I agree with what you wrote, both in the original blog entry and in your reply to my comment, but I should correct and clarify some things about my comment. I regret the wording in my previous comment. It was written rather quickly and carelessly.

First, my phrase “animal rights vegans” is so vague as to be virtually meaningless given that ‘animal rights’ these days, in the common parlance, means everything and therefore nothing.

Second, I was thinking more of a small group of vegans I know who have examined and see clearly the connections of racism, sexism, and speciesism. My statement, as you say, was too sweeping, since I’m sure there are racist and sexist vegans (vegans who participate in certain PETA campaigns could be called sexist, for example).

Third, and most importantly, I was thinking of the *extreme* speciesism that is such a big part of about 98.5% of society. Extreme racism would be the promotion of and battle for chattel slavery. Extreme sexism would be the insistence of women as nothing more than the property of men, where men have property rights over women and women no rights. Extreme speciesism is the view of sentient nonhumans as nothing more than the property and resource of humans as manifested in the consumption of animal products.

Vegans, to the best of my knowledge, do not promote or defend any form of extreme racism or sexism. Rather, if vegans are guilty of racism or sexism, it is generally in the form of moderate (at most) or subtle racism or sexism. The moderate or subtle form certainly doesn’t excuse it in the least, and I regularly argue against the most subtle forms of either; nevertheless, there is a significant difference between the extreme versus the moderate and subtle forms.

My observation is that many (or most) feminists, civil rights advocates, and environmentalists promote and adamantly argue for extreme speciesism by viewing animals as property and resources for humans, thereby violating a moral baseline. A moral baseline is a minimum standard – the least we can do, so to speak – to avoid extreme forms of the “-ism” in question. Veganism is such a moral baseline. Vegans, even vegans who believe they are not speciesist, can (and often do) hold speciesist views and attitudes, often unwittingly, but in their veganism, they at least avoid the extreme speciesism of which non-vegans are victims.

I hope that clears things up a little.

Thanks so much for your thoughts regarding this issue and your detailed writings on this and other relevant topics. I have to disagree with you regarding the blanket statement that “the vast majority of animal rights vegans do NOT violate the moral baselines of any other movement” because I truly think it’s more complex than that. The issues of racism and sexism, for example, are often so deeply ingrained in cultural norms, language, and attitudes that unless we actively work against them, it’s nearly impossible to say that we avoid them altogether. I’ve encountered both individuals and groups in my time as a vegan activist who actively promoted racist, sexist, and heterosexist ideals, both intentionally and unintentionally. I don’t think that animal activists are any less likely than the average person to be guilty of these violations of moral baselines.

Unless vegans, just like other members of the population, are actively exploring the issues of “other movements,” we cannot make the claim that we are immune to violating them, simply because we choose not to use animals without their consent. It will take an immense amount of education, awareness, and cooperation to bring to light all of the forms of oppression on the parts of all activists. In my post, I am simply committing to solidarity with everyone working for social justice and toward a vegan world, and encouraging others to do the same.

I’ve written more about this topic in an essay entitled, On the Strengths and Limitations of Alliance Politics:

http://unpopularveganessays.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-strengths-and-limitations-of.html

When I think about your co-organizer and this woman I know, I wonder whether their particular understandings of feminism and civil rights would offer a common basis for understanding speciesist oppression. If so in the case of your co-organizer, I wonder what the resistance was about.

On the flip side, I wonder if part of the problem is how the reasoning for plant-based diets has historically been framed. The dominant arguments live in a world completely separate from the concerns of those involved in anti-oppression work in the human animal realm. So when we talk about veganism or plant-based diets, even from an anti-oppression understanding, is that historical baggage coloring what people hear?

The VoC post on explaining racism to white vegans is great. There seems to be a precondition of the other person being interested in exploring their own racist conditioning and I’m curious if there is anything that may be done to help bring this about.

I read a post on Vegans of Color once that posed a similar question as your conclusion paragraph. The post itself and some of the comments shared resources that people have found helpful in pointing out intersectionality. Here is the link:

“Explaining Racism to White Veg*ns & Speciesism to Non-Veg*n POCs”
http://vegansofcolor.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/explaining-racism-to-white-vegns-speciesism-to-non-vegn-pocs/