Dr. Anthony Nocella talks to a Vegan Information Project audience about alliance politics and total liberation

1. Challenging
Racism and
Ableism within
the Animal
Liberation
Movement and
Fighting for
Total Liberation
Anthony J. Nocella II, Ph.D.

2. • Explaining Critical Animal
Studies …
• My story …
• My activism …
• My scholarship …
DIY and DIT

4. Normalcy is Violent
• Propaganda slide featuring a
deformed infant. The caption
reads "... because God cannot
want the sick and ailing to
reproduce.“
• Disabled Polish and Russian
survivors stand in front of a tank
from the 11th Armoured
Division, Third U.S. Army, in the
Mauthausen concentration
camp.

5. Purification
Testing
Eugenics
Medicine
Experiments
Imprisoning
Arresting the homeless
Becoming Mentally Ill in prison From
Mental Ward to Jail
Killing
Execution
Abortion
Assisted Suicide
euthanasia

6. ????????????????????

7. The Oppressor Leading the
Movement

8. Capitalism Reinforcing Normalcy
Individualism
Competitiveness
Efficiency
Production line
Consumer

12. Animal Testing
Service Animals

13. http://www.students.stedwards.edu/bruiz3/tribute.html
American Flag: $23
Gasoline:$2
Cidarrete llighter: $1.50
Catching yourself on fire
because your a retarded
terrorist: PRICELESS !!!

14. The state of the Arab
Nation: Deaf regimes
(left), blind terrorism
(right), and mute
masses (in between).
(Emad Hajjaj, Alquds
Alarabi, 11/12/03).

15. Opposed to Technology
Opposed to
interdependency
Opposed to Capitalism
Against Transgender
identity
Opposed to Civilization
Opposed to Domination
and Oppression
Romanticizing the wild
and Native

16. Torres and Torres write,
So, regardless of how ‘normal’
you are, in a world where
consuming animal products is
the norm, you’re always going
to be seen as the freak if you
obviously and clearly refuse to
take part in an act of
consumption that is central to
our everyday lives, our
cultures, and even our very
own personal identities. (2010,
p. 8)

17. Freak is a term historically applied to
those with disabilities. As defined by
Robert Bogdan in Freak Show
(1988), a freak has historically been
referred to as either those that are
not colonial and European, such as
Native Americans, First Nations, and
Indigenous groups or,
the second major category of exhibit [in
the freak show] consisted of
‘monsters,’ the medical term for
people born with a demonstrable
difference. Lusus naturae, or ‘freaks
of nature,’ were of interest to
physicians for whom the field of
teratology, the study of these so-
called monsters, had become a fad.
(1988, p. 6)

18. Law Professor Gary Francione writes,
Some people accuse me of confusing moral
schizophrenia with multiple/split personality …
When I talk about moral schizophrenia, I am
seeking to describe the delusional and
confused way that we think about animals as a
social/moral matter. That confusion can, of
course, include conflicting or inconsistent ways
of looking at animals (some are family
members; others are dinner) but that does not
mean that I am describing a classic split or
multiple personality. Our moral schizophrenia,
which involves our deluding ourselves about
animal sentience and the similarities between
humans and other animals, and an enormous
amount of confusion about the moral status of
nonhumans, is a phenomenon that is quite
complicated and has many different aspects.
(Francione, 2009)

19. Law Professor Gary Francione writes,
Some people think that by using the
term, I am stigmatizing those who
have clinical schizophrenia because it
implies that they are immoral people. I
am sincerely sorry—and I mean that—
if anyone has interpreted the term in
that way and that is certainly not what
I intended. Schizophrenia is a
recognized condition that is
characterized by confused and
delusional thinking. (Francione, 2009)

20. Peter Singer writes in his book, Rethinking
Life and Death,
To have a child with Down syndrome is to
have a very different experience from
having a normal child. It can still be a
warm and loving experience, but we
must have lowered expectations of our
child's abilities. We cannot expect a child
with Down syndrome to play the guitar,
to develop an appreciation of science
fiction, to learn a foreign language, to
chat with us about the latest Woody
Allen movie, or to be a respectable
athlete, basketballer or tennis player.

22. “STOP BEING A MORON AND
START GETTING SKINNY: If you
can't take one more day of self-
loathing, you're ready to hear
the truth: You cannot keep
shoveling the same crap into
your mouth every day and
expect to lose weight.”

29. Making Social Justice Inclusive
• Not Equality Equity
• Not Voiceless Allies
• Not March Rally
• Don’t Stand Up Fight Back
• Not “He is an Idiot” He is dangerous
• Blind to Racism Ignorant of Racism
• They are Deaf They are Avoiding
• Crazy Not Constructive
• Lame Boring
• Moron Not Correct or Not
• Freak Unique

30. Animal Rights Supporting Racism
Mike Vick For Profiling and
Criminalization of
People of Color
Cultural Imperialism For Bully riding against
bully fighting and cock
fighting
Jailing Abusers For Punitive Justice
Opposed to AETA For Totem Pole of
Oppression
ALF For Stigmatizing them as
Terrorists

39. Fighting for Total
Liberation
Unity
Accountability
Responsibility
Holistic
Radical

40. Anarchism
• Nonhierarchical
• Direct Democracy
• No Ownership
• No Property
• Community
• Transformative
Justice

41. Savior Mentality

42. Solidarity
• Develop Our Own Narrative
• All experiences are
different
• Do not try to understand,
but respect
• Focus on oppression
• Do not compete on who is
more oppressed
“The Oppression Olympics”

43. Being a White Allies
• Be invited to the struggle not movement
• Listen
• Articulate one’s commitment
• Explain one’s skills
• Explain motivation and personal goals

44. Being a White Allies
• Be willing to follow and never lead
• Be willing to not get credit, but give credit to
non-dominate voices
• Be willing to take accountability and own
one’s supremacy and domination
• Be willing to be challenged and be called out
• Be willing to learn new processes and cultural
practices

45. Being a White Allies
• Be willing to take more risks
• Be willing to do more
• Be willing to not take money or other benefits
• Challenge acts that tokenize, patronizing, and
cooptation by white individuals and agencies
• Be willing to leave and not blame others