Animal Colonialism in North America: Milk Colonialism, Environmental Racism and Indigenous Veganism


From back cover:

“The Western hierarchical system that tends to divide people into categories was applied on nonhuman animals before it was applied on humans. “Wild animals” were placed below “domesticated animals” whose presence in the landscape was justified on the grounds of their utilitarian benefit for humans. While free-living animals were only useful for European colonizers when dead (to be exploited for their skin), domesticated animals served double purpose – as tools of colonization when alive, as well as providers of animalized protein in the form of milk or eggs, and as profitable “meat” when dead. This double usefulness hierarchically placed domesticated animals above their free-living counterparts who, in the eyes of colonizers, needed to disappear from the landscape to make space for the advancement of the Western “civilization.” ……

Despite most of the world population being lactose intolerant (and predominantly people of color), milk has been universally represented as staple food and, together with meat, has been used as a colonial tool for gender and racial discrimination. While plant-based diets have been represented by the Western colonial culture as inferior and linked to emasculation, weakness, and racial inferiority, milk continues to serve as a symbol of white supremacy with its culturally constructed connection to white purity, whole-someness and virility……

Indigenous plant-based foodways have been diminished and carnist diet was imposed on cultures that had previously consumed no or very little meat. Today, Indigenous vegans, Black vegans, and other vegans of color are “challenging the paradoxical stereotype of veganism as elite and white.” For example, in their book Decolonize Your Diet: Mexican-American Plant-Based Recipes for Health and Healing, Luz Calvo and Catrióna Rueda Esquibel provide an extensive collection of traditional plant-based recipes with the intention to rediscover their roots. The overarching argument of their work is that Mexicans and Indigenous people in general must rediscover and reappropriate their traditional plant-based diets in order to reclaim both their physical and spiritual health.”

Animal_Colonialism_in_North_America pdf

From Healing Herbs to Dangerous Drugs: Western Medicine’s War on the Natural World


From back cover:

“Western medicine’s preference for the development and marketing of dangerous drugs over the earlier use of healing herbs is a direct product of its mechanistic beliefs. Rather than use the entire plant, western medicine prefers to isolate the plant’s most active ingredients in order to develop a more potent force. However, in general, isolated and “refined” drugs are much more toxic than are the substances from which they are derived. (It is no coincidence that the word “pharmaceutical” derives from an ancient Greek word meaning “poison.”) It appears that the combined properties of plants serve complementary functions providing safeguards that are missing when particular ingredients are refined and extracted from the whole plant…

…while researchers attempt to justify animal experimentation by the claim that animals are different from human beings, they also seek to justify it scientifically by “reasoning” that animals are similar to human beings. But, although animals are similar to humans in the important aspects of life – i.e., they feel joy, sadness, loneliness, and fear- their physiologies differ significantly from our own. Each species has a unique constitution and develops diseases and responds to drugs in very different ways. Thus, “penicillin kills guinea pigs. But the same guinea pigs can safely eat strychnine, one of the deadliest poisons for humans – but not for monkeys”; opium is “harmless to dogs and chickens”; “morphine, which calms and anesthetizes humans, causes maniacal excitement in cats and mice”; thalidomide, though tested extensively and “proven” safe in several species, later caused birth defects in the ten thousand children born to pregnant mothers who took this drug.”

From_Healing_Herbs_to_Dangerous_Drugs pdf

Native Americans and Vegetarianism


From back cover:

“How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo, dressed in quill-decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered eaddress, and leather moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the “buffalo-as-lifestyle” phenomenon is a direct result of European influence…”

Native Americans and Vegetarianism pdf

The Killing Game: An Ecofeminist Critique of Hunting

From back cover:

“Most hunters ignore the question of the animal’s subjective experience, defending their actions by reference to the purity of their own motives and desires, and, in particular, by presenting their desire to hunt as a need. Hunters have used several strategies to justify hunting, which I have categorized by means of a tripartite typology that distinguishes hunters according to the particular need they argue hunting fulfills: The “happy hunter” hunts for the purpose of enjoyment and pleasure, as well as character development (psychological need); the “holist hunter’ hunts for the purpose of maintaining the balance of nature (ecological need); and the “holy hunter” hunts in order to attain a spiritual state (religious need)…

