Nature — Solidarity — Opinion

This revolution includes pigeons

Amid recent high-profile calls to stop pigeon hate, Ailo James Kerr looks at the history of the bird, and how our treatment of them mirrors the wider mechanisms of capitalism.

Queer actor and pigeon advocate Sarah Paulson recently made headlines for raising awareness for a very specific issue.

“Pigeon hate must be stopped. I’m calling on the world to stop hating on the pigeon,” she said, during an appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast.

The reason you’re not hanging out with pigeons is the same reason you’re glued to your phone: capitalism. Capitalism survives on the oppression of women, the working class, and the objectification and commodification of animals.

Pigeons used to be pets. They used to be adored. They used to be awarded medals for their service to society.

Pigeons were valued when we could use them to send messages. The telephone got popular, and pigeons were cast aside. Tossed out and forgotten. People started to perceive them as pests, as a problem.

They’re not the problem, though. We are, by partaking in the capitalist ideas that labour must be extracted, and that animals are only objects worth how much money they can make us.

Pigeons have feelings, friends, can discern different types of art, and recognise themselves in mirrors. They can learn words, recognise faces of people who have been mean to them, and have astounding navigational ability. They’re also goddamn cutie-pies who, given the opportunity, have hobbies and love cuddles.

We create the so-called pigeon problem in the city by destroying nature, giving them no place to go, no ability to look after themselves, and disliking them for existing despite their exile. All they want is to exist. Does that sound familiar?

Capitalism tricked us into thinking that pigeons are pests and not sentient, loving beings with personalities and families. They’re trying to do that to us, too.

Pigeons are not disease-infested, and they are not a risk to humans any more than your pets. That’s a myth perpetuated to make more money for pest control.

We’ve been indoctrinated to dislike pigeons, kind of like how I was brainwashed by the media growing up to believe that being trans was a bad thing. I learned to believe that coming out would mean being a complete social pariah, a laughing stock, and that being honest would amount to destroying my life.

We are trained to blend in, do what others do, and not kick up a fuss. To be yourself despite not fitting the mold, to be kind in a world that wants you to be cruel – these are the greatest and most rewarding feats.

Corporations often engage with the LGBTQ+ community when it aligns with their PR or business goals. When it became a financial risk to support us, following Trump’s rollback on DEI policies, in many cases, that support stopped.

In recent years, trans people have finally got a few basic rights to make life more manageable, and the backlash has been immense. Some people are trying to push us out of society and out of existence. First, they’re coming for trans people, then gay people, then women.

We are pigeons. We will be pigeons soon. Some of us already are. Take the mechanisms of anti-social architecture for instance. Its sole purpose is to make the world less habitable, less hospitable, to make existing in public spaces almost more difficult. It disproportionately affects those with less; less money, fewer luxuries, less ability to stand, and those experiencing homelessness. Anti-social architecture exists for birds, too. It’s suffering and death by design. And it’s legal.

We are not all perfect, far from it. We are more than capable of moral failings, but we do have an edge. Our edge is that we are othered, that we have been oppressed, hurt, and disliked simply for being different from the societal accepted norms. Society is sick, and we could be the cure. One doesn’t have to suffer to feel compassion and empathy, but it can help.

Some problems in the world are far from home, and we feel powerless to help. However practicing kindness to all walks of life is always the right thing to do. After all, we are all pigeons.