Violence is not OK, even when it helps the cause
Yeah, I’m still upset. And I’m still writing about it.
You can align with the core belief of an organization, be grateful it exists, support its work, send money – and still be critical of its choices.
That idea extends to society at large. You can loudly criticize the majority position, including the majority rule, if you have something different to offer. Not only can you do that, some people say it’s your duty to do that.
So, yeah, I’m still going on about the response of PETA, the media, the bystanders and the general public to fashion exec Steven Kolb’s assault on two animal rights activists, Andrija Barak and Mason Melito. I’m upset about both the immediate response and what happened to the story afterward.
The violence has not been sufficiently addressed.
I am using the word “assault” because I believe it was assault, and I am naming and centering the victims, as I did in an earlier piece, because so many outlets have not.
Note that there are multiple videos and photos of the event, taken from different angles. In the footage, I saw the cold, calm way Kolb put Andrija between his legs and pressed his hand over her mouth and nose. It was a display of power that, to me, felt sexual and also infantilizing. It happened in front of a crowd of people, and no one at that fashion show in New York on September 13 effectively intervened. People sat watching and filming.
My reaction to the video was so intense that it made me question if I had ever been assaulted myself. I can’t explain exactly why the footage hit me so hard, and I am surprised more people haven’t shared similar feelings.
Kolb’s assault was his effort to silence her literal voice as she disrupted the runway by holding a sign and shouting, “Protect sheep! Get wool off the runway.”
I guess I am trying to understand her silence now. Andrija doesn’t owe us anything, but maybe PETA does?
Scouring the internet, I can’t find a public statement from her. I can’t find a PETA statement on her behalf. PETA has made statements, though, and I’ll get to that in a moment.
Also on camera was Kolb’s assault on Mason Melito, another PETA activist at the protest. Kolb attempts to cover Mason’s mouth with his hand, trying to silence him. Unlike Andrija, Mason did share his experience, writing a comprehensive story on the PETA website and speaking with the press.
He told The Guardian the situation was scary, that he absolutely felt unsafe and that “Kolb just went completely rogue and decided to take matters into his own hands.”
He told CNN that “The violence the CEO of the CFDA showed toward us, in his attempt to silence us, just completely mirrors the violence inherent in the wool industry.”
I made some other observations from footage of the assault.
The New York Post, a conservative tabloid, ran PETA’s photo of Kolb pinning Andrija to the floor, his leg over her body and his hand over her face. The caption identifies the man next to Kolb, and it’s the only place I’ve seen him named. It’s Daniel Hermann, the managing director of COS, the fashion brand putting on the show. In a video version of the scene, Hermann puts his hand on Andrija’s hand. Then he looks to his right at the camera, takes his hand off hers and wipes it on his pants.
In the same video, a woman on Kolb’s left looks down at Andrija on the floor, tries to make eye contact with Kolb, says something I can’t hear, puts her hand on her own chest, then pulls her collar up and looks pleadingly at the camera.
Let the record show this is the first time I have looked at Newsmax. That right-wing outfit quoted Mason as saying Andrija required medical attention at an urgent care facility: “She felt like she was being suffocated,” he said. “She’s using her body to speak up for the sheep that have no say whatsoever. She is now at urgent care.” Newsmax appears to have the only reporting of this.
For his part, Kolb – then president and CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, now resigned – posted on Instagram saying, “My actions were wrong, and I am deeply sorry. I take full responsibility for my actions. I apologize to them and to everyone who witnessed the incident. There is no justification for physically restraining another person.” He also said he had accepted an invitation to meet with PETA about the wool industry.
On September 15, PETA’s Moira Colley told the Associated Press that PETA would not file a police report and instead meet with Kolb to talk about harm to sheep in the wool industry. “We are willing to drop everything if we reach an understanding that benefits the animals,” she said.
I recognize the strategy, but I’m still trying to put my finger on the problem with the ethics of it. Is PETA saying it’s OK for a man to assault a woman if he’ll sit down and watch footage of sheep being abused? By not filing a police report, does it make future violence more acceptable?
In sharing the story, words matter. PETA’s language softened as it turned the event into promotional material.
On the day of the assault, PETA wrote “CFDA President Violently Pins Down PETA Members Protesting Cruelty to Sheep on COS NYFW Runway” and “Two PETA supporters were assaulted by the CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, during a protest over wool on the COS runway.”
In a press release on October 1, it wrote “Wool Going the Way of Fur? 71% Say It’s Just as Cruel in New Poll Following NYFW Runway Clash” and “On September 13, wool’s use in fashion drew fresh scrutiny when then-CEO of theCouncil of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, physically restrained PETA supporters as they spoke out about violence against sheep in the wool industry.”
Though there had been no updates about Andrija or PETA’s planned meeting with Kolb, PETA sent out that press release about its newly conducted Harris Poll on cruelty to sheep in the wool industry.
The release tied the poll to the runway disruption and its effect on public awareness. The press release contains a photo of Kolb assaulting Andrija. The caption identifies Kolb only and says he’s “grabbing and restraining a PETA supporter.”
The assault on Andrija is now part of the campaign.
Two things can be true: I support PETA, don’t want to harm it, and think shock value is necessary to wake people out of their unconscious, unexamined dream state when it comes to animal exploitation. AND I don’t think we can overlook any kind of violence as a means to an end.
I don’t think we can overlook violence, period.
Though the actions and victims are not identical, Kolb’s violence against the activists echoes the sheep shearers violence against sheep. Then PETA used that violence to amplify its campaign.
Violence against people, too, gets amplified, not defeated.
Why do I want to hear from Andrija so badly? Because I want to know if she is OK. We saw that she did not consent to Kolb’s assault, but did she want to file a police report? Did she have a voice in the strategy to drop everything in favor of a meeting? Was she instructed not to give interviews? Moira Colley declined my request to interview Andrija, informing me she was traveling and unavailable.
Does Andrija even still work at PETA? I have no patience for conspiracy theories, but I think I know how they can start. I caught myself hunting for proof of her employment. I found nothing conclusive.
So, yeah, I’m still mad. PETA called it an assault on the day it happened, and I think it should keep saying so. A movement that opposes violence has to say plainly that this was violence and that it is unacceptable.
To me, that would be the better publicity.
