COUP D’ETÁT OF THE LIVESTOCK LOBBY IN SCIENTIST REBELLION SPAIN
26th July 2024 – by Indignant Rebels
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Just as it has happened before in FAO or the IPCC, the livestock lobby is the real plague that co-opts the ecological and climate movements throughout the world.
A paradigmatic example has been revealed in recent months in the climate-ecosocial movement Rebelión Científica España.
As a result of the controversy, a new collective, Rebeldes Indignadas, was created with several RC dissidents, whose first goal, but not the only one, is to uncover the livestock lobby that co-opts the ecological movement.
RC-Gate / RC-Leaks: the documented truth of the process.
Since April 2024, when the denunciation of livestock farming as a whole and of animal-based foods was successfully introduced into the Manifesto of the International Campaign of Scientist Rebellion Spain 2024, an endless controversy has been unleashed within the group, which is summarized in the following points and which has culminated in a coup d’état by the livestock lobby co-opting the movement, censoring the manifesto, blocking and boicotting the process that had been developed for reaching a consensus on the aforementioned issues, censoring and expelling in authoritarian manner two of the voices questioning this derive.
History of the controversy:
- In April 2024, the Manifesto of the International Campaign of Scientist Rebellion Spain 2024 was drafted, approved and published. Thanks to the intervention of one of the signatories of this document, the issue of food, which is usually silenced, finally figures prominently in 3 of the demands, with mention of its importance, the need to transition to plant-based diets and to eliminate subsidies to livestock: a fundamental ecological issue, recognized by the UN as being as important or more important than fossil fuels. Launched on April 22, it was barely disseminated by RC Spain’s communication.
- Days later, a fierce debate of more than 48 hours took place on the RC Spain telegram Debate Channel, especially against the mention of livestock farming and suggesting alleged errors in the text or its sources that were never specifically pointed out. The task of creating a space for debate to reach a consensus was left pending.
- The debate gave rise to this compilation of scientific literature https://metabody.eu/es/por-que-no-es-defendible-la-ganaderia-extensiva/ where some of the lobby networks behind the pro-livestock speakers in the debate are revealed, such as an ex-livestock farmer spokesperson for Aliente, Luis Bolonio, and representatives of the BC3, a center that works staunchly in favor of livestock farming, such as Maria Victoria Román de Lara, both citing colleagues from the BC3 such as Pablo Manzano who are a factory of pro-livestock scientific hoaxes; as well as the collaborations that some of these carry out with other RC spokespersons such as Agnes Delage or Fernando Prieto (promoters of the “Citizen Assembly for the Climate”), and pro-livestock food experts who are livestock veterinarians, such as Marta Rivera. All this clearly shows the networks of influence through which the livestock lobby, omnipresent in the ecological movements, extends its influence also in RC, as it has already done in the IPCC or FAO, as we show in this article and as was denounced by RC in its day, echoing this news.
- At the Degrowth congress in Pontevedra on June 20, where a shortened 2-minute version of the manifesto was read in two languages that had been prepared weeks in advance, an attempt was made to eliminate essential mentions of the food issue at the last minute, in a secret and unannounced meeting in which we only know that “Lino” (Theo Rouhette, junior researcher of the aforementioned BC3) participated, although it was avoided in situ, not without considerable tension. The debriefing of this new controversy, carried out by one of the colleagues who signed this document, can be seen here: https://cryptpad.organise.earth/pad/#/2/pad/edit/MmeDLglYeWs46G8Bdkf7Pcuj/
- In several general state meetings after the aforementioned congress in Pontevedra, the need to address and clarify this issue has been repeatedly raised, both in order to clear up doubts about the manifesto and the necessary RC consensus on these key issues and to avoid endless controversies on the matter. It was approved that those interested in promoting it should launch a process of contrasting scientific literature focused on IPCC and similar, see minutes, especially those of June 24 and July 1. In this process, we opposed the creation of a totally biased “committee of experts” where it was intended that there would be “experts” who are livestock veterinarians like Marta Rivera.
