The Morality Of Violence
Editorials
Neither its ineffable beauty nor innocence will spare this pup the lethal blows from a heartless and anachronistic industry, supported by a cowardly and opportunistic government. And Canada’s shame is hardly unique.
There are any number of justifications for human beings killing each other, in waging war to punishing criminals.
There are any number of justifications for humans killing animals, from murder by proxy in the markeplace to killing for fun in the field.
Justifications are similarly raised in defense of exploiting both people and animals, just as rationalizations were used to justify human slavery in the past and animal slavery in the present.
The ostensible reasons, while universally proffered, are seen to be specious on even cursory examination.
Humans raise law, necessity, private property, religion, tradition, individual freedom, etc, as justifications for the exploitation and murder of both people and animals.
But none of those rationalizations is the ultimate reason that human violence is visited upon others or upon animals.
The reason for all violence is simple: Humans have the power to commit violence, and neither the weak nor the unorganized (nor the animals) can prevent it being done to them.
Institutionalized violence has been the province of most governments and of the oligarchs that control most governments. It is carried out by armies, corporations, police forces and legal systems.,
It is taught in the schools and in the pulpits, extolled by the media and political leaders.
And it will never end under our Capitalist system or under our fascist governments.
Only Socialism proposes —carries the ideology and value system—to tear down the institutions of exploitation and violence.
Only Socialism advocates for the victims of the oppressive capitalist system which controls most of the world.
Only Socialism eliminates the incentives for exploitation, and advocates to protect the weak, the disenfranchized, and the unorganized.
Constructing true socialism offers the best prospect to end human and nonhuman exploitation in our long-suffering world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roland Vincent, a socialist and dedicated animal liberationist, is currently in charge of covering the intersection between ecoanimal and socialist questions, hoping to make clear to both sides that an alliance is a natural and mutually beneficial development. He runs several pages and groups on Facebook, including Animal Rights & the Environment, Roland’s Raiders, and others.