Species justice and harm to animals - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 103

definitions of animals, animal cruelty, animal welfare and the notion
of animals as property. Further contentious concepts are discussed in
the next section as well, where issues pertaining to categorisations of
animals, including the branding of some as 'pests' and 'invasive species',
are considered.
Speciesism was first coined in the 1970s as part of animal rights
and animal liberation campaign work in the UK. It refers to the
discrimination against or exploitation of certain animal species by
humans, based upon an assumption of human superiority (Ryder,
2010). The concept has been equated with racism and sexism, insofar
as these likewise refer to forms of arbitrary discrimination. However,
debate continues regarding the precise relationship - and differences
- between humans and animals, and under what conditions, if any, it is
right to privilege human interests over that of animals. For some, there
is no dividing line; for others, ultimately it is the health and welfare
of specific humans that ought to take precedence over that of specific
nonhuman animals.
There are several ways in which speciesism can be interpreted and
understood. For many, it basically refers to an individual prejudice,
a matter of interpersonal (human-animal) relationships. How each
individual thinks and acts towards animals becomes the main focus
for activist intervention since the problem is in essence reduced to
individual feelings and attitudes. For others, however, speciesism is
best understood as deeply ingrained in the economic, political and
ideological structures of global capitalism. It manifests in individual
behavior and ideas, but fundamentally animal (and human) exploitation
is built into the very fabric of contemporary social and economic life
(Torres, 2008).
How we view speciesism has important consequences for action
around animal welfare and animal rights issues. Groups such as PETA
tend to mobilise exclusively and solely on the issue of animal suffering,
and in ways that individualise the problem. This allows them to recruit
even quite conservative people into their campaigns insofar as the
idea that 'everyone loves animals' is inclusive of everyone and does
not threaten the status quo. Alternatively, groups such as the Animal
Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front challenge the basis of
animal exploitation through actions that directly threaten the bottom
line - the profits associated with the operations of an animal enterprise.
One strategy is informed by notions of changing how individuals think
and act in their daily life; the other by the idea that the denial of animal
rights is intrinsic to 'doing business' across a range of industries involving