we’d gotten Delta to take note and given the campaign against the airline a big jumpstart. But what we also found in spending time in each city is that the grassroots animal rights movement is in severe need of active involvement. The animal rights movement has an impressive history of small numbers of dedicated activists doing the work needed to convince huge corporations to concede to their demands, and we saw the impact that we had on a corporation as massive as Delta with just a three-week tour at the beginning of a campaign. But that’s not LUV\NO ;V YLWLH[! 4PSSPVUZ VM HUPTHSZ suffer and die every year in laboratories, and this torture is possible in part because of us. By “us” we are not referring to the vivisectors who cut into animals or the government departments that pump funding into labs, but to all of us who care about animals and let the torture of them continue. What would you do if the dog, cat, or other companion with whom you share your home were screaming as someone put tubes down their throat, bashed them in the head, or force-fed them poison? Would you post about it on Facebook? Cry a little and then go about your day? Click to sign an online petition? Attend a symbolic protest once a year? While each of these may be effective parts of the motivation and tactics of a larger effort, hopefully you would realize that these things

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

alone would not save your beloved companion. And then hopefully you would think about what ALL you could do—based on your skills, privileges, resources, and allies— HUK KV P[ ^P[O KLKPJH[PVU HUK WHZZPVU HUK SV]L HUK YHNL 5V^ HZR `V\YZLSM! Ô` KV the animals trapped in labs deserve any less because we don’t know them personally? They don’t, and being actively involved in saving them is a part of being realistic HIV\[ [OL IH[[SL ^L HYL ÄNO[PUN HNHPUZ[ [OL ]P]PZLJ[PVU PUK\Z[Y` In the U.S., the vivisection industry has billions of dollars to spend every year and PUJS\KLZ ZVTL VM [OL JVYWVYH[PVUZ ^P[O [OL TVZ[ PUÅ\LUJL VU NV]LYUTLU[ KLJPZPVUZ ;OPZ PZ ÔH[ ^L»YL ÄNO[PUN·HUK ^L JHU»[ WSHJL [OL I\YKLU VU [OL HUPTHSZ [V Z\MMLY while laws and science take their sweet time getting around to acknowledging that no animal should be exploited for research. So in addition to needing to put our time and energy into effective, strategic campaigns like Gateway to Hell, we need more WLVWSL ÔV HYL PU [OL ÄNO[ MVY HUPTHS SPILYH[PVU HUK ÔV YLHSPaL [OH[ [OPZ ÄNO[ PZ [OLPYZ [V THRL WLYZVUHS [V JHYL PU H ^H` [OH[ JVTWLSZ ^VYRPUN HUK ÄNO[PUN MVY HUPTHS liberation, not just hoping that liberation will rise from the crumbs of vegan cupcakes. For every animal in a lab, or in a cargo hold on the way to a lab, vivisection and the brutal exploitation of animals is personal. They don’t get to go to sleep at night and MVYNL[ [OH[ [OL` O\Y[ HSS [OL [PTL VY [OH[ [OL` HYL [LYYPÄLK VM ÔH[ [OL UL_[ KH` ^PSS bring. They don’t get to decide that they “don’t have time” today to care about what’s happening to them. And they also don’t have the power that we do to stop what’s happening to them, and so we must take on that precious responsibility. And we must act in a way that is appropriate based on both the magnitude of the system of torture and the desperate need of the animals to escape from hell. With love and rage, The Bunny Alliance

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

=LNHUPZT PU [OL 6JJ\WPLK ;LYYP[VYPLZ 7[ 00! +LJVSVUPaH[PVU 3HUK HUK ¸*OVPJL¹ I` +`SHU 7V^LSS Response to “Veganism in the Occupied ;LYYP[VYPLZ! (U[P *VSVUPHSPZT HUK (UPTHS Liberation” has been great. Although far from the most read thing I’ve written – even on [dylanxpowell.com] – what I wrote has been discussed and challenged broadly and already led to speaking events, zine offers, panels and public discussion. Although I am happy with that initial response, there is still so much that just could not be covered and what has been lacking has been more and more apparent as I chart the critical reactions to it. The enormity of Euro Settler Animal Agriculture is beyond my ability to convey. Even still, I shouldn’t write about it as an assumed system or structure which others accept or understand (on any level). That Europeans brought a different system of agriculture to this continent is not controversial or new, but thinking critically about what exactly that meant, and how that system continues to impact us is. In this vein, it has been disheartening to see some continue to frame this issue of ]LNHUZ ]Z 6UR^LOVU!^L I\[ [OL TVYL this happens the clearer it becomes just exactly where the break is – where people stop thinking about the issue critically. In most of these instances other animal species – both captive populations and

wild – and the physical land itself become PU]PZPISL ;OL JVUÅPJ[ PZ MYHTLK HZ IL[^LLU humans – divorced from the land or other animals – and typically prioritizes a narrative of “choice.” One side is intent on removing it, the other side intent on enacting it. These arguments are typical and the framing is recognizable to anyone who has given any thought to the issue or read anything written about it. Although there is clearly an assimilationist (and white supremacist bent) to mainstream vegan advocacy, there is no similar critical framing of how Euro Settler Animal Agriculture itself is a product of and perpetuates assimilation. The issue then becomes about how we can break this framing by introducing other animals and the physical land itself into the discussion. Moving it from a JVUÅPJ[ HIV\[ ¸JOVPJL¹ HUK [V H JYP[PJHS understanding of how the use of animals in our current system of captive animal agriculture (imported and handed down by European settlers) continues to impact wild animals, the land and colonization. Angered recently by another article about “choice” I took to twitter (typical!) to rant about it. What came out was a detailed attempt to try and place Euro Settler Animal Agriculture as unique structure ^P[OPU [OPZ JVU[L_[ ;OL ÄYZ[ Z[LW ¶ 0 took the numbers publicly available for reservation land in the United States and

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Canada and compared them to public statistics available for the amount of land for animal grazing within the countries respective agricultural system. In the United States reservation land currently occupies 55 million acres, while the amount of land used for animal grazing is 613 million acres. 11+ times the amount of land in the United States PZ J\YYLU[S` \ZLK Q\Z[ [V NYHaL JHW[P]L animals than is available as reservation SHUK That 613 million acre amount also represents 1/4 of all the private owned land in the United States. In the Canadian context reservation land represents 7.5 million acres, while livestock grazing takes up 50 million acres. ;OPZ TLHUZ [PTLZ [OL HTV\U[ VM SHUK PZ \ZLK Q\Z[ MVY SP]LZ[VJR NYHaPUN PU *HUHKH [OHU PZ J\YYLU[S` YLJVNUPaLK HZ YLZLY]H[PVU SHUK In both instances, these numbers represent just the use of land for “livestock grazing” – meaning neither represent the massive amount of land in both countries needed for resources to feed, water, house and [\YU [OLZL HUPTHSZ ÅLZO HUK IVKPLZ into commodities. From there I tried to make captive “farmed” animals present by delivering Stats Can amounts from 2011 – according to them in 2011 there were 12.7 million captive pigs, 961,726 captive dairy cows, 4.5 million captive beef cows, 12.8 million total captive cattle, and 38.6 million captive hens in Canada. Each one of these numbers represents an individual, while also begging the question of how – within the span of 500 years – did this

