There is an excellent article on animal rights/liberation champion Steve Best in the El Paso Times this morning. Please have a look at it. The article discusses Best's militancy and radicalism, his difficult childhood and his academic career. Today, Best is a philosophy professor at the University of Texas at El Paso and a fearless protester. The article is a well-written and fascinating overview of a very compelling individual. I know that Steve Best has developed an adversarial relationship with Gary Francione, and - for the sake of full disclosure - Francione has had a huge influence on my thinking and position on animal rights. I'm going to take a Charlie Brown/Caspar Milquetoast approach here and say that I hope these two remarkable figures can get their disagreements worked out. As a historian, I am painfully aware that throughout history, sectarianism has been the undoing of pretty much all social movements. Sectarianism and government repression have gone hand in hand to undermine many a promising struggle for social change. The animal rights movement certainly doesn't need that. No movement does.
That aside, have a look at the profile of Steve Best at the El Paso Times. It's a fascinating portrait of a man not afraid to speak his mind. You can't deny that this is a man who possesses guts, a great mind and an unwavering commitment.
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