Lance Greyling
25 January 2007
opinion
I am shocked by some of the reactions that the picture of a Xhosa sacrificial bull on the front page of the Cape Argus has elicited.
Many white South Africans have written letters condemning the Argus for printing the photographs and calling the ritual sacrifice of the bull "a barbaric act".
These reactions have highlighted the deep cultural divisions in our society and the immense work that we must do to breed respect and tolerance for each other's cultures.
We cannot, as a human rights-based society, condone cultural practises that perpetuate oppression or cruelty. We also, however, cannot allow an important debate on cultural diversity to degenerate into a dichotomy of Western values equals civilised, with anything falling outside of that cultural norm designated as primitive and barbaric.
I believe one of the reasons the photograph elicited such strong reaction is that it visually brought home the fact that any meat we eat comes from killing another living being. It is almost as though the "mark of civilisation" is for dirty work to be done behind closed doors.
The often-used argument is that "our way of killing animals" is more humane than African sacrifice. I have visited many abattoirs and this argument does not hold water.
Killing is never humane. One particular image which sticks in my mind is that of a cow desperately trying to run up the steel walls of an abattoir production line in absolute fear of impending death. It nullifies anyone's argument that our so-called Western civilisation treats animals more humanely.
Modern society has simply found a way of mass slaughtering animals efficiently and removed the visual connection between the live animal and our neatly-packaged meat.
It is, therefore, enormously hypocritical for any meat-eater to condemn the African ritual killing of a bull. I would agree that any killing must be as quick and painless to the animal as possible. The ritual killing of a bull I witnessed as part of a sangoma graduation ceremony at Mtambalala on the Wild Coast conformed to that requirement.
The bull was lulled into a trance before it was killed with a thrust of a spear into its heart. If anything, traditional African culture gives far more reverence to the lives of its cows than our commercial agriculture, which treats them as just another commodity.
As an environmentalist, I support animal rights activists in their fight for a more humane treatment of animals. I believe that if we are to condemn the killing of animals, then we must condemn it across the board.
I also believe that it is a personal and cultural choice whether one feels comfortable about eating a particular animal. Every culture has contrasting beliefs about different animals and the way human beings should relate to them.
In our so-called Western civilisation, we give pride of place to domestic animals, while farm animals are seen as suitable for our daily food requirements. They are kept in confined spaces, pumped with steroids and slaughtered en masse.
It is crucial that we have this debate over cultural rights versus animal rights and the South African Human Rights Commission is the perfect body to convene it.
It is imperative, however, that we each first interrogate our own relationship with animals and avoid the temptation to regard one culture's treatment of animals as superior.
South Africa has experienced hundreds of years of cultural chauvinism and hypocrisy. Our cultural diversity should be celebrated, not denigrated.
Independent Democrats chief whip and spokesman on environmental affairs
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