AR-News: Liberation Literature & Happy Hen Homecoming

[pattrice jones]

BraveBirds Times Online
May 2004

Online newsletter of the Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center

Liberation Literature
1, 2, 3 new things to read:

1 - "Mothers with Monkeywrenches" in Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?
At long last, the anxiously awaited volume -- Terrorists or Freedom 
Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals  -- has been 
published by Lantern Press. The book includes a chapter on feminism and 
the Animal Liberation Front by Eastern Shore Sanctuary cofounder 
pattrice jones as well as contributions from Karen Davis of United 
Poultry Concerns,  Ingrid Newkirk of People for the Ethical Treatment 
of Animals, Kim Stallwood of the Institute for Animals & Society, and 
Karen Dawn of DawnWatch. With a forward by antiracist scholar and 
American Indian Movement activist Ward Churchill and chapters by 
currently underground animal liberation activists, the book promises to 
provoke challenging discussions both within the animal advocacy 
movement and among activists dedicated to other causes.

The book [ISBN 159056054x] can be ordered directly from the Lantern 
Press website or from any bookseller. Whether or not you buy a copy for 
yourself, please ask your local public library to carry it, so that as 
many people as possible can have access to it.

2 - "Feminist Fusion" in Vegan Voice
We are honored to report that the fabulous Australian magazine Vegan 
Voice is running a two-part interview with Eastern Shore Sanctuary 
cofounder pattrice jones in its June and September issues. The 
interview ranges over a number of topics, including battery hens, 
fighting cocks, the relationship between racism and animal 
exploitation, and the ongoing struggle to address sexism within the 
animal advocacy movement.

We are honored because Vegan Voice is one of the most consistently 
excellent vegetarian/animal publications around. Every issue is 
jam-packed with factual feature articles, provocative opinion pieces 
and interesting interviews, with comics, recipes, and other miscellany 
rounding out the vegan brain food. Publisher Sienna Blake, aided by 
intrepid reporter Claudette Vaughan and other volunteers, puts out the 
magazine on a shoestring budget, which makes its editorial excellence 
all the more remarkable. International subscriptions may be purchased 
via credit card at www.veganic.net and single issues may be purchased 
by sending US$5 in cash by mail to PO Box 30, Nimbin NSW 2480 
Australia.

3 - "insurgent Ideas" on IndyMedia
Federal agents monitored activities from the parking lot while local 
undercover officers loitered among the activists inside the campus 
buildings. Vivisection laboratories readied themselves against 
incursions as hardcore bands rehearsed for a benefit concert. One 
activist was arrested shortly after delivering a stirring speech. The 
others -- possible "domestic terrorists" one and all -- were 
photographed entering and leaving the event. The occasion for these 
dramatic happenings was not a building takeover, banner drop, Black 
Bloc maneuver, or act of eco-sabotage. Federal, state, and private 
security forces converged to police not actions but ideas at the 
Student Animal Rights Organization (SARO) conference on animal 
liberation, which included the first ever academic symposium on the 
Animal Liberation Front (ALF).

Eastern Shore Sanctuary cofounder pattrice jones attended the event and 
has recorded some of her reactions in an article entitled "Insurgent 
Ideas," which has been published on all of the IndyMedia websites in 
the United States. To find the IndyMedia website for your region, go to 
www.indymedia.org and scroll until you find your city or state. Why 
post the article on IndyMedia rather than our own website? Because we 
want people who don't already agree with us to see it. Why make our 
supporters go to IndyMedia to read it? Because we want more animal 
advocates to "be the media" by reading and publishing news on 
IndyMedia. So, go, look for the article, read a few other articles 
while you're at it, and think about what you might want to share with 
IndyMedia readers in your region or around the world.

Happy Hen Homecoming
Thanks to all who responded to our request for aid in bringing 30 more 
hens to the sanctuary to even out the gender imbalance that had 
resulted from giving emergency sanctuary to a number of roosters who 
would otherwise have been killed. We are happy to report that the hens 
have arrived safely and settled in happily. The aura of the foraging 
yards is already more pacific, thanks to the restoration of a more 
natural balance between masculine and feminine energies.

This reminds us that, most often, allegedly aggressive behavior in 
animals is really just a natural response to unnatural circumstances. 
That's one of many reasons we do everything we can to allow the birds 
here to enjoy the natural experiences that their bodies and spirits 
crave. Despite centuries of "domestication" (aka accommodation to 
enslavement), chickens are genetically and psychologically very close 
to the jungle fowl from whom they descended (and who still live wild in 
parts of Asia). That's why you sometimes read about flocks of wild 
chickens in Florida, Hawaii, or California. Chickens whose bodies have 
not been perverted or abused by the poultry or egg industries can 
become feral very quickly when climate and other circumstances 
cooperate.

Of course, most of the birds here at the sanctuary have been abused by 
industry and all of them require shelter from the elements and 
protection from predators. Nonetheless, they remain birds and, as such, 
have hopes and wishes that we mammals may never entirely understand. 
We're sorry to live in a world where we have so much power over them. 
We try to use that power wisely when having to make decisions for them, 
asking ourselves not "what would I want in that situation?" but "what 
would I want if I were a chicken in that situation?" We get the 
elements of answers to such questions by observing the birds very 
carefully as they go about their lives, trying not to let our own 
prejudices get in the way of seeing them as they are.

That's one of the themes of pattrice jones' chapter in the new book on 
the ALF: If we want to speak or act for the animals, we have to really 
listen to them. At the Eastern Shore Sanctuary, we know that we are 
lucky to have the opportunity to learn from the birds and we believe 
that we have a responsibility to share what we learn with others. We do 
know one thing that the chickens don't know, and that's how many people 
pitch in to help us help them. Thanks again to all who have helped out 
with labor, fencing materials, medical supplies, and sunflower seeds. 
Truly, we couldn't do it without you!

Eastern Shore Sanctuary & Education Center
13981 Reading Ferry
Princess Anne, MD 21853 USA
410-651-4934
http://www.bravebirds.org
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