On this day in 2012, the Marikana Massacre took place when South African police fired on striking workers, killing 34 and injuring 76 in the most lethal use of force by the state in half a century.
The shootings have been compared to the infamous Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, when police fired on a crowd of anti-Pass Law protesters, killing 69 people, including 10 children. The Marikana Massacre took place on the 25-year anniversary of a nationwide strike by over 300,000 South African workers.
On August 10th, miners had initiated a wildcat strike at a site owned by Lonmin in the Marikana area, close to Rustenburg, South Africa. Although ten people (mostly workers) had been killed before August 16th, it was on that day that an elite force from the South African Police Service fired into a crowd of strikers with rifles, killing 34 and injuring 76.
After surveying the aftermath of the violence, photojournalist Greg Marinovich concluded that “[it is clear] that heavily armed police hunted down and killed the miners in cold blood.”
Following the massacre, a massive wave of strikes occurred across the South African mining sector - in early October, analysts estimated that approximately 75,000 miners were on strike from various gold and platinum mines and companies across South Africa, most of them doing so illegally.
A year after the Marikana Massacre, author Benjamin Fogel wrote “Perhaps the most important lesson of Marikana is that the state can gun down dozens of black workers with little or no backlash from ‘civil society’, the judicial system or from within the institutions that supposedly form the bedrock of democracy.”
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Honestly I think just breeding your dog is kind of immoral. There are already so many puppies and dogs out there including those in shelters. Plus spaying and neutering reduces the risk of a lot of different forms of cancer and such. God knows I love puppies and doggies but I buy only from either a reputable breeder who I know for a fact isn’t a puppy farmer/subjecting the mother dog to harm or from a rescue centre.
I’m against breeding animals for pets… especially dogs. Purebred dogs have lots of issues due to inbreeding usually, too. I’ve had people at work tell me they’ve spend thousands on pure bred puppies.
Alas, I’m more of a cat person and every cat I’ve gotten for free.
edit: sorry for this being long.
I think the animal (e.g., dog) breeding industry as a whole is really poorly regulated and so often substandard, certainly. I guess I cannot say I am ipso facto opposed because, well, pets are important IMO. I feel like part of me is missing without an animal honestly, and they can be so helpful for peoples’ mental health + helping people deal with loneliness. e.g., for quite a few years my parrot was my best friend and one of my only friends, in fact.
Purebreeding is definitely an issue, but it depends on the breed to an extent. e.g., you get these flat-faced (Brachycephalic) dogs which are incredibly unhealthy and some have struggles even breathing (pugs) and I think the pure existence of these animals is animal cruelty. If I were dictator I would ban the breeding of them. However, working breeds are often pretty healthy (though inbreeding has created some genetic issues). For instance, border collies and cocker spaniels (working cockers, not show/American/English cockers) have a few genetic predispositions (hip dysplasia, for instance) but are largely very healthy dogs and will live to 15 years old plus with a good quality of life if you’re lucky. My girlfriend’s dad’s super rich friend has a 16 year old working cocker who still goes to shoots and runs around (doesn’t do the actual working, but has a run around) and they barely even have grey around their muzzle. My girlfriend’s cocker lived to 15 very happily. Funnily enough Daschunds, despite their obvious back problems, actually are really long-lived and with proper back support can have a good QoL throughout. I had a neighbour whose Daschund lived to 23(!!). Anway, to get back on topic, I think you are right but that some breeding can be ethical. I would only get a purebreed dog (would be a working cocker or a border collie) if I knew the breeder and knew the mum wasn’t just a breeding farm. A lot of rich country guys will breed their dog only once, maybe twice, in their lifetime because they want to keep them healthy enough to work on the shoots or doing shepharding.
But yeah, I definitely think the industry as it is is unethical, but I don’t think the social need for pets will change any time soon. People have quite literally evolved to love animals and to desire companionship with them. I think a more ethical and limited breeding system and a culture in which rescuing animals is more ‘the norm’ would be ok. Like I get the parrot breeding industry, for instance, has a BIG unethical history for the obvious reason that they were once stolen from the wild, but I do not think it is always unethical. Wild capture obviously doesn’t happen anymore in western parrot populations (though that may lead to a smaller gene pool, idk) I follow some smaller breeders that do it in a way I’d definitely consider ethical.
It’s a challenge though. TO be honest I do fully understand the animal liberation perspective on opposition to pets, and part of it is selfishness on my part because I simply feel a psychological need for it. That said, I think every pet I’ve ever had has been happy. I get the critique though of both pet ownership and even more so of the breeding industry.