Human and Animal Rights

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human and Animal Rights is (or was) a radical Animal rights publication.

A total of eight issues are known to have been published at irregular intervals between February 2003 and August 2005. The first three issues gave the publication's address as a postbox in Birmingham, Alabama, in the US. The last five gave a postbox in Calgary, Canada. No other contact details were given, and the publication does not seem to have had an online version. Since August 2005 publication seems to have ceased, for unknown reasons.

The publication seems to have been produced by photocopying computer-produced pages and stapling them together. Number of pages varied between 24 and 32.

On the front page of each issue appeared its credo, a variation on the American Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all living creatures are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

The credo than went on to declare that "The killing of any living creature is MURDER [emphasis in the original]. The eating of any murdered creature is CANNIBALISM. It is the right and duty of any moral being to do all in his or her power to stop murder and cannibalism, completely regardless of what the murderers' and cannibals' "law" says and of what the murderers' and cannibals' police and judges may do to you."

Virtually all articles were signed by three writers: Anne Fullerton, David McKnight and Leonid Kropotkin. These names might be aliases, since the writers frequently admitted (and indeed took pride in) various illegal activities, such as throwing fire-bombs at buthceries in various North American locations and sending anonymous letters to butchers, with threats to harm their families unless they change profession. There was no mention, however, of any attempt to carry out any of these threats.

A graphic element repeated in several issues, using sometimes cartoons and sometimes apparently authentic photos, was the contrast of graphic scenes from slaughterhouses with those of diners in chic restaurants, invariably under the caption: "Dear Cannibals, how would you like to be eaten?"

Copies of the publication were sold or distributed free at various radical events, not only in North America but also in Europe and Israel, and turned up at houses occupied by squatters in different cities. A distributor during a meeting at Brussels, Belgium in January 2005 denied all knowledge of the publishers' identity, saying: "I have no idea who they are but I like their stuff".

As noted, publication seems to have ceased since August 2005, for unknown reasons. Letters sent to the Calgary address after September 2005 were all returned by the Canadian postal authorities, and there was no forwarding address. Inquiries by other activists failed to find anywhere in the US or Canada people detained for or charged with acts such as described in the publication. Also, there is no clear evidence that its publishers are among the radical Environmental and Animal Rights groups targeted in recent years by US Federal law-enforcement institutions.

The published articles give quite a few autobiographical details about the three writers. Anne Fullerton seems to be in her sixties, born on the East Coast (probably in New York, though she never stated it explicitly) and having been deeply involved in the movement against the Vietnam War. She practised as a lawyer, being involved mainly in divorce cases which she described as "soul destroying", and became an Animal Rights activist after a deep personal crisis following the death of her eldest daughter. She seems to have accumulated some funds which were used to finance the group's activities, and despite her age actively participated in acts requiring intensive physical activity.

David McKnight was a child during Ronald Reagan's presidency, born to a deeply conservative Christian family in a Mid-Western state. He became involved in radical politics while studying Political Science at the capital of his (unnamed) home state, which led to prolonged rupture with his family, but had an emotional reconciliation with his father shortly before the father's death from cancer. Though declaring himself an agnostic, his articles clearly show the traces of a Christian upbringing. Though not of Catholic background, he seems especially inspired by St. Francis of Assisi.

Leonid Kropotkin is a Russian who emigrated to US in the 1990's and became naturalized after some years' stay. He was born in a middle-size Russian town with a considerable Muslim minority, where his family still lives, and admits to having been "a rabid racist" as a teenager. His articles contain many references to Russian history, especially the repeated assertion that Lenin's fondness for hunting shows that the October Revolution was tainted with Speciesism from its very inception and was therefore doomed to failure.

While writing about their past in considerable detail, the writers were deliberately evasive about their present, giving no clue which could lead to their present whereabouts. Some fifteen other members of the group, who participated in various "raids" (the writers' own term), are all referred to with a first name only and few personal details are given about them, except for the fact that most of them seem to have been younger than the three leaders.

[edit] Note on Sources

The main source for this page, as is evident from its content, is the paper itself, copies of which had been current in Animal Rights and other radical millueus (anti-War, anti-Globalization, Anarchists, Squatters etc.) in various countries throughout the years of its publication. Due to the publishing group's secretiveness and the continuing mystery of their disappearance, other kinds of verification seem difficult to obtain.