Deprivation of Agency: The past and now

How can we help out those in dire need and held captive under our command, whether it is an animal or human? Since the dawn of time, violence has proven to be a direct answer to this question, if something wasn’t agreed upon then it was fought upon until the victor dictated their idea. This however, was not how slaves were freed from under the boot of the white man. Back in the 1970’s there was a movement tilted, the “Free Produce Movement”. This movement was supported by an extensive amount of abolitionist including Quakers and a past colleague of Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison was the founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society and persuaded Douglas to join him against slavery in Nantucket 1841 for the abolitionist cause. Garrison was a pacifist therefore, his most obvious means of resisting and going against slavery, was through avoiding violence and instead boycotting. Along with the other protestants and supporters of the Anti-Slavery Movement, Garrison boycotted slave made produce, such as cotton. It was through Lloyd’s attempts at publishing works that would gather more supporters in a call to action and boycotts, that Fredrick Douglas attained his first experiences in the war waged against slavery.

In hindsight, all this may sound familiar to recent events we have witnessed whether in online articles, news, and radio or even through our colleagues. The action of boycotting and it’s extension of protesting, which aims to achieve what boycotting does, have become something that people turn to when they distaste something. An example of this that many of us may be familiarized with is the Animal Rights Movement, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) continual attempts to draw attention to the unjust treatment of animals through the boycott of animal related products such as fur, zoos, and circuses. Such companies enslave Animals in chains of corporate greed, in the name of entertainment, such as slaves were back then by the white man who saw them as cattle who would heed financial gain. Sea World as those in the south has held animals such as orcas in small confined spaces and improper conditions comparable to the conditions slaves were exposed to such as lack of bedding, wares, and simple elements required for survival. As depicted in the images, the conditions that both animals and slaves found themselves in can be comparable such as their use for economical gain. The elephant and the slave are both held captive by the chains, for the entertainment of people and personal financial gain. The third image even includes the word “slavery” directly, as animals are simply slaves for corporate greed. SeaWorld entraps these animals and tortures them, demeans their worth and life value as well as expectancy. Such behavior became intolerable when shed light upon, and instead corporations simply conspired something else to exploit. Taking their agency and condemning them to a life of barbaric labor, exactly like were slaves simply for monetary gain.

Many argue about the ineffectiveness of boycotts however, it is evident that they hold a power when implemented correctly and appeal to the consumer. The boycotting of animal and human slavery has been successful by bringing them to the attention of the public, enforcing their effectiveness, whether it is now or over two centuries ago. The purpose of boycotting is not simply refusing endorse a product, but to drive attention to the reasons such a product or actions should not be endorsed. Proof of this, is when PETA not long ago, won a case with their mass gathering to boycott SeaWorld, plan to expand the amount of animals in captivity. Peta’s boycotting which convinced the government to implement a regulation which states that the only expanding SeaWorld was allowed to make was enlarge the orcas’ tanks. PETA’s intervention successfully prevented SeaWorld from breeding more orcas as their plan initially intended them to. This sole action will save orcas from suffering an extensive pain and loneliness that can be compared to that of African Americans who were also at young ages separated from their birth parents. This achievement would have been a difficult task to accomplish had they used other means such as violence or more aggression in their protests. An association that perfectly portrays ineffective means of boycott and protest are the negatively acclaimed Westboro Baptist Church. While protestants against animal abuse stand outside circuses with signs that don’t offend anyone and simply seek to protect the animals from the abuse they're put through, Westboro members protest only meters from soldiers’ funerals as seen in the picture below, not only interrupting the sorrowful ceremony but blurting obscenities and thanking death of said solider. Aggression in the form of resistance is needed to accomplish a successful boycott for a cause however; aggression must not take the form of violence for this invalidates the efforts.

While it may not appear that Garrison was as successful as PETA with their boycotting, PETA had the advantage of a more diverse and faster media that allowed them to get their point across and plan bigger protests and boycotting regulations. The “Free Produce Movement” though appearing ineffective at receive enough attention, it was what peaked an interest in Fredrick Douglass. It was because of this movement that Douglass went on to accomplish so much more for the abolition movement. Slaves at a young age are separated from their mothers as are small orcas when they are born simply to be put isolated from their mother and brothers for the entertainment and earnings of their owners who extortion them. Both of these groups attempt to liberate unjustly imprisoned being who are held against their will and accomplish so systematically through forms of boycotts without violence. It is though the implement of perseverance without physical aggression and appeal to the crowd in order to draw attention to the issue that allow the successful nature that boycotts hold.

Works Cited

• "No Breeding Allowed!" PETA No Breeding Allowed Comments. N.p., 08 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. <http://www.peta.org/blog/no-breeding-allowed/>.

• Boycott Sea World Slavery. Digital image. Compassion Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. <http://shop.cwint.org/products/3x10-boycott-seaworld-slavery-bumper-stickers>.

• Hinks, Peter and McKivigan, John, editors. Williams, R. Owen, assistant editor. Encyclopedia of antislavery and abolition, Greenwood Press, 2007, pp. 266–268.

• Boulukos, George. The Grateful Slave. Digital image. Cambridge University. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. <http://www.cambridge.org/US/academic/subjects/literature/english-literature-1700-1830/grateful-slave-emergence-race-eighteenth-century-british-and-american-culture>.

• Boycott the Circus. Digital image. Twitter. Peta, n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. <https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4nXahmCUAAVhek.png:large>.