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

¸*V\U[Y`¹ VM ¸*HUHKH¹ JVTL [V JVUÄUL 63+ million animals were previously none of these species existed? And what of the wild animals destroyed in order to take their place (bison, wolves) and the people who lived on this land? Why do these numbers matter? They illustrate the physical land that these captive animals have to occupy in order to have their bodies turned into commodities for humans to consume. The scale of which is massive and typically unseen (especially by some leftists who have not grown up around or even seen industrial scale agriculture.) This all matters because framing these issues as one of “choice” continues to make this structure invisible – it assumes and invisibilizes processes of colonization and assimilation (destruction VM SHUK HUK [YHKP[PVUHS 6UR^LOVU!^L food systems and agriculture) while accepting this system of agriculture (and it’s use of animals, people and land) as given. How can we talk seriously about KLJVSVUPaH[PVU HUK YL[\YUPUN SHUK PM ^L KVU»[ ZWLJPÄJHSS` [HSR HIV\[ [OL WYVJLZZ by which land was stolen and the ways in which that same land is still being used? Also, why do elements from both “sides” continue to focus on consumption instead of on animals and the land? +LÅLJ[PVUZ [V [OPZ SPUL VM [OPURPUN [OH[ 0 have encountered range from substantive – “ALL European Agriculture should be looked at critically and not just Animal Ag” – to absurd – “well, QUINOA!” The critique cannot be divorced from capitalism, settler colonialism or racism and should never be an endpoint for people to assume that veganism = decolonization. There is nothing inherent

within vegan, animal “rights” or animal liberation movements that critically looks at captive animal use from a perspective that charts European arrival on this continent and proactively looks towards the end of their use as something tied to physically returning land [V 6UR^LOVU!^L (though it should!) The point here is instead to be able to understand Euro Settler Animal Agriculture as a clearly KLÄULK Z[Y\J[\YL ^P[O H ILNPUUPUN WVPU[ VU [OPZ JVU[PULU[ [OH[ OHZ clear connections to upholding how settler colonialism is practiced. There is a “newness” to Euro Settler Animal Agriculture that can and should be exploited as a weakness. There are also endless pitfalls if we continue to attack this industry without tracing its origins – making our own complicity and privilege from genocide and land theft invisible (whether we eat other animals or not). Thinking about this feels heavy, complicated and frustrating. 3LHYUPUN TVYL HIV\[ [OL LUVYTP[` VM OVYYPÄJ ]PVSLUJL TPNO[ THRL people more knowledgeable and capable of critique, but it is also overwhelming. The solace I take is that in understanding Euro Settler Animal Agriculture in these terms we can shake off the framing of “choice” and instead move towards understandings that allow us to chart the full history of how these animals came to be here – and most importantly – begin to visualize and work on strategies for the collapse of this system which steals land from people in order to enact ]PVSLUJL VU V[OLY HUPTHSZ ;V [OH[ LUK [OPZ ZLYPLZ ^PSS JVU[PU\L

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Bioregionalism Against White Supremacy by Alexander Reid Ross and Elona Trogub When the topic of bioregionalism comes up, what jumps into mind? Perhaps for some buzzwords emerge like resilience, sustainability, biodiversity, ecology, living systems, and watersheds. Perhaps for others a lingering taste, resentment, recollections of the Skinhead Wars of the 1980s, the “Northwest Imperative.” In the 1980s the Aryan Resistance Movement, among other hard right-wing white supremacist organizations, decided that the demography (mostly white) and territory (far away from DC) made the Northwest a prime locale for organizing. They set their sights on many scenes, but [OL W\UR ZJLUL ILJHTL [OL ÅHZOWVPU[ for veritable street wars between antifascists and white supremacists. The result included tenuous alliances between anarchists and anti-racist Liberals, which succeeded in prosecuting and defeating the white power movement in the streets and the court rooms. The alliances between Liberals and radicals has broken down considerably, as the former has attacked the latter’s roles in social movements while compromising on values such as global justice and economic equality. 6UL [OPUN PZ JSLHY! IPVYLNPVUHSPZT PZ UV[ a Liberal project in the modern usage of the term, because it moves away from the notion of the nation-state and globalization and towards ideals that are much closer to home. This, however, leaves us H THQVY WYVISLT! OV^ JHU IPVYLNPVUHSPZ[Z help to confront and defeat the growing

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

white supremacist movement without allowing the idea of bioregionalism to be co-opted, compromised, and appropriated by Liberals and fascists, alike? 3L[ \Z ÄYZ[ HUHS`aL IPVYLNPVUHSPZT HUK HZZLZZ P[Z HMÄUP[PLZ ^P[O HUHYJOPZT HUK radical ideas, as opposed to its natural antipathy towards fascism, white supremacism, and other forms of neocolonialism (such as contemporary Liberalism, for instance). Bioregionalism does not signify much more than the breaking down of State structures, and the emergence of living systems based on natural boundaries. According to author and seasoned bioregionalist Doug Aberley, “Bioregionalism is a body of thought and related practice that has evolved in response to the challenge of reconnecting socially-just human cultures in a sustainable manner to the region-scale ecosystems in which they are irrevocably embedded.” Bioregionalism is not some overarching conspiracy theory; it is a subtle and simple practice that can be put to use in our daily lives to grow food together, learn together, and provide for all our basic needs and desires without exploitation of near or distant lands, while dismantling the structures of colonial rule. By colonial Y\SL ^L HYL ZWLJPÄJHSS` YLMLYYPUN [V [OH[ form of governance which rules over other JV\U[YPLZ HUK WLVWSLZ I` ÄYZ[ ZL[[PUN HWHY[ and alienating the individual from the

collective in their home country. This form of governance seeks to control the many through the enclosure of the commons. In response to this system of degradation and division, bioregional author and UC Davis professor David Robertson proposes, “We can...consider a bioregion a unit of space where, by locating ourselves there, we place ourselves in a physical, mental and spiritual relationship with the whole.” This whole is not some unifying mass but something more fractal-like, acknowledged as decentralized by practitioners of those of us working towards forest defense, food security, and housing justice. This recognition is a consciousness of unity in diversity, working together on projects through mutual aid. Understanding unity as something that comes about through respect for differences of ideas, interpretations, and perspectives is critical to moving forward. But this does not mean tolerance for those whose ideas of unity eliminate and malign all other propositions. The Tea Party will never be bioregionalists, because they are funded, sponsored, and controlled by corporate oligarchs—no matter how loudly they cry out for freedom from the oppression of big government, it is clear that they HYL ÄNO[PUN MVY PUK\Z[Y` SHUK NYHIZ HUK militarization. It is no small wonder that the recent Las Vegas mass shooters were connected to the Bundy Ranch debacle, neo-nazis, and wingnut Alex Jones theories of depopulation and the Agenda 21 New World Order. White terrorism will always be tied to racism/colonialism and the nationalist conspiracy theories that keep people inhabiting a terrain of fear and insecurity.

Beyond the monstrosity of white nationalism which feasts on patriotism, David Graeber asks the question, “How do we theorize a citizenship outside the State?” Of course, the only answer here is through practice. “We make the road by walking,” as the Zapatistas say. By coming to Indigenous peoples and asking how they want to defend the land they have come to know over the centuries, Zapatistas are practicing the most important aspect of bioregionalism—protection of community in a place that respects human relationships with the surrounding earth. For Peter Berg and Raymond Dasmann, “A bioregion refers both to geographical terrain and a terrain of consciousness—to a place and the ideas that have developed about how to live in that place.” There is a memory of place through a manifestation of unique cultures that make it a bioregion, they are not only “geographic areas having common characteristics of soil, watershed, climate, native plants and animals that exist within the whole planetary biosphere as unique and contributive parts.” Toward this constitutive end of bioregionalism with respect to Indigenous peoples and knowledges, we must recognize “settler colonialism” as something to be disrupted and challenged. In Undoing Border Imperialism Harsha Walia explains, “Settler colonialism is an ideology that seeks to dominate, control, and commodify communities and lands, while migration—largely characterized as precarious migration—is an expression of self-determination.” While Walia agrees that precarious migration is a product of colonialism, she insists that not all migrants ought to be confused with colonists. While there are numerous examples

