“Oppression outside collectives also reproduces in agents”
- Anti-specialist activist Kimmy Obongonyinge criticizes white veganism (Croydon, London, 1995) and states that militancy should be approached from an intersectional perspective. The BAB spoke at the Bilbao Vegan Fair about the limitations of racist people to fight for the release of animals, about the oppressive attitudes of entrepreneurs and other things.
At the beginning of his BAB intervention he asked people to have an open mind. Have you found great resistance in anti-specionist spaces? In
all the spaces that I've participated in, whether they're feminists or anti-speciists, I've found the resistance of people. For example, when I talk about human rights and social justice in the animal liberation movement, people quickly express resistance. It's often normal and natural to express resistance, so I think it's important to take a quiet time, process and reflect, and if you feel uncomfortable, before doing or saying something, I recommend thinking well.
Does this stop some militant spaces from being safe spaces?
I think it's not just because of race, but also because of many other things: sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, etc. Oppression outside the collectives also reproduces in agents such as homophobia, transphobia, thichobia and many others. But people don't see them. In the end, the privileged can reproduce all these violence. I know people who have suffered physical violence in spaces that should be safe and not fair. We should all be able to fight for liberation.
“Sometimes we forget that deciding what we eat is a privilege”
He denounces that, despite being a movement composed primarily of dissident women and genders, men are the protagonists. What's behind it?
It is not only a movement driven by women from the shadow, but is often a struggle driven by racialized women. It is directly related to patriarchy because white men are always those who receive recognition. We have reproduced it for many years in our imagination. This does not mean that the men fighting do it wrong, but we cannot forget the work and recognition of all the women in the shadow.
Critique white veganism, how would white veganism describe it?White
veganism is the movement that takes place from the eurocentric view, which does not prioritize people who suffer other oppression. Just look at him. Those who militate in these kinds of movements are, in general, white, middle-class people, who know something about the working class, but don't go beyond that. In these spaces, when we talk about accessibility, they don't listen to us and make us invisible. This does not benefit anybody, those of us who are on the move, or the release of animals.
What limitations or obstacles exist to approach the anti-specist movement?
I think there are two kinds of restrictions on vegan activism, on the one hand, and on the other, difficulties in discarding products of animal origin. As for the first, all the oppressions that occur within the movement are great obstacles such as thichobia and misogyny. In addition, survival for a person in an irregular situation makes the priority difficult for other struggles.
And as far as products are concerned?In general,
it is very difficult for racist people to buy products because we need those who are in short supply. For example, because to wash our hair we need a shampoo that is not in the usual shops, I have to make an hour and a half trip to buy it. Besides being little, they are very expensive. It seems insignificant, but if people had to go around so many times to find the things they need in everyday life, they would understand the frustration. Another limitation is food injustice; sometimes we forget that it is a privilege to decide what we eat. Some say that eating chickpeas is very cheap, but preparing pulses takes time and the racist people on the farm have no time at all. That's why many eat fast food.
They say that language can also be a limit, do you think it can be a limit for militancy?As a consequence of capitalism and neoliberalism, we have a very individualistic vision, we forget that to change things
we have to fight in the collective. For this, it is very important to promote relations through multilingual spaces such as Euskera and Castilian. My Spanish is not good, but if someone else adapts a little to English it can be easier. However, we cannot forget that the greatest limitation is not language, but that people are not oppressive fios. That's why the important thing is to work trust and foster relationships between communities. Doing activism from care is stronger than words.
Mende batean, Baionako Euskal Museoak izan duen bilakaeraz erakusketa berezia sortu dute. Argazki, tindu edo objektuak ikusgai dira. 1924an William Boissel Bordaleko militarrak bultzatu zuen museoaren sorrera, "euskal herri tradizionalaren" ondarea babesteko... [+]
