Animal Liberation, a 1975 book by Australian philosopher Peter Singer, is widely considered one of the founding texts of the modern animal liberation movement. It develops a new ethics for our treatment of nonhuman animals, according to which their interests should be given the same consideration as the like interests of humans, and calls for an end to practices such as factory farming and animal testing. The book has had a lasting impact on generations of scholars and students and has influenced countless people in all corners of the world to adopt a vegan diet.
Almost half a century after its first publication, Animal Liberation is now finally available in Swahili! The book was translated by Deogratius Simba and published by Dar es Salaam-based publisher Mkuki na Nyota. It is available for purchase at the TPH Bookshop at 24 Samora Avenue in Dar es Salaam, and everywhere else where Mkuki na Nyota’s books are sold. The retail price is 30,000 TSh. If you are a student at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), you can find a copy of the book at the library of UDSM’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies.
Here are the testimonials and the blurb from the back cover, in Swahili:
Kama nisingekuwa na budi kuchagua kitabu kilichoniletea mabadiliko makubwa, basi ningesema Ukombozi wa Wanyama cha Peter Singer.
Jane Goodall
Ni kitabu muhimu sana ambacho kitabadili namna wengi wetu tunavyowachukulia wanyama—na, hatimaye, sisi wenyewe.
Chicago Tribune
Muundo wa uwasilishaji ujumbe wa Singer si wa kimazoea na haufungwi na hisia; ujengaji wake wa hoja ni makini na wenye fikra nzito, kwani hajengi hoja zake kwenye kanuni binafsi wala za kidini wala falsafa ya hali ya juu ya kufikirika, bali katika misimamo ya kimaadili ambayo wengi wetu tayari tunaikubali.
New York Times Book Review
Kitabu hiki ni cha lazima … si kwa wapenda wanyama tu bali kwa kila msomaji aliyestaarabika.
Cleveland Amory
Tangu chapisho la kwanza kabisa la mwaka 1975, kazi hii yenye kuleta mageuzi makubwa imewaamsha mamilioni ya watu katika kung’amua uwepo wa “uspishi”—kutokujali kwetu kwa kimfumo dhidi ya wanyama wasio binadamu—na hivyo kuchochea vuguvugu kote ulimwenguni la kuleta mabadiliko katika mitazamo yetu kuhusu wanyama na kukomesha kabisa ukatili tunaowatendea.
Katika Ukombozi wa Wanyama, mwandishi Peter Singer anaanika uhalisia wa kutisha wa “mashamba-viwanda ya kisasa” tuliyonayo na hatua za upimaji bidhaa—akitungua hoja muflisi za utetezi, na kupendekeza mbadala wa kile ambacho kimekuja kuwa suala zito la kimazingira na kijamii na vilevile la kimaadili. Huu ni wito muhimu na unaofikirisha kwa dhamiri, usawa, ustaarabu, na haki, ni andiko lenye kushawishi la msingi kwa waungaji mkono na hata kwa watia shaka.
Rainer Ebert 