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

of historic nomadic peoples, there is need for our movement to address the paradigms of contemporary climate migration, and migration as it is shaped by the pressures of nation-states as well as globalized JHWP[HSPZT 0U [OL ÄUHS HUHS`ZPZ IPVYLNPVUalism shares the demands proposed by >HSPH HUK 5V 6UL 0Z 0SSLNHS! ¸[OL MYLLKVT to stay and resist systematic displacement, [OL MYLLKVT [V TV]L PU VYKLY [V ÅV\YPZO with dignity and equality, and the freedom to return to dispossessed lands and homes.” As Simone Bignall notes in Potential Postcoloniality, her essay on the sacred and profane, “The ongoing colonial dispossession of Australia’s Aboriginal peoples destabilises the security of the settler consciousness and the cohesiveness of the national culture, challenging the self-evidential legitimacy and uniform authority of the transplanted sovereign power. Consequently, the nation-state of Australia must perpetually seek to (re-) establish itself as legitimate, undivided and unchallenged.” The consequence of the expansionary ethic of colonialism is a constant feeling of insecurity that must be quelled through displays of conquest and dominance. Bioregionalism is a subversion of that expansionary attitude, growing internally to build community structures that are autonomous and mutually reinforcing. Across the planet non-Native bioregionalists are seeking to move beyond settler colonialism by placing a strong emphasis on supporting Indigenous peoples in strengthening their own communities in their traditional lands as well as seeking leadership from Indigenous communities

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

in land defense campaigns. Two examples from northern Cascadia stand out as replicable models. In 1980, a campaign began to prevent the mining and building of a coal-powered energy facility in Houth Meadows on shared Secwepemc and St’at’imc lands near Lillooet, BC. An alliance between the Secwepemc and :[»H[»PTJ UH[PVUZ HZ ^LSS HZ ZLSM PKLU[PÄLK non-native bioregionalists from the nearby Yalakom valley intentional community was formed and continues strongly to this day. Their victory in thus far defeating its construction is remembered yearly with the Hat Creek Bioregional Gathering on the very site of the proposed facility and mine—celebrating together while staying vigilant for remobilization. Additionally, BC bioregionalists have developed a strong food network (BC Food Systems 5L[^VYR [OH[ WSHJLZ ZPNUPÄJHU[ LTWOHZPZ on re-establishing Indigenous food systems access. Today, the working group on Indigenous Food Systems led by Dawn Morrison (Secwepemc) has become its own organization and leads the way in reclaiming land for traditional food ways through the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Southwest BC Bioregional Food Systems Design and Planning Project. While many bioregionalists look to the example set by Zapatistas in creating autonomous regions in Southern Mexico, we also look to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, whose Survival Programs Pending Revolution set out a critical howto guide for community self-determination. Here, rather than simply protesting, the BPP sought to take direct action. Rather than asking the government for something the BPP simply did it themselves, and through their own means became an

emergent community force. In an essay included in the anthology about the back to the land movement, West of Eden, Robin C. Spencer discusses the “communalism” of the BPP, as well as insurgent efforts within the party to advance feminist politics, along with land-based alternative structures. Bioregionalists have recognized, with trends in social ecology, that urban areas can be crucial ecosystems; parking lots can be turned into gardens, NLU[YPÄJH[PVU JHU IL YLZPZ[LK HUK ZHMLY spaces established amidst autonomous, resilient ecological networks prepared to unite against the forces of state repression and the possibility of environmental or ÄUHUJPHS JYPZPZ There could be a bigger picture involved. >L TPNO[ MVY L_HTWSL ÄUK PUZWPYH[PVU in the examples of the CNT/FAI in Spain, as well as the National Liberation Front of Algeria in the early revolutionary period (before the military coup). These groups overthrew the establishment, and offered land to collectives who would cultivate it for the betterment of everyone. There are also some interesting examples of solidarity across continents against colonialism happening during the 1800s, which Maia Ramnath discusses in Decolonizing Anarchism. Those were the swadeshi movement from India mixing with the French and Russian anarchists, learning from each other, and spreading revolutionary tactics and strategies.

forest defense, or a union blockade—and work towards common ground with one another. There does not necessarily have to be a “big picture” ahead of us, as long as we are working together in mutual aid. The MOVE House in Philidelphia was one example of a radical, spiritual journey into food security, education, and autonomy HTVUNZ[ ÄUHUJPHSS` KLWYLZZLK JVUKPtions. Malik Rahim and scott crow’s work founding work with the Common Ground Collective in post-Katrina New Orleans is an important example of how bioregional assistance can grow through direct action in an era of disasters and crisis. While the areas being served needed outside supplies to reconstruct their homes, the networks being built would generate selfreliance not only among the inner city residents, but also with Indigenous peoples forgotten along the Gulf Coast. As bioregionalism transitions from obscure concept to its more frequent associations with sustainability and resilience, new objectives have joined the original work VM YLPUOHIP[H[PVU :PUJL [OL ÄYZ[ IPVYLgional gatherings, there has been a focus on respecting and supporting the ability for Indigenous peoples to thrive on their traditional lands as well as an emphasis on fostering an understanding and respect for all living systems in order to maintain

We can begin small at whatever point—be it a gathering space, an eviction resistance, a

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

or restore their integrity. With capitalism and climate chaos continuing to displace traditionally rooted populations, bioregionalists must learn how [V ULNV[PH[L [OLPY YLSH[PVUHS ^VYR V]LY THU` KPMMLYLU[ RPUKZ VM IV\UKHYPLZ! cultural, political and economic while uprooting colonialism at every step. /LYL HYL Ä]L X\LZ[PVUZ ^L JHU JVU[LTWSH[L HZ ^L PTHNPUL H IL[[LY ^VYSK PU V\Y OLHY[Z! 1) What can we do to encourage land-and-community-based organizing in V\Y ZWLJPÄJ YLNPVUZ& 0M ^OP[L Z\WYLTHJ` PZ Z`Z[LTPJ [OLU KVLZ ÄNO[PUN P[ LU[HPS TV]PUN IL`VUK antifascist organizing and towards larger anti-systemic thought? 3) How can we establish an antithesis or alternative systems to white supremacy (ie, the “dominant” paradigm of industrial civilization, economic injustice, and racialized discrimination)? 4) How do we navigate the boundaries between growing such alternative structures and allowing destructive tendencies that will co-opt or compromise our goals of solidarity and collective liberation? Is it possible to use the later to our advantage by deploying it against itself (just a thought)? 5) How can our movement work in solidarity with others in our region and HYV\UK [OL WSHUL[&

Alexander Reid Ross is an activist/journalist. Having researched globalization extensively, with a focus on contemporary land grabs, he co-founded the Earth First! Newswire in 2008, and has worked on anti-state repression and alter-globalization campaigns internationally. His articles can be found in numerous publications, and he is the contributing editor of Grabbing Back. Elona Trogub is a founding member of the Cascadia PDX Branch, and a council member of the Cascadia Education Project. She advocates for Ä]L THQVY JOHUNLZ! [OL ZJHSPUN KV^U VM LJVUVTPLZ HUK NV]LYUTLU[Z [V watersheds-based networks; developing partnership of and support for Indigenous nations; conscious reintegration of humanity as part of nature, long-term thinking leading decision-making; and the rebalancing of feminine with masculine forces in society.

