#AnimalRights and human rights are coupled.
The Corona outbreaks at #toennies has sparked a controversy within leftist circles. Vegans & animal rights activists are accused of prioritising the life of animals over humans, or of equating BPoC with animals 1/10

Animal rights activists who do that have missed the point of veganism and their ecofascism has no place in a green-red alliance. For the majority of vegan eco-socialists the point is neither a trade-off nor an equalisation of marginalised human and non human beings. 2/10

Conversely, the aim is to show how both human and non-human animals suffer from the same systematic opression and that dismantling this system liberates both humans and animals. My empathy for human suffering does not diminish by also caring for animals, it grows. 3/10

The recent reports from Tönnis in Germany illustrate this congruence. German abattoirs employ mostly people from Rumania and Bulgaria in cruel labour conditions. Workers have to share small living spaces, are paid inadequately, and labour rights are frequently ingored 4/10

According to a report by NDR, workers are denied the right to speak to attorneys or union representatives and must fear prosecution for talking to the media about their labour conditions.
(Source in German)
https://tinyurl.com/yb72v7jj 
5/10

These untenable conditions have caused the spread of COVID-19 in German slaughterhouses, affecting marginalised workers who are hit particularly hard by the virus. This follows a larger trend of zoonic diseases originating and propagating in the meat industry. 6/10

The same industry is also responsible for inconceivable cruelty towards animals. It regards humans and non-humans equally as exploitable resources. The problem are thus not evil meat eaters, but an economic system that sanctions the necro-economy of the meat industry. 7/10

The German "meat association" claims that their industry wouldn't be profitable if they provided humane living and working conditions. This should mean that they consequently should not make profits. In capitalism, it means that workers' and animal rights have to drop. 8/10

Political veganism means to not be limited to making consumer and dietary choices. Individual behaviour must be embedded in a systematic contention against the meat industry in particular and capitalism in general. 9/10

Boycotts are mute as nudges to economic incentive structures, but have proven effective as part of a repertoire of contentious politics. It should be used as such. Veganism is furthermore an act of solidarity with humans and animals who are industrially exploited. 10/10

Great thread by @DerGraslutscher on a similar topic (in German though): https://twitter.com/DerGraslutscher/status/1273650489574469634