From: ra-AT-alor.univ-montp3.fr
Date: 15 Feb 1997 11:34:52 UTC   (07:34:52 AM in author's locale)
To: ra-l-AT-bred.univ-montp3.fr

Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 11:37:09 0000 (GMT)
>From: Andrew Flood <ANFLOOD-AT-macollamh.ucd.ie>

>Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 12:51:33 -0330 (NST)
>>From: Alka Chandna <ac-AT-math.mun.ca>
>
>Dear Andrew (and others),
>
>I think a few clarifications are in order here. Andrew, you've painted
>people who support animal rights as being misanthropic and anti-human.
Well no I didn't go back and look at my posts and you will see
that at the end of my first contribution I said that my
criticisms didn't cover all animal rights activists. As to
me saying some animal rights people were misanthropic and anti-human
this was almost instantly confirmed by the person who refused to
distinguish between the Nazi holocaust and a chicken battery
farm, about as misanthropic and anti-human position as you
can get as well as being so offensive as not to be worth
dignifying with an answer. I note in passing that so
far only myself and Harald have disagreed with this
refusal, the 'animal rights' people don't seem to
feel a need to distance themselves from this ally.
> I
>will not deny that I believe that what we do to the earth and to the
>animals is extremely painful to me, and I do think that it's wrong.
This essentially where we part, I can see how many aspects of the
way we live are now disasterous to _our_ future, so I can say
they are wrong in this respect because they threaten humanitys
future. But I can't go along with this abstract idea that
our ecologically harmful actions are equivalent to 'rapeing'
the earth. To me rape is wrong. Mining coal or ores on
the other hand may or may not be harmful to our future
survival and should be judged on this basis alone. I'm
posting the position paper of the organisation I'm a
member of (Workers Solidarity Movement) to illustrate
what my approach to these questions is.
a Workers Solidarity Movement position paper
The Environment and Animal Rights
1.We place humanity above all other life on the earth although
we recognize that the continued survival of humanity is based
on the continued survival of the variety of species that make
up the biosphere.
2. We believe humanity has the right to make use of the
worlds material resources as it sees fit providing decisions are
made democratically after free discussion and production is to
satisfy need and not profit.
3. The current crisis of the environment is not due to
industrialization or over-population but rather an inevitable
product of a system (capitalism) which places profit above all
else, including life.
4. Not only do we not wish to reduce the present productive
powers of industry, we wish to see this increased to ensure a
comfortable life for all.
5. We recognize however that much of current production is
unnecessary due to built in obsolescence or advertising
pressure. This again comes down to the problem of a capitalist
system.
6. The major problem of capitalist pollution and destructive
extraction of raw materials is that those who make the profits
are not those that suffer the consequences. Environmental
degradation is a class issue as it is primarily the working class
which bears the consequences of polluted water, contaminated
food, etc. It is therefore a nonsense to try and tackle it on a non-
class basis.
7. We reject the argument that the environmental crisis or
famines in the Less Developed Countries (LDC's) are due to the
over consumption of workers in the West. Western workers
have more in common with the workers and peasants of the
third world than with their own ruling class, it is estimated
that between 12 and 30 million people living in the US, one of
the richest of the western countries can not afford a proper diet.
8. We oppose, in general, the call for the closing down of
polluting factories, etc. We call on the workers in such
factories to enforce safety rules and monitor pollution. We
support action of workers and the local community to
stop/reduce pollution. In cases where factories can not be
made safe we demand there closure with employment at the
same skill and pay levels for the workers in the local area.
9. We call for the shutting down of all nuclear power stations
under capitalism, as the placing of profits before safety means
they can never be safe and the effect of accidents is too drastic to
allow any risk. We do however not rule out the remote
possibility of using such power stations in an anarchist society.
This will be decided in the future by the workers of that society
and not by us now.
10. The destruction of the rainforests is due to large capitalist
concerns 'strip mining' the trees. We call for strike action
against such companies to force them to re-forest and manage
extraction. It is also due to the emigration of land hungry
peasants and unemployed workers from the countries in these
regions. This is a by-product of the grinding poverty produced
in these countries by capitalism and imperialism. As such the
problem will only be solved by revolution and development in
those countries. We call for the building of unions among
such workers and the carrying out of education programs by
revolutionaries within these unions.
11. Practically in Ireland this involves calling on Irish unions
to support the construction of these unions and aid in their
financing. It involves organising solidarity campaigns with the
struggles of these workers. We note that union recognition
disputes are already a major part of the workers struggles in
this region, e.g. Brazilian rubber tappers.
12. We oppose the testing of atomic, biological and chemical
weapons in all circumstances and support blacking of goods
and services as well as other direct action to halt such tests.
13. We call on the trade unions to fund their own
environmental monitoring section answerable to the workers
and community affected, and to publicize and organise action
against industries which expose workers or the community at
large to toxic substances, pollution etc.
14. Within unions we also demand industry uses re-cycled
products where possible and finds alternatives for products or
by-products which harm the environment. Industrial action
should be used to force the bosses to comply.
15. Although we reject unecessary cruelty to animals we
recognize that humanity does have a right to use animals in
necessary experiments. Under capitalism much of animal
experimentation is un-necessary but even in an anarchist
society some experimentation may be necessary. We oppose all
experimentation for military and cosmetic purposes.
16. We support the right of students and laboratory workers to
refuse to experiment on animals or dissect animals. We
support workers who are victimized for leaking details of
experiments.
17. We oppose animal liberation campaigns which endanger
workers lives through firebombing of stores or labs, and the
harmful contamination of foodstuffs, etc.
January 1991
***************************
About me -> www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2419/andrew.html
Anarchism-> www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2419
Platformism-> www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6170/
Zapatista-> www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3102/

TO SEND A MESSAGE TO EVERYONE write to RA-L-AT-bred.univ-montp3.fr.
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, WRITE TO : listserv-AT-bred.univ-montp3.fr
with the text SIGnoff RA-L (no subject nor signature).

Moderator/Moderador/Moderateur : Ronald Creagh
Co-Moderator : John P. Clark
e-mail : rcreagh-AT-alor.univ-montp3.fr
snail mail/correo ordinario/courrier ordinaire : Ronald Creagh, Universite
Paul Valery, B.P. 5043, 34032, Montpellier-Cedex, France.
fax : (33) 67 64 77 23