Yesterday, November 1st, 2016 was World Vegan Day. After a little research, I discovered that this special day is 22 years old. It is an annual event created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of The Vegan Society, Donald Watson’s Alma mater, as it were. We have had all that time to create a vegan world and yet our goal remains, as of today, a work in progress. Conservative estimates place the worldwide vegan population at 1%, while other more hopeful studies cite anywhere from 2-3%. It has been reported that the tipping point for all humans to become vegan is 10% and we are just not there yet.
As vegans and AR activists, we remain hopeful and committed, advocating in many different ways for the liberation of all other animals on this earth who suffer incalculably for human wants, not needs. Of all the industries which persecute other species of animals for the sake of profit, farmed animal agriculture gets the top spot at 99% of the use, exploitation, abuse and murder of living sentient beings in the name of our conditioned and hijacked palates. Without a doubt, this is human created suffering of great magnitude.
I salute and applaud all advocacy which seeks to educate and to inform about the pressing need to stop this madness, to illustrate that justice is needed and that becoming vegan will open us up to a world of kindness and compassion for all beings on this planet, not just for those who walk upright and enjoy the dubious honor of belonging to the human race.
And where exactly does the change start? I believe it begins with ending our gluttonous obsession with ingesting the flesh and secretions of other animals. So, that is why I chose to mark World Vegan Day at Marvid, a Halal Slaughterhouse ( chickens) located in Montréal, Quebec Canada. Over a two hour period at least three trucks, filled with lifeless looking chickens, many almost devoid of feathers, pulled up into the driveway and backed into the bays of death. If the truck is full, up to ten thousand birds can be trapped inside. We can all do the math and understand that this is an astonishing and horrifying number.
I bore witness with my friends who believe as I do that we must speak up and out. We are compelled to disabuse humans of the notion that other species of animals are commodities, that it is okay to eat their flesh and secretions, to wear their skins and fur on our bodies, to use them for entertainment, to hunt them for sport, to experiment on them, to turn them into furniture, to exploit them simply because we can. And whether we are six at an event, or six hundred, or six thousand, we are one voice, standing in solidarity with and for those for whom we seek respect and freedom.
Yesterday I stood with two such advocates, people of integrity and good character, people who I am honored to call my friends. Their impassioned and heartfelt speeches illuminate the essence of veganism. I am very happy to be able to share their words with you, while thanking, at the same time everyone who bore witness with us outside Marvid and, from a wider perspective, every caring person who participates daily in spreading the word, living vegan for the other animals, always for the other animals.
Two nights ago, I watched Before the Flood, the brand new documentary on climate change by Leonardo DiCaprio. The documentary follows him as he travels around the world seeing the destruction that is occurring on our planet. Islands are being flooded, arctic ice is thinning, Greenland glaciers are disappearing, forests are burning and species are going extinct. This is not “new” news. For over 25 years I have been hearing this. At this point most of us are well aware. In one small segment the documentary talked about eating choices, claiming that 70% of all farmed land in the United States is used to feed cattle, and the solution they gave is to not eat cows, but instead to eat chickens.
Today I stand with the chickens at the Marvid slaughterhouse in Montréal, to say that the solution posed by Leonardo DiCaprio is not a solution at all. It is a travesty, and inherently speciesist. Today is World Vegan Day, and I stand with all the rest of my friends to say today should be the first day of a Vegan world, where every day all beings can live free, where there is as little suffering and exploitation as possible. This is the real solution to worldwide environmental degradation. As important as it is to have renewable energies through solar and wind providing us power, it is equally important to consume less and become Vegan now.
I ask you: Shouldn’t we do absolutely everything that we can to leave the world in better shape than we found it? I believe we absolutely should!
Merci!
Nous pouvons et devons mettre tous nos efforts afin de créer un monde plus juste et harmonieux avec les autres animaux avec lesquels nous partageons la terre.
