Animal Rights America MARCH BOYCOTT
James Corrigan
LAWRENCE CARTER-LONG, ANNE CRIMAUDO, BEN CRIMAUDO, ANGI METLER AND JANINE
MOTTA
February 26, 1996
In 1995, we founded Animal Rights America, Inc. (ARA). The purpose
of ARA was two-fold. First, we were concerned that the animal rights movement
was no longer a "rights" movement at all, but, rather, had drifted away from
its early radical stance back toward the safety of animal welfare. Second, we
were concerned that the animal movement did not recognize the connection
between the liberation of nonhumans, and the quest for social justice for all
oppressed people, whether people of color, women, gays, or other economically
and socially dispossessed groups.
As our first official action, we voted -- unanimously -- to boycott
the march planned by the National Alliance for Animals (NAA). ARA issued a
statement in support of this boycott on January 4, 1996. The reason for our
boycott was simple. Conservative, welfarist groups have co-opted the message
of animal rights and attempted to stunt the more radical message of many
grassroots organizations. We were, and are, of the view that animal *rights*
advocates should not support a march that is sponsored by conservative
*welfarist* organizations, such as the Humane Society of the United States,
the Fund for Animals, the ASPCA, MSPCA, the American Antivivisection Society,
and the Ark Trust, and by organizations such as PETA, which uses blatantly
sexist imagery and messages allegedly to promote the cause of animals, and to
bury serious discourse on the issues at the core of our movement in
counterproductive plays for media attention.
Shortly after ARA issued its boycott statement, ARA trustee Lawrence
Carter-Long, who had never even attended a single meeting of the ARA board,
began to speak publicly in support of the march and against the boycott even
though he had approved the boycott statement, and even though he never
bothered to inform other ARA trustees that he had changed his position. ARA
trustee Angi Metler made alterations in the boycott statement without
consulting with the other trustees. On February 5, 1996, Angi Metler and Anne
Crimaudo had a meeting with Peter Gerard of the NAA. The entire ARA board
was never informed of this meeting, and there was no full board discussion,
let alone approval, for such a meeting. Shortly after this meeting, Angi
Metler, Anne Crimaudo, and ARA trustee Janine Motta began to make public
statements that "ARA was reconsidering the boycott." Again, they never
bothered to consult all of the ARA trustees before announcing such a major
policy change. On Thursday, February 22, 1996, what purports to be "ARA"
rescinded the boycott, stating that "new information" had come to light in
that Peter Gerard had "assured" ARA that the march will really be a "rights"
march.
When these facts came to light, Anna Charlton, Johnny Fernandez, and
Shelton Walden resigned in protest over the failure to be informed of
information to which they were entitled as trustees. They also disagreed with
the intention of these board members to rescind the boycott.
According to the rescission statement, "James Corrigan and Elisabeth
Colville resigned on 2/2/96, before any discussion of rescinding the boycott."
This statement is false. Neither James Corrigan nor Elisabeth Colville
resigned from ARA, although they agreed to step down if the ARA board felt
that they should, due to their inability to come to meetings in New Jersey on
short notice. The matter was never raised with the Board. In a letter dated
February 7, 1996 (2 days *after* Ms. Crimaudo and Ms. Metler met with Peter
Gerard), ARA trustee Janine Motta wrote a letter claiming to accept the
resignations of Mr. Corrigan and Ms. Colville. The fact that Ms. Colville and
Mr. Corrigan are supporters of the boycott accounted for their summary -- and
illegal -- dismissal.
According to the rescission statement, "Stu Chaifetz resigned for
personal reasons on 2/16/96." This statement is false. In a letter
distributed on February 16, 1996, by Anne Crimaudo, signing for Animal Rights
America, and Angi Metler, signing for the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance,
it is stated that Crimaudo and Metler "asked Stu to resign from both ARA and
NJARA" for making false and ad hominem comments about a former ARA trustee.
Gary Francione, Tom Regan, and Nancy Regan had all resigned earlier,
although they had all voted in favor of the boycott when it was originally
adopted by the ARA board in the Fall, 1995. Tom Regan, author of "The Case
for Animal Rights," proposed the boycott in a speech in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
on October 21, 1995. His reason was simple: whatever anyone *calls* it, the
march is a welfarist event supported by and sponsored by welfarist
organizations. We agree.
