We recently received the book "Tales from the Economy and Other Jokes to Overthrow the System," which we found interesting for two reasons. First, its teaching methods rely on children's stories, making the ideas easier to understand and the lessons more engaging. Second, it offers a different perspective from that presented by the mainstream media and economics textbooks.
In their mission to foster critical thinking in the reader, they question the capitalist system from various angles, including its lack of ethics. But do these alternative economists offer a coherent ethical alternative? When they speak of "ending the system," are they challenging all forms of exploitation in our society or only the exploitation that we humans suffer at the hands of the capitalist system?
We have no objections to the authors regarding economics, but regarding ethics… The book treats the environment in two ways: firstly, as a resource that must be preserved for our use, and secondly, as an individual that must be respected, as if ecosystems had the same capacity for enjoyment and suffering as we do. However, this is not the criticism we wish to focus on regarding this "alternative" approach to the production system.
Los autores tienen una visión absolútamente antropocentrista y especista de la economía y la sociedad que queda reflejada en todos sus trabajos. Mientras a los ecosistemas se les atribuye románticas cualidades que no tienen, los animales -por el mero hecho de pertenecer a otra especie- son vistos por estos economistas anticapitalistas como productos que debemos saber gestionar de forma solidaria y con “valores más humans“
Although, as we have said, the book reflects an anthropocentric vision on every page, since it seems that the victims of this society's competitive vision are only humans, there are a couple of stories that are insulting because of the explicit way in which animal exploitation is depicted.
El famoso cuento de “Los tres cerditos y el lobo feroz” lo transfroman en “Los tres cerditos y el mercado feroz”, con el fin de que el lector se cuestione aspectos tan importantes como el abaratamiento del despido y otros problemas cada vez más preocupantes. Lo triste es que este cuento que incluye frases como “¡¡Otro mundo es posible!!” y “¡¡Socialismo o muerte!!” empieza así: Érase una vez una familia de cerditos formada por el papá, la mamá y los tres cerditos. El papá era un prejubilado de Campofrío y la mamá trabajaba de administrativa en Navidul”. Es curioso que este colectivo alternativo, frivolice con la situación de los cerdos e ignore sus intereses de forma exactamente igual que hacen esas mismas empresas que critican. Pincha en el enlace para ver un Campofrío video que trata este tema. Y ahora pincha en el enlace para ver la situación de los cerdos en las granjas de Campofrío a través de is it video.
When the story says, "Another world is possible!!", it's obvious that Econoplastas isn't asking for a different world for the pigs you saw in the second video. The vision this group conveys of animals is identical to that offered by the meat industry. For corporations, they are products to be exploited according to the capitalist model; for Econoplasts, they are products to be exploited with a different economic perspective.
The second story is that of the Milkmaid. Starting with a jug of milk, the milkmaid speculates on "products" such as eggs, chickens, pigs, cows, etc. Needless to say, the story makes not the slightest reference to the moral consideration of these animals. Despite the warning on the back cover that "reading this book will make you think," it's clear that whoever wrote it didn't give animals a second thought. Fortunately, the same back cover states, "(…) Economics, that social science that deals with improving the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy human needs." It's clear, then, that for them, the only needs they care about are human needs, and that non-human animals are "scarce resources."
We have highlighted this book because it aims to be an alternative perspective and clearly reflects how, in supposedly alternative, solidarity-based, assembly-oriented, and egalitarian circles, the interests of animals are systematically disregarded simply because they belong to a different species. At Aula Animal, we believe it is essential that groups claiming to promote values of equality and respect begin by questioning their own speciesist values.
Animals have the capacity to feel just like we do. This means they have an interest in enjoying life and not suffering. Those of us who believe in animal rights summarize these interests in one word: the interest in not being treated as a resource.
Therefore, we don't believe that when it comes to animal exploitation, we should focus on whether animals are treated as resources in a capitalist or socialist way. We don't want to "return to traditional livestock farming," nor do we advocate for "organic farming." This vision promoted by "alternative" groups is nothing more than a simple economic reform, as it doesn't question what's truly important: the view of animals as products, and it doesn't take into account the main victims of animal exploitation—the animals themselves.