OpEds—

Guest Editor: Roland Vincent

• NOTE: This post should be read in conjunction with a prior by the same author:
How many conservatives are animal rights supporters?

_Gary Francione is on a fool’s mission. People are having children faster than we are creating vegans. Abolition of slaughter will not occur until we have the political climate to ban it.

Every social movement is about politics. Animal Rights is all about politics. Particularly it is about Left wing politics.  Capitalism will not allow Animal Rights. We need a Socialist society to succeed.

Philosophically, Socialism is no more disposed toward animal welfare or Animal Rights than is Capitalism, Mercantilism, or any other economic system. Socialism, however, does not reward animal exploitation, cruelty or murder. Capitalism, on the other hand, does. The Animal Holocaust is almost totally the product of profit and the pursuit of profit. Under Socialism, even with a government and public indifferent to animals, the scope of animal exploitation and suffering would substantially diminish, as Socialism provides no incentives for anyone to engage in animal exploitation.

Socialism is supported by Liberals [broadly understood]. And while Liberals are not particularly supportive of Animal Rights, they are certainly more supportive of the concept than are Conservatives, who see animals as private property and the subject of business enterprises. Moreover, Liberals have championed the rights of the weak and powerless in society, and are much more likely to embrace Animal Rights in the future, as a logical extension of a compassionate and empathetic worldview.

One cannot look to the failings of today’s Liberals and Socialists on animal issues and extrapolate those failures into the future.  Liberals of 200 years ago opposed slavery but would never have entertained the idea of racial equality. Socialists of 100 years ago supported women’s suffrage but never considered gay rights or the protection of the Environment.

We look to Liberalism to challenge oppression because it has always done so. We look to Socialism to reduce animal suffering because it provides no incentives to commit cruelty.

We already know that Conservatives and Capitalism are the enemies of animals. We know that under Capitalism animals suffer horrifically. Capitalism drives animal cruelty through profits. Most animal cruelty is caused by animal agriculture, the cause of the Animal Holocaust. But animal agriculture isn’t the only Capitalist industry which causes cruelty, there are a host of them: hunting, trapping, fur, zoos, circuses, dog and horse racing, rodeos, the exotic pet trade, fishing, puppy mills, pet stores, whaling, sealing, and trade in ivory, tiger penises, bear bile, rhino horn, etc, are all profit driven. Conservatism is the political voice for Capitalism. Conservative politicians are the mouthpieces for Big Business. Conservatives oppose all we do in the Animal Rights movement on philosophical grounds: They believe private property and profits are sacred. They believe government should have no voice in business. They believe businesses have the right to impact the Environment any way they wish to.

Animal Rights is a dream to be realized in the distant future. The world is decades, if not centuries, away from seeing the product of our current efforts. Animal Rights is well below the horizon. But it is on the road that Liberals and Socialists are traveling.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ROLAND VINCENT is an animal rights activist, an environmentalist, and a civil libertarian, all of which puts him on the political Left. He is also a supporter of Dennis Kucinich and other progressive/socialist Democrats.  His maintains a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/rolandwvincent

Are They Ahead of the Curve?

by JON HOCHSCHARTNER

A full ivory ban would close the legal loophole that currently enables criminal syndicates to launder “blood ivory” from the black market into commercial circulation. Photo: Gary Stolz / USFWS

In China, civil society is pressuring the government to replace the current dual-market, mixed-message ivory legislature with a full blanket ban.

At the opening session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on March 3, former NBA star Yao Ming delivered a petition calling for an outright ban of the sale, import, purchase and transport of ivory and ivory products. Among the signatories were influential heads of big business – many of which belong to the ruling Chinese Communist Party – such as Wang Wenjing (Chairman and CEO of Yonyou Software) and Liu Jun (Chairman of Eagle International Holdings).

If this was adopted, it would seal the legal loophole that currently enables criminal syndicates to launder “blood ivory” from the black market into commercial circulation. Despite the worldwide ivory trade ban in 1989, the CITES Parties voted to allow China to purchase more than 60 tonnes of stockpiled ivory in a one-off sale in 2008. Reintroducing tusk trading to a market of maturing purchasing power both stimulated demand and encumbered regulation — and cultivated a thriving black market, since distinguishing illegal from legal ivory is not possible. A 2011 International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) investigation on China’s ivory markets discovered that 59.6% of licensed facilities sold illegal ivory, and unlicensed and non-compliant ivory facilities outnumbered legal ones nearly six to one.

Since the 2008 sale, elephant poaching rates have made a tragic comeback, reaching pre-1989 levels of up to 30,000 a year. Meanwhile, a 2012 survey by WildAid revealed that the Chinese knew little of the pain behind the ivory products they were purchasing. Of the 961 Beijing, Shanghai and Gaungzhou participants surveyed, more than half thought ivory came from domesticated or living elephants (11.5% and 11.3% respectively) or elephants that had died of natural causes (33.8%).

