WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, UCL AL #365 - Ecology - Anti-speciesism: Fighting, Celebrating, Training (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 This summer, two events made headlines in the anti-speciesist movement.

The first, organized by 269 Animal Liberation (269 LA), was the
simultaneous blockade of six slaughterhouses, and the second was a
festival that brought together several anarchist-leaning
anti-speciesists in Dijon for the Hybrid Struggles at Les Tanneries, an
annex of the famous self-managed Lentillères district[4]. ---- The Van
Drie Group, one of the largest veal slaughterhouses in Europe, which
kills 1.9 million animals each year and earned EUR3.4 billion in profits
in 2024, is divided into six branches in Europe: four in the Netherlands
and two in France. All were blockaded on the same night by activists who
chained themselves to the slaughter lines and held the siege for up to
ten hours. A significant economic loss for the group and a spotlight on
an industry that believes itself immune to criticism, scrutiny, and
attacks. Indeed, 269 LA's strategy is to target the largest groups
involved in animal exploitation where it occurs, namely in
slaughterhouses and farms. 269 LA intends to "transform the
slaughterhouse into a political space." These sites are known for their
frenetic pace: for example, Sobeval, one of the largest veal
slaughterhouses in France, kills nearly 700 calves a day, or 90 per hour.

Italian activists blockading this notorious slaughterhouse in Périgueux
were subjected to severe police violence: kicks, strangulation, and
blows to the head. Their personal belongings (phones, documents,
vehicles) were also searched. They were subjected to an administrative
deportation order. The activists found themselves in a country whose
language they didn't understand, forced to leave France without any
resources. A support network sprang up, notably with comrades in the
region to help and house them. This was unprecedented for pacifist
activists demanding an end to the industrial slaughter of animals.

The second, calmer event took place in Dijon.

Evacuation of protesters from the 269 Animal Liberation collective by
Spanish police during the blockade of the Friselva slaughterhouse in
Girona, Spain, on April 16, 2019.
Wikimedia/Aro2n
Intersectional Festival
"Hybrid Struggles," a queer and anti-speciesist activist festival,
hosted drag shows, book reviews-including *Aphrodism* by sisters Alph
and Syl Ko, soon to be published in France, which explores the links
between racism and speciesism-animal care workshops, and various
workshops for sharing theoretical knowledge and activist practices.
These practices focused on direct action, vegetable gardening, animal
shelters, and the culture of individual and collective security.

Sandra Guimaraes, for example, spoke about the situation in Brazil and
the millions of hectares burned for soy cultivation, approximately 80%
of which is used to feed dairy cattle[1]. Once destroyed by intensive
farming, this land is converted into pasture for these same cattle.
Pesticides banned for 20 years in the European Union (EU) are still
being used extensively there, even though these crops are largely
exported to the EU. An ecological, speciesist, and colonial catastrophe.

Eloïse Ly Van Tu gave a presentation on her area of expertise, the
biopolitics of the Azores. The Azores are part of the EU's outermost
regions. The Portuguese colonial forces imported numerous slaves
there-as they did for many of their colonies-to clear the islands, thus
preparing the land for cattle farming directly from the mainland. The
region then became a veritable laboratory dedicated to cattle farming,
thus altering the entire metabolism of the colonized islands. Livestock
farming is indeed an ecological and ethical disaster. Today, a
"progressive eco-modernist" transition dominates the Azores: the aim is
to make livestock farming "cleaner" and "greener." This translates into
aggressive practices of genetic modification or selective breeding to
create cows that emit less methane and produce more[2]. This is a
conquering colonialism that exploits indigenous human and non-human
populations, destroying in the process the lands and resources on which
they depend.

The genocidal Israeli state notably resorts to a similar process,
through "green colonization" in the name of nature conservation and
supposedly better resource management-the Arab populations, animalized
and dehumanized, not being considered capable of taking care of their
land[3]. The path is therefore clear and justified for the expropriation
and annihilation of all forms of Palestinian life and ecology. We
observe the same process of metabolic change and colonization in
Australia, Kenya, and Tanzania, where these countries still massively
export food derived from the slaughter of animals, while simultaneously
destroying local ecosystems for our own Western gustatory pleasures.

Ombre Tarragnat addressed the topic of her work on neurodiversity and
neuronormativity in relation to our perception of animals. In
particular, she discussed laboratory studies on autism conducted on
mice, which exhibit abnormal forms of socialization, much more easily
explained by the inadequacy of the mice's environment to their natural
needs than by a form of neurodivergence. These studies reflect a
psychiatric and normative approach to individuals rather than to the
environments in which they evolve. The speaker revisited the connections
between neurodivergence and animality and the possible alliances between
them.

A presentation of a sanctuary also took place. This anti-speciesist,
anti-authoritarian, and collective space takes in animals freed from
farms or slaughterhouses. Caring for these animals faces difficulties,
particularly related to farming conditions. Indeed, non-human animals
are not meant to live beyond a few months before being killed and
consumed by our speciesist society. Beyond that age, they develop
numerous and serious illnesses.

These sanctuaries and sanctuaries are not sufficiently highlighted by
activists, unlike the blockades and sabotage of slaughterhouses. Yet,
they represent a large part of the anti-speciesist movement. Another
model must be established to demonstrate that it is possible to live in
collaboration, without oppression or domination, with non-human animals,
especially those raised for the agri-food industry.

Almost inaudible on the left, and nonexistent in public debate, the
radical anti-speciesist struggle now seems to require direct action and
the creation of anti-speciesist and libertarian sanctuaries.
Anti-speciesists must create a current event so that the domination of
human beings over the social class of non-human animals can be taken
seriously.

Azur (UCL Montreuil) and Marcel (UCL Toulouse)

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[1]See the "Soy" page on the website of the National Strategy to Combat
Imported Deforestation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition.

[2]André M de Almeida, Paula Alvarenga, and David Fangueiro, "The dairy
sector in the Azores Islands: possibilities and main constraints towards
increased added value," Springer Nature, 2020.

[3]Arvind Dilawar, "How Israel Weaponizes Tree Planting to Displace
Palestinians," Jacobin, March 15, 2024. Léonore Aeschimann and Pierre
Casagrande, "Land grabbing and destruction of agricultural traditions:
Peasants in the West Bank, holding on at all costs," Le Monde
diplomatique, October 2025.

[4]"Dijon: The Lentillères district wants to change the entire city!"
Alternative libertaire no. 362, July-August 2025.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Antispecisme-Lutter-feter-se-former
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