Number 33 in the On Human-Nonhuman Relations Podcast series explores public vegan education initiatives in the shape of VEGAN INFORMATION BOOTHS. I'm joined by my special guests for this themed podcast - Jordan Wyatt of the Invercargill Vegan Society, Barbara DeGrande of Animal Rights and Rescue of Texas, and Stacia Leyes of The Vegan Review.
We must remember that vegan education that puts veganism as the moral baseline of the animal rights movement is NEW. We may feel that we have been doing it for years and years but historically it has only just begun.
See THIS LINK to hear Ronnie Lee, vegan since 1971, explain just how new vegan campaigning is.
There are people who insist that vegans should engage in less-than-vegan campaigning. There is absolutely no reason for this. Even if we believed that initiatives such as "veggie days" or "meat reduction campaigns" are worthwhile, there are plenty of non-vegans and vegetarian organisations who can do this work.
There are more non-vegan animal advocates, and vegetarian organisations, than there are vegans. Please - if you are vegan, don't be conned into less-than-vegan campaigning. Don't let others convince you that vegan is a scare word (an idea explored in the podcast), or that we should not use it just because some people have negative views about either some vegans themselves or veganism in general.
As Donald Watson said in 1944, our "job" is to ripen up people to the idea of veganism - if there are vegan voices (say, on social media) that are rather off-putting, or you think they may be for the general public, then let's try to encourage positive change in those vegans - but not slide away from veganism. Sliding away from veganism means redefining it: resist those voices who are trying to suggest that veganism is merely a diet.
It isn't and it never has been. Please don't betray the original expansive justice-for-all scope of vegan philosophy.
We must remember that vegan education that puts veganism as the moral baseline of the animal rights movement is NEW. We may feel that we have been doing it for years and years but historically it has only just begun.
See THIS LINK to hear Ronnie Lee, vegan since 1971, explain just how new vegan campaigning is.
There are people who insist that vegans should engage in less-than-vegan campaigning. There is absolutely no reason for this. Even if we believed that initiatives such as "veggie days" or "meat reduction campaigns" are worthwhile, there are plenty of non-vegans and vegetarian organisations who can do this work.
There are more non-vegan animal advocates, and vegetarian organisations, than there are vegans. Please - if you are vegan, don't be conned into less-than-vegan campaigning. Don't let others convince you that vegan is a scare word (an idea explored in the podcast), or that we should not use it just because some people have negative views about either some vegans themselves or veganism in general.
As Donald Watson said in 1944, our "job" is to ripen up people to the idea of veganism - if there are vegan voices (say, on social media) that are rather off-putting, or you think they may be for the general public, then let's try to encourage positive change in those vegans - but not slide away from veganism. Sliding away from veganism means redefining it: resist those voices who are trying to suggest that veganism is merely a diet.
It isn't and it never has been. Please don't betray the original expansive justice-for-all scope of vegan philosophy.
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