In Solidarity With Walter Bond

December 1st, 2011

I woke up this morning to Because We Must’s post “A Response to Walter Bond’s Abortion Statement” and have felt like vomiting ever since. After commenting on the article and discussing it with numerous people I thought it important to write something to provide more context.

First, the prison industrial complex was not mentioned at all in the initial posting of this article and only added later in a brief disclaimer. For a site that, thus far, has done an amazing job of presenting intersectional analysis rooted in animal and earth liberation – this is a problem. The entire tone of the article is written as if it is addressed to another blogger – someone with the same access and ability to engage in dialogue. How something could be written which is so critical of a political prisoner, without any mention of the fact that that person IS a political prisoner or without any framework or understanding of the Prison Industrial Complex and how it works – blows my mind. I am not asking for exulted hero status because Walter is a political prisoner, but at least we can fucking acknowledge it.

Second, Walter had the luck of authorities crafting a story of him eating a hamburger just before his arrest. By the time he was able to respond to this numerous media sources had picked this up and matched it with an unflattering mug shot – playing up his face tattoo’s. I immediately began to see people in the AR community take that story as fact, dismiss Walter and advocate against his support. The Authorities and the State absolutely love when this happens. This aids their process. By the time Walter gets to respond to the article post on BMW site there will already have been countless comments of “fuck this guy” or “don’t support this bigot.” You can’t undo that process – even if Walter knew about the article and has the chance to eventually respond. There is no doubt that this piece will hurt support for Walter, however, some feel it is more important to write than not to write it. I disagree.

Third, many people lack knowledge of Walter’s personal history and instead center on his macho rhetoric. Please, wade through that. Especially if you are going to write something critical of Walter. Walter has his G.E.D – which he got during his previous prison stay – but did not go past Grade 8. The post on the BWM page is extremely dismissive and does not recognize education as a driving force in developing ideas around social justice. The post also does not mention that Walter was raised in broken homes that were fueled by drug addiction or that he faced abandonment. We are presented with an extremely limited picture of Walter which I argue only fuels the notion of “fuck Walter – don’t support him” even if the BWM post does not explicitly come out and say it (more on that later.) Again, this is extremely disheartening for a site which has made intersectionality a focus. Walter’s personal history IS important when critiquing his views around abortion – as well as why he would encourage discussion that would hurt his support as children who have faced abandonment sometimes struggle with craving attention.

Fourth, I have had numerous people in private messages compare support to Walter to support for Christopher Mcintosh, an ex-ELF Prisoner who had his support pulled when he adopted White Supremacist views in prison. If that truly is the goal of this post, or of people in support of it, at least have the decency to be transparent and make that claim. Come right out and say that you think support for Walter should be pulled along these exact same lines. Don’t write ambiguous commentary that will have that effect without stating it. I agree that there should be a line drawn for support and if that is the real discussion that people want to have – then let’s have that discussion. If we are going to be intersectional, however, we need to think critically about what kind of precedent this would set and what this would mean for solidarity along these lines. Are we going to start writing political prisoners who are not vegan and admonishing them for their human supremacy? Walter Bond is not a snitch. His views lack critical thought and nuance and many of them are retrograde. Are we prepared to pull support for those reasons? In the face of knowing his personal history? I’m not. If others are, set the table and let’s talk.

I love what Jeff and everyone at BMW is trying to do with their site. It largely reflects what I am trying to do in my own community and in my own activism. That said, this post has no merit as it is written. If people want to critique hardline – please do. It is a philosophy adhered to by almost no one and it should have been left in the 1990’s. There are endless ways in which people can be critical of hardline without pulling a political prisoner down as well. If people are going to be critical of political prisoners – at least present a broad picture. You cannot divorce a prisoners beliefs from where they are located and you cannot trace how they developed those beliefs without understanding their personal history.

In Solidarity With Walter Bond,

Dylan Powell

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14 Responses to “In Solidarity With Walter Bond”

  1. Matt says:
    December 1, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Walter’s a really decent human being and though I don’t agree with his views on abortion I can still respect his considerable contributions to AR.

  2. Becausewemust» Blog Archive » Response to Walter Bond’s “Abortion Statement” says:
    December 1, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    [...] Statement” Posted: November 30th, 2011 By Jen Update: I’d like to thank Dylan from The Vegan Police and their response to this article. It was brought to my attention shortly after this piece posted [...]

  3. Because We Must says:
    December 1, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    So can we Matt, so can we.

  4. Comrade Black says:
    December 2, 2011 at 12:26 am

    Thanks for writing this. I am glad you did.
    Jen updated her post on BWM so that it clarifies that we need to keep supporting him, and more about his situation. So you did good. Hope people will read this. The last thing I want to see i a repeat of the Denver ABC thing where lots of people were left thinking Walter was homophobic (despite the fact he identifies as bi), and all that cause of a misleading post that has caused a ton of people to discontinue support of him.

  5. lauren says:
    December 3, 2011 at 12:31 am

    Thank you so much for this, Dylan.

  6. Hate Edge? says:
    December 7, 2011 at 3:44 am

    Animal oppression = unacceptable
    Racism = unacceptable
    oppression of someone based on their body parts and their ability to become pregnant = acceptable.

