Home for the Free: Cultivating Animal Rights
The public, the activist community, and the animals for whom we strive to advocate could all do with a positive vision of animal rights. ~ On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down to Earth
Animal rights means seeing ourselves as part of, and not in charge of, life on this planet. Just as much as animal-rights advocacy aims to stop exploitation, it also strives to preserve the freedom of those animals who live on their terms. In other words, habitat matters. It’s time we bring environmental concerns and animal rights together, and this is why I wrote On Their Own Terms.
We are all responsible for protecting our planet’s ecology — the animals’ only home. Will we have to give up anything? Yes: a destructive fantasy. We’ve made mistakes. We have appointed ourselves the master, the top of the food chain, the grand consumer, the super-predator. We have associated well-being with material affluence, control over nature, and conveniently accessible animal products. We have systematically turned the bio-community into billions of creatures who exist for no other purpose than to be exploited for our own pleasure, and then killed when they no longer suit our whims and conveniences.
In animal-advocacy circles, abolitionists talk of completely removing non-human animals from the category of human-owned property. Today, animals are selectively bred to be the choices on menus and the objects of racing and betting, showing and petting; abolishing these customs would mean ending our systems of breeding animals to be humanity’s playthings or stock shares. But as for those animals living free in their habitat? Are we paying attention to our effects on them? It’s vital that we do so.
It’s in their habitats and social networks — in their oceans, air, and meadows — that the respect taught by animal-rights theory will apply. It’s in their world that animal rights will have meaning. It’s essential that animals keep their habitats, and the freedom to pursue the interactions and experiences that comprise their free lives.
Beyond compromise
Tom Regan, who, in 1983, published The Case for Animal Rights, insists: “You don’t change unjust institutions by tidying them up.”
It’s hard to argue with that. And tidying the system doesn’t mean the animals really are treated any better, although groups who win compromises might call these victories. What happens behind the curtains? Negotiating with a dairy producer over the standards of confinement might well result in the company cutting corners in, say, the transportation contract in order to make up any financial losses from the change. Or the company might vaunt the new, improved confinement standard in its promotional material and succeed in selling more animal products, or in selling them at a higher price.
As long as there is slaughter — as long as human warring on other animals is considered acceptable and normal — there will also be untidy situations, to say the least. Humans can, with courage, acknowledge that the whole war has to end. With courage, we can end it through withdrawing our participation in it. Until we do, all kinds of atrocious things will happen to the non-human beings of the world, often behind closed doors, with activists only able to campaign against some of the most obvious and grotesque.
So we’re challenging our society to stop regarding other animals as our commodities. Not to sell them or the products of their bodies any more.
But is that the whole animal-rights platform? No. It’s not just about what other animals won’t be; it’s also about what they will be. There’s a special energy generated when we cease to define animal rights by focusing on what we oppose, and shift the emphasis to what we envision, advance, and celebrate.
Free-roaming animals walk, fly and swim just outside our walls and fences. How do we ensure they continue doing so? This means more than just leaving them alone or forgetting about them. To let them be takes active intervention, to stop policies and practices that encroach on other animals. Never has this challenge been more important. Our human population is approaching seven billion on this fragile planet and we all want to go to our shopping malls, which are built on concrete where habitat once was. Folded under our earthmovers, moved out of the way by development, other animals might be non-property…and gone forever. Many already are.
All told, at least forty percent of the known species on the planet Earth are currently faced with an extinction risk. It’s no good talking about rights for animals who will not be around to experience life at all.
That’s the context in which we must work, with the world’s physical reality changing much more rapidly than could have been predicted in the seventies, eighties and nineties, when many animal-rights texts were written. Meanwhile, we’re all being affected by changes in the economic climate. Even as you read this, shelters are doing all they can with strained resources to help the animals who arrive at their doors because people have lost their jobs and believe they can no longer afford to keep their pets. Refuges have to decide whether to take in more animals or keep paying support staff; sometimes, there isn’t money for both. And free-living animals are often far out of sight, and far out of mind.
As we clear ever more space for our houses, roads, yards and paddocks, as we bring domestic animals onto the planet in ever greater numbers, what has happened to the free-living animal communities? Where are the wolves, the bobcats, and other animals who once walked over the land on their terms?
Addressing our fears
Often, if we think other animals could harm us, or even if they just look at us sideways, we eliminate them. Humans are turning up everywhere. If our control over others is the default mode, they will be wiped off the continent; it’s only a matter of at what rate. In the rare event that a mountain lion is spotted in California, residents will say these big cats are beautiful, but “they don’t belong here” and the answer is to “take them out.” Why?