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

;OL 0U]PZPISL *VZ[ VM 7H[YPHYJO` by Jennai Bundock I want to preface this piece by saying that I am in no way an expert on the topic I intend to discuss. The knowledge about it doesn’t come from [YHPUPUN PU JVUÅPJ[ YLZVS\[PVU VY PU degrees about social justice or harm reduction. My understanding of the way that patriarchy functions, inside and outside of radical communities comes from a much more informal place. I was IHW[PaLK PU[V [OPZ ^VYR I` ÄYL" 0 ^HU[LK to be part of this community because I was hoping to come up for air after university—the men I had encountered were especially attached to their bullshit behavior, and I was looking for some new comrades. What I found here was much more insidious, more subtle, more nuanced culture of dominance. What I understood about “bros” and control and aggression was all turned on its head when I found myself struggling under what felt like the same issues, dressed up as vanilla ice-cream. In quiet coffee shops and anarchist cafes/info shops, at feminist rallies and pro-choice documentary screenings, I cheerfully and naively met the kinder, gentler, soft-spoken, vegan, in touch with its feelings form of patriarchy. ;HSR 0Z *OLHW 0[ *VZ[Z (Z 4\JO (Z ( *VW` 6M ¸-LTPUPZT 0Z -VY ,]LY`IVK`¹ I` ILSS OVVRZ

One thing I seem to have to explain to men who have boldly stepped into their new lives, as “good men” is that it isn’t about what you say. I can read a book on OV^ [V YLWHPY H ÄNO[LY QL[ 0 JHU TLTVrize it word for word and look at all the schematics and blueprints, but until I go WPJR \W [OL WPLJLZ HUK Z[HY[ Ä_PUN VUL 0 HT UV[ H ÄNO[LY QL[ TLJOHUPJ 0U [OL ZHTL way, I can respect BMX bikers, and I can think what they do is amazing, and I can cheer them on and go to all their meetings, but unless I ride a bike, and my body is at risk, and I am out there on the ramps sometimes, I am not one of them. Identity is practiced. A runner must run. A baker must bake. A feminist must… read feminist IVVRZ& >O` PZ [OPZ H Z\MÄJPLU[ IHZLSPUL MVY appropriation of a real-live-daily struggle for justice? These are my two go-to analogies when I start talking to a man who is talking at me about how much they are “checking their privilege these days” and how feminist and in touch they are. Cis men* don’t ride

*Cis is a term used to describe a person who has a corresponding gender to the biological sex they were born. A cis man is an individual who was born with a penis/one X chromosome and VUL @ JOYVTVZVTL HUK PKLU[PÄLZ ^P[O HUK PZ WHZZPUN ]PZ\HSS` HZ [OL THSL NLUKLY HZ H THU PU their adult life. RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

my BMX bike. Reading bell hooks doesn’t mean you’re a feminist, anymore than reading Sports Illustrated makes me a basketball player. Acting like my ally makes you one. Telling me that you are makes me nervous about you... I can’t actually count how many times I have sat in a room and listened to radical men blather on about a book (that I often gave him to read) and how much it has changed and evolved his “feminist perspective” without asking any woman in the room a single question. I have seen radical “feminist” men sit across a table from a tenure track professor friend of mine with a PhD in gender studies, that is one of the most brilliant vegan scholars I have ever met, and ask her zero questions. He had nothing to learn from her, but rather, wanted to impress her with how much he knew. For so many radical men, feminism is a thing you perform, rather than a thing that you live. “In my ideal world, the misogynists would be ultra-detectable, with facial pocks and sulfur-y odors and grunt ‘wiggle your glazed donut ass for me.’ I would even take the world as I thought it a few years ago, where misogynists talk like Tucker Max and live in Greek houses and call women ‘biddies.’ But confusingly, misogynists are sometimes men who speak softly and eat vegan and say ‘a woman’s sexual freedom is an essential component to her liberation. So come here.’ It’s a tricky world out there. And while I’d prefer a critical approach to gender from men I elect, read, and even bed, in my experience, the so-called feminist men I’ve met deep down have not been less antagonistic or bigoted toward women. What I see over 38

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

and over again is misogyny in sheep’s clothing, and at this point, I would rather see wolves as wolves.” The Fake Male Feminist Chicanery by Minh Nguyen When you tell me you are feminist but you do not do the dishes (the dishes, not just the plate you touched); you organize an action or community event and the thought to offer childcare doesn’t even enter into your mind; when you speak to me about my sexual liberation as though P[ PZ ZVTLOV^ [PLK [V `V\Y NYH[PÄJH[PVU" when you never come to a single organizational meeting but you become the most visible component of a protest or action; when you “up the anti” at events where no one else is becoming aggressive--you are not my ally. 7H[YPHYJO` 0Z ,_WLUZP]L 0[ *VZ[Z <Z >VTLU -VY ,HJO 7YVISLT +\KL One thing I say constantly to highlight the cost of these hidden, quiet oppressions is that there is never a clearer picture of patriarchy for me in our radical communities than when one man is worth more than the ten women he displaces. As a woman who does survivor support regularly I’ve seen over and over that when the man who is making a woman uncomfortable, or who crossed her boundaries, or worse, assaulted her is outed to me, it’s almost never a surprise who he is. Women know who they are. What is even more interesting is that he is often not acting in isolated incidents, as they will almost always claim in defense (she’s just crazy/ jealous/hurt/trying to get back at me/trying to destroy me over one mistake I may have made by accident!); every time I have ever ÅPWWLK V]LY H YVJR HM[LY H ^VTHU [VSK TL [V NV ÅPW P[ 0 ZLL HSS [OL I\NZ ZJ\YY` V\[

We communicate about these things to keep each other safer, but men are almost always completely taken aback with each revelation. “But he does such good work! But he punched that drunk guy who was creeping on those women! But he was in the front row for PUNCH like 3 weeks ago!” The court of public appeal is biased towards men. Further to that, it is men that women often feel we need to convince in order to extract or eject a man from a space or group. Every woman in the room can stand up and say “he needs to go” and somehow one man standing up next to him and saying “let’s talk this out, everyone here has probably made a few mistakes” is seen as a balance of opinion, because one man is worth 10 women, and the request for a safer space becomes in that moment not longer about justice but more about negotiation. “...I just think there’s this certain assumption that when a man tells the truth it’s the truth. And when as a women I go to tell the truth I feel like I have to negotiate the way I will be perceived. I feel like there always is the suspicion around a woman’s truth, the idea that you are ‘exaggerating’ I don’t just sit there and be like “this, this, this, this”, there’s this whole fear that I’m NVPUN [V OH]L ÄUHSS` M\JRPUN Z[LWWLK up to the plate and told the truth and someone’s going to say ‘Ahhhh, I don’t think so’” ~ Kathleen Hannah, The Punk Singer When I talk to people about how to make safer spaces, things feel very absolute. “I want him out. I want him to not be allowed in any of these places. I want him to not come to my city. I want him to be removed from his groups. I want him

gone.” I have spent a lot of time unpacking why the requests get framed up this way and I am starting to realize it is because men do not cede space willingly. Men don’t negotiate their attendance or consider the effect of coming or not coming to things, even when they know that someone who has a problem with them may be there. It feeds into this leftover and pervasive idea that women are emotional and irrational, and that if a man “let’s her win this one” that it will damage him socially and he’ll have to just keep on giving into these outrageous demands. We can’t ask men to step back without [OLT ÄNO[PUN \Z HIV\[ [OL ]HSPKP[` ^L have for making such a request in the ÄYZ[ WSHJL >L JHU»[ JV\U[ VU TLU [V Z[H` home when they know we will be there and be uncomfortable, and so we are left ^P[O [^V VW[PVUZ! [V[HS YLTV]HS VM OPT or we stay home instead. I can tell you right now, at every animal rights conference there are empty chairs right now that women would be sitting in if one dude who knows he should have stayed home had sat this one out. I can tell you right now that the reason your demo attendance dropped off at least once, was because of who showed up even though he knew he shouldn’t. I can tell you right now most women who are reading this can tell you places they don’t go, because a man who hurt them or made them uncomfortable is there. I can think of no places where men do not go because I am there. If anything, men who have issues with me seek out places I will be, and they posture and defy my wishes. They go out of their way to show me that they will not comply with what I have said because my truth is not the truth. And my spaces are not really my spaces, they are his if he wants them. It RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

causes him no distress to take them from me, and it causes me a lot of distress to hold them in spite of him. So the women go home, and we stay there.

anything we want, as long as it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t displace a man.

