THE HUMANITY TRIGGER: ON THE ORIGINS OF ANTI-SPECIESISM BY MEANS OF DIRECT ACTION A HISTORY OF RADICAL ACTION FOR ANIMALS IN IRELAND 1822-2022.
This book tells the rich story of the struggle against violence against animals in Ireland since records began but with an emphasis on the 200-year period between 1822 and 2022. It was in 1822 that the world's first Law protecting some animal species from 'unnecessary' suffering was enacted. This began a process of actions, from the State and Civil society, designed to protect non-human animals from gratuitous violence from people. What exactly constitutes unnecessary and gratuitous violence has broadened over time.
Evolving alongside the anti-Slavery and Women's Rights movements and with many overlapping adherents, the struggle for animal rights has always included the tactic of Direct Action, both non-violent and otherwise, legal, and not. Ireland, and the Irish diaspora, have played pivotal roles in the development and history of the animal rights movement from its very inception in the 19th century onwards. This is the story of those individuals who braved frequent mockery and sometimes violence by taking decisive action for animals using the resources to hand. They discovered that the antidote to despair is action.
