On the 22nd of November 2012, in the nighttime, we set fire to a broiler chicken factory farm in Klein Füllen (in Meppen), which was vacant between two rearing periods.
Under capitalism, almost everything is a commodity. The exchange value of a thing determines what must be provided in order to get something. Who needs what, in order to be able to live happy, is unimportant.
Some people can monopolize through ownership a lot of things, which they don’t even use, despite the fact that others are deprived of those. Things are not produced when those who are in need of them have no money. If things cannot be sold well, they are often destroyed, even though they would be needed. When found in unprofitable oversupply e.g. cereal grains are burned, so that prices do not fall.
Also animals can be made into a commodity. ‘Farm animals’ can be kept alive with minimal cost and exploited: maximum profit from a living creature that cannot resist. In meat production the killing of animals only creates the added value. In other animal products the slaughter is the economic consequence, once the existence of e.g. dairy cows or egg-laying hens is no longer profitable up to a maximum point. Human and nonhuman animals are being exploited and killed. This can by no means be equated, but rejected in both cases.
We do not rely on verbal exchange. This is important, but not enough. The current conditions are much more destructive than any arson on property could ever be. The conditions are extremely miserable for most living organisms, and must be fought radically. No matter how well the welfare state likes to present itself, or how many square centimeters of chicken or pork are at people’s disposal, it does not change the fact that the living organism in itself is seen as nothing more than its use in creating added value. In this factory farm, broiler chickens are being fattened for Rothkötter. Rothkötter and Wiesenhof are the largest poultry industry companies in Germany.
There are many more factory farms where animals are being kept.