we are not extreme, but the rhetoric is

(from guest blogger Vegina – musings from a feminist vegan rabble rouser…)

Check out this power point from the US State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Board. (FYI, I covered the faces of all activists since they did not give their consent to be in this slideshow; otherwise it is in the original). This presentation is geared toward corporations that rely on or support animal exploitation.

This power point was first released publicly on GreenIsTheNewRed.com http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/state-department-powerpoint-corporations/560/.  Will Potter does an excellent job of covering the important political issues surrounding this issue, so check it out.

The logic and rhetoric demonstrated here is absurd. Be sure to download the slide show and read the “notes” section for the full “WTF” effect.  Some of the most ridiculous parts of this slideshow include a fallacious link between SHAC and the ALF and highlighting the mainstream U.S. Animal Rights conference as a place where “extremists” gather.

And then there is their description of the “extreme” tactics of the animal rights movement:

“Site demonstrations have long been a tactic of extremists. However, mobilizing several hundred supporters is difficult for the extremists. Therefore, their tactics have evolved to include only 6-10 hardcore individuals who rent cars and travel in a pseudo-convoy from one targeted site to the next and on to the next, all in one day. At each stop, they splatter the location with leaflets, bang drums, shout and chant into a bullhorn, and often attempt to intimidate the employees of the company”

Last time I checked, this was called carpooling to a protest.

They call us terrorists. But what is terrorism? Terrorism is valuing artificial borders over life. It is killing civilians in the name of “war.” It is killing anyone in the name of “war.” It is flying planes into buildings, no matter what country the perpetrator is from. Terrorism is using rape as a tool for war. Terrorism is tearing down rainforests, stripping the land of entire species of animals and plant life for the sake of capitalist gain. Terrorism is raping animals, kidnapping and imprisoning their babies just to force them to grow up in overcrowded conditions and have their body parts (like beaks, tails and talons) cut off, only to haul them off to a scary painful slaughter.

Animal rights activists are not terrorists. Terror means fear but we fight for life.

They call us extreme, but what is extreme? Extreme is over 350 animals being slaughtered for food in the United States every single second of every single day. Extreme is the high rate of heart disease in the U.S. Extreme is labeling legal protest activity terrorism. It is allowing a person to die from lack of shelter or healthcare because they are poor or lack the appropriate citizenship status. Extreme is imprisoning people and not charging them with any crimes, then holding them without legal representation.   It is rich pharmaceutical companies refusing to provide HIV medications to AIDS ravaged countries.  It is dairy ads claiming, “milk does a body good,” when it actually leeches calcium from bones. Extreme is the fact that Monsanto was actually allowed to patent and “own” food seeds. Factory farming is extreme. Murdering animals to take their fur is extreme. Beating animals so they will perform “cute” tricks is extreme.

Animal rights activists are not extreme. Rejecting violence is anything but extreme. It is simply logical. Extreme means irrational, but we fight for love and against exploitation; these are the most loving, rational and basic things a person can fight for.

Animal rights activists fight for equality and the right for everyone to live a life free of exploitation and pain. We are not terrorists and we are not extremists. No matter how many times it is said, no matter how many laws are passed, no matter how many activists are imprisoned, we will never be terrorists and we are not extreme. Animal rights activists choose life over death and compassion over violence. Artificial borders, be they between nations or ethnicities or genders or species, are never justification for exploitation or murder. Rejection of these things in favor of life is not terror and it is not extreme, it is simply love.

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