…Hunters claim that in the course of stalking their prey, they imaginatively enter into the life of the animal. But whereas hunters claim that this exercise in imagination helps them develop feelings of empathy for the animal, it is their inability to understand the experience of nonhuman animals that is a prerequisite of their hunt. As we have seen, hunters also emphasize the keen sense of alertness and attention that characterizes their state of mind. It is apparent, however, that if hunters were truly attending to nature, instead of to their own amorphous feelings of “love” and “connection,” they would feel the terror and fright of the animal they seek to kill…

…The pursuit of the animal expresses the hunter’s yearning to repossess his lost female and animal nature. The death of the animal ensures that this oneness with nature is not genuinely attained. Violence becomes the only way in which the hunter can experience this sense of oneness while asserting his masculine self-identity as an autonomous human being. By killing the animal, the hunter ritually enacts the death of his longing for a return to a primordial female/animal world.”

The Killing Game_An Ecofeminist Critique of Hunting pdf

There Is No Respectful Way to Kill an Animal


From back cover:

“The prayers and ceremonies do something for us, not the deer, at the very least not the same thing for the deer, and there is no way to escape the fundamental inequity of the relationship. I would go as far as to say the lack of relationship: she’s dead, we’re not. If, as some would suggest, a relationship between hunter and prey is realized through respectful rituals, it is hard to get around the fact that one of the most significant aspects of that relationship—its symmetry and equity and power balance— is ended when one party is dead. This is not to say that prayers and ceremonies are of no value for the person who has no choice but to kill. It is to say the deer will always get the worst part of the bargain no matter how carefully it is done, and any hunter who is experienced, and honest, knows that in spite of the most thoughtful efforts to minimize suffering it doesn’t always go well. Even with the ceremonies and prayers it’s an ugly business.

…I’m in favor of people thinking through what might constitute ethical choices for themselves rather than accepting whatever authority figure—traditional or otherwise—that would make those decisions for them.”

There Is No Respectful Way to Kill an Animal pdf

The Revolution Starts on Your Plate_A Guide to Vegan Cooking Volume 1-2

”The reason we provide this zine is to make clear that the vegan diet is more than just a diet; it’s an integeral part of a revolutionary lifestyle. Because not boycotting the bio-industry negates all points of total liberation. No one is free until all are free, which includes animals as well.

We hope to give you some knowledge how to make good vegan food without paying the highest price or supporting genocide.

Until every cage is empty”

– Tinnitus Patches XVX (Netherlands)

The Revolution Starts on Your Plate_A Guide to Vegan Cooking pdf

The Revolution Starts on Your Plate_A Guide to Vegan Cooking Vol. 2 pdf

 

 

The History of the Animal Liberation Front


From back cover:

“On April 15th 1987, two years and two weeks after 500 animals were liberated from the University of California, an arson carried out by the Animal Liberation Front against the Animal Diagnostics Laboratory caused around $5.1 million in damages. The letters “ALF” were found painted inside the burned laboratory.

No one was ever prosecuted for the fire.”

The History of the Animal Liberation Front pdf

Why Vegan Anarchy? A Vegan Look into the Reasons For Anarchy

“Mainstream vegan reading material is often written from a liberal rather than a radical perspective. By “radical” we mean a perspective that addresses the “root” of speciesism and human supremacy. While under capitalism, individual consumer choices do play a role in upholding speciesism and human supremacy, we also acknowledge the role industrial civilization itself plays in waging war against all animals – humans included!

This short pamphlet aims to offer an anarchist perspective to the vegan struggle for animal liberation by bringing attention to the technological-industrial, capitalist society that utilizes agriculture, land ownership, and environmental degradation to expand its control and power. It is assumed that the reader is already vegan and aware of the exploitative nature of capitalism and the social hierarchies of sexism, racism, ableism, etc. By understanding how capitalism keeps the animal liberation movement passive by transforming it into a profitable dietary trend, we hope to illustrate why we feel more vegan food options is simply not enough.”