- Following this, the present proposal was launched based on an open contrast of sources in order to avoid the confusion of recent debates in the telegram channel, and in order to base the movement’s consensus on the scientific discourses of greatest consensus – however, when the conclusions were presented after two weeks with numerous contributions, on July 21-26, new controversies (third significant series) arose in the telegram debate channel (not in the created pad, as had been requested) this time in the form of vague oppositions to the process of seeking consensus itself, in the clear attempt to block it in view of the scientific evidence on the destructiveness of extensive livestock farming (not only intensive) and food of animal origin, arguing that it would go against the principles of the movement, which is false given, among many other issues, that RC Spain has already in the past spoken out against all livestock farming. Among those who in this third controversy have come out in favor of livestock farming, or against trying to reach a consensus on it, have been members of RC such as Agnes Delage or Alberto Coronel, the latter pouring insults against the promoters of the debate and avoiding both the underlying debate on scientific literature and the proposed channel to analyze it, sowing chaos instead with personalized attacks and vague and anti-scientific opinions, while the channel’s moderation partially positioned itself on the side of the aforementioned aggressors.
- On July 26, after an intensification of personalized attacks against one of the promoters of the debate, two transcendental and unacceptable events occurred:
- The state dynamization group of RC Spain has unilaterally, opaquely and authoritarianly decided to abort the transparent and agreed process of contrasting scientific sources and to transfer to the narrative working group the decision on whether to correct the manifesto and whether or not a consensus on these issues is appropriate.
- Shortly after, one of the debate promoters was expelled from the group and the Telegram chats, without prior notice, and without any proposal for mediation or conflict resolution, in an intolerable gesture of authoritarianism that also leaves her in a serious defenseless position.
- On July 27, this document was published, on July 28, RC’s facilitation proposed an agenda for the general meeting on Monday 30 with a 30-minute point on “Justification and debate on the expulsion” without the participation of the affected person, and with no mention to the blocking of the debate on livestock. and on July 29, RC was informed by fellow co-signers of this article of their disagreement and the request that the order of the day be modified as follows:
- Inclusion of a point in the order of the day on resuming the debate on livestock and food unilaterally interrupted by the facilitation, and initiating a mediation to decide how to proceed and request explanations from the facilitation.
- Replace the point on the expulsion of a colleague, which would be discussed without his/her presence, with a proposal for mediation and conflict resolution with the participation of the affected person, annulling the unilateral expulsion.
- Debate on the action of dynamization and measures to be taken in this regard.
- The dynamization group totally ignored this request, while the telegram user @RebelHorus asked that the people who signed this article be identified in order to expel them, after which it was proposed to expel another signing colleague, and on the 30th a general meeting was held with the attendance of 16 people and without the presence of the two expelled colleagues. At the said meeting, the Dynamization, together with the aforementioned subject @RebelHorus, who had been reported for aggression by one of the expelled, as well as other people who had been aggressively involved in the debates, ignored the complaints of some people present and imposed the unjustified expulsion based on false arguments, ignoring the complaints of aggression from the expelled colleagues and, at the height of manipulation, accusing them of aggression, without any proof, in the absence of those affected, who are seriously defenseless, and against all the evidence of the messages in the Debate chat (which we have as proof).
- The two critical voices are expelled while diverting attention from the underlying problem; the CENSORSHIP of the debate on livestock and food. This is the dual purpose of the unilateral expulsion: to remove the inconvenient people who expressed what the consensus literature says about the toxicity of extensive livestock farming, and to divert attention from blocking the debate towards the expulsion, so as to hide the very serious fact that Dinamización has blocked said debate in an authoritarian manner.
THEREFORE, TO THE COMMUNITY OF SR SPAIN AND INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC OPINION, WE DENOUNCE:
- As people who have dedicated considerable time to carrying out the proposal for a debate on livestock in a transparent manner as agreed in general meetings, we consider that its unilateral blocking by Dinamziación is an attack on the horizontality and principles of the movement, and a unilateral, vertical, authoritarian, unjustified, and opaque drift and imposition.
- It is also unusual that the group of dynamization promotes such disruption of a process that has been promoted with transparency based on what was agreed instead of helping to defend said process against unjustified attacks and contribute to its proper achievement.
- This is especially serious given that the expressed purpose is not only to prevent a consensus but to CENSOR the Manifesto of the International RC 2024 Campaign, published months ago, unilaterally and ignoring the transparent process of contrasting sources proposed.
- We reiterate the DENOUNCEMENT of the intolerable way in which a PROCESS APPROVED AND AGREED UPON in general meetings and TRANSPARENTLY promoted by several comrades has been personalized in one of the promoters of the debate, and the opaque way in which the situation is distorted, with victimhood and aggressiveness, turning the continuous attacks and attempts to block and boycott a transparent and agreed process into a weapon to ATTACK the most basic principles of the movement, with the sole purpose of CENSORING the scientific consensus discourses on the most serious ecological problem, the food problem, and of defending the most toxic of the industries that exist, livestock, putting the movement at its service and reproducing decades of denialism and silencing.
