› Robert Greene → evolutionary social- us that the •Ists fight for the lib- "rights" oration of humanity, in order to create a soct ety free from exploltatlon and oppression, a soclety based upon human need rather than one based upon the noeds of profits for the ruling elite.
Some animal rights activists would argue that this attitude is a form of chau"speciesism", argue that all cince it nacas the napre of humanity above those of other animals.
What attitude should socialists take then towards animal rights campaigns? Surely we are against unnecessar cruelty, does the extent this mean that we should support animal rights?
To understand this as a necessity. question, we must first look at what we mean by upon just the emancipa rights. History has shown tion of humanity but upon concept of ITC self-emancipation. is not an abso- This is a sharp distinction In different socie- that separates it from the ties, the degree of rights nineteenth century liberal ual can de grantea to all tradition. We would ardue individuals within that so- that the only rights that ciety is limited both by the we have are the ones that material resources avail- we fight for and win. able to that society, the Socialism is not about way that society is organ- helping other people ised and its level of devel- (though we're not against opment. As Karl Marx said that), it's about organis"Men (sic) make history, ing ourselves collectively but not in conditions of for the benefit of all. To their own choosing". talk about animals having For example we would rights would not just imply people that for example, they feel should have the "right" to pain, but that they can bedecent housing with sani- come conscious of their tary conditions, running role in society and how to water and so on In the fight it. stone age, however, soci- None of this, however, ety was not organised to implies that we should be that it could unnecessarily cruel to aniprovide what is consid- mals, in fact there is a ered by today's standards great deal to suggest that under a socialist society Marxism is based not animals woule oe Treated far better.
Capitalist society is by definition run for proTiL. People are not generally cruel to animals out of some form of sadistic measure ones they are acting upon the needs of the profit system. This means that massive resources are squandered as rival companies compete for profits. Rival drugs companies always try to keep their research secret from each other and so what animal testing is deemed "necessary" is repeated numerous times by different companies. Cosmetic companies do likewise, on top of the billions squanderea by each company on advertising to convince us firstly, that we need their products and secondly, that their particular products are superior to the 1001 near identical prod- Cue.
where he llves In a posh suburb. On April Fool's Day, he found ucts on the market. about thirty protestors Under socialism| we occupying his garden, would be unlikely to chose banging drums and to continue wasting any of playing whistles, disthese resources. nor any playing banners, and of the unnecessary cruelty that goes with it. having a picnic! "The It is aiso true that a par- real criminals are the ticular area of land could Tories!" was the cry feed more people by grow- as we frolicked on his ing vegetables For grain lawn. The local news than it could through grazing cattle. If people made cameras were there and we got a five mincollective choice:
Cute slot of sympa chollo we lice mic anato feed one of us while the thetic coverage on East Midlands news. ract crane or chollo we use it to feed all of us, it "Don't you think this Ishtarero seeunal Is Just an Invasion of they would choose.
privacy?" one reporter Despite the propaganda asked. "This governabout the inefficiencies of mont Is invading peosocialism, based upon ple's privacy!" was the myth that the Soviet Union was socialist, so- the roply.. cialism is a far more effi- We managed to party cient way to run society for bout half an hour than capitalism, and as a before the pollce arconsequence, far less rived in force, at which time we decided to threat to trade unionIsts' ability to picket. Many trades councils In particular have opposed the CJA and this year's conference of trades councils has a number of resolutlons against the Act. It Is Important that trade unions link up with local groups, particularly as many youth, being unemployed, don't see the relevance of the labour movement.
Local groups should continue to raise awareness of the CJA and not let it be forgotton. It Is vital that activists don't let the CJA stop them stop them from protesting. Defying the Act will make It unworkable.
Break out the drums and the plonic hamper!
• Ecology • third world summit