Etymologically, the term “liberation” comes from the Latin liberare (“to set free”) and libertas (“freedom”), indicating the act of release from bondage or domination. The modifier “total” (from Latin totalis, meaning “whole” or “entire”) underscores the comprehensive nature of the project: liberation is not partial or selective, but aims at freedom in its entirety, across all beings and relations.
Total liberation refers to a radical ethical and political framework that seeks the dismantling of all systems of domination—human over human, human over nonhuman animals, and human over nature. It argues that struggles against capitalism, patriarchy, racism, colonialism, and the state cannot be separated from the struggle against speciesism and ecological destruction, since all are rooted in hierarchical logics of control and exploitation. Total liberation thus calls for an integrated praxis that combines social revolution, ecological defense, and animal liberation, envisioning a world free from oppression in every form.