Why Vegan Anarchy_A Vegan Look Into the Reasons for Anarchy pdf

Disorderly Conduct: Veganism, Eating Disorders, and Captivity

From back cover:

“The eating disorder recovery industry is a potent example of how human supremacy perpetuates harm and immense suffering. Have you ever heard anyone say they cannot be vegan because they are in recovery from an eating disorder? It is a common refrain foisted upon us by practitioners and institutions that force their subjects to view individuals with vastly different morphologies as commodities rather than as individuals who an alienating and oppressive global food system has likewise harmed. The recovery narrative itself is a fantasy when it is seemingly impossible to escape a context of imposed power that tries to force us into becoming as small, manageable, and legible as possible by prescribing rigid identities and modalities. Rather than viewing them as neutral sources of food, we should develop compassion for and solidarity with the animals who, like ourselves, are repeatedly abused by profit-driven food systems and psychiatric institutions that only serve the interests of those who hold power.”

Disorderly Conduct_Veganism, Eating Disorders, and Captivity pdf

Liberal Radical & Nihilist VEGANISM: A Short Exploration

From back cover:

“(This text was originally published in a zine called “Vegan Wild: An International Anarchist Journal of Total Liberation”. It has been slightly modified and expanded for the purpose of serving as its own zine.)

As a zine distributer and publisher we wanted to provide what we feel to be a basic outline for exploring vegan perspectives generally defined as “liberal”, “radical” and “nihilist”. Exactly how those of us affiliated with Warzone Distro understand veganism in our individual lives has been inspired by a multitude of perspectives – vegan, non-vegan, and anti-vegan -shared over the years. Reading and listening to different stories (and critiques) has without a doubt played an influential role in how we, as anarchists, relate animal liberation to veganism, as anti-speciesist praxis. In encouraging dialog, we find it practical to continuously challenge non-vegan anarchists, non-anarchist vegans, as well as question and expand our own understanding of veganism.

This text is by no means intended to be complete. Despite its simplicity, we feel this text has the potential to be a useful tool for those interested in creating further dialog of their own on the topic.”

Liberal_Radical & Nihilist Veganism_A Short Exploration pdf

Vegan Cooking is Easy (Recipe Zine)


So u think vegan cooking is hard? and u put difficulty over liberation & autonomy for ALL?! thats fucked up. here’s some easy recipes you can try instead, now that ur vegan ofc.

Vegan Cooking is Easy pdf

Absurd, Disingenuous Rationalizations of Ranting Humancentric Anarchists

From back cover:

“Anti-civ anarchists attempting to ground their reasoning for hunting in primal human behavior are being self-contradictory. Surrendering one’s innate primal mutualism to anthropocentric supremacy grounded in moral and ethical ethos manifests in human incursions dominating and even killing other wild life. All wild animals live within a natural range, for example other great apes. They don’t naturally invade, conquer and colonize all of earth. Accepting civilization’s anthropocentric domination, as in hunting, is accomplished via indoctrinated moral conditioning, and is as much an authentic primal desire as that of a child to kill a rabbit and eat its raw tissues instead of picking and eating berries, mushrooms and nuts.”

Absurd, Disingenuous Rationalizations of Ranting Humancentric Anarchists pdf

Burning the Borders: Total Liberation & Individualist, Nihilist Perspectives Within the Colonized Territory Known as Mexico

This interview between Warzone Distro & Guta – one of the  organizers of EININPAACF or Encuentro Internacional de Practicas Anarquicas y Antiauthoritarias Contra las Fronteras, which in english translates to annual international gathering of anarchist and anti-authoritarian practices against borders – took place a few days before and after the event. This event which took place January 25 – 27 in Tijuana, Mexico, reflects a new emergence of individualist, anarcho-nihilist perspectives influenced not only by the current techno-industrial world in general, but also by the perceived failings of leftism experienced by anarchists living in so-called mexico.

