L.O.V.E. FAQ
What is LOVE?
Living Opposed to Violence and Exploitation (LOVE) is a collective of groups and individuals working to promote veganism as a response to speciesism and a means to ending oppression. We seek to provide resources for individuals interested in veganism and activism, foster the growth of activist networks and communities around the world, and serve as a virtual discussion forum and safe-haven for people interested in veganism and the elimination of speciesism.
How is LOVE different from other animal rights organizations?
Until now, animal advocacy organizations have mostly fallen into one of two categories: animal welfare and animal rights. Animal welfare groups are concerned with the treatment of animals, often based on the idea of reducing suffering, and do not challenge the notion that animals exist for human use. Animal rights groups challenge the use of animals, using a technical idea of ‘rights.’ This is made more confusing because ‘animal rights’ has become a general term to mean any work in animal advocacy.
We have found both approaches – animal welfare and animal rights – lacking. Animal welfare groups understandably try to better the lives of oppressed animals, but do so with an understanding and approach that does not challenge or weaken the system that causes the animals to suffer in the first place. By working on the effects rather than the cause, animal welfare groups are caught in an endless cycle of campaigning against one abuse, celebrating a victory, then campaigning against another abuse. So long as the system of exploitation exists, the abuses will never end and old abuses will be replaced with new ones.
Animal rights groups, on the other hand, do not bring an understanding of power and privilege to the situation and therefore may inadvertently perpetuate the oppression of others. For example, some animal rights groups champion the rights of only certain animals, expanding the membership of privilege, leaving large classes of animals those groups deemed less important subject to continued exploitation by humans.
These might seem like nit-picky, abstract points, but they’re not. In practical terms, the animal welfare approach has led to a near disappearance of the word ‘vegan’ from public education efforts. Worse, we have seen the largest animal welfare group in the country promoting the consumption of cage-free eggs to their members in a fundraising letter. For a flavor of the problems of animal rights approach, please see this insightful critique of one animal rights formulation.
LOVE is neither an animal welfare group nor an animal rights group, but something new: an anti-oppression collective. We oppose animal use, not because the animals are suffering, and not because of a theory of rights, but because we believe it is wrong to use any being without their free consent. Because of this, we oppose the oppression of nonhuman and human animals alike and seek the liberation of all.
As well, as a safeguard against the influence of money, we will always be strictly volunteer run with a $0 operating budget. We are proud to NOT be a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.
If you’re interested in reading more about the difference between anti-oppression and animal welfare and animal rights, please see On Suffering and “Unnecessary Harm” and Anti-Oppression and Animal Rights.
How do you define “veganism”?
Our definition of veganism closely parallels that of the International Vegetarian Union, which states:
VEGANISM may be defined as a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
In dietary terms it refers to the practice of dispensing with *all* animal produce – including meat, fish, poultry, eggs, animal milks, honey, and their derivatives.
In short, we see veganism not as simply a food choice nor a way to end suffering but as a broader response to the many forms of oppression that exist in the world today. Veganism is an active ethical position against the oppression of any sentient being, human or non-human. A vegan is opposed to ableism, ageism, classism, heterosexism, racism, sexism, speciesism and any other form of oppression. A vegan strives to avoid consuming or using products taken from other sentient beings without their consent; this means products such as dairy, eggs, meat (chickens, fish, cattle, pigs, sheep, etc.) and honey.
What is “speciesism”?
Speciesism is the set of socially shared beliefs created to justify the exploitation of other animals by human animals. Because it arises to justify oppression, it is an effect of oppression, rather than the cause as it is often formulated. More than a personal prejudice, it is part of the structure of oppression itself.
The Vegan Ideal has more in depth writings covering the theory of oppression; how it applies to speciesism specifically, what that means, and the fallacy of the view of speciesism as a personal prejudice.
How is animal oppression connected to human oppression?
There are many ways in which the oppression of animals is both directly and indirectly related to the oppression of humans. One obvious connection is the use of oppressed peoples to do the “dirty work” of animal agriculture; it is predominately people of color, especially immigrants, who find themselves working on factory farms or on the kill lines of slaughterhouses. Incidentally, the job of slaughtering animals in a high-output slaughterhouse is one of the most dangerous job in the United States, with mortality and injury rates higher than in nearly every other industry.
Furthermore, converting animal bodies to food is an extremely inefficient way to get calories, and consuming animal flesh – especially in the quantities that we do in the United States – is a privileged and unnecessary dietary choice, for both the humans and the animals who suffer as a result.
More indirect comparisons that can be made between human and animal oppression include the perpetual violation of female animals’ reproductive rights as a means to obtain dairy and eggs for human consumption – violent, painful artificial insemination is used to keep animals pregnant so they continually produce milk; the offspring of these pregnant animals are immediately taken from the mothers to be used as food, an act that is documented to cause stress and distress to the mother animal.
It’s also important to recognize the way that oppressed groups are compared to one another in order to keep them in a position of subservience. People of color have historically been compared to animals as a way of perpetuating their subjugation to white people; if the hierarchy that posited these groups as unequal was eliminated, this method of oppression would no longer be effective.
How can I be an effective activist?
LOVE activists have tried a variety of different forms of activism and found several to be great ways to reach out to groups of people with our anti-oppression message. These include but are not limited to film-projection outreach and classroom presentations. A more comprehensive list can be found on our website, and we of course encourage others to contribute their own experiences to make our list grow.
Don’t you think we should support all animal advocacy efforts?
While the case for animal liberation and the ending of oppression is strong and urgent, we oppose the use of any tactics that may perpetuate oppression. The use of the naked female body, for example, is an inappropriate form of animal activism, in our opinion; using sexuality and essentially “selling” women’s bodies as a way to “help” non-human animals sets us back in our overall quest for liberation. LOVE has compiled a number of forms of activism that we have found to be effective, respectful, and non-oppressive. We encourage you to view that list.
I don’t know any other vegans or activists in my area.
LOVE hopes to remedy these situations by not only increasing interest in veganism around the world, thus creating more vegans and activists, but also by connecting individuals around the country and fostering the growth of activist networks. Please consider joining our vegan buddies project to meet or mentor other vegans who may live near you without you even knowing it!
