It’s well-established that many different nonhuman animals (animals) live in groups, or assemblages. In her new book titled Multispecies Assemblies, Dutch philosopher and prolific author Dr. Eva Meijer stresses that all of us live as part of a web of relations in which we affect others and are affected by them. A such, she develops a new political model she calls the multispecies assembly. In essence, “Multispecies assemblies are a form of direct democracy in which some beings speak for themselves and others are represented. Living differently as humans is possible, but we must begin to listen to others, and learn from them.”
Many of Eva’s messages reminded me of an interview I did with Ralph Nader about his 2016 book Animal Envy in which he writes about a global assembly of animals called “The Great Talkout,” during which a wide variety of animals talk with one another and with us. Nader’s goal is to inform people who are not up to date regarding recent findings about nonhuman animals’ multiple intelligences, their capacity for compassion, empathy, and sorrow, and their common “needs” with humans. Above all, he wants to get people to think outside their box, including youngsters.
I was intrigued by Eva’s novel ideas and am pleased she could answer a few questions about her important message about how we must listen to other beings and respect their voices.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Multispecies Assemblies?
Eva Meijer: For a long time, humans thought that nonhuman animals did not speak, think, or have cultures. Research in biology and ethology shows that other-than-human animals have complex inner and social lives, languages and cultures. Other animals have a perspective on life that they communicate to others, including humans. This raises many philosophical questions. What kind of relationships do they want with humans? How can we find out?
It also raises political questions: What kind of communities do animals form with each other, and what kind of interspecies political relations exist? How can animals have a say in questions that concern their lives? As a political philosopher I am interested in this last question. In Multispecies Assemblies I draw on ideas about citizen’s assemblies and animal political agency to include the perspectives of other animals in democratic decision-making.
MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest?
EM: As a writer and philosopher, I am very interested in how different beings create meaning, and the political dimensions of language, specifically in multispecies relations. Nonhuman animals are currently silenced in many ways, and I believe that fighting their oppression is connected to overcoming this silencing and centering their perspectives. They have much to teach humans, about themselves but also about life, and they have a right to be listened to. In this book I build on earlier ideas about animal political voice to develop a model for political multispecies decision-making.
MB: Who do you hope to reach?
EM: All humans need to learn to listen to other animals to understand how they want to live, so asking them about this, matters for all human societies. But this book is specifically aimed at those who are interested in using the tools of democracy to work towards change. There are currently many proposals to include more-than-human interests in politics: think of rights of nature, animal political parties, and climate assemblies. But animals are often absent in (and from) these discussions. This needs to change.
MB: What are some of the topics you consider and what are some of your major messages?
EM: In this book, I outline a model of political multispecies decision-making, based on human models of direct democracy. The multispecies assembly is a form of direct democracy in which humans, including human youth, and other-than-human beings, like nonhuman animals and plants, discuss questions of common importance and make political decisions.
In multispecies assemblies, some animals can speak for themselves or for their community, and others should be represented by others. For example, animals like dogs or crows can speak for themselves, but those who avoid contact might need to be represented by humans. With ‘speaking’ I do not just mean human and other species-specific forms of language, but also embodied forms of communication and material communication (like interventions in the landscape, or the use of objects). Deliberation between humans and other animals furthermore does not exist of single meetings, but of ongoing processes of question and response. Because of the current human domination of all others, humans will have to take the initiative in setting up assemblies, but with time, multispecies cultural and political knowledge will emerge.
In setting up assemblies, we can draw on political relations already exist, in which nonhuman animals are not voiceless; they actively co-create relations through their cooperation, resistance, and/or refusal. However, because humans are not used to listening to animals politically, developing a model of multispecies democracy goes hand in hand with new multispecies knowledge creation. For example, we need to develop new methods of decision-making, based on the forms of expression of everyone involved. What humans view as ‘political’ will probably change in this process, because different beings have their own perspectives on the scope and content of political life. This will lead to new democratic challenges. But it also offers hope. Humans can learn from others how to live more peacefully alongside those who are different, how to live more sustainably on this planet, and how to do justice to what matters for all of us.1
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MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about this aspect of animal behavior they will come to appreciate and respect them more?
EM: Understanding that other animals speak for themselves and have their own ideas about the kinds of relationships they want to have with humans changes the whole idea that we have of society, and of life. It has changed my life. In a time when human domination of others is nearly all-pervasive, learning to listen to others and interact with them in better ways is an urgent responsibility. Concepts like democracy and justice can help us understand what we owe the other animals, and how we can move forward together.
