Animal politics

Research in the fields of biology and ethology has clearly proven how non-human animal species have their own forms of cognition and communication and therefore can be seen as political.

Firstly, animals possess language and can serve as their own political agents. For example chickens can use alarm calls, which proves them to be subjects like humans, rather than objects following instincts.

Secondly, even though animals are influenced by human systems and institutions, they are not seen as political actors. Nevertheless, animals would profit from rights that humans also benefit from, such as the right to protection and of housing.

Thirdly, animals show political participation by resisting human oppression (like escaping from slaughterhouses) or through dialogue. For instance, one group of Dutch cows showed farmers their preference for a setting of the mobile milking robot. Such a situation can be seen as deliberative democracy. In this case, some form of reasoned argument occurred in the relation between animals and humans.

It is also the case that various animal species, from bees to fish, can make collective decisions.

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Read here about animal languages

Read here about speciesism and colonialism