I wrote an article years ago about the cost of sexual assault on my college camW\Z ;>! 9HWL (IK\J[PVU >LHWVUZ =PVSLUJL T` Ă&#x201E;UHS `LHY VM \UKLYNYHK H man was attacking women with impunity on campus. He had raped 12 women at gunpoint while they waited for transit or walked to their parking lot, which were all on the outer edge of campus. People talked so much about the safety concerns on my campus and how to keep women safe when they were waking around with this man on the loose, but what no one was talking about was how many women dropped out. I dropped both my night classes, each got out at 10pm and I ended up taking summer school to make up the credits. When I looked into the women who had been attacked, I found that the drop out rate for them, and almost every other woman on campus who was raped at school dropped out as well. A student who broke into a dorm room and raped women while they slept was permitted a year later to buy ad space for his new post-expulsion painting company on campus, with his photo on the ad. Women who had been living in the dorm when that happened changed their entire route on campus so they did not have to walk past the posters. Women everywhere are adapting to the abuse around us. Women everywhere are banding around the immoveable objects that are men in ANY community, because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been taught since we were very small that they are worth more than us, no matter how brilliant, active, organized, motivated, understanding or fair we are, we can be

So the thing that comes up the most after Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had these talks is what can men do if they want to be allies and to be part of feminism without taking over feminism as an identity accessory. Truthfully, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what men should do to disrupt something I have never had. Men who I know who are allies do have things PU JVTTVU!

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Feminist Men: Now New And Improved!

Â&#x2039; They do not react in anger or retaliation to being asked to absorb the consequences of their previous behavior. Is staying home really this bad? Is there an action or choice you made in your past you can connect to and better understand in order to correct your behavior and restore safety to the person who would rather you not come? Or are you going to attack them and make them pay for denying youâ&#x20AC;Ś because though that last one is the most common, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always the most illuminating, and usually serves to make the point as to why a woman might have been afraid of having this man in her space to begin with. Â&#x2039; They cede space to women who have equal roles to them in projects. Understanding that women are often overlooked even when our contributions are equal or greater than men, the most HMĂ&#x201E;YTPUN JHTWHPNUZ HUK NYV\WZ 0 OH]L belonged to are ones where the women are given a priority space in visible positions (doing media, using the bullhorn, tabling items, doing presentations.) No one suspects that the men on your campaign arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pulling their weight or doing

the work, so if they step back, they don’t lose any social capital, but by stepping back women can gain so much more. They listen. This is maybe the most important one. When women are telling you about a man who has caused them a problem, or they are reaching out to you with an idea or a concern, listen. Don’t take it personally when women have an issue with someone/the work. Listening means respectfully engaging with a person’s idea, and believing them. Listen to women the way you would listen to men, which sounds ridiculous to say, but if you HYL [Y`PUN [V ÄN\YL V\[ PM [OLYL PZ H KPMMLYence, ask yourself if you would require a man to convince you as much as you require it from the women who talk to you. When you are in a feminist space, listen. When you are in a space with people of colour or trans people, or people who have lived a different life than you, listen. You don’t need to get their approval or impress them with speeches, proclamations or opinions. If you want to impress someone who has less social capital than you, listen to them. They ask questions that aren’t about themselves. 3LHYUPUN KVLZU»[ TLHU ÄUKing ways to apply the knowledge other people have about what you should do,

to your own life. Understanding someone else’s experience of the world is valuable on it’s own. Understand that other people are valuable on their own. Go out of your way to experience the world through the people around you, and share their load without feeling the need to differentiate yourself from the people or systems that have perpetrated their oppression. Stop framing everything up with you as the focal point. No one telling you about their sexual assaults cares that you don’t ever say the word “bitch.” Understand that sometimes you are not important. The rest of us have to feel this way all the time, we can’t escape it. Sometimes, like in women* only spaces, or at female fronted hardcore shows, or at radical queer trivia night, or even in line at the bank, you may not be important. Your presence may not be welcome or celebrated. Sometimes we love it when men don’t show up… you being the only guy in the room isn’t always making you cool or winning you a cookie, maybe it’s a sign. Sometimes you are not important, because sometimes your importance takes away someone else’s, and they deserve to have their moment or space without having to comWL[L MVY P[ ^P[O `V\

Jennai Bundock is a feminist killjoy living in Toronto Ontario. She is an H]PK Z\WWVY[LY VM ^VTLU ÄNO[PUN IHJR HUK SVUN [PTL VYNHUPaLY ^P[OPU [OL (9 JVTT\UP[` ZOL OHZ KLHS[ ÄYZ[ OHUK ^P[O [OL M\SS [PTL QVI [OH[ PZ ÄNO[PUN [V organize beside activist men rather than behind them. She runs Apiecalypse 5V^ =LNHU )HRLY` HUK KVLZ UV[ ^HU[ [V ÄNO[ ^P[O `V\ VU [OL 0U[LYUL[

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

Animal Liberation, Movement Building, and Solidarity: Organizing at the Intersections by Justin Kay Justin Kay is a former organizer of Portland Animal Defense League, co-founder of Student Animal Liberation Coalition, Portland Animal Liberation, and Resistance Ecology. Justin is active in animal advocacy and ecological defense and has organized in coalitions with climate justice, prison abolition, labor, student, and indigenous & migrant solidarity organizations. His current project, Resistance Ecology prioritizes movement building for animal and ecological liberation and resistance, while progressing beyond the conventional one-dimensional analysis and structure of mobilization and advocacy that has long been our calling card.

Background I rarely dig into personal accounts of my development as an activist. Those who know me know that I am a fairly reserved person. But as I endeavor to wrap my head around what I want to write here and why, I keep coming back to the formative years of my activity in animal liberation work and how I have come to arrive at my current understandings and political positions. I now feel that it is very important to be able to share these experiences as a mirror to explore how we come to call ourselves advocates and activists. Permit me to use a cliché: If I could go back in time and talk 15 year-old me and tell him that in 10 years he would be an activist of any sort… well needless to say 15 year-old me wouldn’t believe it. At that age, I was really only concerned about a few things: playing shred guitar, heavy metal, and girls. Sure, I had some emergent leftist political leanings, but I couldn’t really see them for what they were or seat them in any sort of broader context. And I didn’t care to at the time. I really just 42

