Read urgently: human beasts? For a vegan revolution

Inspired
by the immediacy in the United States during the nineteenth century
that demanded the immediate abolition of the slave trade and the
recognition of their civil and political equality, they rejected the
principles of gradualism (policy of “small steps” “).
Hostiles towards the well-meant speeches and campaigns aimed at
improving the daily lives of animal victims of slavery, loudly and
clearly proclaim their rejection of the animal object and its
exploitation by humans. They point out that the problem lies not in
the way animals are used, but in the use of them. Farming, production
of meat, milk, fur, wool, leather, honey, silk, etc., aquatic
“shows”, hunting, fishing, bullfights, zoos, deportation,
imprisonment, vivisection, genetic manipulation, domestication,
confiscation, destruction and pollution of territories…: all of
these crimes of speciesism that we are collectively collaborating in
and that we have always turned a blind eye to.

Since
we do not need animal products to live, we humans continue to
unnecessarily enslave and massacre members of other species. The only
reason we harvest and kill hundreds of billions of terrestrial and
marine animals each year is that we like the taste of their flesh and
their body-made products: eggs, milk, etc., just as we have always
done. We love to put on their skin, their fur and their wool by
habit.

This
manifesto upsets our values and points to the good conscience behind
which the followers of the «organic» and of a so-called ethical
consumption of animals. Without detours or concessions, the authors
claim that there is no “human” exploitation of others, nor
is there any torture or “human” murder. They denounce the
millennial concept of continuous consumption and defeat our alleged
moral superiority, which is disproved by the way we treat other
creatures who share with us the Earth – creatures we have enslaved,
reduced to the state of means at the service of our own ends. To
awaken the consciences, they do not hesitate to describe our
behaviour as genocidal, quoting the famous sentence of Isaac B.
Singer, Nobel laureate of literature: “When it comes to animals,
all men behave like Nazis. “

Writers,
philosophers, legal experts and lawyers agree to give a voice to
these silent victims who, like us, have the right to life and
respect. This book is a platform for women and men working
intellectually, practically, peacefully for the animal cause. To work
for animals means to put an end to their exploitation and not to
regulate them; it means proceeding to their emancipation and not
planning their slavery. It means working for a more just world that
includes in the community of equals all beings endowed with
sentience, by virtue of that very sentience. Such goals can only be
achieved through the adoption of a vegan lifestyle, a practical
application of the abolitionist theory and fundamental moral
principle.

This
book (the first devoted to abolitionist veganism to appear in France)
is still a powerful tool to lead others to reflect on animal
liberation and its implications. Finally, he hopes to contribute
humbly to stave off the circle of violence that we initiated and of
which we are tragically prisoners of.

Human
beasts? For a vegan revolution (dir Méryl Pinque) was published by
Autrement on March 11, 2015 in the collection “Universités
populaires & Cie”.

With,
in alphabetical order, the contributions of: Gary L. Francione,
Valery Giroux, Patrick Llored, Meryl Pinque and Gary Steiner.

Preface
by Michel Onfray.