Policing Animal Liberation, Enforcing Ecocide

About

Have you ever wondered if there is a link between the violent way in which animal and environmental activists are policed and the violent ecological and climate crises we are all experiencing?

In this talk, Dr Andrea Brock will argue that policing plays a key role in enforcing a hierarchical ecological social order that is not only classed, racialised, and gendered, but maintains human supremacy and extractive relationships with nonhuman inhabitants. It designates nonhuman animals as property, to be exploited and killed, which goes hand in hand with degradation of ecosystems and habitats. Dr Brock will show how the harsh policing of those who attempt to challenge this order – such as animal liberation activists and hunt saboteurs – illustrates the role of policing in enforcing this order, and the ecological degradation integral to it. Taking an anarchist political ecology perspective, Dr Brock will therefore argue for the importance of a total liberation approach (which includes both human and nonhuman entities) to combat ecocide.

Following the talk there will be a Q&A with Dr Brock which will provide attendees with the opportunity to further explore the role of nonhuman animals in the modern social ecological order, the intersections between the oppression of nonhuman animals and human hierarchies, how they are policed, and why Dr Brock advocates for a total liberation approach.

Speaker

Dr Andrea Brock is a political ecologist at the University of Sussex. She works with environmental defenders and animal liberation activists and researches the relationship between extractivism, corporate power, state violence, and policing. She has written about the criminalisation, policing, and repression of anti-coal and anti-fracking resistance, the political ecology of (green) extractivism, and counterinsurgency. Her edited volume (with Alexander Dunlap, 2022) “Enforcing ecocide: Power, Policing & Planetary Militarization” features case studies from across the world that explore the links between militarisation, policing, and ecological destruction. Beyond her academic work, she has been involved in ecological direct action and activist organising for many years, with local and national groups and campaigns.

Format

The talk is hybrid in nature so you can attend in person or online.

• 17:00 -18:15 – Talk by Dr Andrea Brock followed by a Q&A (available in person and online)

• 18:15 – 19:00 – Refreshments and networking (only available in person)

The Multispecies Collective Dialogue Series

The Multispecies Collective Dialogue Series is our series of events that shines a spotlight on non-members’ research or practice toward multispecies flourishing.