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Cannon at Gettysburg National Military Park | photo by Humane Herald staff

Abolition Academy: The “Slave State vs. Free State” Concern

The Abolition Amendment was designed to be passed and ratified at the federal level, thereby ending slavery and emancipating all animals throughout the United States of America. But with a simple modification of the text, the Abolition Amendment can also be enacted at the state level. The Humane Party expressly encourages activists to pursue abolition at the state level, even before sufficient numbers have been attained to achieve victory at the national level. However, as the Compromise of 1820 (“Missouri Compromise”) marks its 200th anniversary, it is worth examining a concern associated with the state-by-state approach.

shelf of cows' milk

Bernie Sanders’ Wildest Dreams Come True, Courtesy of Trump Administration

The U.S.’s ruling Democrat-Republican bloc has been propping up the failing animal-exploitation “industry” with taxpayer dollars for decades. No one has emerged as a more reliable pawn of animal exploitation than Bernie Sanders, who has built his career serving the Vermont animal-exploitation “industry.” And this week, the Trump administration announced handouts in the amount of $9.6 billion to animal-killing operations.

Frederick Douglass monument

The Abolitionists (2013), Amazing Grace (2006), and Schindler’s List (1993): Recommended Viewing

History holds a treasure trove of resources for vegan, abolitionist, animal rights activists, but many of these resources remain untapped by the movement.  This omission can, one hopes, be partly remedied through articles and film dramatizations pointing to information about moments in history from which readers and viewers can extract valuable lessons, glean techniques, and draw moral support.

Pride house

Humane National Committee (USA): Class B seat clusters published for 30-day public-comment period

In 2018, the overall parameters for the Humane National Committee were finalized by the Humane Party after expiration of the associated public-comment period and internal review. Assignment for the seats of Class A, which takes a geography-based approach related to that used in the U.S. House of Representatives, was also finalized after public comment and review. Proposed seat clusters for Class B are today published through The Humane Herald for public comment. The public is invited to comment on these proposed seats during the next 30 days.

Veganizing the Great Works—the “Classics”—of Literature

While subjection to speciesism may be required by physical and political forces in the real world, no such necessity holds in imaginary worlds.  The author, editor, and publisher of a story, a play, a novel, a poem, a song, a movie script, a video game, or some other piece of literature wield plenary power over the manufactured universe in which that piece is set.  If we want readers and viewers to escape from speciesism, even just for a little while and even just in their imaginations, we can enable that escape by keeping speciesism and animal exploitation out of literature altogether.  This end can be achieved both (i) by writing new works that are, from the outset, free from anthropocentric and speciesist content and (ii) by editing existing works to meet that criterion.

Personhood, Yes—But “Peoplehood,” Too

In support of the Humane Party‘s zoocracy concept and model, the present article seeks to offer a conceptual framework that may be regarded as fully including personhood but also as being more comprehensive, with respect to the goal of animal protection, than that of personhood alone, namely, that of “peoplehood.”  Personhood does not necessarily imply peoplehood, and, without recognition of this latter concept—recognition of other animals’ cultures, their relationships, their languages and communication styles, their full-fledged existence, dignity, and sovereignty as other “peoples”—animal-protection measures will tend to be severely under-inclusive in theory and under-performing in practice.