No need for a title

Do you want to help an abolitionist animal rights organization?

All you have to do is follow this Facebook link and vote for ELIGEVEGANISMO (the first one in the list) -> https://www.facebook.com/questions/356459411108261/?notif_t=question_forward_success

It is a poll made by a wood crafts company, to decide which organization will receive their economic support. EligeVeganismo is a chilean abolitionist animal rights organization. We started working the year 2010, and have so far made many successful educational intervention, about six liberations and three investigations. Right now we need the money for our animal rights day activity. You can see a short review of our last years performance   here (in English). 

Thank you!

Is there anything shittier than “animal rights activists” who bash other organizations work, and eat meat?

My guess is no. 

This year, a couple of organizations appeared in Santiago. They are supposed to be animal rights and ecology’s activists. They still hold, however, a speciecist point of view. They still think you can be “all about animal rights” even if you eat meat and wear leather, but oppose fur farms (a minimal industry in this country). They do not oppose animal objectification and use, they’re not even for wellfarism, but only oppose certainf forms of animal exploitation that do not interfere with their daily life.

That itself is enough to worry about, but that’s not the only thing.

Last week, some of this people appeared on TV, for they went to a fashion thing were fur was used (of course, the fact that leather was used too, was no issue, since the coordinator wears leather), screaming “Murderers!” “Killers!”, etc. I agree that this people are doing something horrible when using animal’s skin, but with their childish rants they give the animal rights vegan movement look stupid and aggressive. The following day, while we were doing some serious activism and informing people, many people assumed we were the same people and were incredibly unwilling to hear us or accept the pieces of information we wanted to give them. And that was just the following day! Can you imagine how much they can damage the animal liberation movement in, lets say, a year? Ten years?

Afterwards, another of said groups created a march for the same day an abolitionist march was programmed. The 1st of September is traditionally the day when the Cruelty free September march is done, and knowing that, they organized an anti rodeo march the same day (the organizer eat meat, I still can’t get over that). Then they start bashing the abolitionist organization (which works every week in different cities in Chile, and has been doing so for a year and a half), saying that what they do is totally pointless.

So now I’m just angry. I’m just sharing that.

When people care as much about police abusing our black youth as they care about pigs, chickens, and cows in poor conditions, I’ll give a fuck about animal rights.

biraciallyinsensitive:

Until then, take your privilege and shove it up your ass.

Yeah. because we totally can’t care about race issues and animal rights at the same time. It’s like expecting people to care about gender issues and racism simultaneously! Nobody could do that!!

BTW, you’re being terribly ignorant with your whole “animal rights advocates are all white and privileged!”. There are vegans of color, poor vegans, vegans living on food stamps, underage vegans living with their omni parents, third world vegans, vegans in undeveloped countries, etc. You are being prejudiced and ignorant, but that’s ok because I don’t really think you really know what you are talking about.

We as animal rights advocates recognize that ALL animals are deserving of respect, because we are all individuals with the capacity of feeling pain and pleasure, of having positive and negative experiences, of building relationships and communicating with each other, etc. This includes Non human animals and human animals, regardless of race, gender identity/expression, sexuality, class, ideology, religion or lack thereof, nationality, sex, physical or mental condition, etc. So, as you may be able to understand, we also care about black youth being brutally treated and murdered by the police.

With love,

a chilean vegan <3 (If you’re unable to find that on map, look nearby Argentina).

Welfarism vs. Abolitionism

I’ve seen many confusing post in the vegan tag, so I think it’s time for us all to come familiar with the two branches of veganism and activism: welfarism and abolitionism.

Welfarism

As you may get just from the word, welfarists focus on the welfare of the non human animal. For a welfarist, the important thing is the way animals are treated, if they have space, medical attention, if they are “humanely” treated.

This position does not challenge the object status of non human animals, and many times perpetuates speciesism. Since animals are ours to use, but we must treat them nicely, we are still a superior species. Animals are still means to our ends, not individuals.

This approach to the way humans interact began with Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832, you may know him if you study law, or know many vegan quotes). Bentham thought that animals could feel pain and pleasure and that thus they deserved to be treated well. But, he thought that animals had no personality or individuality, and that therefore they had no interest to stay alive, they just wanted to avoid pain.

