Posts tagged community
Examples of community-based activism
Jun 14th
In spring 2009 I worked at my university’s writing center in one of the student dorms, meeting with walk-in appointments and basic writing students. One of my regular students, K, was interested in some of the same subjects as I was, and at most of our meetings we talked about those things more than K’s writing. K was in a philosophy class, and we talked about ethics, I think, at most meetings.
K was not a practicing vegetarian or vegan, but we sometimes talked about veganism at our meetings, and we had mostly the same thoughts: Who do we “think we are,” as humans? Why is it “murder” to kill another human and “sport” to kill a nonhuman? Why do we think we are “compassionate” to kill “free range” chickens instead of “factory farmed” ones? One time I suggested a documentary about speciesist oppression to K, but I don’t know if he watched it. About 8 weeks into the semester, K stopped coming to the writing center and I didn’t meet with him anymore.
This past spring one of my friends at my university, M, said he was directing a friend of his to me so I could help him go vegetarian. M directed his friend to me because M knew I was involved in veganism and had experience living as a vegan in our town. I found out later that M’s friend was K, and K had decided to eat vegetarian.
I told K which stores in our town had the most options for vegan groceries, and I offered to shop with him. I told him about the natural foods store and the restaurants in our town that have vegan options. I told him about cooking foods like pancakes and mashed potatoes so they are vegan. K said he was grateful and that he might be able to be “completely vegan” sooner than he originally thought.
This experience demonstrated to me the value of talking about veganism with people and “being available” as a vegan. My role with K was mostly passive: I talked about veganism in the context of maybe “philosophical musing” or something, and then later I gave him tips about eating vegan in our town. I didn’t have to be an “activist” really, but “simply” talking about veganism and “being there” as a vegan was helpful to him.
Another example of community-based activism is that recently I added a veganism page to my poetry blog. Having the page on my blog is pretty passive, but it gets almost as many hits as my other pages, and I’ve received multiple comments about veganism from other poets. In the past I was excited about combining poetry and activism to make an “activist poetry.” Now I’ve noticed that “simply” being available as a vegan—publicly mentioning veganism as “the other thing I do”—is already helpful. I think promoting veganism like this is very easy and very valuable.
Thank you for reading this post.
Related posts:
- The value of community-based activism
- Dropping the “activist” label
- Putting it out there
The meanings of ‘our’
Jun 18th
Recently, while reading a pamphlet we’ve been developing about circuses, an activist stopped at the line, “Some animals, like elephants, may be forced to work for over 45 years for our entertainment,” and suggested replacing the word ‘our’ with ‘your.’ This comment intrigued me because the word ‘our’ was deliberately chosen to suggest a particular approach to advocacy and so I started thinking more about what that word represents.
‘Our’ reminds me not to think of myself as separate from those I am reaching out to and to instead understand that we are doing the best we know how. With this understanding, veganism is a process rather than an endpoint. Veganism as process means I am continually learning about veganism and that my path towards the vegan ideal is meandering and ongoing. So ‘our’ helps head off the judgment that I am ‘good’ and they are ‘bad’ by reminding me that we are all learning how to live our lives at the same time. ‘Our’ helps me recognize that we all have much to offer each other, and to move away from an adversarial relationship speaking at others and towards a collaborative one speaking with one another.
Because we live in an imperfect, messy world, we necessarily fall short, even if we have the best of intentions. ‘Our’ means admitting and accepting my own imperfection in living veganism and giving up any sense of superiority I feel over others. In the case of the circus, it is an acknowledgment that, as a human, I also participate in the oppression of non-human animals. Even as it recognizes our shared role as oppressors, ‘our’ also acknowledges the ability of each one of us to recognize that role and work to end it.
And so I think the word ‘our’ is powerful and important by bringing a basic sense of connectedness with others to advocacy. Whether it’s called respect, compassion, or just plain kindness, it’s how I wish to relate with others and the foundation for the vegan world I wish to live in.
thank you for being a friend
Jan 12th
This week, L.O.V.E. began rolling out our brand new Vegan Buddies project, intended to create groups of local vegans who work to take the philosophy of the L.O.V.E. collective in its virtual space and build a vegan community in their neighborhoods with the same principles. We are hoping that this will connect activists around the globe and help to create a vegan world.
Vegan Buddies will engage in such activities as demonstrations and video outreach, potluck dinners, book clubs, movie nights, bike rides, community building, and more! The great part about the project is that small groups of people can connect and organize events to fit their individual schedules. We are really excited about this project and hope it will help even more people to live veganism.
While we have received a number of great applications to the project, we still have a number of buddies not yet paired up because there is no one in close proximity to them! It’s only through word-of-mouth that we can grow this project to become a global effort. I would encourage you to sign up today for the project if you have not already done so, and please spread the word to your friends and allies.
Please contact me if you have any questions.
Much L.O.V.E. and best wishes for a happy new year!