Declaration of the end is right in everything he (or she?) says. We become aware of this holocaust* and our first instinctual move is to pass out leaflets and hold signs?
It‘s such a depressing thought but it’s important to face it. We are all extremely speciesist, and so is the movement, many would agree with the latter but only few are willing to admit such a thing about themselves. It’s evidential in all aspects of our lives not just in how we choose to promote the struggle (not that it’s possible to separate).
And it’s not surprising we are speciesist, when the odds are significantly against us. We were brought in a speciesist world, where speciesism is such a norm that the term didn’t exist until 1973! And more importantly, we are genetically programmed to care less for those we share less resemblance with.
I haven’t thought of trying to educate the public as an expression of speciesism but it makes perfect sense. I’ve noticed other aspects, like close ties with carnivores. But turning to advocacy as a mean makes a stronger evidence, and it paints such a despairing picture. What chance is there for a revolution if the activists leading it are so inherently infected with speciesism themselves?
It took me some time to understand this basic ethical and strategic approach that you don’t start with a compromise. Since my first day of activism I started with accepting the fact that it’s humans’ decision and my role is trying to convince them to pass the meat and pick tofu instead. I’ve never paused to think it through. I have thought that all is fair and that the aim justify the means in the long way to animal liberation and so took part in various activities including some it’s best not to mention, but I’ve never thought outside this framework. I’ve never thought that my activism in itself was speciesist. It’s a little hard for me with years of experience within animal rights activism to accept such harsh criticism from an anonymous figure like the only one solution (although even a brief browsing indicates that they are experienced activists that know their way around), but knowing that I shouldn’t kill the messengers, I couldn’t avoid asking myself the hard questions.
* calling the global system of intense animal exploitation by the name holocaust is indeed demeaning as many in the public and even inside the movement claim, but it’s not the human victims that are being undignified.
There is no frame of reference in the human history, not even the holocaust, which in any way comes close to resemble the relations between man and the rest of the species, not in size, not in variety, not in the complete financial dependence on animal exploitation and definitely not in the trivialization of the exploitation.