    While having a good class analysis is important, it is used in a rather ignorant fashion in this post. Walter may have not completed school, he may have come from a rural area and from a broken home. Guess what? So did many radical activists with good politics. Many of people I know came from horrible homes. Most of the people the animal rights movement hates most are uneducated people living in rural areas (hunters, farmers, etc.)

    Walter isn’t some naive backwoods person who’s pro-life beliefs come from right wing religious wingnuttery… he is hardline. Hardline takes a bit of research and understanding before you claim. He isn’t ignorant about abortion, he knows exactly what he is saying. And if you tell anyone to check their privilege, you might want to tell him to, considering he says classist and ableist shit about veganism and straight edge.

    I believe in freeing all prisoners, but I will not support Walter Bond. His stance on abortion is oppressive and dehumanizing. Anyone who writes off the struggles of half of the human population as unimportant is a fencewalker, you are not my comrade, and neither is Walter. Animal liberation AND human liberation. ALL oppression is important and we need to fight ALL oppression. Fuck single issue activism. May every hardline person die in a fire.

  7. Nicoal says:
    December 7, 2011 at 7:47 am

    Thank you for posting this response. I respect all opinions on this matter and I am grateful for your input concerning the Prison Industrial Complex and such privileges.

    However, I will say that I do not believe Walter’s words, views or opinions “lack critical thought”. I believe that if we began a dialogue with him concerning abortion or reproductive justice through letters, etc. he would be open to discussing such topics critically. He is a rational person, and although the article seemed militantly opposed to discussing his and opposing views (and that his word was final), from the conservations I have had with him via phone, I just don’t think that he would immediately disregard what someone had to say. I believe he would take it into consideration and who knows, someone may have the opportunity through conservation to change his mind.

    We are not superior in our opinions to discredit his and even if we disagree about his opinions on abortion (which I certainly do), we can still be open to talking first. As a lesson from this article, there are several privileges we fail to acknowledge and we all need to communicate.

  8. admin says:
    December 9, 2011 at 4:29 am

    Bummed that some came and took a hard stance and did it anonymously.

    Also bummed that I don’t think they actually read what I wrote before going off on a hardline rant – see comment below yours, I didn’t exactly defend hardline.

    Oh well.

  9. Anonymous says:
    December 28, 2011 at 8:34 am

    Hate edge?:
    meat is dairy is abortion is murder.

    i trust you find this as offensive as I find your post.

    “may every hardliner die in a fire” – seriously?

    can’t we all just get along?

    VEGAN FOR LIFE

  10. (A) says:
    December 30, 2011 at 1:42 am

    No, we can’t all get along. Hardline vegans are not my comrades, just like a cop who happens to be vegan isn’t my comrade. May all cops and all hardliners die in a fucking fire!

  11. VEGAN FOR LIFE says:
    January 4, 2012 at 8:32 am

    genocide checklist:
    human fetuses.
    anti-abortionists.
    law enforcement.

    any others to add? why stop when you have so much misdirected hate to share?

    murdering human fetuses is not vegan.
    murdering anti-abortionists is not vegan.
    murdering law enforcement is not vegan.

    a torturous death by fire as a rule for any group which is defined based on a trait not rooted in moral action = classism = racism = speciesism, etc.

    take a deep breath and try and recall what drew you to veganism…helping animals and innocent life, making the world a better place.

    peace.

  12. admin says:
    January 5, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    http://youtu.be/Aus2qBmxZyU

  13. another veganarchist says:
    January 30, 2012 at 11:27 am

    You’re a piece of shit man. What you say is bulshit simply because if you support someone who says it’s okay to physically eliminate people just like that as a volountary political process (and not during a revolutionnary conflict for example) is to theorise violence against people and not against capital and the state. Not against the industrial complexe or even against animal exploitation itself, if you support this : you’re simply not vegan because you despite life. Life is not a simple process, especially for humans.
    And to own its life means to own and controll your own body. Here is the contradiction : how hardline think they would (on a materialist point of view) stop abortion without force ? Isn’t it simply an expression of male domination ? Isn’t that violence ? To you being vegan implies to oppress women and expropriate them from their own body ? Command… if you wanna be respected stop being a coward when you answer people.

    Harliners like that are not our comrades because they are AUTHORITARIANS. And that authoritarianism goes against the very principle of LIFE itself as you might know.

    And also that are eco-obscurantist sons of the patriarchy because of their constant assimilation of nature as a mother (or a godess “Gaya”) or a passive image of womanhood and an active and manhood symbolised humanity and history.

    Do you think it’s a simple random ? Iiiiiii don’t think so.

    A veganarchist, for life, for choice, for social revolution and total liberation.

  14. Rawan says:
    February 7, 2012 at 8:29 am

    Oct17Brenda …….and on a psraonel note…THANK YOU Walter, for being what humanity is SUPPOSED to, you are a shining example of the change one person CAN affect, and countless numbers of us will ALWAYS be grateful to you, your actions & your commitment….you INSPIRE, beautiful human, beautiful friend <3

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