Advocacy in an Imperfect World
Vegan Outreach often receives questions about our
position on various animal, environmental, and social
issues, such as abortion, drinking, or deep ecology.
The active membership of Vegan Outreach often has
very strong feelings about such issues, and these
opinions are sometimes in conflict; something might
seem clear-cut and imperative to one person isn't
so clear-cut to another.
One example is the automobile. Many people have made
the strong case against cars -- the habitat destruction
and environmental degradation caused by mining the
raw materials, the energy involved in production,
the wars over oil, the greenhouse gasses released
by driving, wildlife killed, etc. Yet without cars,
very few copies of Why Vegan, Try Vegetarian,
and Even If You Like Meat would have been
distributed, and there would be many, many fewer vegetarians
in the world.
Another example might be buying a bicycle. You could
point to the conditions of the workers making the
bike and the corporate practices of the retailer and
not buy a bike from Walmart. Or you could buy the
less-expensive bike and use the money you save to
put get booklets into more people's hands, leading
to more vegetarians and reducing the number of animals
who are factory farmed.
Given the reality of our world -- the widespread
injustices and the tremendous demands on our very
limited time and resources -- nearly every choice
we face offers us imperfect options.
This issue came up most recently when several people
took issue with a
previous Product of the Week item, which mentioned
the availability of Lightlife's BBQ at Walmart. Pointing
out that a vegan product is available at a certain
store isn't, of course, an endorsement of that store;
rather, it is a recognition that not everyone lives
near a co-op or Whole Foods (indeed, we have received
complaints from some members that some products
we mention and some of the ingredients we use in our
recipes
aren't available in their community). The more widely-available
vegan products are, the lower their price will be,
making it easier for more people to change their diet
and maintain that change.
As much as we'd like to believe that everyone should
pay any price and go to any length to be vegetarian,
we realize that cost and convenience are determining
factors for many, if not most people. As more people
become vegetarian, more large corporations will market
meat-free products -- it is the nature of a capitalist
economy. (The question of vegetarianism in a capitalist
society came up before re: the BK Veggie, here
and here.)
This doesn't mean that current vegans need to change
where they shop, what they buy or the other campaigns
they support, but we do need to recognize that, in
this imperfect world, it is, overall, a good thing
for the animals that big corporations embrace
and expand the burgeoning vegetarian market.
It is, of course, entirely understandable to want
others to adopt not only our diet, but our political,
social, and economic views: "It's all connected!"
Nearly every activist, at some point, has the idea
of creating a grand progressive alliance that promotes
veganism, strong environmental protection, sustainability,
fair trade, etc. But these coalitions never get beyond
the "should" stage, and factory farming
continues to expand.
It is not unreasonable to believe that the suffering
of "farmed" animals is so great, so unnecessary,
and so clearly, unequivocally, and indefensibly
wrong that we should always keep the focus on the
animals. People are looking for a reason to ignore
the cruelties of factory farming and the ethical imperative
of changing their diet -- no one sits around thinking,
"Wow, I really want to give up all my favorite
foods and isolate myself from my friends and family!"
We are the animals only voice. If we want to have
the greatest impact for these animals, we should not
give anyone any excuse to ignore the terrible and
unnecessary suffering the animals go through on factory
farms and in slaughterhouses.
-Matt Ball
If you want to read more about Vegan Outreach's
approach, including why we believe that working on
boycotting factory farms / promoting vegetarianism
has the greatest impact on the world, please read
this.
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