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The following was reprinted from the South African publication, Animal Voice, in response to IDA's "They Are Not Our Property" campaign. They have even submitted a formal request to Cape Town, the "Mother City" of South Africa, to "please take the lead in Africa amending all by-laws relating to animals so as to denote humans as 'guardians' of animals and not as 'owners.'"
Parallels of Oppression The parallel between the struggle against Apartheid and the struggle for the animals becomes abundantly apparent when one considers that the language used for the one, applies, invariably, just as well to the other. For example, take the following two quotes: "The master race attitude lends itself to cruelty and sadism because the victims are regarded as being different, inferior. The cult of difference leads straight to the cult of violence and death." And "Appalling crimes are committed and are tolerated because, after all, 'they are not the same as us'." In fact both quotes were written by journalist, newspaper editor, author and human rights champion Brian Bunting in his book The Rise of the South African Reich, published in 1964. People generally agree that they could just as easily have been written about the animal cause today. The mentality exhibited by the pro-slavery Mr. Cobb in the quote below has merely shifted from humans to animals. "A state of bondage, so far from doing violence to the laws of nature, develops and perfects it; in that state (the Negro) enjoys the greatest amount of happiness and arrives at the greatest degree of perfection, of which his nature is capable." R. R. Cobb, An inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in the United States of America, 1858. "Cleanse" our language of anti-animal slurs, says leading South African Linguist Professor Raj Mesthrie, a leading socio-linguist at the University of Cape Town, says South Africans need to look at the derogatory terminology against animals which is inherent in our language. "The bias against animals, inherent in our language, reminds me of the struggle that black people, women and homosexuals have had to face in the elimination of the derogatory terminology which was an essential part of discrimination," says Professor Mesthrie. "In earlier days, for example, black men were called 'boys', a word that influenced people to see full-grown black men as people to be pushed around. That simple word held the power to remove their dignity and status. The same applies to the language we use to denigrate animals. For example, the phrase 'he behaved like an animal' implies that animals behave badly. Humans behave badly, not animals. 'They treated me like a dog' implies that to have treated a dog badly would have been acceptable but the same treatment is unacceptable if used against a human." But, says Professor Mesthrie, "linguistic disinfection" in itself won't alleviate the plight of animals unless it is accompanied by a change of heart and behaviour. "Linguistic engineering is but one strategy among many in any struggle. It is useful insofar as it draws attention and controversy to a problem area. Since animals don't have a voice in our sense, I would support any attempt to "conscientise" the world about their plight," he says. |
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