But there now are signs that awareness, and support, is spreading among the Chinese public.

Also on March 3, which was the first ever World Wildlife Day, a six-minute documentary On Elephant and Ivory was released. The film features Transformers 4actress Li Bingbing, speaking in her native Mandarin and coming face to face with the carcass of a speared female elephant – her face removed by poachers for her tusks.

And this is just the latest in a number of developments in a campaign which has seen an intensification in momentum and results recently. A series of public service announcements entitled “Say no to ivory” featuring the popular actress and basketball star have gone viral on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter. Then on February 27, a number of big business CEOs in China – including 10 individuals from the Forbes 2013 China Rich List – released a pledge to never purchase, possess, or give ivory as a gift.

On top of this, the WildAid survey reveals that 94% of the participants support an out right ban on ivory products in China, to stop the poaching of elephants.

And the government seems to be responding. Last year, the State and National Forestry Departments launched an ongoing effort where it appeals to travelers through text message not to purchase ivory or rhino horn. In January, Chinese officials crushed more than six tonnes of its seized ivory stockpile – a symbolic move that was widely documented in national and global media. The following month, on February 13, the Chinese government took part in and signed up to a declaration at the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, stating that they “support the existing provisions of CITES prohibiting commercial international trade in elephant ivory”.

Meanwhile Hong Kong, the gateway through which much of the ivory is smuggled to mainland China, in January took decisive action to burn its ivory stockpile, and local organisation HK for Elephants has launched a petition to ban ivory sales in territory, and will deliver this to the region’s government. Show your support and sign here.

Elephant populations have halved in the last 10 years, and the significance that extinguishing the black market in China – world’s largest demand source – would have, cannot be underestimated. It would be a monumental step towards protecting elephants themselves being extinguished from this planet – a scenario that would amount to an environmental, and moral, catastrophe.

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About the Author
Astrid Andersson is an Annamiticus contributor and passionate wildlife enthusiast. Originally from Sweden, she grew up in Hong Kong and has spent the last five years working as an editor and journalist in both Hong Kong and Thailand’s media industry, after graduating with a BA in International Development and Politics from the University of Leeds, England. Being based in Southeast Asia – a veritable highway for the global traffic of endangered animal parts – she hopes to influence the trade and market in that region.

_Forest officials shot and killed two poachers after catching them brutally murdering an Indian rhinoceros at a wildlife sanctuary in the state of Assam.

SOURCE: TELL ME NOW.COM

The poachers had hacked off the rhino’s horn after murdering it in the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which is roughly 28 miles east of the city of Guwahati.

Officials said that there was a total of eight poachers that entered the preserve then hunted down the rhino in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

Many tragedies like this one issue from abject poverty’s breeding grounds, inevitably compounded by its kin, ignorance and indifference to animal suffering. But when we speak of abject poverty we must ask, what and who contribute the most to keeping the world in this sad state of affairs? Which classes and nations do the most to foster inequality and backward conditions all over the globe? The answer, for most of the developed world, especially for Americans, is not pretty.—PG

Two of the men were shot and killed after a gunfight ensued between the poachers and forest officials.

It’s reported that security staff heard gunfire around 1am, then went to investigate and found the poachers committing the horrific act.

After a brief gunfight, two of the men were killed and the other six escaped, with the rhino’s horn.

The preserve is home to 93 of the world estimated 3,000 wild Indian rhinoceros which is found primarily in India and Nepal. The Indian rhinoceros is the second largest mammal residing in Asia, with the Asian elephant being the largest.

As the second largest rhino on the planet, the males range from 4,600 ponds all of the way up to 8,800 pounds.

Unfortunately this particular rhino could not be saved as his injuries were too extensive.

The Indian rhino was previously found across the entire North Indian River Plain, but its habitat has been reduced drastically due to excessive hunting.

(Read More: PETA TO Use Drones To Harass and “Stalk Hunters”)

Murdered and mutilated rhino being buried.  Some of the bandits escaped with his horns.

Observe the chain-sawed off horn area.

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There’s Actually A Conservative Who Supports Animal Rights!

Scully

Most people on the Left are not into Animal Rights.

But those who are greatly outnumber Conservatives who support Animal Rights.

I am only familiar with one Conservative political figure in the entire country who supports Animal Rights: Matthew Scully. Matthew Scully is not even a politician in his own right, but was a speechwriter for George W Bush. And Scully’s position on Animal Rights seems an extension of his opposition to abortion. I don’t know if Scully is vegan, but for the sake of argument I will assume he is.
So we have one vegan Conservative politician. In the entire country!
One.