The deepest and most comprehensive question for our social movement is why and how modern human society has developed through patterns of domination; and the greatest challenge we face is imagining humanity without the master role. Is it our fear of free animals’ power (over our children, our dogs, our cows, the back yard at night, the woods our government claims for the people, our own bodies) that keeps us from imagining another identity for ourselves?
Although abolishing animals’ legal property status is important, these questions about domination, and what we’d be if we redefine humanity, take us deeper still.
It’s hard to imagine doing this. But look at what we stand to lose, collectively and individually, if we don’t overcome the habits connected with dominion over the planet’s life. Because of our farming customs, deforestation, our exploitation of the land and seas, and our waste, extinctions are occurring at least a hundred times the normal background rate; that is at the most conservative end of the estimates. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon notes that human expansion is wiping out species at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction, and that “business as usual is not an option.”
There is one encouraging factor: We have a platform. The idea of animal rights has become kind of a big deal. Today’s animal advocates are the stuff of talk-show conversations. How can we translate this into support for a sustainable and fair future for conscious living beings on Earth?
Healing a culture begins with healing oneself; similarly, nurturing our movement begins with nurturing ourselves. Knowing who we are as individuals, and being clear about our personal goals, enables us to find like-minded people, put our support in the right places, and determine how to live and relish our days. It helps us nourish an organizational base for change — and that matters in our age, when animal use has become high-tech and regulated at the level of global economics.
Wherever we get together and dare to undo old hierarchies, we can anticipate vehement attacks that mischaracterize our efforts. Expect resistance; it happens when one pushes for genuine moral progress. Yet we can be confident in our ability to transform our own being and our society. As children, before learning of classifications and hierarchies, we delighted in the variations of animals and enjoyed their presence. We, and everybody else, had to be taught that we’re destined to control and consume them.
We can reverse this learning, and teach ourselves to live and move with respect. And it will grow from there. That’s what organizing is about. Contrary to what some have said, we are not engaged in a social “war” and we are not going to prevail through targeting “the enemy.” When the animal-rights message prevails, it won’t look like an attack. It won’t look like heroes trouncing villains, saints slaying dragons; no, it will look like invincible weeds, the roots of trees, rising up slowly from beneath the concrete.
TODAY’S QUESTION: If someone gave you a million dollars that can be used for animal rights advocacy, how would you use it? (Answer in the comments section below!). Best of Luck!
Lee Hall: Lee is the co-author of Dining with Friends: The Art of North American Vegan Cuisine as well as various articles, books, and encyclopedia entries on food security, climate and migration, environmental law, the feminist movement and animal rights. Lee’s most recent book is On Their Own Terms: Bringing Animal-Rights Philosophy Down to Earth. Lee has taught immigration law and animal law, and now works full-time as the legal affairs VP for the international advocacy non-profit Friends of Animals. Image Source: Image 1
Just because Hollywood spends 400 million dollars to make a movie doesn’t mean that a great one can’t be made for less than 1 million. I have been a a Video/Film Producer for over 50 years and have made hundreds of videos and films for as low as a few dollars.
Films are the way to get the message out to the masses.
This is beyond the abolitionist & welfare approach. This is groundbreaking. I would give my million dollars to Lee Hall and let her spend it :)
We need to build awareness and spread the message that animals in factory farms should be treated better. I think no one does it better and draws as much attention as PeTA, so I would donate the million to them so they can continue doing more great work.
Animals in factory farms should NOT be treated better: they shouldn’t be there in the first place!
Until PeTA becomes a truthy ethical organization they won’t get a penny from me.
Sorry, I meant a *truly* ethical organization!
One Green Planet, you guys are amazing!
Lee, I agree the abolitionist approach is not the only way to go.
With a million dollars I would make another movie like Earthlings – with a clearer vegan message. Not sure a million would be enough but hey asking for more than that is a long shot! LOL
Lee is absolutely spot-on.
I believe that a more compassionate world is inevitable in time, if compassion is defined in terms of not eating animals or animal products. The change will likely not be driven by compassion though. It is highly likely that the change away from animal products, byproducts, use, and abuse will be driven by human acknowledgment of declines in health and environment, and advances in science and technology. In the mean time animals of all kinds, humans included, will continue to suffer. Our job is to help lessen others’ suffering while this transition takes place.
A million dollars may seem like a small amount compared to the enormity of the need, but it would be a huge sum to many small organizations. For the funds to have the biggest impact I would set up a trust fund and board of trustees that invested the bulk of the cash in a variety of ways. The trust would then sponsor grants on several monetary levels, awarded in several categories such as animal rescue, habitat restoration, emergency response, education, spay and neuter, and others. The grant funds would be awarded and paid in increments, conditional upon the animal organization meeting certain criteria. This safeguards the funds and retains as much as possible for investment – and extends the life of the original million potentially for years to come, saving and improving as many lives as possible.
