The tragedy of animal liberation is that the liberation of an oppressed group has historically been required to be organized by the oppressed themselves, but non-human animals lack the intellectual and organizational capacity to do so. We are not just fighting an uphill battle, we are trying to scale a sheer cliff.
I generally agree with the critique that the broad left, whether that's DNC or the PSL or any random green party, has a blind spot on animal rights. However, I question the authors priors when they write claptrap like the following:
However, utopian socialism is more feasible than Marxism because it imagines a post-capitalist society that does not depend on completely dominating nature, implementing full automation, and somehow instituting a complex, libertarian social order at a global scale.
Regardless of any factionalism from the author, personally I believe the absence of animal rights/veganism from the platform of major or alternative left wing parties, from most climate change analysis, or class analysis stems from carnists and vegetarians not being willing to do the mental work of confronting their own biases. All the ideological mumbo jumbo with $5 words and marxist history and "wut about indigenous people" red herrings are just cover for people's intellectual momentum and cowardice. Engaging with the superficial history of the lack of veganism in the left is interesting but in my opinion is a fool's errand without engaging with the unspoken factors.
In reality, most people are carnists. Meat and animal products are culturally engrained, are calorie dense, many people like the taste, and are often status symbols. There are a lot of incentives to consume animal products. Veganism is not culturally engrained and is usually a negative status symbol.
It is also extremely possible for an individual to make changes to their own life with respect to veganism and in fact the ideology demands it. In contrast, in anti-imperial activism protestors may rail against empire but have minimal if any actual control over where bombs are dropped, and the material benefit they derive from being part of the empire is indirect and probably small. It's easy to show up to an antiwar protest because you probably aren't the one dropping bombs on kids, and the benefit you derive from someone else doing it is probably small. On the other hand, carnists directly and individually benefit from carnism through the positives I mentioned earlier and do so multiple times every day. Being an antiwar activist might only take up a couple hours a month, while being vegan takes time every single day.
Confronting this contradiction means making real changes to one's own life and taking real social costs (albeit many benefits as well). Most people don't want to do this, and a small fraction can't or are limited for some reason or another. Everything else is motivated reasoning.
Regardless of any factionalism from the author, personally I believe the absence of animal rights/veganism from the platform of major or alternative left wing parties, from most climate change analysis, or class analysis stems from carnists and vegetarians not being willing to do the mental work of confronting their own biases
Yep. What people need to understand more is that veganism can be framed as a way of thinking, an ethical principle, that leads to certain practices rather than a set of practices in and of itself. You're totally right that this feeling of veganism being a "sacrifice" is a large part of what perpetuates human supremacy.
I also disagreed with portions from the article, such as the one you quoted, but I still think it's a decently insightful writing.
"the left" has failed people, let alone other fauna.
This is speciesist framing, putting humans above other animals.
No, this isn't. This is recognizing that all mechanisms of modern governments, which are virtually all for the governance of humans, hasn't even achieved helping the average human. Why would anyone expect it to limit suffering in ways it wasnt built for when what it is built for it's already failing at?
The "let alone" part puts it as if liberating humans is more important than liberating non-human animals. The way I see this phrased used, it's usually that the first part is a necessary condition that the reader supposedly already agrees with, to showcase the validity of the more special case (I'm sorry I've been doing math all day and this is how my brain thinks atm, I'll try to come up with a more natural phrasing if this is too terse).
"They couldn't even walk let alone run", "She couldn't even buy food, much less rent", "This isn't true for any number, let alone even numbers" etc.
It places non-human animal liberation as a special case of the fight for the liberation of human workers. To be deferred to after a point in time when humans have been sufficiently liberated.
in what sense
vegan
:vegan-liberation:

Welcome to /c/vegan and congratulations on your first steps toward overcoming liberalism and ascending to true leftist moral superiority.
Rules
No plant-based diet bullshit or promotion of plant-based capitalism.Veganism isn't about you, it's about historical materialist anti-speciesism, anti-racist animalization, and animal liberation. Ethical vegans only.No omni apologists or carnists.Babystepping is for libs, and we're not here to pat you on the back. Good faith questions and debate about how to fight for animal liberation are allowed.No advocating violence to any species for any reason.If you think this is negotiable GTFO. This includes but is not limited to animal testing, slaughter, and mass euthanasia. Anything that promotes speciesism or the commodification of animals will be removed.Use Content Warnings and NSFW tags for triggering content.Especially if a comrade requests it.Questions about diet belong inc/food. It's also a great place to share recipes.In all sections of the site, you must follow theHexbear.net Code of Conduct.
Resources
Animal liberation and direct action
- Animal Liberation Press (ALF)
- Wiki on Ethical Veganism
- Wiki on the Animal Liberation Front
- Wiki on Total Liberation
- Different approaches to AL direct action
- Earth First! manual and tactics
- Support prisoners of conscience: Vegan Prisoners Support Group (UK)
- If someone tells you to put some paint on your hands, tag some buildings and then go turn yourself into the police - your "rebellion" is a fucking op
Read theory, libs
- 18 Theses on Marxism and Animal Liberation
- Racism as Zoological Witchcraft: A Guide to Getting Out
- Animal Liberation
- The Death of Nature
- The Case for Animal Rights
- Anarchism and Animal Liberation
- Total Liberation
- The Unbearable Whiteness of Milk
- Speciesism as a Precondition to Justice
- Beasts of Burden: Animal and Disability Liberation
- Citations Needed on media portrayals of animal rights activists
- The Jungle
Vegan 101 & FAQs
- Black Vegans Rock resources page
- Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach FAQs
- 30 Non-Vegan Excuses & How to Respond to Them
- Guide to justifications for harming and exploiting animals
- Your Vegan Fallacy Is
- The Radical Left’s Top 10 Objections to Veganism (And Why They Suck)
- Animal Liberation Front FAQs
If you have any great resources or theory you think belong in this sidebar, please message one of the comm's mods
Take B12. :vegan-edge: