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Great Feelings Of Love (For ALL Earthlings)

By Mickey Z.

12 September, 201
Worldnewstrust.com

PHOTO | Mickey Z.

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love.” - Che Guevara

On Aug. 31, 2013, I gave a short talk at Bluestockings Bookstore in NYC. The occasion was a screening of The Cove, on the eve of yet another dolphin slaughter season in Japan. To follow is a version of that talk…

Let me begin, as always, by saying: Peace and power to all species.

The root of the word “activist” is “active” and, yeah… we all need to get way more active. In case you haven’t noticed, the battle lines have been drawn and the bad guys are winning -- big time. In fact, as I stand here before you, it’s already Sept. 1 in Japan. In other words, the barbarism we just saw documented in the film is happening right now.

Here’s some of what else is happening now: 65 percent of untested GM grains are being fed to 53 billion doomed land animals by an industry that consumes one-third of the planet’s land surface and is the number one source of human-created greenhouse gases.

Obviously, every single one of us needs to be doing more -- much more -- for all species, all earthlings. Whether we’re talking about the carriage horses up near Central Park or the houseless man you stepped over on your way to tonight’s event. It could be all the creatures made extinct by human-created climate change or the young people of color relentlessly targeted by the NYPD Stop & Frisk program.

Justice is justice and all our issues are connected...

To offer some inspiration, please allow me to tell you about a particular marine being.

We are blessed to share the planet with the largest known animal in Earth’s history. The blue whale is larger than any dinosaur that ever lived. It can weigh 150 tons and if you were to stand one upright, it would reach the height of a 10-story building. A blue whale’s tongue is the size of an elephant!

Right now, thanks to the dominant human culture, the blue whale population is less than 1 percent of their original abundance. This is disastrous for the whales, of course, but also disastrous for the ocean and all life on the planet.

So…

What if I told you there was a way we could each play a daily role in reversing the inherent carnage of the dominant human culture?

What if I told you I knew a way you could oppose unspeakable animal cruelty; stand up for exploited human workers; help address a human health holocaust; work to reduce the profits and control of the 1% -- a choice that would also challenge the rape culture; confront practices like slavery, torture, and incarceration; surrender a privilege; and do your part to defend the eco-system before it’s too late?

What if I added that this choice also addresses deforestation, topsoil depletion, overfishing, water pollution, rapid species extinction, the proliferation of GMOs in our food supply, and so much more?

What if I then informed you that you could do all this 24 hours a day and still have plenty of time for many other forms of protest and dissent?

As an activist -- a revolutionary, even -- I’d imagine you’d be practically drooling.

Right?

To reveal this choice, I'll call upon someone who knows a thing or two about challenging privilege, Angela Davis. She said: “being a vegan is part of a revolutionary perspective -- how we not only discover more compassionate relations with human beings but how we develop compassionate relations with other creatures with whom we share this planet.”

Thus, in line with the images we just witnessed in The Cove, I’ll submit that Step #1 is to recognize and never forget that animals are not products, animals are not property, animals are not commodities, and animals are not entertainment.

Animals are not meant to live in captivity and, as a result, often display psychological dysfunction.

Just recently, Central Park Zoo euthanized a 27-year-old polar bear named "Gus" and the New York Times had a field day mocking poor Gus as “neurotic.” How depraved of a species have we become? An apex predator, designed to live in the frozen north, is born into captivity in Toledo and then shipped to the most populated urban area in the nation... but we give him a human name and label him neurotic when he doesn't behave “normally.”

Then, when we decide the time is right, we euphemistically put the prisoner to sleep.

FYI: These captive animals aren't asleep, we are... and while we sleep, we regularly conjure up nightmares to rain down upon all life on earth. We, my fellow humans, are the ones who must wake up!

Whether we call it a cage, a cell, a jail, a pen, a ward, a prison, a wildlife center, an enclosure, a zoo, an aquarium, or a “show,” incarceration is incarceration. Encountering animals in such settings teaches us the wrong lessons about how the eco-system works -- lessons that work to sustain a system that should be dismantled immediately.

Make no mistake, any culture that confines and abuses animals for profit is highly likely to regularly promote and engage in other forms of violence and exploitation against all forms of life. Again: All of our grievances and all of our solutions are connected.

To the vegans here tonight, I say: talk to your non-vegan, radical comrades. Let them know that if they claim to be working towards a non-hierarchical society, they must reject speciesism.

If they want to challenge privilege in all its many guises, they must reject speciesism.

If they have shred of compassion in their heart, it’s time to stop with the goddamned bacon jokes and reject speciesism.

All of you, if you call yourself an activist, you must reject speciesism.

There is no neutral; you can’t have it both ways, comrades. So it is high time to choose: Which side are you on?

The system we are challenging is built, in a major way, on the exploitation of non-human animals and the eco-system. It's all connected within a culture constructed on the insane premise of unlimited growth and must all remain connected within any movement claiming to aim for holistic justice and total liberation.

If you're already working to dismantle corporate power, expand freedoms, and create a safer, more sane culture, you already have plenty in common with animal rights activists. Why not take things even further and recognize that the mighty 99% also includes non-human animals -- and the entire ecosystem itself?

As the Nobel Peace Prize™ winner currently occupying the White House gears up for yet another war, make no mistake: What we just witnessed in The Cove is war. It's also war in the fur farms, veal crates, vivisection labs, dog fight rings, battery cages, circuses, rodeos, puppy mills, slaughterhouses, and too many other venues of violence.

The victims in this war don’t need our cynical mind games; they don't need our clever academic exercises; and they definitely don't need our fuckin' excuses. They need our participation -- our sustained participation -- until every cage is empty. So, let's hit the streets to blend our outrage with outreach and attain some outcomes

The Cove is but one example of the worst that lives inside us all. Embracing a vegan/animal liberation lifestyle helps us tap into the best that humanity can offer. It helps us address the most fundamental of questions: Will our behavior be motivated from a place of fear or will it be motivated from a place of love?

If you choose love, my friends, how can you not choose animal rights? If you choose animal rights, how can you not choose veganism?

Che once declared that the true revolutionary “is guided by a great feeling of love.”

How “great” of a feeling? How much love do we need? To help with these queries, let's return to the blue whale because I have one more amazing fact to share: It's heart is the size of a small automobile.

Imagine how much love exists in a being with a heart that big and you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about.

On that note, I'll end with: Peace and power -- and love -- to all species.

#shifthappens

Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on an obscure website called Facebook. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here.

© WorldNewsTrust.com



 

 


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