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

arrogantly pursued those three things. Then one of them changed everything. That’s right, my life took a turn towards another cliché: I became vegan for someone I was dating. Out of respect of course, I will not share her name. I love her dearly to this day. She remains one my best friends and an integral part of who I have become. When 0 ÄYZ[ NV[ [V RUV^ OLY H[ [OL HNL VM T` entire worldview immediately shattered. /LYL 0 ^HZ H YLSH[P]LS` ÄUHUJPHSS` WYP]Pleged, white male who spoke (at the time) rather exploitatively about women and carelessly about people of color, animals, HUK [OL SHUK ^OV OHK Q\Z[ Z[HY[LK OPZ ÄYZ[ relationship with a young budding radical feminist and animal advocate who came from a broken home, working-class background, and experiences of abuse. ;OL Z[YLUN[O ZOL MV\UK [V UV[ VUS` ÄNO[ MVY herself but also for others in this environment remains one the greatest personal inspirations of mine to this day. Why? It unveiled the reality that we do not live in anything even resembling a

just world and that my personal experiences (privileges) had shielded me from the truths of others and the institutional and historical oppression in which I was complicit. I did not come into animal advocacy because I ran into PETA on the street, because I watched investigative footage, or because I never liked the taste VM Ă&#x2026;LZO 0 JHTL PU[V [OPZ ^VYR ILJH\ZL 0 watched someone I cared deeply for work to dismantle oppressive and structural violence on multiple levels while at the same time trying to negotiate the traumatic experiences of her own life. From the beginning, it was indicative to me that animal exploitation does not exist in a vacuum, isolated from other forms of abusive power, and that the only genuine approach to activism is multifaceted and seeks to understand the relationships that allow the abusive power to maintain. It was the greatest lesson I could learn as an inexperienced and admittedly naĂŻve young radical: animal advocacy has to be situated socially and historically if it is ever to make strides towards animal liberation. Our Social Positions Perhaps one the greatest hurdles facing animal activists is the assumption that, when it comes to animal exploitation â&#x20AC;&#x153;all men are Nazisâ&#x20AC;?. I will discuss the problem with such appropriation and analogy later, and instead focus here on the underlying assumption that all of our relationships to animal suffering are essentially equivalent. This assumes a number of things: we are all equally responsible for animal suffering, we all equally have a stake in it, ^L HSS LX\HSS` ILULĂ&#x201E;[ MYVT P[ HUK [OH[ we all have equal power to end it. While perhaps useful rhetoric in outlining just

how pervasive animal suffering is globally, [OLZL HZZ\TW[PVUZ KV UV[OPUN [V Ă&#x2026;\ZO V\[ the complex of social relations that exist both within human society and in concurrence with animal use. In reality, they erase them. It does a major disservice to animals to somehow tell their story as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;David and Goliathâ&#x20AC;? tale, wherein all humans are positioned as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nazisâ&#x20AC;? to all nonhuman animals. By doing so we not only make invisible the overwhelming inequalities and socialized violence that exist within and between human communities, we alienate many of these marginalized and oppressed from animal advocacy work and make it further inaccessible through our discursive rhetoric and self-righteous approach. In doing animal liberation work, we YLHSS` T\Z[ HZR V\YZLS]LZ [OL KPMĂ&#x201E;J\S[ underpinning questions: What engenders and reproduces animal exploitation and suffering on such a massive and unprecedented scale? Do we really believe that O\THUZ TLHUPUN ZWLJPĂ&#x201E;JHSS` Homo sapiens sapiens) are just innately malicious as a species and that we operate in such a way as to always cause harm to other life? Do we really think that our myriad of social positions do not matter in terms of animal oppression? Do we really think that the burden of animal liberation work is equally shared and that those who do not comply are beyond reprieve and themselves the enemy? By framing the phenomenon of systematic animal use in this way, we not only excuse and mask our own social privileges and unique connection to animal suffering,

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

we reproduce structural violence in the forms of racism, colonialism, nationalism, patriarchy, transmisogyny, and the criminalization of poverty. In our relationship to the state and other capitalist entities responsible for animal suffering, we are not all equal. The animal “rights” movement in the United States and Canada is overwhelmingly composed of white, English-speaking Eurosettlers, with outwardly male leadership, who to many others are the harbingers of the most destructive and violent system on the planet. It is the importation and exportation of Eurosettler agriculture that is driving up the toll of animal suffering and death across the globe. It is colonialism and racism that has driven indigenous communities and people of color to marginalization and poverty, which has made access to traditional or healthy foods nearly impossible. It is colonialism that has replaced native, biologically diverse lands with destitute grazing allotments or monocrops for animal feed. It is patriarchy that has made the JVTTVKP[` VM HUPTHS ÅLZO WYVÄ[HISL PU H society that fetishizes the male gaze and hyper-masculine desires. In our relationship to the institutions responsible for these atrocities, we are not all equal. As activists, we must be transparent and begin to position ourselves socially in order to understand how this matrix of domination is able to sustain as a result of these differences. As I write this, I have to acknowledge that I am a white, straight, cis-gendered male of European descent trying to organize on stolen land of the Multnomah people in what is now called “Portland, OR”. I have to recognize that I

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

belong to the most destructive civilization in history and that through my privileges I YLHW [OL ILULÄ[Z even if I try to denounce them. I must understand that this dynamic is precisely how I am by far more complicit in systematic animal use than others. I have to confront my social position and what it entails if I truly wish to advocate for a better world. To do so, I can gain a better understanding of how I can build relationships with other communities and movements, how to approach these relationships and also how not to approach these relationships. The “Intersectionality” of Oppression The term “intersectionality” was conceived by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and can be traced back to critical race theory and black feminist/womanist thought to describe how multiple, overlapping axes of identity can intersect to create unique experiences that are synergistic in nature (i.e. being both black and a women is distinct from being either black or a women). The more contemporary usage of the term is used to delineate that there are multiple manifestations of power (i.e. racism, capitalism, patriarchy, or animal exploitation) and that oppression and violence are best understood as a complex of overlapping and intersecting social structures and institutions. This phenomenon has previously been referred to as a “Matrix of Domination” by the black feminist theorist Patricia Hill Collins. It is important as activists trying to attain an intersectional analysis and praxis that we do not simply forget that this thought really emerged in the work of women of color trying to parse out their own experiences. We cannot just

appropriate it for our own ends and reject its history. It is useful to think of systematic animal use in intersectional terms, however, because that is indeed how it functions. Animal suffering is not simply an isolated problem that can be solved by coercing the world to adopt a vegan diet. It has intricate historical roots in capitalism, patriarchy, mass agriculture and the Green Revolution, the Enlightenment, colonialism and settler expansion, militarization, and globalization. These historical realities and social structures still exist today and PUÅ\LUJL [OL K`UHTPJZ VM HUPTHSZ SP]LZ and their communities, in addition to lives of many countless human communities. If we try urgently to approach animal exploitation as if it exists and is maintained in solitude, somehow exceptional and independent of the rhythm of other social functions of the modern globalized world, then we will inevitably fail to raze its pillars. Such myopic passion does not save the animals; it hinders any progress towards their freedom by reproducing the Z[Y\J[\YLZ [OH[ WYVW \W [OLPY JVUÄULTLU[ and exploitation. We have to move beyond the distractions that prevent us as a movement from creating real change and mobilizing meaningful opposition to the structures that keep animal exploitation productive and lucrative: i.e. Capitalism, colonialism, industrialization, urbanization, patriarchy, globalization. Every time that we don’t oppose manifestations of these forms of power as a movement, we lose one for the animals. We cannot salvage these losses by attempting to direct the focus back to them and silence the narratives of those

groups that we leave behind. We cannot try to formulate the dialogue as if we are still somehow helping lift them from subjugation by stepping on every other marginalized group that we can along the way. This wanton desperation is precisely why we have failed to build a mass movement for animals, and it will be our downfall unless we drop it now and adopt a radical intersectional approach. The Vertical and the Horizontal Movement building must be done. That much is clear. Currently the animal libLYH[PVU TV]LTLU[ PZ Z\MMLYPUN ZPNUPÄJHU[ fallout from years of state and corporatesponsored repression and harassment. To some extent, these efforts have successfully suppressed activity, fragmented networks, and driven the current movement to a state of parody. Yet resilient through our passion for liberation, animal activists are picking up the pieces and attempting to build capacity yet again. It’s great news of course, because although veganism may have become a mainstay in common vernacular and is featured on anything from Saturday Night Live to Portlandia to Oprah, animals still suffer systematic abuse in overwhelming numbers. In fact, the number of animals JVUÄULK HUK L_WSVP[LK PZ Z[PSS PUJYLHZPUN globally. Yet the number of animal-use operations (individual businesses involved in agriculture, vivisection, fur, etc) has been decreasing. These seemingly contradictory trends actually elucidate a much more impactful problem: animal use is becoming increasingly tied up in state capitalist endeavors and globalization. So although the number of farms may be decreasing, the farms that remain absorb

