From Gary Francione's blog on July 4, 2007

[Guest guest]

I almost

always just post to the NTARN message board and let others borrow what they

want to post elsewhere, but I think this is important enough to post on VegNod

and ACT message boards as well. It’s a good and thought-provoking statement

of who we must be in the animal rights movement. It also indirectly makes the

point that anything that makes it easier or more acceptable NOT to be vegan

(such as food animal welfarism) is harmful to the movement.

“The animal movement will never make any difference until it

explicitly embraces veganism as its unequivocal baseline and rejects the notion

that we can discharge our moral obligations to animals by being ‘conscientious

omnivores.’

Becoming a vegan is the one abolitionist thing that each of us can

do today. Right now. Veganism

is the only coherent response to the matter of animal exploitation, and veganism

also addresses issues of human health and environmental degradation in important

and productive ways. Veganism is a central part of a nonviolent approach to

life. Each person who becomes a vegan truly represents a ‘victory’

and if we concentrated our efforts on clear, unequivocal vegan education, those

‘victories’ would be much less scarce.”

My

comment: Sometimes I think with all the ups and downs we experience in the

animal rights movement, the most powerful thing we can do as individuals is simply

live the life we espouse. Winning converts by example is something we can all work

on every day, as Gary writes. And the small victories along the

way help keep us energized for the much more grinding bigger battles. So help

make a new vegetarian, or move a vegetarian toward veganism, or just

demonstrate the vegan lifestyle in ways that encourage and motivate rather than

discourage and intimidate. JJP

P.S. I

recommend Gary’s website: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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