[ENG] The group organizing this event is called QUAGLIA!
This is our blog: https://quaglia.noblogs.org/
The following is an article, published on the 1st Quaglia! bullettin, that summarizes the context and analyses in which our collective was created:
“Where do we come from, who we are, what do we want”: from these questions new meetings were born among antispeciesist individuals and groups who feel the urgency to relaunch animal liberation struggles but who lack a sharing and mutual support network. These meetings include an analysis of what happened in the past and what is happening now within the animal liberation movement: the aim is to take stock of critical issues, errors, main strengths and, above all, of the possibility of reviving a path of radical animal liberation.
To date, although we notice in general a greater sensitivity towards animals, the arguments that are carried out by associations and animal rights groups remain reformist and reflect the superficiality of the present society. These apolitical drifts managed to weaken the radicality of the themes that, on the contrary, were carried out up until a few years ago by the animal liberation movement, causing the latter to break up and take different roads, with the multiplication of small groups that no longer have any connection to one another, no shared political and strategic analysis, no mutual solidarity.
In this climate of strong sensitivity but weak analysis, we witnessed the advance of fascist groups who take advantage of the pietistic feelings towards animals, do not connect animal exploitation with other forms of social oppression and delegate the solution of animal exploitation to the State. Over the years these groups have become stronger gaining access to events and demos, getting to the point of giving free access to political party representatives that, exploting the antispeciesist issues in a sneaky way, are actually carrying out their power interests, taking advantage of public consensus.
In the United States, a group of activists carried on a campaing called No New Animal Lab, trying to retrieve the legacy left by the anti-vivisectionist SHAC campaign with a critical spirit and with the aim to rebuild and regive strength to an animal liberation movement that, like in Italy, was becoming weaker.
We started from this example of “rebirth”, during the meetings we organized, to analyze various national and international campaigns of the past and the present, trying to fully explore their strong points and the problems which later led to the downfall of the movement. We shared the common observation that the movement had begun to break up in the moment when some people started to transform the campaigns to make them more pleasing for the public opinion, and to involve more people at the expense of the radicality of our message. Quantity was slowly becoming much more important than quality.
This also provided fertile ground for the fascist infiltrations, which were tolerated because the idea of total freedom that had always distinguished us was fading away. Moreover, the arguments were being increasingly softened to adapt to the public opinion standards, and new kind of demands were made like new regulations and laws to improve the conditions of the animals, whereas previously the struggle for animal liberation had always refused the policy of small steps and the dialogue with the State.
For example, the strong point of the Close Green Hill campaign here in Italy was precisely to report to the institutions a series of “irregularities” of the breeding farm, in fact focusing on challenging the company itself rather than the whole practice of vivisection. Once again, therefore, it was not the system that was caused distress but only an anomaly within it. In the same direction we see also drifts like welfarism, veganism promotion for health reasons, reductionism and the interference of right wing groups or politicians. Here the conditions that led to the division between those who supported reform and those who instead continued to support direct action practices emerged.
In the wake of these analyses and reflections, the meetings established a series of questions to be examined to understand in which direction an animal liberation struggle could go, today, in the light of the events and turning points that in recent years have shaped, broken up and almost made unrecognizable a movement that was previously radical. In recent years, internet also contributed to scatter and isolate the activists, who by now spend more time on their computers than in the streets, thinking they can bring social change with a click. Apart from a few exceptions, the only moments left to meet and discuss are vegan festivals or events that focus solely on the aspect of veganism as choice of consumption.
In our meetings we expressed the will to contain the reformist and welfarist drifts, relaunching an animal liberation movement on an anarchist/libertarian basis, which through constant attention and self-criticism expresses an idea of freedom that not only concerns non-human animals but also the Earth and human beings. For this reason, the importance of emphasizing the intersectionality of the struggles was stressed, and we started to think about how to create a synergy between them (antispeciesism, ecologism, anti-fascism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, fight against prisons etc.).