Peter Singer holds this point of view (at least in the 1975 Animal Liberation book). I’d consider PETA to fill this category (if even, they don’t even seem vegan).

Abolitionism

As you can get from the word, too, abolitionist seek for the end of the object status of non human animals so that they are finally considered individuals with their own needs and desires. This position questions the objectification of animals. Human and non humans deserve equal consideration, based on the fact that all animals are sentient beings, who live subjective experiences (“This is happening to me”). For an abolitionist vegan, the question is not how nice we treat the animals we use, but why are we using them in the first place?

I’m not really sure who we could consider a forefather of abolitionist veganism, but there are several authors on animal liberation with this approach: Gary Francione, Oscar Horta, Ana María Aboglio, etc. There are many organizations with an abolitionist approach: Animal Equality, EligeVeganismo, EspecismoCero, Acción Antiespecista, etc.

So I hope this makes things clearer know. As an abolitionist vegan, I’d like everyone to question the roots of speciesism, of thinking that otherness is validation for abuse. Remember, non human animals are not ours to use.

Counterproductive stuff to do as an animal liberation activist.

This list is elaborated based on my experience as an animal rights advocate, for the last two years, with the abolitionist organization EligeVeganismo. This is mostly useful when interacting face to face, for as far as I’ve seen, internet debates have a bit different rules.

- Blaming the Government/McDonalds/the Industry/etc:

Why? Because people get the idea that the problem has nothing to do with them, but falls on somebody/something else. They just leave all responsibility for their actions and keep on doing what they have been doing. If you tell X that animals are exploited because fast food chains buy animal products, they will believe that there is nothing that they can do about it, and keep on eating meat and buying leather. People need to take responsibility for their own actions.

- Saying “The animals you murder/Your slaves/etc”:

Why? Because people do not like to be shamed on, or feeling guilty. I have learnt that most people have never thought about their relationship with non humans, because it is a given, something that we are thought from an early age. Most people are speciecist not because they are bad people, but because that’s what they’ve learnt. So once they are familiar with this topic, they can understand the implications of their doings. AsMelanie Joy said “Eating animals is just a given; it’s just the way things are. Because carnism operates outside of our awareness, it robs us of our ability to make our choices freely—because without awareness, there is no free choice.” What to do instead? Talking about the animals we murder and exploit. That way, the person doesn’t feel like ze’s being judged, or that the vegan feels superior, but that this is a general critique, not a personal attack.

- Saying “Animals are my friends/brothers and sisters/I love animals thus I’m vegan”:

Why? I wrote about it here. When vegans talk about non humans in such a personal way, people understand that being vegan is a matter of emotions, how a person feels about animals. It makes it much more subjective. Veganism is about respect, not about love. Love cannot exist without respect, but that doesn’t go the other way around.

- Mixing animal rights and religion:

Why? For most religious people, their own religion is not debatable. So if the vegan or the omnivore start talking about what the Bible or any Holly Scripture said about animals, it’s already a lost debate. Either the vegan and the omnivore have different religions (or one of them lacks religion), or they have different interpretations. Not a good idea.

- Dressing up as an non human animal:

Why? It’s funny. You just can’t take a dude dressed as a pig seriously. People take it as a joke, and don’t understand or see what lies within. (EligeVeganismo did a performance like that once, and it was based on people’s reaction that we decided not to do more like that).

- Giving too much information at once:

Why? For most people, this is the first time they think about animal exploitation, and giving them too much information may be confusing. Other than that, it’s easier for them to dilute the idea of animal exploitation if they talk about many other topics. Of course, if people ask about nutrition, or environment, or where they can buy tofu, you tell them, but always trying to get back to the original topic.

- Promoting vegetarianism (other than a transition):

Why? Being vegetarian is eeeeasy, eeeeasy, and it’s much more comfortable to stay vegetarian (when you have the means to go vegan). Of course, being vegetarian is something great for people who can’t go straight forward vegan (for example, underaged), but it’s not the solution to animal exploitation. As a vegetarian diet still consumes animal by products it perpetuates the object status of animals, their commodification and their slavery.

- Talking about issues that have nothing to do with animal liberation:

I’m thinking of this and this. (No wonder I dislike PETA).

