The Blethering Vegan

The Key is in the Grassroots

2010-11-02T02:00:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have noticed a growing dissatisfaction with the large animal organisations amongst animal rights advocates, and I find this to be a very positive turn of events.

As one of those crazy leftist types who would like to see the current economic system of the under worked being over paid and the over worked being under paid replaced with something far more equitable, it disturbs me when what should be progressive organisations working for social change are run like businesses. As soon as an organisation starts to rely on donations they inevitably have to start jumping on “easy” win campaigns to show their membership base that they are doing a “good job”, but in reality these campaigns just serve to be highly confusing and counterproductive to the goal of the animal rights movement.

One shining example of this is Animal Aids current campaign to get CCTV installed in slaughterhouses. Their rationale for this is that if slaughterhouse employees are monitored then it will prevent the “worst abuses” from happening. This should start alarm bells ringing in the heads of any sane animal rights advocate, after all, it surely is not about “worst abuses” but about the fact that there are slaughterhouses at all! But Animal Aid seem determined to press on with this campaign and forge relationships with institutional exploiters, and UK based animal advocates are continuing to support them with donations and by using their materials. I'm not sure what they hope to gain from this campaign, and the only outcome I can see is animal products in stores that carry some sort of label stating that they are from a “CCTV slaughterhouse” and so are not subject to adverse cruelty, which of course is ridiculous. Death is the worst cruelty of all. Animal Aid seem to have a monopoly on UK based animal advocacy and seem to have this homely image that they can do no wrong. Hopefully this campaign will give UK advocates a kick up the behind and show them that there is very little difference between Animal Aid and PETA, and so they can start thinking critically about the role this organisation should play in our movement.

Of course it is not just Animal Aid that are willing to compromise their message and confuse the public about animal rights, all the large organisations are at it. VIVA! actively promote vegetarianism as an ethical position and sell vegetarian cookbooks in their store. And I don't think I even need to get started on PETA's abhorrent sexist campaigns and other equally abhorrent practices, these are all very well documented, even in the mainstream press.

So, given the glaring flaws that all these large organisations have, where does that leave us and where do we go? The answer, I would argue, lies in the grass roots. Let's stop capitulating to these large organisations that only care about shallow and easy “victories” and gaining more members. Let's exercise some critical thinking when looking at our own advocacy and the materials we use. Are our materials and techniques honest, logical and coherent? Do they relate back to our overall goal of abolishing non-human animal use? These are the important questions we have to look at. You will find, as the group I am involved in here has, that once you start shedding confusing single-issue or welfare based materials in favour of clear vegan advocacy, that the public response will be much more positive. People are ready to hear about veganism, and it's time we started talking to them about it.

Given the growing dissatisfaction with the large animal organisations, there is no better time to leave them behind than now. If we utilise our own resources, and help other local groups by discussing and sharing ideas and materials, we can build a real movement built on logical and coherent abolitionist principles. We don't need donations, we don't need salaries and we definitely don't need leaders. The only thing we need is honest, effective advocacy that will benefit the non-human animals we hope to stand up for.

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Meat Free Monday: A Lesson in Confusion and Frustration

2010-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

It really depresses and frustrates me when I see vegan activists promoting Meat Free Monday because there is so many reasons why any sane vegan shouldn’t be going near the campaign.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS! It is purely an environmental campaign (and a poor one at that), it even says so on the website: “Meat Free Monday is an environmental campaign to raise awareness of the climate-changing impact of meat production and consumption.” See!

Secondly, and related to the reason it has nothing to do with animal rights, it suggests a moral distinction between meat and dairy products where there is no distinction. It could even be reasonably claimed that dairy production is worse than meat production in terms of suffering.

One of the main reasons that vegans give for supporting the campaign is that “people need baby steps” or that “people aren’t ready to hear about veganism yet.” So when will people be ready? When can we start engaging in clear and reasonable moral discussions with people? They will never be “ready” for veganism if we continue to refuse to engage honestly with people.

It is this reasoning that really frustrates me the most. Why do we have to deceive people? Why do we have to be so patronising as to assume that people can’t handle a logical moral argument?

The major animal organisations have always refused to make veganism the moral baseline to their campaigns, they use the same reasoning that “people aren’t ready” as though one day they will be, and so we just have to sit and wait for that day before we can discuss it. Not surprisingly, after so many years of these animal organisations being the only mainstream voice non-humans have, we use more non-human animals today than we ever have at any time in human history. Perhaps if we brought the idea of veganism to the forefront to begin with then it would be different and we would have more vegans, but alas the history speaks differently.