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

those sectors and actually expand in productivity, meaning that animalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives are becoming centralized in larger and larger corporate operations. But the animal â&#x20AC;&#x153;rightsâ&#x20AC;? movement in the west has been working for decades (even over a century by some measures) on exposing the plight of animals! Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created more and more vegans! Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve released more and more vegan cookbooks! There are more and more meat and dairy analogues! And they taste better and better! Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more coverage of animal abuse in the media. Celebrities frequently advocate for veganism. There are many ^LSS M\UKLK UVUWYVĂ&#x201E;[Z [OH[ MVJ\Z VU HUPmal abuse or animal â&#x20AC;&#x153;rightsâ&#x20AC;?. The list goes on and on. So what does it mean? Why does it seem that so many of our well-intentioned efforts are not balanced by any meaningful gains for animals? This is really suggestive of the difference between two distinct approaches to movement mobilization: the vertical and the horizontal. Vertical structures are those that are very insular in both analysis and approach. Vertical mobilization often looks like JOHYPZTH[PJ SLHKLYZOPW [OH[ YLĂ&#x2026;LJ[Z OLNLTVUPJ UVYTZ P L ^OP[L THSL UVUWYVĂ&#x201E;[Z that blow through funding in overhead JVZ[Z Â¸UVUWYVĂ&#x201E;[ PUK\Z[YPHS JVTWSL_Âš JHTWHPNUZ MVY WVSP[PJHS VMĂ&#x201E;JL JVYWVYH[L sponsors or alliances, attention-seeking and shock-value-laden media stunts, neutrality towards the state at best and collusion with the state at worst. ;OLZL [LUKLUJPLZ YLĂ&#x2026;LJ[ HU HWWYVHJO [V mobilization that is â&#x20AC;&#x153;silo-orientedâ&#x20AC;? and aligns itself with dominant paradigms

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

for shortsighted political gains instead of confronting the dominant paradigm for long-term and lasting victories. The animal â&#x20AC;&#x153;rightsâ&#x20AC;? movement has become increasingly vertical in its approach. Especially since the 1980s, the movement has centralized its leadership PU[V H ML^ THQVY UVUWYVĂ&#x201E;[Z [OH[ ^H[LY down the message for animals in order to make it more palatable in the public (and Ă&#x201E;UHUJPHS ZWOLYL ;OL NYHZZYVV[Z OH]L ILLU starved and any and all urgency and passion has been funneled into the campaigns of these movement â&#x20AC;&#x153;leadersâ&#x20AC;?, diluted through their arrogance, and lost through their failure to affect real change for animals. Continuing down this path will not lead us or the animals anywhere. Instead of believing that oppressive institutions making strides towards veganism is some sign of a light at the end of the tunnel, we need to actually identify those institutions as inherent parts of the problem and why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been lost in the dark. This assumption that the state and corporations can become allies in animal liberation is both strategically and morally Ă&#x2026;H^LK 6\Y JVU[PU\LK HZZPTPSH[PVU PU[V state-corporate society is a major hurdle and we as a movement need to recognize it as such. The necessary alternative is to foster a horizontal approach to building our own capacity. True grassroots mobilization forms horizontal structures for change. This means organization should occur through autonomous and decentralized associations, which do not attempt to JYLH[L ]PHISL WVSP[PJHS SLHKLYZOPW VY Ă&#x201E;UHUcial-growth modalities of social change,

which mire any hope of creating broad and systematic analysis. Horizontal movements do not attempt to glean any pittance from the state as reward for maintaining alliance and neutrality towards its inherent violence. Instead, a horizontal approach PKLU[PÄLZ [OL Z[H[L HZ H ]PVSLU[ MVYJL [OH[ must be confronted in order to achieve true victories. In doing so, we need to cultivate relationships with other communities and movements, align ourselves with their goals, and work in solidarity as accomplices for collective liberation from the common, intersecting domination and violence. If done correctly, this allows us to vastly increase our numbers and amplify our message. This is real mass movement building and it is only through these horizontal means that we can achieve any measureable gains for animals. Animal Advocacy as Allyship This discourse brings our movement to an important crossroads. If we are to confront the structures of animal use and exploitation through a methodology of mass movement building, solidarity work, and intersectional campaign organizing, how do we frame the advocate’s relationship to the animals involved? Currently, through a OPZ[VY` VM JVUÅH[PUN ]LNHU PKLU[P[` WVSP[PJZ with animal liberation, we have arrived at situation wherein it is often confused exactly who is oppressed and who is being advocated for. Let me just state it clearly: it is the nonhuman animals that suffer systematic abuse who are oppressed. Those humans who advocate for their autonomy and freedom from captivity are not oppressed simply by virtue of being animal HK]VJH[LZ *VUÅH[PUN [OL [^V JVUM\ZLZ [OL

role of advocates as allies and those who struggle against their own oppression. In reality, it is the animals’ movement, not ours. If given the choice every captive animal would choose freedom over bondage. The existence of animal activists does not provide any further proof of this fact. At any point in our activism, we can just walk away and won’t feel the repercussions; but the animals will. We are afforded this position through privilege and we are just here to help given our position in the system. As such, we are allies to animals in their struggle for freedom. Doing so is not only dishonest; it sidesteps the problem of ZVJPHS WVZP[PVUPUN [V HJOPL]L ZLSÄZO NVHSZ Such a road yet again attempts to navigate social complexities and differences in order to appropriate real historical and prevailing traumas for personal ends. This seemingly insular paradox within the animal liberation movement in reality mirrors how we attempt to approach cross-movement work in general. This is not solidarity. This is not movement building. Appropriation or Solidarity? Though there seems to be a trend among grassroots animal advocates to advance a broader analysis and begin doing solidarity work, the animal liberation movement has a poor history of relating to other movements. Time and again it has done so through analogy and appropriation, instead of solidarity or allyship. Such a hostile environment, created through decades of disrespect, erasure, and exploitation of marginalized communities and struggles as a means to an end makes it even more imperative that animal liberationists adopt an approach of solidarity

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

and understand the meaning of differences and similarities. The examples are unfortunately too many to thoroughly explore. Repeated comparisons to the Holocaust, the use of the terms ¸HIVSP[PVU¹ VY ¸HIVSP[PVUPZ[¹ YLKLÄUP[PVUZ of slavery or the slave trade, comparisons IL[^LLU HUPTHS ÅLZO HUK [OL MLTHSL IVK` terminology such as the “rape of the earth” all create the perception that we live in a post-racial, post-colonial, or post-patriarchal society and that these struggles are now just distant memories to be utilized as analogies for the only “real” oppression that is left- the oppression of animals. Doing so makes invisible those communities that still struggle against structural violence and caricaturizes them in a light that suits our version of history, which happens to be the de facto paradigm. Through these appropriative activities we reinforce the mechanisms that erase their suffering and treat them as rungs on a ladder towards the seemingly ultimate and confused goal of mutually-exclusive animal liberation. This vulnerability allows us to become an asset to the state. Although it seems that “intersectionality” or radical political analysis are in vogue in the animal liberation movement, in reality very little real work has been done to rectify past inadequacies or understand the complexities of social power. Yet it seems that the discourse of “intersectionality” is only used to serve a purpose of refashioning the movement in some sort of deceitful PR move so as to gather a broader support base for animal liberation while doing nothing on our end to actually support other communities. We misinterpret the analysis as if to excuse our continued

