Comments on: in defense of veganism

By: emma

emma — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:49:09 +0000

great article jenna.

like you, i feel that veganism is larger than just animal rights. but as harry said, it can be very difficult to figure out where to focus your efforts. for me it comes back to something that steve has discussed in past blogs: understanding that often your personal life and efforts cannot be as ‘big’ as your ideals. as activists we have to come to terms with that and learn not to beat ourselves up about it! but as jenna’s article so eloquently states, knowing that you can’t do everything is no excuse to do nothing.

there’s a quote somewhere, by someone, that says that all you need to light up the darkness is one candle. i say if you can light a bonfire all the better!

By: steven

steven — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:40:48 +0000

jenna, thank you for this; i appreciate how you bring the focus back to our underlying reasons for eating vegetarian, not just the dietary choice considered in a vacuum. lui, i also appreciate what you wrote about this.

harry, i agree with what jenna wrote back you, but i also want to add: consider that environmentalist efforts often imply a great deal for nonhuman animals. earlier this year, i started to care a bit less about local/organic efforts and similar things because they didn’t seem relevant to an anti-oppression understanding. i thought, “everybody on earth is probably doomed by global warming, and although i don’t really like that, it’s at least fair; it’s equal.” lately, however, i realized it’s not ‘equal’ because oppressed groups like nonhuman and human animals outside of industrial societies receive a disproportionate amount of the consequences, and much sooner than privileged groups. maybe global warming will eventually ‘get’ everybody, but it’s hurting oppressed groups first and most brutally.

for example, pesticides are eventually a major threat for everyone, but they are IMMEDIATELY a threat to nonhuman animals in/near those fields and humans who depend on now-contaminated water sources. deforestation eventually harms everyone on earth, but it IMMEDIATELY harms the nonhuman animals who live in those forests. so i now feel that pollution and industrial development are definitely relevant to veganism.

when we transport our food from far away or buy/grow non-organics (is that the word?), it may be a less direct form of violence, but i still feel like it’s a form of violence against nonhuman and human animals (and against the earth as a living system). if veganism means working to stop our participation in violence, then i feel like these are relevant issues to consider over the long term, at least for those with the financial means.

warmly,
steve

By: jenna

jenna — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:15:55 +0000

Hi, Harry:

While I do appreciate and recognize that people have limited resources of time, money, and energy, a central tenet of my activism has been to be aware of the broad power structures that keep many groups oppressed. Personally, if I don’t have the capacity to be directly involved in the different anti-oppression struggles around the world, I at least strive to be respectful of them. The importation of food, for example, is fraught with problems, including but not limited to the treatment of workers on plantations, the depletion of fossil fuels and other resources required to transport those foods to our tables, and the deforesting and other destructive methods of farming necessary to harvest these crops in quantity large enough to meet the demand of people around the world.

I find that many of these problems are interwoven because of the hierarchy and oppression inherent in many of the systems by which the world currently functions. If we, as vegans, are taking a stand against the oppression of non-human animals, it feels natural and important to me that we also work toward eliminating the oppression of human animals. I think you’ll find that this message is consistent through the blogs and other information on this site, and it’s this view of veganism that I choose to promote with my activism and my writing.

By: harry

harry — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:50:39 +0000

I think its possible to spread oneself too thin. When we try to do too many things at once, sometimes no single thing gets done very well. My election is to focus on living opposed to exploitation of the non-human species. Others can tackle the world problems as well if they so choose, but my election is to focus my limited resources of mind, spirit, and energy, and finances on one aspect in particular…the non-human species who have no voice. I will eat one bananna a day and I really couldn’t care less if they have to import it from the moon.

By: Lui

Lui — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:08:16 +0000

Thanks for this post, Jenna. So many folks, including vegans, seem to be swayed by the arguments (which are extremely weak in my opinion) in the Vegetarian Myth. I think you did a great job highlighting the original anti-oppression aims of the vegan movement, which are not discussed or dignified in any way in Keith’s book. Rather, she focuses on, and actually bases her book on modern redefinitions of veganism promoted by the current anti-vegan welfarist, animal rights movement, as in not eating or wearing animals without a larger anti-oppression context. In fact, she says she got the inspiration to write her book after reading a ridiculous post on the PPK forums discussing separating carnivorous animals from herbivorous animals so no animals have to die. Indeed that is a ridiculous discussion in my opinion, but Keith runs with it and bases her “vegans are ignorant, childish, etc” argument on that thread in that forum, as if those vegans speak for all vegans in what veganism is about.
“Denying death” has never been central in the vegan movement (in fact, I don’t know any vegan who “denies death”, whatever that means). Rather the principle of non-exploitation (central to anti-oppression) has historically been the focus of the vegan movement, and that extends to humans, other animals, and the environment. Pioneers such as Richard St Barbe Baker, Robert Hart (Forest Gardener), Kathleen Jannaway, and more have conducted their work based on vegan principles and when this is/was applied to agricultural techniques, one can clearly see veganism is larger than mere arbitrary dietary and clothing preferences. It’s about justice for all. All we need to do is continue to uphold those original aims without being co-opted by the status quo and we can see all that veganism, as it was originally defined, can offer the world.
Thank you for truly upholding veganism as it was intended to be!