For the animals

In defense of animals
Various artists
Shock Records
Reviewed by John-Paul Nassif

“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” -- Albert Einstein

On factory farms, over 6 billion animals are slaughtered per year. We can see “corpses neatly packed” that line our grocery shelves; we see all the meat and dairy products needed by a modern society, arranged neatly at our disposal. Yet we do not see the suffering that goes into every hamburger.

In Defense of Animals (IDA), one of the United States' leading animal advocacy groups, is dedicated to “ending the institutionalised abuse of animals”. By speaking for animals rights, they “celebrate a band of stewardship between human beings and animals” and “reject the bitter hierarchy of master to slave, oppressor to victim and `user' to the abused”.

Thanks to some socially conscious artists, this CD is a benefit compilation for IDA.

Some of the artists include Pearl Jam, Meat Beat Manifesto, Helmet, Concrete Blonde and Julian Cope, REM's Michael Stipe, Consolidated, Boogie Down Productions (with KRS-One) and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The artists are as diverse as the varying styles which the album encompasses.

Michael Stipe's “Arms of Love” is an emotional plea for the humane treatment of animals, while the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's “Language of Violence” links the institutionalised mistreatment of animals to wider causes.

“Beef”, by rapper KRS-One, explores the idea that meat for mass consumption is part of a master plan devised for the sale of power and profit.

An equally incisive song is “Praxis” by Consolidated: “... running up against all the bureaucratic barricades and lies of the pharmaceutical companies/ kill a million animals as long as it's making money/ it takes patience and courage to make a difference/ theory into praxis, move beyond the ignorance”.

All the McCapitalist companies use the persuasive art of advertising and consumerism to convince us that all their brutal, profit-seeking practices are normal, that it is somehow “the way it is supposed to be”. Statistics on animals slaughtered for human consumption somehow seem more in touch with reality than “Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Mac-time”.

This article was posted on the Green Left Weekly Home Page.
For further details regarding subscriptions and
correspondence please contact glw@greenleft.org.au

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