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Author:

DxE

Published on:

June 8, 2014

Allies, Not Saviors

(by Kelly)





 Original photo by Farm Sanctuary, photomanipulation and text by DxE.
Original photo by Farm Sanctuary, photomanipulation and text by DxE.




They have voices of their own, but they are being silenced, so we are here to carry their voice. They have agency of their own, but they need help.

We are their allies, and we are here to empower them in their struggle for liberation.

We are here to open windows in the walls of speciesism that hide them and their personhood from human eyes -- windows for their voices to shine through.

We are not here to tell other humans what other humans do to degrade our nonhuman brothers and sisters, we are here to assist those nonhumans in expressing their desire for liberation to their human oppressors. We are here to share their stories of love, excitement, wonder, fear, pain, desolation, desperation, and hope. We are here to force their voice onto the table beside their bodies, no matter how belligerently our human brothers and sisters try to mute them.

All movements are led, fought and won by the oppressed rising up against their oppressors, not strictly by members of the oppressing class "saving" the victims of a discrimination. The oppressed need allies in the oppressing class, and those allies were, are, and will be there to stand in solidarity with the oppressed, to pry the oppressor's hands off of their mouths and release their suffocated voice, and to fight behind them in whatever efforts they need from us. Perhaps nonhumans cannot organize in the same human political terms as disenfranchised groups of human animals have, but they are the people leading this fight, for this fight is for them, and we, their allies, are here fighting with them because we have heard their battle cry.

We are not going to tell other humans how desperately she wants to be free, we are going to help her tell them how desperately she wants to be free.