- We consider that there is serious opacity, manipulation, and conflicts of interest in the process, among them that the main aggressor against the comrades who signed this writing has been the subject Horus or @RebelHorus on telegram, Fernando Gonzalez Alaguero in real life, a psychology student who dedicates his suspicious activity to psychological manipulation in RC, a character about whom several women in the group say that they have felt attacked by him (we are not talking about sexual assault) and that they have left RC because of it or are thinking of doing so, having open conflict resolutions because of it, in short a repeat offender who has harassed the expelled comrades systematically and whose exact role in the process is unknown to us, although it has been his partner Patricia who has communicated the expulsion of the first comrade while the other comrade, Monica, has published the decree that the debate process that several comrades had been carefully moderating for weeks on this pad was closed without prior notice. All of this should lead RC International to intervene and investigate who is pulling the strings of RC Spain and for what purpose.
- The current opaque and authoritarian way of acting of RC Spain Dynamization is completely opposed to the way of operating of RC based on SOS/SAO (self-organizing system) https://activisthandbook.org/organising/sos – “SOS allows you to proactively structure how to organize yourself, allowing you to reflect on your values and leave behind ways of working that reproduce injustices and emotional pain in society. SOS is a tool to decentralize and scale; form leading groups and mitigate power.”
- The most revealing thing about the situation is that in a supposedly scientific and supposedly horizontal movement, when the most compelling sources and the clearest evidence are revealed, some, including those from the dynamization and moderation, reject them by resorting to opaque forms to try to block any process that recognizes said sources and evidence. In other words, the double antithesis, on the one hand of the scientific spirit and on the other of the horizontal and decentralized spirit. An example of a campaign of harassment, weariness, mudslinging, and exhaustion.
- Although the most serious issue seems to be the lack of impartiality of both the moderation and the dynamization, given the continuous and DOCUMENTED aggressions that the people promoting the debate have had to endure, including from the dynamization and moderation. Something for which we demand RESPONSIBILITIES both in SR Spain and International, including the expulsion of the people who from the dynamization, moderation or other positions of power have promoted these actions completely contrary to the principles of the movement. The unilateral EXPULSION of the first colleague, without prior notice, or even subsequent communication, after multiple complaints from the expelled woman herself that she was being attacked BEFORE the expulsion, is unacceptable, authoritarian, typical of the most radical extreme right, and generates a clear lack of defense (with potential legal issues) and violation of fundamental principles of the movement.
- As a result of the controversy, a new collective, Rebeldes Indignadas, has been created with several dissidents from SR Spain, whose first goal, but not the only one, is to uncover the livestock lobby that co-opts the environmental movement.
- This situation shows that RC Spain is an ineffective movement, neutralised and co-opted (like many others) by networks of spurious interests, plagued by dark and manipulative characters and supposedly prominent scientists who are actually concerned with maintaining the status quo and preserving their privileges by silencing the most serious problems of the ecological crisis, with cosmetic patch policies that reproduce the worst of greenwashing disguised as a false revolution, and with purges and witch hunts of critical voices in the worst style of the authoritarian far right, which is perhaps behind the manipulation of these groups, or perhaps it is simply the complacency of middle-class people from rich countries who do not want to lose their privileges, and who defend a colonial, supremacist, and speciesist project, disguised as a false revolution, dominated by Eurowhite-cis-hetero men and carnivorous fanatics; all this added to the lethal alliance of the ecological movements with the “rural” world, dominated by cattle ranchers, and the power of the global livestock lobby. This is especially serious because people linked to RC and who have notoriously wanted to silence the debate on livestock farming are behind the project of a Citizens’ Assembly for the Climate which is consequently expected to be born empty and biased, another patch to distract and give the false impression that there is a revolution underway, but dancing to the tune of ecological greenwashing: the greatest aberration of our time.
This writing will continue to be updated and detailed as progress is made in the public denunciation of these scandalous and unacceptable events that show the way in which this and other eco-social movements are in the hands of political lobbies such as the livestock lobby.
WE URGE THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIST REBELLION COMMUNITY AS WELL AS LOCAL NODES, TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THIS OUTRAGE.
FROM THE NEW REBELDES INDIGNADAS COLLECTIVE, WE WILL CONTINUE TO REVEAL THE HIDDEN PLOTS OF DENIALISM AND THE LIVESTOCK LOBBY IN THE CLIMATE AND ECO-SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, ALWAYS FROM SCIENTIFIC RIGOR AND RESEARCH.
If you wish to support us or know more write to rebeldesindignadas@gmail.com