From the time I was a very little boy I've felt quite the connection to the animal world. It doesn't matter whether it's dogs, cats, birds, mice, rats, roaches, spiders, etc., I've always been fascinated by all of them. I've gone out of my way to insure they were not harmed and I've considered their presence here on Earth as worthy and justified as my own. And often, when I sat and watched them, I envision what they would say to the human world. Now, I can't claim to be a huge cat lover. I'll just say I love all animals and leave it at that. In this particular time and space in history, I happen to sharing my living quarters with an almost nine year old cat. Ninety percent of the time she is completely indifferent to me and the other ten percent is when I'm the one feeding her. Besides that, every once in a while she cuddles up to me for a few moments, but usually, she wants nothing to do with me which suits me fine. She has the right to interact or not interact with whomever she wants, whenever she wants. I do think there's more to it though. I live my life working for justice and liberation for oppressed peoples across the world. Even when I'm in my living quarters, I'm reading about liberation, talking about it, and researching and planning around it. About five months ago, I began to notice that when I was doing my work, when I was coming in from participating in programs and/or events, when I was on the phone talking about organization, the resident cat was observing me. She began this habit of staring at me. Literally sitting two feet away from me and staring at me while I engaged whatever I was engaging. And the look on her face said it all...She thinks I'm a hypocrite! Then I thought about it. I'm talking about liberation, yet she's a hostage in the house, prevented from ever leaving. Her meals are controlled and everything she can or cannot do is dominated by humans. I listened very closely to her one day and I heard it. She's calling me out as talking about one thing, but practicing another! She's questioning how I can complain about oppression against humans when the cat nation is oppressed!
Then, one day a grey cat started camping outside our door. That cat stays there everyday. She stares at me as I approach much in the same way the resident cat stares at me in the house. I came to realize they are somehow on the same page! They are communicating with one another. Then, one day as I approached the stairway, and that outside cat was there, I heard it, "let my feline comrade go!! Free em! Free em all!!"
I was taken aback. I dare not say anything to anyone for fear of having my sanity questioned. Cats can't talk and they certainly enjoy having humans controlling their lives right? Then, one day when I inadvertently left the front door opened while taking my bike out, I noticed the resident cat at the doorway, scared to venture out into the un-chartered world. And when I looked at her I heard it. "I've been colonized by humans for so long now that even if you offered me my freedom, I won't take it because I wouldn't even know how to survive out here on my own!!"
Now I'm dogged by this question everyday. Do the cats want their liberation? Are they organizing and communicating? Will they one day mount a resistance challenge against human colonialism? Well, I got my answer while eating lunch at La Badie beach in Accra, Ghana, earlier this month. A young kitten approached, one of the very few that I saw in Ghana. She wanted food yes, but there was more...She wanted to deliver a message. "Let our comrade go! Free em all! The cat nation must be free in Africa and America! Pan-Felineism all over the planet Earth!!"
I quickly shared more of my tilapia and banku with that strange kitten on that Accra beach and I swore to spread the word from that day forward. The cats are organizing. And that means the house cats and the field cats. The U.S. cats and the African cats. They are making a call for justice and we better answer correctly because I'm pretty convinced that the resident cat has figured out a way to use her litter box as a weapon for civil disobedience.
Then, one day a grey cat started camping outside our door. That cat stays there everyday. She stares at me as I approach much in the same way the resident cat stares at me in the house. I came to realize they are somehow on the same page! They are communicating with one another. Then, one day as I approached the stairway, and that outside cat was there, I heard it, "let my feline comrade go!! Free em! Free em all!!"
I was taken aback. I dare not say anything to anyone for fear of having my sanity questioned. Cats can't talk and they certainly enjoy having humans controlling their lives right? Then, one day when I inadvertently left the front door opened while taking my bike out, I noticed the resident cat at the doorway, scared to venture out into the un-chartered world. And when I looked at her I heard it. "I've been colonized by humans for so long now that even if you offered me my freedom, I won't take it because I wouldn't even know how to survive out here on my own!!"
Now I'm dogged by this question everyday. Do the cats want their liberation? Are they organizing and communicating? Will they one day mount a resistance challenge against human colonialism? Well, I got my answer while eating lunch at La Badie beach in Accra, Ghana, earlier this month. A young kitten approached, one of the very few that I saw in Ghana. She wanted food yes, but there was more...She wanted to deliver a message. "Let our comrade go! Free em all! The cat nation must be free in Africa and America! Pan-Felineism all over the planet Earth!!"
I quickly shared more of my tilapia and banku with that strange kitten on that Accra beach and I swore to spread the word from that day forward. The cats are organizing. And that means the house cats and the field cats. The U.S. cats and the African cats. They are making a call for justice and we better answer correctly because I'm pretty convinced that the resident cat has figured out a way to use her litter box as a weapon for civil disobedience.
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