So then it is up to animal rights activists now to stop being afraid of the previously big and scary “V” word and to start putting it at the forefront of their campaigning, to start using it as a moral baseline to ending the property status of non-human animals.

Let’s move away from these empty and confusing campaigns like Meat Free Monday and move towards a clearer more logical campaign that has the interests of all non-human animals at its core. And for christ sake, let’s stop being patronising and dishonest to people.

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Further reading:

http://unpopularveganessays.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-is-wrong-with-vegetarianism.html

http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/vegetarianism-as-a-gateway-to-veganism/

http://my-face-is-on-fire.blogspot.com/2009/07/meatless-monday-another-token-gesture.html

Introducing Vegan:UK

2010-08-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

The animal rights group I am involved in, Grampian Animal Rights Advocates, have started a new website called Vegan:UK. The aim of the website is twofold. Firstly it is a general Vegan guide, explaining the ethics and benefits of veganism, and also some recipes and useful links. The second part is the forum. The idea of the forum is to get all the abolitionist individuals and groups who are active in the UK to get together and share creative vegan outreach ideas and resources (leaflets etc). If you are involved in abolitionist activism please register for the forum so we can start to build a solid abolitionist network in the UK!

Non-Human Animal Use: Necessary or Unnecessary?

2010-08-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

Our society makes an incredibly schizophrenic moral distinction between non-human animals they regard as “pets” and non-human animals they regard as food, or that they permit to be killed for other uses. The general belief in our society is that unnecessary cruelty to animals is wrong, and this is reflected in the law. But how do we define “unnecessary”? Where do we draw the line between necessary and unnecessary?

A couple of days ago a woman from Coventry, UK was filmed dumping a cat in a bin. Obviously this has provoked quite a bit of outrage and even some death threats. What this woman did was extremely cruel, no doubt, but what interests me is the thought that the vast majority of people (probably about 99%) who are expressing this outrage probably routinely consume animal products.

If you are horrified by the woman's actions then ask yourself why? Is it because what she did was unnecessarily cruel? If so, then you should go vegan. There is no way in which we use animals for our own ends today which is necessary. We do not need to eat, wear, or use them in medical experiments or in any other way.

The dairy cow is forcibly impregnated and kept pregnant so that she can continue to be milked, when she can no longer produce enough milk to be economically viable she is sent to slaughter. Like all female animals in order for her to produce milk she has to give birth. Her calves are taken from her within 24-48 hours of birth. Naturally calves would suckle for 6-12 months. Female calves are often selected for “herd replacement”, to take the place of the mothers. Male calves are either killed outright or taken to be raised as “veal” and killed at a young age. (1)

Is any of this necessary? Do we really need dairy in our diets for our bodies to function? The answer is obviously no. There is no benefit our body gains from consuming the milk of a cow that is intended for a growing calf.

Hens used for egg production are kept either in battery cages, “enriched” cages, barn systems or are so-called “free” range. Regardless of the system of production they are in they are slaughtered when their productivity falls. An egg laying hen usually loses “productivity” at around a year and so is killed, her natural lifespan can be up to seven years. Obviously these hens have to come from somewhere, this being a hatchery to produce egg laying hens. So what happens to the unwanted male chicks? Simple: they are killed. Common killing methods are gassing, neck dislocation and shredding. (2)

Is any of this necessary? Do we need eggs in our diet? Again, the answer is no. Our bodies gain no benefit from eggs and they are a grossly inefficient form of food production (it takes 1.8kg of grain to produce just 12 eggs).

These are just a couple of examples of how our society uses other animals. There are many other ways in which we use animals; meat production, clothing, vivisection, entertainment, all of which are unnecessary.

So those who are appalled by the actions of the woman dumping a cat into a bin are justified in being so. After all it was highly unnecessary. But before we get too criticial we perhaps need to reflect and look at our own relationships with other animals, and ask ourselves whether we are justified in using them at all.

On Vegan "Purity"

2009-10-26T12:07:00.000-07:00

I moderate comments on my blog. I have only received one comment, it said something like, "Don't you realise that the computer you are using to write this blog post contains animal ingredients?", in what sounds like an accusatory tone, perhaps with the intention of outing me, and other vegans, as hypocrites.

Well guess what, Mr or Mrs "Anonymous", I'm going to give you even more ammunition to work with.

All medication, by law, has to be tested on animals before it can be sold to humans. If I have a bad cold or a flu, I take medication, if I was dying in a hospital bed, I would take medication that would save my life.

