| Yves Bonnardel | |
| Birth Place: | Lyon, France |
| Occupation: | Activist, philosopher, writer, editor |
Yves Bonnardel (born 1967) is a French activist, philosopher, writer and editor. He advocates for antispeciesism, libertarianism and egalitarianism. Bonnardel is one of the founding members of the French journal Cahiers antispécistes ("Antispeciesist Notebooks") and of the events Veggie Pride, Les Estivales de la question animale ("The Summers of the Animal Question") and the march to close all slaughterhouses.
Bonnardel was born in 1967 in a small town south of Lyon.[1] His father was a secondary school teacher who was highly involved in the French Maoist movement. He became a vegetarian at the age of 13. His father's choice of political engagement inspired Bonnardel to take a different path, turning to individualist anarchism and leaving school early with the intention to live in a community and train, before getting involved in activist causes. He became an activist against adult supremacy, before also taking up antispeciesism as a cause.[2]
In May 1989, along with David Olivier and three other activists, Bonnardel published Nous ne mangeons pas de viande pour ne pas tuer d'animaux ("We Do Not Eat Meat So We Do Not Kill Animals"), in response to discussions of vegetarianism in France.[3] In 1991, together with Olivier and Françoise Blanchon, he founded the antispeciesist journal Cahiers antispécistes lyonnais (later renamed to Cahiers antispécistes).[4] He was also one of the journal's editors, before leaving at some point during the 1990s.[5] In 1997, he co-wrote and distributed the Manifesto for the Abolition of International Apartheid with Olivier.[6]
Bonnardel co-founded Veggie Pride in 2001.[7] Bonnardel is an editor of the antispeciesist French-language journal L'Amorce ("The Primer").[8]
Bonnardel is an antinaturalist and critical of the concept of nature, describing it as an "ideological tool", which places humans in a superior position of freedom, while other animals are seen as needing to obey natural cycles, such as the food chain. He argues that animals are seen as existing only to perform certain ecosystem functions, such as a rabbit being food for a wolf. Bonnardel compares this with the religious concept of woman existing for the sake of man, or the slaves for their masters and argues that all individual animals have an interest in living. He is critical of the concept of a balance of nature, stating "[w]hat we call balance, or order, in practice, it's chaos, it's nonsense". Bonnardel also discussed the predation problem, seeing it as an issue that we should work towards solving.
Bonnardel is critical of humanism, describing it as a form of elitism centred on white men, arguing that "[h]umanism is racism, patriarchy, the education of children, slaughterhouses". He instead argues for egalitarianism. Bonnardel is a hedonistic utilitarian who advocates placing sentient individuals at the centre of moral concern because they have desires, perceptions, emotions, and a will of their own; he argues that from this follows a moral axiom "[o]ne must not harm a sentient being". Bonnardel was influenced by Peter Singer's Animal Liberation and is a supporter of Singer's conception of speciesism, seeing it as instrumental in deconstructing anthropocentric morality.[9]