Burning the Borders_Total Liberation & Individualist, Nihilist Perspectives Within the Colonized Territory Known as Mexico pdf

Oblivion: Anarchy & the Collapse of Industrial Civilization

From back cover:

“Of course, regardless of how myself or anyone else feels about industrial collapse, and whether or not people want to believe we can either prevent or accelerate it, industrial collapse is already happening, and has been for quite some time. Perhaps the reason why it’s gone unnoticed is either due to denial, or because the rate at which it’s collapsing doesn’t resemble a single, crumbling tower that quickly turns into ash and smoke. That is because something as large and socially complex as industrial society doesn’t break down all at once, but instead decomposes at different points and at different times. It is commonly understood as collapse due to an acknowledgement that as the natural resources needed to sustain industrial society are depleted, the points of decomposition break down beyond repair.”

“I can imagine a couple possible reasons why industrial collapse doesn’t cross the minds of many. One reason could be the socialized mentality of immortality driven by human supremacist arrogance. There are many people today – including leftists – who continue to put faith in science and technology as the saviors of life, and as a primary response to ecological disasters. At the root of this unwaivering faith is a refusal to acknowledge how science and technology have re-defined life by securing human-centric control over the wild. Science and technology, regardless of their greening continue to be the alphabet of industrialization – expanding power and influence through a language of increased alienation and ecological extinction. From military empowerment through the expansive production of weapons of mass destruction, to the tireless gaze of increased State surveilance over the population, science and technology never sleep. And as industrialization continues to absorb what remains of the wild world, the relationship to wildness erodes on both an individual and societal level.”

Oblivion_Anarchy & the Collapse of Industrial Civilization pdf

The Intersections Between Anti-Speciesism, Anti-Civilization, & Individualist Anarchy

From back cover:

“Veganism, like anarchy, isn’t a system; it’s an individual praxis of abstention and individual resistance against consumerist violence and civilization-induced destruction. Veganism is the individual anti-speciesist refusal to take part in all forms of exploitation and systematic extermination…

…Vegetarianism is part of my egoist self-affirmation as I strive towards veganism as part of my own individualist liberation struggle, evicting the social constructs and herd mentalities that haunt the mind.”

The Intersections Between Anti-Speciesism, Anti-Civilization & Individualist Anarchy pdf

Straight Edge Resistance

This zine includes a large collection of essays and interviews related to anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, anti-colonial, vegan, queer, anti-civ straight edge ideas.

Straight_Edge_Resistance pdf

Against Speciesism, Against Anthropocentrism: 8 Reasons for Radical Veganism

Text from back cover:

“Anarchism is struggle against all forms of domination. It is a beautifully simple idea that helps call into question every oppressive norm.

But our relationships of subjugation with billions of other species on the earth is one norm that few seem to take issue with; not only are other species unable to communicate their experience to us, but to question means to challenge entrenched habits and world views. If we want to be consistent in our politics, then there’s no way we can continue to ignore the impact our anthropocentrism (human-centeredness) is having on the rest of this planet.

Yet, just because most of us are implicated does not mean that we are burdened with some kind of ‘original sin’. Quite the contrary: the beauty and power of anarchism is that it pushes us all to live lives that are more just, loving, meaningful, satisfying, and collectively free. So when we talk about speciesism, far from being dismissive, we should embrace the challenge it poses, look further into the issue, and do what we can to change the miserable status quo.”

Against Speciesism Against Anthropocentrism 8 Reasons for Radical Veganism pdf

ALF Primer 3rd Edition: A Guide to Direct Action & The Animal Liberation Front


ALF_Primer_3rdEdition pdf

Anti-Speciesism & Dietary Decolonization: A Short Introduction to Veganism

This zine breaks down the Standard American Diet, tracing it back to its colonial roots and advocates veganism as a form of anti-colonial resistance.

Anti-Speciesism Dietary Decolonization Intro to Veganism pdf

A Vegan Revolution Against the Fast Food Empire

This is a short but informational flyer found a few years ago after a mcdonalds protest. The email on the back no longer works but the info in the flyer is useful.

Smash the Fast Food Industry! pdf

Bite Back!

A zine discussing Hunt Saboteurs.