ARA as a body voted unanimously to boycott the march. ARA as a body
never even considered rescinding the boycott. The rescission is the
unilateral decision of four people who are connected with the New Jersey
Animal Rights Alliance, and Lawrence Carter-Long, who never attended an ARA
board meeting and never participated in any ARA board discussion. We express
our sincere disappointment with Angi Metler, Anne Crimaudo, Ben Crimaudo,
Janine Motta, and Lawrence Carter-Long for acting unilaterally and in complete
disregard for the other people on the ARA board. If these individuals wanted
to change their minds and support a welfarist march, they should have had the
personal integrity and honesty to have at least consulted with the other
trustees of ARA before doing so. They had no right -- legally or morally --
to act unilaterally in deciding to support the march, in altering the ARA
boycott statement without notice to other trustees, in meeting with Peter
Gerard without proper notification and discussion with other trustees, and in
making public statements concerning rescission of the boycott before notifying
the other trustees of their actions.
As far as the rescission itself is concerned, WE STAND BY OUR BOYCOTT
OF THE MARCH. The march has at its center, principal supporters who have
explicitly condoned animal exploitation. In our view, animal "rights" means
more than being "kind" to animals, or "caring" about animals, or animal
"protection." We believe that animal rights is a matter of strict justice for
nonhumans, and of extending the scope of moral concern from *all* humans to
nonhumans. In our view, the "rights" viewpoint is explicitly denied by many
of the conservative welfarist organizations who are supporting the march, and
by the National Alliance for Animals, which has taken a most reactionary
viewpoint toward animal rights. The fact that Mr. Gerard has now inserted
"rights" language into his promotional materials cannot change the fact that
the march has at its core organizations and positions that should be opposed
by every animal *rights* advocate. A primary problem with the modern animal
movement -- and a problem that ARA was explicitly established to address -- is
that people like Mr. Gerard and many of the principal supporters of the march
use "rights" language, when convenient, to describe positions that are
blatantly welfarist or pro-exploitation.
We believe that the position of Lawrence Carter-Long, Anne Crimaudo,
Ben Crimaudo, Angi Metler, and Janine Motta in no way reflects the original
radical goals of ARA, and is expressly in conflict with the official position
of ARA as an organization committed to animal rights and social justice. In
our view, these individuals have sold out to the reactionary, conservative
welfarists who now dominate the animal movement in the United States.
WE CALL UPON MR. CARTER-LONG, MS. CRIMAUDO, MR. CRIMAUDO, MS. METLER
AND MS. MOTTA TO DISSOLVE ARA IMMEDIATELY. ARA was begun as a no apologies
animal *rights* organization that sought to distance itself from the
welfarists who have turned the movement into a big business, and who are now
sponsoring the march. There is no sense in having yet another organization
that endorses the same old tired -- and demonstrably ineffective --
principles. The fact is that there are *more* animals being exploited now
than in any other time in human history, and in more horrific ways. There is
a need for a change. ARA was organized to provide that change, but has failed
in its mission.
The animal rights movement has become a corporate hierarchy. Major
policy decisions are made in secret by a small elite group known as "The
Summit," which claims to speak for the "movement." Many animal "rights"
organizations are controlled by corporate executives who either make huge
salaries, or who live with all their expenses paid, all paid for by your
charitable contributions. The movement is organized in a hierarchical and
patriarchal fashion, and it does little, if anything, to reach out to other
social justice movements.
We have concluded that we were wrong to believe that the hierarchy
that has destroyed the vitality of the animal rights movement could be
replaced by yet another organization. We have concluded that static,
top-down, organizational structures can only impede the progress of the
grassroots, and can only hamper the radical message of animal rights as an
issue of social justice. We have resolved to place our efforts in continuing
to educate those who are interested, in an effort to convince others that if
we are to effect social change, we must *all* take responsibility for our
movement, and we must *each* do our part for animal rights and social justice.
The matters at stake are too important to be left to a group of
people who are, in our view, marching backwards.
Anna E. Charlton
Elisabeth N. Colville
James M. Corrigan
Johnny H. Fernandez
Gary L. Francione
Shelton H. Walden