Why Vegans Should Be Active
Being Vegan is Not Enough
Introduction
Veganism, as defined by Leslie Cross, is the doctrine that humans should live without exploiting animals. He says, “It is important to notice that one of the results of this definition is that it makes veganism a principle. It is, of course, a principle from which certain practices naturally flow — but it is in itself a principle, and not a set of practices.”
One of the consequences of being vegan is that one adopts a diet that excludes animal products, but that is not what constitutes being vegan. A vegan believes humans should live without exploiting animals - so does this stop at one’s fridge and wardrobe? Or is it an inherent part of the definition to be active, trying to get others to stop exploiting animals? Veganism is a belief against an injustice, but most vegans don’t see it that way. They view veganism as a lifestyle or a diet, rather than an ethical movement against injustice.
Feminism is the advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex. Should you call yourself a feminist if you don’t fight for the equal rights of women? Does not doing something make you a part of a movement against injustice?
Where Are The Activists?
Anonymous for the Voiceless is an animal rights organisation that specialises in street outreach. Several activists enter a ‘Cube of Truth’, holding TVs that show footage of the most common forms of exploitation towards non-human animals, while other activists walk around the cube engaging in conversations with members of the public who interact with the TVs.
From this brief description, you can see how more activists would make the event more effective. I saw this first-hand when I was in the cube. When you see someone watching the footage, and an activist hasn’t started talking to them, you raise your fist. This alerts other activists that someone needs to be engaged with. However, when I raised my fist, nobody came over. Everyone was too busy in conversations. The woman was in tears as she watched the footage and hung around the cube for a while, and then she left.
The point of AV is not just to share information about what’s going on in slaughterhouses, but to make people understand they are responsible for it. It’s their money, when they buy animal products, that ensures animal exploitation continues. This woman may have left the cube sad and shocked, but will she go vegan? Does she even know what a vegan is? Does she think this is about vegetarianism? Does she have barriers to living vegan? If there were more activists, this woman would have been spoken to. Barriers to veganism could have been brought into the open and challenged. Accountability would have been established. But instead, she walked away.
In the debriefing, I brought up this woman and the sadness I felt at that moment. It was obvious: we needed more activists.
Pick-Me Vegans
A pick-me vegan is a vegan who doesn’t want to offend anyone. They live by the practice of being vegan, but not the principle. They harm the vegan movement with their nonchalant attitude toward the non-vegan lifestyle. It’s the “you do you” and “I won’t tell you what to do” attitude. The pick-me vegan wants to present themselves as not like the active vegans, the “militant” and “annoying” vegans. It damages the vegan image that pick-me vegans call themselves vegans.
Similarly, inactive vegans also hurt the vegan movement.
Inactive Vegans
Like pick-me vegans, inactive vegans don’t challenge society’s normalisation of animal exploitation. They don’t see the urgency and severity of the problem, which 99% of the population is complicit in three times a day. Don’t vegans want a world where animals are respected? How is that world going to come about if other people don’t change? If legislation doesn’t change?
Surely the least we can do for non-human animals is to speak up on their behalf.
Barriers to Activism
Being vegan is challenging, but not in the ways non-vegans imagine. It’s easy to get vegan food and clothing; just looking around your supermarket and doing a couple of Google searches solves that problem. The hard part is social cohesion. Some vegans don’t say they are vegan unless they have to, such as when being invited to someone’s house for food. Saying you’re vegan makes it clear (to most people) what you can’t eat. But the vegan will probably encounter these kinds of questions from the dinner host and guests:
What about backyard eggs?
Is honey vegan?
Not everyone can be vegan, you know.
The vegan is forced to justify their beliefs and lifestyle, which can make them uncomfortable. Saying you’re vegan, rather than living plant-based, implies to others that you are taking a morally superior position at the dinner table. This can create conflict and awkwardness.
As an active vegan, I appreciate the opportunity to convert others to veganism. But for a vegan who just wants to live a life where they aren’t challenging others or making others feel bad, these dinner table scenarios can be daunting.
If you are one of those vegans who tries to hide their veganism as much as possible, I ask you: doesn’t this contradict the philosophy of veganism? Veganism is the belief that humans should live without exploiting animals. Wouldn’t a vegan want to challenge people who are responsible for animal exploitation?
If you feel like this is the case, but it’s too uncomfortable with family and friends, then talk to strangers! You have no investment in relationships with strangers; you can challenge them without having to see them again. This takes the pressure off wanting every meal to be an activism event, as if you do street activism, you have already made a difference for the animals. You can separate normal life from vegan activism.
Humans are designed to cooperate, so it goes against our instincts to challenge others to change their lifestyles and then encounter ridicule and animosity. However, most people would say that we should respect animals. So, isn’t it the most human and loving thing to do to point out the contradiction between people’s beliefs and lifestyle? Wouldn’t you have appreciated someone pointing out that contradiction in you earlier?
I went vegan because of the film Earthlings (2002, Monson). If the crew behind that film were passive vegans and had the “live and let live” attitude, the film wouldn’t have been made, and so many people wouldn’t have changed for the better. So my activism is carrying on the torch of Earthlings, finding people like me who were unknowingly complicit in animal exploitation and showing them a way out.
Okay, I’m Convinced
At the time of writing, I am in full activism mode. For the past three months, I have been doing at least one AV or WTF (We The Free) activism event every week. I am now also editing reels and YouTube videos for AV, so my activism is now online. And I have started writing Substack articles about veganism. I have become an invested activist. Holding people accountable and shaking their hands once they have reached the vegan conclusion is incredibly satisfying. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it makes my activism feel very meaningful. Here is an example, where I convince someone to go vegan after watching a three-minute video of animal exploitation:
I enjoy being the final push for non-vegans to change, being the conversation that changed their life. Most conversations are with people who aren’t receptive yet or are hostile to the vegan message. But I can put up with those, because I know in a few conversations I will talk to someone reachable.
If you want to get active, you have a few options. I have already mentioned AV, which is in many cities around the world. WTF is similar to AV, but you aren’t exposed to the footage. Members of the public come and watch a three-minute movie of the meat, dairy and egg industry. They don’t know what the movie is about, they come to watch it for a free prize at the end. You then talk to them and try to get them to go vegan. They then get a goodie bag. This type of activism suits vegans who don’t want to see footage of animal abuse and just want to focus on outreach. And in a similar way to AV, there is a role where you don’t have to speak to people. In WTF, you can hold a sign which tempts people into the event to watch the movie, and in AV, you can just hold a TV. This is a great way of getting started in street activism, as you can overhear conversations and learn from other activists. You also save activists who are good at outreach from being in the cube, where their abilities aren’t being utilised.
If you don’t want to get on the street, you can do activism in other ways. Wear a vegan t-shirt with a clear animal rights message, put stickers around your city, send emails to restaurants and events asking for more vegan options, sign petitions, engage in online activism (like video editing or posting graphic images and videos on social media) or donate money to vegan charities.
The list goes on.
Conclusion
Vegans are the only voice the animals have. The animals need every vegan to speak up for them in whatever way they can. If you were in their position, wouldn’t you want people to speak up for you?
So get active.
References
Leslie Cross:
Excellent message