Bite_Back pdf

Biocentric Anarchy

Text from back cover:

“Biocentric anarchy is a way of challenging ourselves to deepen our understanding of ourselves as animals and reconnect with our non-human cousins. It propels us to reorient our ideas and practices as anarchists so as to place equal importance on the liberation of non-human life from the clutches of anthropocentrism and capitalism, as we do people from the forces of domination. This echoes a recent trend among anarchist projects of a more ecological and anti-speciesist bent who identify as ‘Total Liberation’ groups, differentiating themselves from mainstream currents within animal rights, and challenging other anarchists to make the links between all systems of oppression rather than limiting our concerns to issues that immediately affect our own kind.”

Biocentric_Anarchy pdf

BITING BACK: A Radical Response to Non-Vegan Anarchists

Text from back cover:

“Veganism is not merely a dietary choice, but a challenge to the dominant anthropocentric narrative. It is not about purchasing different products but cultivating new relationships with non-human animals which are not based on hierarchies and oppression. While there are still anarchists who feel waiting for the collapse of capitalism and supporting the ALF is a sufficient enough approach to anti-speciesism, many of us recognize the social and dietary framework which enables speciesism and the need for its total destruction.”

BITING BACK A Radical Response to Non-Vegan Anarchists pdf

Colonialism, Imperialism & Animal Liberation

Text from the zine:

“Veganism, as an ethical choice, is thus a consistent complement to activism in the quest to end human domination over and exploitation of non-human animals. It transcends cultures, in the same way that other forms of oppression should be resisted no matter where they persist. All cultures are living and constantly evolving, and can from within their own cultural understanding find the tools and means through which speciesism, racism, sexism, capitalism or any other form of domination can be opposed. Everyone who opposes domination should find it within their interest to engage in or at least support the anti-speciesist struggle, for what more severe form of domination could we imagine than the notion that it is acceptable to harm and kill sentient beings because one likes their taste?”

Colonialism Imperialism and Animal Liberation pdf

Decolonizing the Diet: Towards an Indigenous Veganism

This zine contains a collection of essays and recipes focused on veganism as an indigenous form of anti-colonial resistance.

Decolonizing The Diet Towards an Indigenous Veganism pdf

Es Nuestro Turno #2 fanzine del colectivo vegan straight edge de Almeria

Un zine que discute el veganismo, la recta y el anarquismo creado por Almería vegan recto colectivo.

Es Nuestro Turno 2 pdf

From Animals to Anarchism

“This zine challenges those involved with animal liberation to sort their politics out if they truely believe in liberation, but at the same times doesnt let anarchists off the hook – demanding that they consider more fully the nature of human-animal relations in their politics.”

From_Animals_to_Anarchism pdf

Fight Speciesism! anti-speciesist, anti-capitalist, abolitionist direct action news issue #8

Text from the zine:

“Anti-speciesist Action is a collective of militant anti-speciesists and animal liberationists committed to confronting animal abuse, suffering and exploitation of non-human beings through the use of direct action. We believe in the ‘No Compromise’ philosophy, veganism and actively support the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and animal liberation prisoners. We are opposed to capitalism and the state, understanding that without both entities, the universal exploitation of animals would not be possible. Until Every Cage Is Empty!”

Fight Speciesism 8 pdf

Insurrectionary Ecology

A zine that discusses insurrectionary anarchy and eco-defense in-depth as a combined praxis for total liberation.

Insurrectionary_Ecology pdf

It’s Our Turn Issue #1 Almeria Vegan Straight Edge Fanzine

A zine that discusses veganism, straight edge and anarchism created by Almeria vegan straight edge collective.

