Book Review – Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in The Age of Terror, by Lee Hall

When we see the disturbing video clips and read the reports proffered by animal-advocacy groups, it is easy to become enraged, and to want the immediate removal of animals from their industrial nightmare. We want to end this “holocaust,” and maybe even “make the abusers pay” at whatever cost. It’s not a surprise that groups like Animal Liberation Front become militant, and other militant groups come into being, if they view this as rescuing holocaust victims from Nazis. When our eyes become opened to the many sufferings of the animals we use, it is a natural impulse to want to do something right now to try to stop it. And many activists do just that.

I would have almost certainly tried to get into the factories and labs if I had gone vegan in my younger days. As in war, we send the young to the front lines.

Unfortunately, animal use is not a problem that can be solved instantly. We have entered a culture of instant gratification, accustomed to immediate solutions and answers, but animal use wasn’t created instantly. It is only through thoughtful analysis that we come to see the root causes of the problem and are able to arrive at realistic solutions with the scope to encompass it.

In Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy in the Age of Terror, Lee Hall describes the dynamic that has characterized what the press and public have perceived as animal-rights activism for the last quarter century – and, perhaps most importantly, the ways which mistaken views of animal rights have damaged public perception and hindered support.

This is most interesting to a resident of Northern Utah. With its many fur ranches and other animal enterprises, our state is vulnerable to the lure of militancy. So I’m well aware of the cycle: animal use, militant action against it, consequent reactions to those activities by businesses and the public, and finally, counter-action by the government to hinder free speech and lawful protest for all.

Bringing this together with a similar but older and higher-profile chronology of events and results, Hall demonstrates clearly why illegal militant action will not change the fate of the billions of animals used and abused for human purposes. Hall asserts that our use of animals is not the Holocaust. This is critical. Because while we’ve dealt with the Holocaust with direct escape, we can only deal with war — which underlies the atrocities, as this book says — with peace.

Animal abuse is not an aberration, Hall says: it is the norm in animal use, which is rather more like a systematic war. We are acculturated to this war from our earliest experiences.

In reality the enemy is societal perception, not a handful of baddies. We can’t win by vilifying people who use animals. It’s their perceptions that must change.

Humanity faces a number of challenges in the quest for peace and the non-abuse of all animals – all people as well. The solutions are spelled out very nicely in the book.

Capers in the Churchyard inspires the reader to think about animal rights in a non-typical way. It draws us to re-think our views on the root causes of the hellish scenarios depicted in undercover animal industry videos – rather than simply react to atrocities. For the average person, it offers an accurate portrait of animal rights activists as peaceful visionaries calling for justice in ways that are considerate and fair, working with the support of law, rather than outside and against it.

This book is a must-read for all activists, as we approach “Fur Free Friday” protests with the frustrating entanglements that government (local and national) has placed on peaceful protest and free speech. It is recommended reading also to anyone who is dismayed by the abuse of animals, and would like insight about how society’s thinking must change, if we are to end that abuse peacefully and effectively.

With veganism starting to pick up steam, there are many new vegans, and some, like people who just woke up from a bad dream, are disoriented, without having had a chance to think how the best actions and goals connect. So there is definitely a need for such books, and I think the movement can be glad Hall is undertaking them.

For More Information:

Capers in the Churchyard: Animal Rights Advocacy In The Age of Terror, Nectar Bat Press
http://friendsofanimals.org/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FOA&Product_Code=Capers&Category_Code=Sale

Man pleads guilty to releasing mink
http://www.standard.net/topics/news/2009/09/03/man-pleads-guilty-releasing-mink

Protesters plan to target Morgan mink farms
http://www.standard.net/topics/news/2009/08/13/protesters-plan-target-morgan-mink-farms

Morgan council supports mink ranchers, defines picketing rules
http://www.standard.net/topics/news/2009/09/25/morgan-council-supports-mink-ranchers-defines-picketing-rules

Animal-rights group sues, saying fee for Morgan mink protest means speech isn’t free
http://www.standard.net/topics/politics/2009/10/22/animal-rights-group-sues-saying-fee-morgan-mink-protest-means-speech-isnt

OUR VIEW: Mink protest rules stink
http://www.standard.net/topics/opinion/2009/10/03/our-view-mink-protest-rules-stink

Morgan’s attempt to stifle mink protest may backfire
http://www.standard.net/topics/opinion/2009/09/25/morgans-attempt-stifle-mink-protest-may-backfire

The Stink Over Mink in Morgan
http://blogs.standard.net/2009/09/30/the-stink-over-mink-in-morgan/

Morgan fumbles mink protest
http://blogs.standard.net/2009/09/30/morgan-fumbles-mink-protest/

Audiocast 009: Ethics Reform Initiative, Minks, Morgan, Free speech
http://blogs.standard.net/2009/10/01/audiocast-008-ethics-reform-initiative-minks-morgan-free-speech/

Chicks Ground Up Alive, Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/chicks-being-ground-up-al_n_273652.html

Undercover Investigation, Land O Lakes Cows
http://current.com/items/91310702_undercover-investigation-reveals-cows-suffer-for-land-olakes.htm

Caught on Tape: Chino Slaughterhouse Accused of Abusing Sick Cows
http://cbs2.com/local/Chino.Slaughterhouse.Abused.2.642067.html