These meetings, which will continue to be held in different parts of Italy on a periodic basis, have the purpose of getting to know each other through the discussion on the questions that we set in the beginning: where do we come from, who we are, what do we want. Questions that we want to answer right away, to avoid misunderstandings and contradictions and to be clear on what we think. These questions speak of our future and the future of all living beings, of what was created to imprison us and what we want to destroy, with new energies and also with new analyses on how this system oppresses us all, combining various liberation struggles at every level.
We invite antispeciesist groups and individuals to participate in the upcoming meetings to try to revive a radical animal liberation movement in which everyone can feel involved and active….
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[ITA] Il gruppo che organizza questo incontro è QUAGLIA!
Dal nostro blog: https://quaglia.noblogs.org/
“Da dove veniamo, chi siamo, cosa vogliamo”: da queste domande sono nati gli incontri che stiamo facendo tra individualità e gruppi antispecisti che sentono l’urgenza di far ripartire le lotte di liberazione animale ma a cui manca una rete di condivisione e mutuo appoggio. Questi incontri rappresentano un’analisi di quanto è accaduto in passato e di quanto sta accadendo ora all’interno del movimento di liberazione animale: per fare il punto su criticità, errori, punti di forza e, soprattutto, sulla possibilità di far rinascere un percorso di liberazione animale radicale.
Ad oggi anche se si nota una maggiore sensibilità verso gli animali, i discorsi che vengono portati avanti da associazioni e gruppi animalisti restano riformisti e rispecchiano la superficialità dell’attuale società. Queste derive qualunquiste hanno indebolito la radicalità dei temi che invece erano portati avanti fino a qualche anno fa dal movimento di liberazione animale, facendo sì che quest’ultimo si disgregasse e prendesse strade diverse, con il moltiplicarsi di piccoli gruppi che però non hanno più nessuna connessione gli uni con gli altri, nessuna analisi politica e strategica condivisa, nessuna reciproca solidarietà. Si sono inoltre fatti avanti, in questo clima di forte sensibilità ma di debole analisi, gruppi di fascisti che cavalcano il sentimentalismo pietista verso gli animali, non connettono lo sfruttamento animale alle altre forme di oppressione sociale, e delegano la soluzione dello sfruttamento animale allo Stato. Negli anni questi gruppi si sono rafforzati entrando nelle manifestazioni e nelle piazze, fino a dare il libero accesso a figure politiche di partito che, strumentalizzando subdolamente le tematiche della lotta antispecista, portano avanti in realtà i loro interessi di potere, facendo leva sul consenso pubblico.
Le infiltrazioni fasciste sono state tollerate perché veniva a mancare l’ideale di libertà totale che ci ha sempre contraddistinto. Inoltre i discorsi si sono fatti sempre più annacquati per adattarsi allo standard dell’opinione pubblica, e si sono cominciate ad avanzare rivendicazioni come nuove norme e leggi per migliorare la condizione degli animali, mentre in precedenza la lotta per la liberazione animale aveva sempre rifiutato la politica dei piccoli passi e il dialogo con lo Stato.
Da questi incontri si è manifestata la volontà di arginare certe derive riformiste e zoofile, rilanciando un movimento di liberazione animale su basi anarchiche/libertarie, che attraverso una costante attenzione e autocritica affermi un’idea di libertà che non riguarda soltanto gli animali non umani ma anche la Terra e gli esseri umani. Per questo si è ribadita l’importanza di porre l’accento sull’intersezionalità delle lotte, pensando a come creare una sinergia tra di esse (antispecismo, ecologismo, antifascismo, antirazzismo, antisessismo, lotta alle carceri ecc.).
Questi incontri, che continueranno a tenersi in diverse parti d’Italia a scadenza periodica, hanno lo scopo di conoscerci e riconoscerci in base al confronto sulle domande poste all’inizio: da dove veniamo, chi siamo, cosa vogliamo?
Invitiamo realtà e individualità antispeciste a partecipare nel tentativo di far rinascere un movimento di liberazione animale radicale in cui tuttx possano sentirsi partecipi e attivx.