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

isolationism and one-dimensional approach: “If all oppression is connected, [OLU I` ÄNO[PUN MVY HUPTHS SPILYH[PVU ^L»YL ÄNO[PUN MVY total liberation.” Through the smoke and mirrors, we are able to maintain the illusions of solidarity and a IYVHK YHKPJHS HUHS`ZPZ ZHJYPÄJPUN UV[OPUN in the process, while using our privileged social position to leverage social capital off the backs of other struggles. What’s even more disheartening is that because the demographics of our movement are generally very privileged, we actually have a major platform to discuss many of these intersecting questions in an honest way with relatively little backlash, but we instead reduce them to social currency. We can no longer espouse empty rhetoric and use the very real and lived struggles of others (including animals) as scaffolding for our social climbing. It is time that we confront these limitations for what they are and stop protesting that no one else is willing to support us, so we have to go it alone. I should note here that within this framework lies an entire discussion about how we should interact with each other as activists and how abusive power manifests within interpersonal relationships. Up until this point, power dynamics have been tacitly established as existing between communities or social classes, with no real exploration of how abuse and violence manifest between individuals, reproduced from the structures of power that are always looming over us. As activists, especially animal liberation activists, trained to see and resolve all of the horrors of the world, we often anticipate violence and abuse to always take an explicit, absolute form. Although this is often the

case with structural violence and institutionalized oppression, we tend settle on this resolution as a crutch because we do not wish to negotiate the complexities of our own privileges, intersecting identities, and overlapping histories in relation to the power that creates them. Violence can be more than the discrete and physical manifestation that we are drawn to identifying and disarming. Power is more than violent state repression or capitalist exploitation. Sometimes it is most insidious when it is discursive, manipulative, or personal and navigates our vulnerabilities as emotional and social animals. This is often the form that patriarchy, homophobia, and transphobia take when allowed to damage our movements like unseen pathogens. The structures can act through us, and unless we work diligently on the dynamics of our relationships with one another, they can take a very severe, though often invisible toll. So we must begin to reformulate our relationships across movements and within our own as ones of allyship and solidarity. This is not some easy task to be taken lightly. We have built a history of bad faith in the name of desperate vegan self-righteousness and have buried many peoples, communities, and struggles in our wake. We cannot simply waltz in and expect to gain respect or trust simply because we claim to have changed our ways. Our

ÄNO[ PZ HSSV^LK [V \Z [OYV\NO WYP]PSLNL For others, their struggle is theirs and it may mean the difference between life and death. They cannot simply walk away. We can, at any point. So we must understand the social positioning that brings us to our solidarity work and coalition building and understand the difference between political expediency and political necessity. Only then can we try to build relationships of good faith, trust, and sincerity. ;OLZL HYL WYLJPZLS` [OL IPN HUK KPMÄJ\S[ questions that need answering, and we as animal advocates are the ones who must answer them. We must now move beyond our own hubris and shallow analysis that functions as a wedge between animal liberation and other struggles and towards a politic of humility that does not prioritize the suffering of one group over another or make invisible anyone’s oppression as a matter of convenience. Only then we can begin to organize at the intersections of domination that perpetually exploit and abuse life in so many countless forms, through the complex and often intimidating social functioning of power. It may ZLLT V]LY^OLSTPUN H[ ÄYZ[ I\[ L]LU slowly marching towards this goal can be a greater threat to systematic animal use than anything we may have achieved WYL]PV\ZS` 0[ PZ H KPMÄJ\S[ HUK JLY[HPUS` unresolved path ahead, but it must be the VUL [OH[ ^L [HRL

“Capitalism has colonized our minds... We look no further than the commodity itself... We refuse to understand the relationships that underlie the commodities... That would really be revolutionary, to develop a habit of imagining the human relations and non-human relations behind all of the objects that constitute our environment.” - Angela Davis

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

>, 5,,+ @6<9 /,37 Dear friends, allies, and supporters, We do not yet have the readership or reach that we hope to have in the near future. We need contributions, action reports, insights, critiques, and ideas to get this project off of the ground. But unfortunately, what we need most right now is funding. With funding we can move forward with our project in its full scope. Our publication project was created in the spirit of the movement periodicals No Compromise, Earth First! Journal, Resistance, Do or Die, Arkangel, SHAC USA Newsletter, Species Traitor, and 2600. We want to capture movement-wide participation, inter-movement appreciation and respect, self-critique, reports from the trenches, news, analysis, and most importantly, dialogue. Like during the initial issues of No Compromise, our movement is at a pivotal and vulnerable moment, and like No Compromise, we want Resistance Ecology to serve as a means of connection, hope, and a creative future. It can be, with your support.

WHAT WE NEED Resistance Ecology has some pretty big goals. As a magazine, we aim to provide cutting edge news and analysis from the active communities involved in the struggle for animal and ecological advocacy. But we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just want to provide the traditional, single-axis perspective. We are trying to create an avenue for discussion that is not only welcoming of diverse perspectives, but encourages the movement to move away from a privileged position of single-issue politics and adopt an approach of intersectional organizing and coalition building. The good news is, there are a lot of opinions and approaches, and there are a lot of folks from diverse communities that have a lot to say on these subjects. The bad news is, this is going to be a lot of work for us! Publications are not cheap to produce. Each issue is upwards of $1000 per run (quoted from various printers in the Portland, OR area and compared with friends at Bite Back and Earth First! Journal), and that is using the cheapest materials, printing the bare minimum run, and with very few pages per issue. We want to print extensive reports of campaigns, actions, analysis, and movement debate. We want to provide this media on LJVSVNPJHSS` HUK ZVJPHSS` ZV\UK TH[LYPHSZ >L ^HU[ [V WYPU[ SHYNL Y\UZ [OH[ JHU LMĂ&#x201E;JPLU[S` be distributed geographically. This means we are looking at more like $2000 per run. If you would like to make a donation, please get in touch!

INFO@RESISTANCEECOLOGY.ORG

RESISTANCE ECOLOGY

OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP We understand that not everyone has the means to contribute monetarily. If you want to help us out there are many more ways you can!

Write for us! We always need contributors for news, action reports, campaign updates, opinion analysis, how to/skill share, or just about whatever you want to submit. Please email submissions to PUMV'YLZPZ[HUJLLJVSVN` VYN

Draw for us! Well, maybe not drawing necessarily, but we always need art and illustrations, graphic design work, and the like for a magazine like this. Can’t all be witty text, right? Again, please email submissions to PUMV'YLZPZ[HUJLLJVSVN` VYN

Go to our next conference! It’s a win-win type scenario. Plus! The conference is free! For more information on conferences, keep up to date on our website, ^^^ YLZPZ[HUJLLJVSVN` VYN

Spread the word! 0M `V\ JHU»[ ÄUHUJPHSS` JVU[YPI\[L H[ [OPZ [PTL \ZL ^OH[L]LY TLHUZ HUK ZVJPHS UL[^VYRZ you have to spread the word to others who can. Give them this link and a little message about the importance of what we do. The more people this reaches, the better for us!

.L[ HJ[P]L HUK VYNHUPaL Ya know what means more to us than money? Organizing resistance. Get active in your community, there are likely organizations in your area that do activist work on an issue that you feel connected to. If not or if they don’t meet your standards, get in touch with us and we would be more than happy to help you get started. -VY YLHS (IZVS\[LS` 1\Z[ NL[ H[ \Z OLYL! PUMV'YLZPZ[HUJLLJVSVN` VYN Thank you for your support,

Resistance Ecology

INFO@RESISTANCEECOLOGY.ORG RESISTANCE ECOLOGY