When I step onto a bus, the tires of the bus more than likely contain animal ingredients. I still ride buses.

Many of the fruits and vegetables I eat are pollinated by commercial bees, who are kept enslaved and are often killed in great numbers when their winter food source is stolen from them. I still eat fruit and vegetables.

I don't consume meat, dairy, eggs or honey. I don't wear the skin of any animal or wear clothes that contain any animal products. "Anonymous", what do you do to try and avoid the unnecessary suffering of sentient life?

The purpose of this blog post is not to highlight my own, and other vegans, failings. Rather, it is to highlight the absurd rationale as suggested by "Anonymous", and from comments I have seen and heard countless times, that because we can't avoid inflicting ALL suffering, then why even bother trying to avoid inflicting suffering at all?

In a society where speciesism is so ingrained, where most people do not see a moral difference between eating a hamburger and a carrot, I would suggest that it is impossible to be completely "pure" and avoid inflicting all suffering on animals. Veganism, in such a society, is not about complete "purity", it is about doing the best you can to avoid using and abusing sentient non-human animals.

All of the examples I have listed above are products of a speciesist society. If we continue to oppose animal testing, and everyone opposes it, then medicine will no longer have to be tested on animals by law. If we refuse to consume meat, dairy, fish, eggs and honey, then the tires of our cars and buses would not contain the "by-product" of death industries, and our food would not be pollinated by enslaved bees, but rather by natural and free bees.

In short: if we all went vegan and recognised the 'moral personhood' of non-human animals, then we would take a large step towards eliminating speciesism and the unavoidable exploitation that accompanies it.

Abolition

2009-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

What is our goal as an animal rights movement? It is to seek the end of animal exploitation, which is the end of animal agriculture, the abolition of the property status of animals. I think it is very important that our means match our ends. The only way they can do this is through veganism.

Why are there the many millions of cows, chickens, pigs and other animals in farms and animal testing labs being exploited? It's because there is a DEMAND for them.

Who demands them? The public. Therefore the solution to me logically seems to be clear, unequivocal and creative vegan outreach and education. Veganism is living the abolition of animal exploitation in our daily lives, it covers the most possible bases for ending animal suffering from the food on our tables to the rat being tortured in a lab.

Yes there are hardly any vegans in the world, and yes people have apparently been promoting it for years. But if you look at the mainstream animal "rights" corporations (and they are corporations) they don't explicitly promote abolition and veganism in their message, they are quite happy to act as advisers for the industry. When a corporation gives a 'proggy' award to Temple Grandin, who designs more efficient murder machines, you know that they are on a completely different side. There has never been a consistent abolitionist movement, it has always been "sign here, put your credit card number here, activism done."

We have no idea how many more vegans there could be in the world if all the money (millions) and all the time we have wasted on pandering to the animal exploiters was instead spent on creative vegan education. Yes it's a slow process, and yes we are outnumbered, but it is a logical position that is beneficial to animals, humans and the environment. I have yet to hear a compelling argument against veganism and I'm starting to doubt one even exists.

The abolitionist position is that we have the moral obligation to grant animals one single right: the right not to be regarded as human property. The only way we can achieve this is to break the DEMAND, it is no use trying to stop supply because if the demand is there then the supply will be refilled. I can think of no other compelling way to break this demand than by promoting veganism, which is the practice of abolition in our daily lives.

Dairy farming and 'Meat' Production: The Link

2009-07-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

A fact that most people don't even think about when consuming the reproductive excretions of cows is how the cow produces milk. The cow is not some kind of magical milk producing machine that just naturally produces a vast amount of milk, to produce the milk she needs to be first impregnated. So, (lets take a memory trip back to school when we first learned about reproduction) what happens when any animal is pregnant? They give birth to a baby. What happens to the offspring of dairy cows? If they are female they are raised to become dairy cows. If they are male they are more often than not taken for veal.

Calves are separated from their mother within 24-48 hours of birth. If they weren't separated from their mother they would naturally suckle for 6-12 months. They are raised in a 'veal crate', a pen so small that the calves cannot even turn round, lie down or stretch, to induce borderline anemia. All this just to produce a pale-coloured flesh for human greed.

Any vegetarian, and a lot of omnivores, can agree that veal is completely unnecessary in terms of the suffering it causes and would be horrified to see the conditions in which the calves are raised.

I think what any lacto-ovo vegetarian, who is vegetarian for animal rights reasons, needs to realise is that when they purchase a dairy product they are directly funding the meat industry, which is the very thing that vegetarians are supposed to oppose.