C’est pourquoi dès maintenant je vous demande de vous informer sur le véganisme et de prendre part au mouvement.
Parce que les animaux ne sont pas de la marchandise.
Parce que nous sommes tous différents mais tous égaux.
Parce que le véganisme est maintenant.
Annie’s Vegan View
Allow me to share with you my experience at this very same slaughterhouse last year around this time : VEGANS OUTSIDE A SLAUGHTERHOUSE AT AN ANTI SPECIESISM VIGIL…….second verse, same as the first!!!
May all beings be happy and free.
Hi Anne!
Thanks so much to you, Jimmy and Melanie for bearing witness yesterday to those poor chickens. I haven’t yet watched, “Before the Flood” but I can’t believe the advice was to not eat cows and instead eat more chickens! I am really disappointed in Leonardo DiCaprio for saying this. Talk about diluting the vegan message and as Jimmy says, “is inherently speciesist”. I am so glad those poor birds got to spend a few minutes with caring compassionate people before the end of their short lives.
I can’t believe its 22 years since the first World Vegan Day. In some respects we don’t seem to have come very far at all but in saying that it is a gigantic task we are taking on. If it takes 10% to tip the balance into a vegan world I still think we have a very good chance. With the rise of social media, our word is getting out there faster than ever before. It is easier than ever to source good vegan food nowadays than it was 22 years ago and there really is no excuse any more to be eating the flesh and secretions of animals, New studies are coming out all the time about the dangers to our health and the impact on the environment has long been known. Whilst our health and the environment are important I think it is imperative that we get across to people the real meaning of veganism though. Veganism is a social justice movement and has to be first and foremost about the animals in which we enslave and use for our own desires.
After reading Dr Casey Taft’s book, “Motivational Methods for Vegan Advocacy – A psychological Approach” I realised the importance of not diluting the vegan message. To say we should eat more chickens and not cows is diluting this vegan message in my view and it is comments like this that is distorting and damaging our movement. Whilst environmental degradation is very important it is secondary in veganism. We do not have the right to take another’s life, even if the impact on the environment were a good one. Until we can get this message out I think we will be slow to make progress. There are so many confusing messages out there. I think clarity is key!
Being vegan opens up the door to a new world of kindness and compassion. It is up to us to make it clear what that means.
Thanks so much for being a voice for the voiceless Anne and for everything you do!
Take care
Rachel
Hi Rachel,
Thank you for your continued support. It is very hard to know if we are making progress or not. But, I have decided to remain hopeful and to continually re define my message so that it has a chance of resonating.
Take care.
Anne
Excellent article Anne. Sadly, though Veganism is growing, so is the animal agriculture industry. Veganism has been stuck at 1-3% forever!
I’m normally a believer in peaceful means to change, but sometimes it will only go so far, and it seems we’ve reached that limit already. I now believe that direct activism is the way forward. We must take the initiative and be bold in our activism. So what if people get angry?…that’s bound to happen. People actually do like vegans who simply live by example, it absolves them of the need to make changes, to make non-vegan choices.
All major social justice issues of the past required non-peaceful means to bring awareness and to make progress…..slavery, genocides, homophobia, the holocaust, racism, sexism, and now, speciesism.
The animals need us to make progress now, to speak loud and forcefully. To protest publicly at slaughterhouses, fast food joints, factory farms and anywhere else where animals are being abused. We must DEMAND justice for the animals, it’s their right.
Thanks to you and your friends for making a stand at Marvid.
Hi Murray,
I am happy to hear that my article resonated with you. Interesting that you should mention about the growing farmed animal agricultural industry in relation to the number of vegans. I had not thought of it in that way before.
I do understand what you mean about social justice movements, although in principle, I do not support violence, both physical and verbal and I know that many social justice movements of the past and present do contain this element.
I am not sure what is needed, but I will continue to adapt and do my best going forward.
Thank you for your activism and friendship.
Take care,
Anne