It’s Our Turn Issue 1 pdf

My Vegan Straight Edge is Anything but White: An Indigenous Anarchist Critique of Speciesism and Intoxication Culture

Text from back cover:

“Aight, so I hear this and see this shit a lot. That vegans are  inherently white, that veganism is about consumerism, and it also makes the (racist) assumption that ALL POC have the same, monolithic culture around consuming and exploiting animals. The great hunter gatherer ideas are colonially based usually around the time where romanticism of indigenous ppl was the hip thing. Part of decolonization and rebalancing of our relation to the animal nations will need to involve us adjusting as we are at an ecological breaking point…”

“We can choose, and some of us do, to negate the existence of intoxicants for political and decolonial reasons. By refusing to play into not only what pacifies but what comes up and promotes systems that are inherently based in imperialism and capitalism as well as used to bolster kyriarchy all around, one feels all the agony they should: for themselves to do what they chose or must for existence without being lulled into any false pleasure of this civilization, for other beings and the planet being destroyed near and far from them, and for the future as this continues. You cannot destroy your masters without going all the way.”

My Vegan Edge is Anything but White pdf

Out From The Shadows: A Vegan Straight Edge Journal of Resistance

This hard-to-find zine discusses and encourages increased visibility of radical vegan straight edge ideas within the anarchist struggle.

Out From The Shadows pdf

Open Minds June 2011 Summer Issue #1

A vegan, straight edge anarchist zine filled with band interviews and essays.

OPEN MINDS Vegan Straight Edge Anarchy Zine Issue 1 pdf

Rabia Y Accion: Zine en apoyo al F.L.A mexicano/No 3

Text from the zine:

“Y damos rienda suelta al numero 3 de esta publicación en apoyo al movimiento radical por la liberación animal y de la tierra “Rabia y Acción” asiendo alusión a una frase de Rod
Coronado que dice “¡si la muerte de la tierra te hace llorar, toma esas lagrimas y conviértelas en acción!””

Rabia-y-Accion-3 pdf

Revolutionary Ecology: Biocentrism & Deep Ecology

Text from the zine:

“Starting from the very reasonable, but unfortunately revolutionary concept that social practices which threaten the continuation of life on Earth must be changed, we need a theory of revolutionary ecology that will encompass social and biological issues, class struggle, and a recognition of the role of global corporate capitalism in the oppression of peoples and the destruction of nature.”

“Deep ecology, or biocentrism, is the belief that nature does not exist to serve humans. Rather, humans are part of nature, one species among many. All species have a right to exist for their own sake, regardless of their usefulness to humans. And biodiversity is a value in itself, essential for the flourishing of both human and nonhuman life.”

Revolutionary Ecology pdf

Revolutionary Struggle for Human & Non-Human Animal Liberation

A short zine that delivers a quick look at the interconnected relationship between sexism, racism and speciesist oppression.

Revolutionary Struggle Nonhuman Human Animal Liberation pdf

Riotous Incognitx #1 A Queer, Insurrectionary Anarchist, Vegan Straight Edge Zin

This is the first issue of a short series of queer, vegan straight edge, green anarchist insurrectionary zines. This issue includes an interview with Sprout Distro, xBalaclavax (xvx hip-hop from brazil), as well as essays on the indigenous struggle against alcohol with “The Battle of White KKKlay”, and green anarchy.

Riotous Incognitx Issue #1 pdf

Riotous Incognitx #2 A Queer, Insurrectionary Anarchist, Vegan Straight Edge Zine

The second issue of a series of zines focused on queer, vegan straight edge insurrectionary anarchy. This issues discusses being a straight edge queer of color, insurrectionary anarchy and prisoner support.

Riotous Incognitx issue #2 pdf

Riotous Incognitx #3 A Queer, Insurrectionary Anarchist, Vegan Straight Edge Zine

The last periodical of a series of zines focused on green anarchy, insurrection and vegan straight edge. This is issue includes an essay about the rise of anti-speciesism in the anarchist movement, as well as some recipes for direct action.

Riotous Incognitx issue #3 pdf

Veganism From A Nihilist and Anti-Civilization Perspective

From back cover:

“This text is aiming for the destabilization of the term veganism through moral and social, even political chains and illustrates that if it doesn’t align with a totally hostile consciousness towards the existent, then it doesn’t cease to be another hoax or delusion. That is to say if the persons using this tool have made that another morality or don’t take some risks with acts of attack (this can take many forms not only physical) or chaotic disruption then it remains mud inside the swamp where it came from.” -Archegonos

Veganism From A Nihilist and Anti-Civ Perspective pdf