If something else comes to mind, I’ll add. But this is it so far.

Methinks if you want to promote veganism, you go about it by helping to create more affordable food sources instead of basking in your own fucking luxury and yelling at people.

lacigreen:

ugh. this is one of the things that really bugs me about where i live.  in san francisco there are tons of vegans/vegetarians that get off on feelings of moral superiority.  south park had it right in the episode about bay area people loving the smell of their own farts.  really, all that “superiority” people feel for being vegan is just a clusterfuck of their own privilege.

like, oh, you only buy your food from the farmers market?  you can afford to spend $3 on a peach?  good for you, but don’t you dare go shaming other people for not doing the same.  until you actually care about how food politics are heavily tied with class (and how class is tied to both race & physical health) and are doing something about that, I don’t see your promotion of veganism as anything beyond pseudo-political masturbation.

Whoa, lots of ad hominem here, huh?

Well, first of everything, there are vegan organizations doing their best to provide food to people… vegan food of course, like A-Well-Fed-World.

Then, there are some links you should check out:

- Vegansaurus guide to eating raw, organic and cheap -> http://vegansaurus.com/post/288158015/guide-to-eating-vegan-raw-organic-and-cheap

- Is it cheaper to be a vegetarian, a meat eater, or a vegan? -> http://www.good.is/post/is-it-cheaper-to-be-vegan-vegetarian-or-a-meat-eater/

- Hufftington Post Eating Vegan on the Cheap -> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/eat-vegan-cheap_b_840191.html#s257906&title=Shop_Seasonal_

Actually, there’s even a book with recipes to eat for 4USD a day.

Ask any vegan in your area, they’ll tell you how to eat cheap. Ask on the Tumblr vegan tag how to eat vegan with little money. There are hundreds of tips, and places where you can go to eat cheap, healthy, and vegan.

Eating vegan is actually cheaper than eating omni. Why, you might ask? Because meat and dairy are expensive. Vegan food consists in legumes, pasta, rice, potatoes, TVP, etc. Not organic, farmers market fruits.

Let me give you an example. In my country (Chile), you can buy 1 kg. of TVP (Soy) for 400 CLP, about 80 cents. This will double, and make 2 kg of TVP which will feed a family for a couple of days. 1 kg of meat, 2.500 CLP, about 5,50 USD, which will actually shrink and feed less people. If you eat meat everyday, you have class privilege. Poor people, poor countries, are unable to afford this.

Vegan food =/= Daiya cheese, faux meat, organic food, farmers market’s food, etc. Those are luxury items, NOT needs.

I buy faux meat every 4-6 months, and spend between 10.000 - 12.000 CLP, about 20 - 24 USD (Thus, 4.4 USD each month, 1.1 USD each week). Do I need this? No, I can eat every day, healthy and tasty without that.

Have I tried vegan cheese? Twice. Once I bought some (2.000 CLP, 4 USD), the second time I didn’t have to pay. But there was no vegan cheese when I went vegan. Do I need it? No.

Vegans do not shame on people for not being able to pay for food. Vegans do not shame people.

I see there is little understanding of what a vegan stands for here, so I’ll make it clear:

A vegan is a person that abstains from consuming animal products or services due ethical reasons. This includes meat, dairy, eggs, honey, leather, wool, silk, fur, using animals on entertainment (zoos, rodeos, circuses, aquariums, dog fighting, etc), as transportation, or as testing subjects. Why? Because all animals, human and non human alike, share the ability of feeling pain and pleasure, among other sensations, and having subjective impressions (“This is happening to me”). All animals are self aware, have a personality, have relationships with other animals (parents, siblings, friends, foes, etc), etc. All animals are individuals, a somebody, and not a something. Knowing this, vegans refuse to use non humans, to objectify them and use them as means to our ends, because they have needs of their own to fulfill. They are not ours to use.

Thus, using animals is morally incorrect, for it commodifies somebody, denying their individuality and body autonomy.

Being vegan is a moral imperative. Of course, it will be more difficult for some people, and they deserve all our help and support. But those are exceptional cases, and you do not make a rule from an exception. 

I’d like to know what do you mean by “pseudo political masturbation”. 

(Quelle: billiejeanblitz)