“human expansion is wiping out species at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction”
Great article Lee, I’m ordering your book next. Animals depend on the entire ecosystem which man is destroying at an alarming rate. With a million to help animals I’d have small, not for profit groups that are doing fabulous grass roots work and research to save habitats for endangered species apply for grants. And I would publish the results of the non-profit’s grant projects to encourage another million be contributed to fund the next round, etc.
Well, one million dollars is not very much. It would have to be considered “seed money” for something much bigger. First of all, take $750,000 and invest in a trust where no one would ever be allowed to touch the principle. The interest earned may be removed and used in the organization’s endeavor. And what is the endeavor you ask? It is using money to make more money with much bigger returns which in turn would fund the mission – to save and improve the lives of animals all over the world. This would be done via:
1. Social media giving
2. Fund raising
3. Endowments
4. Giving via wills and trusts
5. Grants
6. Possibilities are endless
Also, buy a piece of land and begin a center which will get bigger and better as more spendable money comes in. Place a round building in the middle and build extensions as the money becomes available. Make this a shelter/education center/ product distributor etc. Save and adopt out as many animals as possible while constantly educating and building the pot. Be tirelessly patient and persistent. Hire lobbyists to use social media and connections to strategize the rework of tighter animal protection bills at the highest level. Everybody involved with the endeavor will always be thinking about improving education and gaining a good reputation. Build a trust with unlimited funding, and will get things done. Core mission is to educate the public, pay good people to do good work, and to ultimately bring the respect that animals deserve.
If I had a million dollars… I doubt I would buy you a monkey. But, I would probably support one at a sanctuary. I do often dream of a vegan cafe/bistro/artists hangout/reading room with a garden where most of the ingredients in the dishes are grown on the property with maybe a small sanctuary for rescued animals where one can eat on the patio amongst the trees while reading vegan and environmental literature, discussing relevant topics about saving the world and sing with local musicians at open mic night. But, honestly, I do not know what I would do with a million dollars.
These pictures are anziamg! And, I hope all these pups find great homes .I’m sure with your pictures bringing out the best in them, it will be no time before they find a forever home
$1 million doesn’t go all that far any more, certainly not as far as to pay for a blockbuster movie.
I would invest $1 million in community land trusts in key bio-regions where wild spaces are facing the threat of destruction. The community land trusts would be democratic, locally driven, and oriented toward preserving wild spaces from development and resource exploitation. The trust would keep the property out of the hands of private interests and put it back in the commons. This would ensure natural habitat for free-living animals would be preserved, and local people would have a stake in the matter.
Beautiful article…cannot wait to read! I was going to spend the million dollars on “Veganism” plugs in movies and TV, but since 1 million would not go very far here in La La Land, I think I will buy 66,666 thousand copies of “On Their Own Terms”, or more depending on discounts, and distribute them on the corner of Hollywood and Vine (AKA Global-Corp World PR Headquarters :-)
Again, beautiful holistic understanding of their/our present condition and eventual “rising up slowly from beneath the concrete”. THANK YOU!
I’d use the million bucks to make a blockbuster movie that would wake up the world and change people’s minds forever about animal exploitation. Come to think of it, I’ll probably need 100 million, but I’m a firm believer in the power of art to enlighten.
Along those lines, I read Lee Hall’s book, and I found it’s view of Animal rights to be both spiritually and intellectually sound and compelling.
I would spent all the money on “legitimate” research to prove that animals are NOT MEANT TO BE CONSUMED! Educating people is key. We have to stop the demand, period.
I’d donate every last dime of it to Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, Maryland where I volunteer every weekend. They could buy more land, build more barns, and save more farm animals from torture and death. Plus fix up the farm house where Terry and Dave live ’cause I think after nearly 200 years it’s due for some improvements!
Great job on the article Lee.
If I had a million dollars to help animals…hmm.. we’ll first I’d buy myself a massive house with lush gardens and open fields (LOL, wait! don’t get ahead of me) THEN, I’d adopt animals of all types to create something of a Farm Sanctuary so people can see that a cow is no different than their pet. Also, I’d hire a bunch to vets and animal rescue workers. So I guess what I am saying is that I’d pretty much make Farm Sanctuary Part 2. :-p.
GREAT QUESTION ONE GREEN PLANET!
Excellent article — great to see someone making a connection between animal rights and the wildlife and environmental conservation platforms. I want the book! If I had a million dollars I would donate half of it to an animal shelter and I’d use the rest to create and spread educational material on veganism. The only way we can help animals is if we care for and find homes for abandoned animals and encourage people to stop consuming animals in the first place.