Photo Copyright Jim Robertson
Left Forum, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
– The City University of New York
Animal Liberation and Social Justice – Theory and Testimony
LEFT FORUM Saturday May 31 in New York City Noon-1:50pm
http://www.leftforum.org/
An animal revolution is underway, yet the vast majority of leftists seem
indifferent to it. Why? Nearly everything the left fights for is undermined by
systemic animal abuse. What is it to be human? What is it to be animal? Every
morally relevant proof of human superiority-reason, language, moral awareness,
self-awareness, future awareness, social laws-is proven groundless. Yet
distortions persist claiming to justify crimes against animals. Marx’s vision of
a classless society looks toward a time when all alienation-between humans and
the natural world, humans and the social world, a person and himself or
herself-is overcome.
Yet the anthropocentrism of many on the left who share that vision-and of Marx
himself-obstructs progress toward it. For to ignore the cries of animals is to
be complicit in their enslavement, an enslavement that is destroying the Earth
and ravaging human life-much of it, moreover, typifying colonists’ enslaving of
the colonized, the degraded, alienated consciousness of the enslaver in each
case differing scarcely at all. Sifting theoretical insights-while at the same
time offering personal testimony-this panel shows why the liberating of animals
is always also about human liberation, and why justice for animals is always
also about human justice.
SPEAKERS
KAREN DAVIS, President and Founder of United Poultry Concerns and
author of Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs, among many other publications
JOHN SANBONMATSU, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Worcester
Polytechnic Institute and author of The Postmodern Prince:
Critical Theory, Left Strategy, and the Making of a New Political Subject
PATTRICE JONES, Co-founder of VINE Sanctuary in Vermont and author of
Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World, a Guide for Activists and
their Allies
JOAN HARRISON, Independent advocate for animals, homeless advocate,
author of many poems, essays, letters, blogs, and chair of this panel
WHERE AND WHEN
DATE: Saturday May 31, 2014
TIME: Session 2 from Noon to 1:50pm
PLACE:
Room 3.8 John Jay College of Criminal Justice,
City University of New York,
524 West 59th Street,
New York, NY 10019
REGISTRATION:
Left Forum, John Jay College of Criminal Justice – The City University of New
York
http://www.leftforum.org/
________
Also coming up in NYC
Thursday, June 12 Animal Sacrifice, Religion and the Law.
The Practice of Using Chickens as Kaporos: A Forum Free & Open to the Public
http://www.upc-online.org/kaparos/140514_using_chickens_as_kaporos_forum.html
—
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes
the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl.
Don’t just switch from beef to chicken. Go Vegan.
http://www.UPC-online.org/ http://www.twitter.com/upcnews
http://www.facebook.com/UnitedPoultryConcerns
Exposing the Big Game 
This is what I’d like to know. It seems especially prevalent today, and dismaying that Democrats are now doing the ignoring. The dividing line between parties is becoming less.
To answer the question posed: because the bulk (by no mean all, but a substantial majority) of self-anointed leftists and liberals are nothing more than hypocrites and poseurs. While flamboyantly displaying their boundless sympathy for the underdog (human variety, that is) and missing no opportunity in their fevered quest for social justice to publicly opine about the evils of racism, sexism, homophobia, economic inequality, and all other manner of behaviors deemed politically incorrect, they happen just not to notice the most lethally extreme, most quantitatively immense, most monstrously egregious crimes and injustices being committed, right under their noses, against the most defenseless, most innocent inhabitants of the planet. How can that be? They complain endlessly about choking on gnats while swallowing the camels without a second thought. Among their number are a veritable who’s who of Democratic politicians, celebrities, religious leaders, consumerist gurus, media pundits (the entire stable at MSNBC, for example), and various other assorted pseudointellectuals and vacuities who pass for the left-wing intelligentsia in this country. Steven Best and John Sanbonmatsu (one of the panel members) have been relentless in exposing this hypocrisy of the leftist establishment and their books and essays are well worth reading.
A principle of science is that if you find a single flaw, a single imperfection in an otherwise magnificent, iron-clad theory, you must abandon that theory as being false. Likewise, the entire left-wing/liberal/progressive movement, however perceptive or noble it might be in respect to other causes, de-legitimizes itself on this single issue, by ignoring and failing to take seriously so-called “animal issues.”
Their raison-d’etre is getting votes, and animal issues do not get them votes. The general public marginalizes wildlife and animal welfare advocates and environmentalists. It has never been so bad as with the current administration, however. I don’t think our President has ever spoken the word environmentalist, has he? Even climate change and green energy largely ignores wildlife, and just focuses on human benefit.
It’s a good question. Sounds like a great conference. Wish I could go. Hopefully awareness will spread, and hearts and minds will follow.
I watched The Cycle almost daily plus most of the afternoon shows. A nutritionist was on this week touting the nutritional benefits of red meat, mild and dairy and butter and new research supporting her contentions. Not an objection was raised, not an alternative opinion of any substance. In fact, the news seemed welcomed, especially by Toure who loves his steaks. I have never seen the issues of animal farming/ranching and its’s effects on the environment or its’ inherent cruelty come up as issues by MSNBC. They, like most Americans are too far removed from the realities of animal farming/ranching, slaughter houses, land grabbing for pasture and encroaching on wildlife kinds of issues. Like the Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell, many on the left, don’t know if she is but doubt it, and even Obama, may like to recreate in the wild (rock climbing, hiking, camping, etc.) without giving much thought to wild life. Many on the left, like most of society, are city dwellers or suburbanites, and thereby removed from issues of wilderness and wildlife and ranching. Many cannot really relate, and many do not care, about animal farming, hunting, and the competition for wilderness and wildlife ecology although they may care about leftist politics. Many on the left seem to not even question the wholesomeness of wildlife sportsa killing. So, much of the left surprise us wildlife and wilderness conservationists when we voice concerns of sportsmen distortion on wildlife ecology by essentially game farming and predator persecution, rancher hysteria and persecution of predators, and the aligned with sportsmen and rancher state wildlife agencies. Even some wildlife defenders, wolf defenders, such as Haber “Amongst Wolves” are social conservatives and fail to see the extent of war on wildlife of the right
Sounds to me like the old ignorance-is-bliss excuse: leftists just haven’t heard about or don’t fully understand the issues and so get a pass for not addressing them. Maybe could have believed it back in the days before cable television and the Internet. Nowadays, everything is on line from hunting entertainment shows on TV to graphic images of animal torture and slaughter on Youtube to grisly pictures of wolf carcasses on Facebook. The old Sgt. Schultz excuse, “I know nothing!”, is no longer valid for avoiding complicity in what goes on in this country. If you are a citizen you ARE complicit; if you do nothing about it you are as morally culpable as the ones actually committing the crimes against nature. People (and I am certainly not referring to you, Roger, who has done so much) who use that excuse today for avoiding personally doing something about what is happening are no better than all the “good Germans” who surfaced after World War II claiming to have known nothing about what was happening to all of the suddenly-disappearing Jews. “Who could have known?”
What can we do, we leftist liberals? What can we do other than eat vegan, write blogs about it, write letters to the editor, encourage friends and family? What can we do?
If you’re already doing all those things, I commend you; you’re doing more than most.
What would you do stop any other holocaust?
So many issues, so many ideas. Here’s a website with ideas on how to fight trapping, other than those mentioned above. https://sites.google.com/site/pullingforlife/home