Nonviolence as the basis of personal and systemic social change

This week, at Opposing Views, many animal advocates raised their voices in a clear and spirited defense of other animals and nonviolence. It reminded me how important it is to other animals that we must each be bold and courageous in the struggle against pessimism about our capacity to change the world nonviolently; we must each be clear and steadfast in a positive approach that emphasizes moral dialogue as the basis for ending the slavery and respecting the moral personhood of other animals.

I am, of course, not talking about self-defense or the rule of law. I am talking about how North Americans (as some of the most privileged people on earth) choose to advocate for other animals as a rule. Our ends and our means will be most effective when they are complementary. Our objectives of personal and systemic change will be more effective when they flow from the same strategy and the same tactics: personal and systemic nonviolence, organization and education.

Many of the comments encouraged me to think more about how I could make nonviolence a more central part of my life. If I would not intentionally harm a ladybug (which I would not, because as many of my more regular readers know, I take other animals seriously, wherever they live, just because they are sentient), then it only seems reasonable to oppose all violence, all intimidation, all actions that harm others (and all actions that call me to be both less than myself and to be a less effective advocate for all other animals), when it is simple for me to do so. If I wish to be clear for the ladybug and her rights and her personhood, then I must be clear for the rights and personhood of all (and that includes human beings, even when I very strongly disagree with their views and actions).

I encourage all advocates to consider this more thoroughly and to devote some time to considering how they may incorporate nonviolence more thoroughly into their daily lives. Some thoughts maybe be just plain wrong, but thinking by itself never really hurt anybody. Anyhow, some wonderful and articulate examples that I wanted to share with those of you who are not interested in the often acrimonious debates about violence in the advocacy movement from the discussion at Opposing Views:

�I use an approach that doesn't compromise on the moral message, and I urge all advocates to do so, just as human rights advocates don't compromise on the moral message. Anything less by us is perpetuating speciesism, and as speciesism is the cause of the violence , perpetuating it is not the answer. So when I talk to people, I make sure to talk about our moral obligation to animals. [�] I love tabling for abolition. I have fantastic results on the street using abolitionist education, focusing on non-violence and never, ever, compromising on the moral issue."
-Elizabeth Collins

�Putting aside the moral/spiritual aspects of violence, those who promote violence are deeply confused about the basic economics of animal exploitation. Institutional users engage in animal exploitation because the public demands it. Institutional users are, for the most part, indifferent to whether they are selling beef or bananas. They will put their capital wherever they�ll get the best return.�
-Gary L. Francione

�Violence can never work as a tactic. It is also unethical and inconsistent with veganism . We cannot expect to be taken seriously when we voice our opposition to the violence inflicted on animals every day if we ourselves are prepared to use violent means in order to achieve our goals. Using violence as a means to end violence is no different from the idea of the State condemning people to death in order to teach that killing is wrong.�
-KerryW

�Advocating for animal rights means rejecting violence . It is an affirmation of peace. The animal rights movement should be moving to end conflict between humans and nonhumans. Violence can never achieve this.�
-Carol Hughes

�Violence is nothing new. It's a dead end. It creates future enemies and strengthens public empathy for industry. Ultimately, those who engage in or support violence either spend their days supporting someone in prison or they wind up in prison themselves.�
-Trisha Roberts

�If a fast- food joint worker drops a hamburger patty on the floor, that doesn't mean that one less burger will be sold that day. As long as there is a customer waving a fistful of money at the cash register, another patty will be retrieved and thrown on the grill. If you remove one animal from the cycle, as long as there is a meat wholesaler waving a fistful of money at the producer (since he has someone on his own end waving a fistful of money at him, eager to sell the various body parts to his own individual customer--the consumer who drives the demand) another animal is dropped into the cycle.�
-Mylene Ouellet

�I'd like to add my small but earnest voice to those championing the necessity for nonviolence. Veganism, in the form that made itself indelibly clear to me, is at its core premised on the principle of nonviolence; it seems pretty obvious, and vitally important, to me that its praxis ought to match the theory. I believe that animal rights advocacy is coherent only when it fights for the rights of ALL animals -- and that includes human animals.�
-Nathan Gilmore

�We must work to assert the moral personhood of animals, and a call to moral action cannot be won by the immorality of violent force.�
-veganethos

�To focus on institutional exploiters doesn't make sense particularly because, for them, exploitation is what they make a living off (and more); that is, to them, there is a vested interest at stake in that their economic existence is being targeted, whereas for the consumers, there is not.�
-Karin Hilpisch

There were many other excellent and thoughtful comments (I also commented here and there myself).

Many of the comments exemplified the fact that abolitionist veganism stands for the emancipation of nonhuman animals, for the rights of animals (human and non) not to be used as property, and for the restoration of their moral personhood. If a group we're working with, or a book we're reading, or a figurehead we're following encourages us to focus on anything but the most creative, the most nonviolent, and the most effective change for other animals (and that's abolitionist vegan education), we should ask why.

No one should stop working, but we should all focus on what helps other animals most. Many figureheads and businesses are calling themselves abolitionists these days, but abolitionists have always stood for the unconditional end to the use of nonhuman animals as our property by the means most effective. That's talking to other people about veganism and the need to abolish the property status of nonhuman animals. I know talking to other people (unless it's on the Internet) terrifies many vegans, but talking to people about change is not only what's right, it's also what's effective.

If you are not yet vegan, today is the day to start. If you are not an abolitionist, but want to learn more about the approach, please read my previous articles or visit abolitionistapproach.com to learn more.