Blood Relations: Animals, Humans, and Politics - Softcover

Montgomery, Charlotte

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1896357393 ISBN 13: 9781896357393

Publisher: Between the Lines, 2000

Synopsis

Blood Relations takes us inside the little-known world of the Canadian animal rights movement. Ridiculed by angry industries, vilified by scientists, and largely ignored by the media and the left, this grassroots phenomenon has enlisted a new generation of activists dedicated to changing the most basic political arrangements on the planet. Meet the people involved and the issue they raise. Extremists trade time in jail to save animals' lives. Conservative welfarists struggle to hold their place in the established order. And dedicated, law-abiding advocates fight to make humans recognize that we are only one species among many with legitimate claims. Why does cruel and pointless animal research go on in near total secrecy, despite its public funding? Why does agriculture get a blanket exemption to routinely treat animals in ways that would bring criminal charges in a city setting? And aren't the outcomes predictable when a political movement with a small but skilful outlaw wing is deliberately excluded from the political agenda?

About this title

From the Author:

"Unfortunately, because it's about animals, people see it as irrelevant. In fact, it's about humans, it's not about animals. It's about what humans are doing. There are ethics that underlie a lot of things we do and you have to deal with those questions before you can have policy."
Charlotte Montgomery

in conversation with Joanna Fine, June 2000
JOANNA FINE: Why did you feel it was necessary to write a book on animal rights in Canada?

CHARLOTTE MONTGOMERY: In terms of Canadian groups, people, and issues there are only a couple books out there. People tend to think of either the UK or the United States when they think of animal rights politics. But it is not true. It's just that in Canada we don't pay much attention to it, we treat it as kind of nutty. In that sense I don't think people are even aware of what hundreds of people are working on in Canada and why. Blood Relations basically says 'here's an example of what's out there, and what you don't know about.' It's quite strange for something of interest to so many people to have such a gap in attention and knowledge about it.

JF: So, is the problem that animal rights is not being talked about?

CM: It's deliberately not being talked about. That's what I thought was interesting when I starting looking at it. It isn't that everybody said I've never thought about it. Among those who have familiarity with animals, especially in a commercial way, they are deliberately not talking about it. The notion is that if you treat it with any dignity or respect, you give 'those people' a huge opening. The real problem is that you can't seem to have a conversation yet in Canadian terms and be treated seriously.

JF: Yet animal rights seems to be very timely considering issues such as the water crisis in Walkerton, Ontario. Why don't we read about the animal rights side of issues such as Walkerton in the media?

CM: I think it's a certain amount of laziness on the part of the media, as well as unfamiliarity. These issues may be interesting but they are not really day-to-day. What I found unforgivable on the part of media is that when people covered the water disaster in Walkerton, they talked all about what kind of systems should be in place, who should monitor them, and everything else in order to protect you from this poisonous stuff. But they don't go and say 'do you really think this poisonous stuff that we're spending huge amounts of money keeping out of the water should have to be there in the first place?' Why didn't they ask why is it there?

JF: Why do you think this is?

CM: Because it is agriculture, which has a reputation of being good solid citizens, people don't stop and think about it because it's just what is there. It's there because it's there, and we do things that way because that's the way we do things. But in fact, most of us don't know how those things are done. We don't know that there are huge amounts of animals in one place. We sort of think that's normal life so we should protect against things we can't get around. That is an example of a shocking lapse on the part of the media.

JF: As an experienced journalist, why do you think the Canadian media fail to treat animal issues as a serious political issue?

CM: In order to have that type of conversation over animals, you have to get over the hump of ridicule. That there is something sappy, or nutty, or frivolous about you because until you solve the many human problems why would anyone in their right mind want to waste their time on animal issues. And yet there are a lot of people who are sympathetic. I don't think a lot of people in the general population would find this at all extreme. Unfortunately, because it's about animals, people see it as irrelevant. In fact, it's about humans, it's not about animals. It's about what humans are doing. There are ethics that underlie a lot of things we do and you have to deal with those questions before you can have policy.

JF: Is part of the problem the lack of an underlying ethic of human-non-human relations?

CM: I think the lack is perhaps people who are active in political issues, whether as politicians or as political activists, being willing to help raise these issues. You always need someone to champion an issue. At some point, you have to have some politi

About the Author:

Charlotte Montgomery has worked as a journalist for over twenty-five years, on newspapers ranging from small dailies to The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star.

About this edition

• Publisher: Between the Lines
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1896357393
• ISBN 13: 9781896357393
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 354