Steven Best | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 1955 (age 69) |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign University of Chicago University of Texas at Austin |
| Occupation(s) | Associate Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at theUniversity of Texas at El Paso |
| Known for | Co-founder of the North AmericanAnimal Liberation Press Office |
| Notable work | (ed.)Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (2004) |
| Website | drstevebest |
Steven Best (born December 1955) is an American philosopher, writer, speaker and activist. His concerns includeanimal rights, speciesextinction,human overpopulation,ecological crisis,biotechnology, liberation politics,terrorism, mass media and culture,globalization, andcapitalist domination. He is Associate Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at theUniversity of Texas at El Paso. He has published 13 books and over 200 articles and reviews.
After attending high school inChicago, Best took casual jobs in factories and drove a truck for a few years. He attended theCollege of DuPage (Illinois) from 1977 to 1979, where he completed anassociate degree in film and theater. He then studied philosophy at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1979 to 1983, where he received a bachelor's degree with distinction; at theUniversity of Chicago from 1985 to 1987 where he obtained his master's degree; and at theUniversity of Texas at Austin from 1989 to 1993, where he obtained his Ph.D.[1]
In 1993, he began as an Assistant Professor of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso promoted to Associate Professor in 1999, and was Chair of the Philosophy Department 2002–2005.[1]
A writer forThe Chronicle of Higher Education described Best in 2005 as "one of the leading scholarly voices on animal rights."[2]
Best is co-founder of theInstitute for Critical Animal Studies (ICAS), formerly known as the Center on Animal Liberation Affairs (CALA). His academic interests arecontinental philosophy,postmodernism, and environmental philosophy. He is known for hispost-structuralist notions of revolution, based equally in animal rights andtotal liberation. He is the editor, with Anthony J. Nocella, ofTerrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (2004), which has a foreword byWard Churchill, and the companion volume on revolutionary environmentalism,Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth (2006).
Best co-authored withDouglas Kellner a trilogy of texts on postmodern theory and cultural studies –Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations (1991),The Postmodern Turn (1997), andThe Postmodern Adventure: Science, Technology, and Cultural Studies at the Third Millennium (2001).[3][4]
WithPeter McLaren and Anthony J. Nocella II, Best co-editedAcademic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex (2010).[5]
Best has also written on subjects relating to popular culture, including articles on the filmRoboCop andHip hop music.[6][7]
Best is an advocate ofInclusive Democracy, a movement founded by Greek political philosopherTakis Fotopoulos, and sits on the international advisory board of the International Journal of Inclusive Democracy.[8] He writes:
In bold contrast to the limitations of the animal advocacy movement (AAM) and all other reformist causes, Takis Fotopoulos advances a broad view of human dynamics and social institutions, their impact on the earth, and the resulting consequences for society itself. Combininganti-capitalist, radical democracy, and ecological concerns in the concept of "ecological democracy," Fotopoulos defines this notion as "the institutional framework which aims at the elimination of any human attempt to dominate the natural world, in other words, as the system which aims to reintegrate humans and Nature. This implies transcending the present 'instrumentalist' view of Nature, in which Nature is seen as an instrument forgrowth, within a process of endless concentration of power.[9]
In December 2004, Best co-founded the North AmericanAnimal Liberation Press Office, which acts as a media office for a number of animal rights groups, including theAnimal Liberation Front (ALF), though he has said that he is not himself an ALF activist.[2]
Best has criticized others in the animal-rights movement who embrace a "fundamentalist pacifism" and oppose any kind of militant direct action, which could include such tactics as "illegal raids, rescues, and sabotage attacks."[10] He has referred to them as "Franciombes" afterGary Francione who believes in pursuing animal rights only through peaceful means.[11] Best says that the current ecocrisis "renders fundamentalist pacifism obsolete."[10]
In his 2014 bookThe Politics of Total Liberation: Revolution for the 21st Century, Best asserts that militant direct action and "extensional self-defense"[12] reduces violence, adding that the notion "violence only creates more violence" is a pacifist myth. As an example of "extensional self-defense", he cites the use of armed soldiers by some African governments to protect endangered wildlife frompoachers, stating that "pacifists cannot stop poachers, but bullets can, and while many measures must be taken to protect endangered species, right now armed soldiers are the best protection rhinos and elephants have against murderous, weapon-wielding poachers." Best also warns against romanticizing violence, and asserts that a variety of tactics can be used depending on the situation. He refers to this as the contextualist position:
In a global setting, contextualism asks this question: How can we best defend all life and the entire planet from the massive and unrelenting assault of global capitalism, centralized political rule, militarism, and the metastasizing growth of the human empire colonizing the earth and monopolizing its resources? Questions concerning the legitimacy and efficacy of physical force cannot be answered in the abstract, but only in specific contexts. Whereas partisans on both sides want to read the history of moral progress as driven exclusively by nonviolence or violence, the fact is that social change unfolds through the entire arsenal of pressure tactics, which include strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, sabotage, liberation, education, legislation or even armed struggle.[13]
Best has explained a justification for civil disobedience in the essayBeyond Animal Liberation.[14]
In 2005, Best planned to attend a rally to celebrate the closure—as a result of protests from the animal rights movement—ofNewchurch Farm, where guinea pigs were being bred for research purposes.Charles Clarke, the BritishHome Secretary, said he would rely on new Home Office rules preventing people from enter the UK if they "foment, justify or glorify terrorist violence in further of particular beliefs; seek to provoke others to terrorist acts; foment other serious criminal activity or seek to provoke others to serious criminal acts."[15] In a letter to Best dated August 24, 2005, Clarke cited a comment by Best quoted byThe Daily Telegraph: "We are not terrorists, but we are a threat. We are a threat both economically and philosophically. Our power is not in the right to vote but the power to stop production. We will break the law and destroy property until we win." Best is also alleged to have said that the animal rights movement did not want to "reform" vivisectionists but to "wipe them off the face of the earth."[15]
The letter from the Home Secretary said: "In expressing such views, it is considered that you are fomenting and justifying terrorist violence and seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts and fomenting other serious criminal activity and seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts."[16] The letter was dated the same day that the Home Office published its new list of behaviors that would see people banned from the UK. Under the list, people who write, speak, run a website, or use their positions as teachers to express views that "foment, justify, or glorify violence in furtherance of particular beliefs" will be banned or deported. The British government called the new measures part of its "ongoing work to tackle terrorism and extremism."[16] Best said he was not surprised by the ban. He told theChronicle of Higher Education: "It was only a matter of time, especially after the July 7, 2005 London bombings. The climate in Britain is totally unbelievable. It's very fascist. It's becoming a police state."[16]
If physical force is needed to save an animal from attack, then that force is a legitimate form of what I call "extensional self defense." This principle mirrors US penal code statutes known as the "necessity defense," which can be invoked when a defendant believed that an illegal act was necessary to avoid great and imminent harm. One only needs to expand this concept slightly to cover actions that are increasingly desperate and necessary to protect animals from the total war against them.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Total Liberation - Revolution for the 21st Century - Steve Best (IARC 2013) onYouTube | |
| Dr. Steven Best. From COVID-19 in Trump’s America to the Animal Standpoint onYouTube |
