{"id":765756,"date":"2021-11-13T08:10:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-13T13:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=765756"},"modified":"2021-11-13T08:51:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-13T13:51:18","slug":"wayne-hsiung-the-trial-of-open-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=765756","title":{"rendered":"‘OPEN RESCUE’ ON TRIAL: The ‘right to rescue’ is going to court"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Open rescue forces our legal and political system to address the questions about animals it would not prefer to address. Because, when life is on the line, the system is forced to answer the question: is an animal a 'thing' to steal, or a 'living being' to rescue?<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

WAYNE HSIUNG:<\/strong> On January 9, 2015… I penned one of the most important articles of my activist life: On the Importance of Open Rescue<\/a>. The piece described the brutal conditions in which we found Mei Hua, a little hen collapsed on the floor of a \u201cCertified Humane\u201d Whole Foods egg farm. And it set out four reasons that her rescue was not just morally justified, but strategically crucial to driving the animal rights movement forward. The post, which also announced the formation of the DxE Open Rescue Network, was part of a strategy by DxE to transform rescue into the canonical act of the animal rights movement. To make the right to rescue a reality.<\/em><\/p>\n

For too long, animal rights activists had been defined as picky eaters, or nude protesters splashing blood on celebrities, or self-righteous critics looking for something to complain about. The shift towards rescue, I believed, was crucial to shifting the public\u2019s perception of the fight for animal rights. Rescue made clear the urgency of our movement. It shifted the debate away from consumption and towards systems. It aligned our movement with cultural and political narratives, such as the dog in a hot car, that were powerful and sympathetic. And perhaps most importantly, a movement of open rescue would force our legal and political system to answer a question: are animals living creatures, or are they thing?…<\/em><\/p>\n

Seven years later, hundreds of animals have been rescued. Thousands of activists have participated in open rescues across the nation. Laws have been challenged and changed. And the shift towards animal rights as a social and political movement, and not just a hobby for animal lovers, is happening before our very eyes. But the work is far from done. And the last reason I cited above, that \u201cby going in with our faces proudly uncovered, we dare the industry to try our actions in the court of public opinion,\u201d is particularly important now. Because, over 7 years after we launched the Open Rescue Network, I approach trial on November 29, for the rescue of a sick baby goat in Transylvania, North Carolina.<\/em><\/p>\n

The right to rescue is going to court. This is crucial because animals have been denied access to the courtroom since the founding of our nation. For decades, animals have been invisible to our legal system, seen as mere objects for corporations to burn, bury, or exterminate on a whim. Efforts to give animals legal standing are promising, but slow and incremental, dependent on the whims of those in power. Judges generally throw such cases out of court, on the grounds that animals are not legal \u201cpersons\u201d under the law. (In this regard, animals are treated similarly to our nation\u2019s historical treatment of people of color and women, who were also denied full legal personhood by the courts.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Legislators can\u2019t be bothered with animal rights because it isn\u2019t seen as a winning political issue. Open rescue forces our legal and political system to address the questions about animals it would not prefer to address. It politicizes an issue that our system would prefer to leave apolitical. Because, when a human being\u2019s freedom is on the line, the system is forced to answer the question: is an animal a \u201cthing\u201d to steal, or a living being to rescue? The trial unfolding on November 29, while it carries grave risks for me personally, is an opportunity for the movement to make the case for animal rights in a court of law.<\/em><\/p>\n

Going to trial is also crucial because of the precedent it can set: legally, politically, and culturally. The American legal system is a \u201ccommon law\u201d system… And the common law principle we are invoking at trial, that my actions were \u201ctaken to protect life, limb, or health of a person”,\u201d i.e., that my action were legally necessary, will have far reaching impacts if we succeed.<\/em><\/p>\n

For one, it will be the first time a court has recognized that animals are \u201cpersons\u201d under the common law. As the brilliant legal scholar and activist Steven Wise has pointed out, this was a crucial first step to achieving full legal rights for chattel slaves. A positive outcome in this case could be legally harnessed in future cases beyond open rescue, from dog neglect to endangered species… But the political precedent we will set, with a victory, is even more important…<\/em><\/p>\n

But the most important precedent is the cultural one… It will prove that we can persuade a jury of our peers, even in a deeply Red county, and inspire so many others to talk about animal rights too. A victory is not just a victory in the court of law; it\u2019s a victory, as I wrote 7 years ago, in the court of public opinion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Say we don\u2019t win in court, however, and that I end up in prison. The final reason this trial is crucial is that a loss in court will still be a victory for the movement because of the power of sacrifice… The women\u2019s suffrage movement was emboldened by Susan B. Anthony\u2019s sacrifice when she was imprisoned for trying to vote. The civil right movement was emboldened when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat.<\/em><\/p>\n

Indeed, this has been the story of virtually every successful social movement since this nation\u2019s founding: sacrifice leads to change. And it will be the story of animal rights. In many ways, for DxE, it already is. By far the most important communications and mobilization successes in DxE history have come in the immediate wake of criminal prosecutions. When the public sees that someone is facing prison, for the mere act of taking a dying animal to the vet, their conscience is roused. Now we will see if that continues to be true, as we start my first felony trial…<\/em><\/p>\n

If we win this case, we will need you to join us in pushing to institutionalize that victory in the legal and political fabric of our nation: enshrining the right to rescue, and animal rights, as a fundamental principle of our legal system. If we lose, we\u2019ll need you even more, to ensure the story of sacrifice is told, and to make it even more likely that we win our next case. This is, in short, the moment we need you, the moment the animals need you. And if we answer the call, together, the world will never be the same. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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