Vegan Consumerism vs. Anti-Speciesism (October 2020)

Vegan Consumerism vs. Anti-Speciesism (October 2020)

anti-speciesism, animal liberation, vegan, capitalism, total liberation

English

The slideshow criticizes popular strategies of promoting veganism as too individual-oriented and consumption-based. It says hierarchal domination is systemic.

@vegan_abolitionniste

2020-10-23

Elijah Noel Paez

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGqhD4LJNxU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

1. Vegan Consumerism vs. Anti-Speciesism (Excerpts from the essay, "Will Veganism End Animal Exploitation?" by Ant Speciesist Action Collective for medium.com
2. Without challenging the political, economic, and social structures of society, veganism as a movement will make little progress reducing and abolishing animal exploitation. Has there ever been a social justice movement that was preceded by a mass consumer movement?
When trying to shop "ethically" there are still hidden elements like labor and environmental issues. Capitalism shifts the blame, saying consumers dictate what they make. Corporations greenwash and repackage the ethical dilemma as consumer choice implicating individuals as the arbiters of moral choice. It is easy to forget how terrifyingly massive, invasive and manipulative the marketing apparatus we exist inside of is. It literally preys upon human base instincts, while none of the things we need to survive is "for sale." Air quality, water quality, sea levels, biodiversity, community --- all of these products we buy will negatively impact these.
3. Even if consumer vegans were able to make significant dents in the national market, all this will be reversed by the rise of affluent animal-eating class in the "developing world" to whom animals raised nationally will be exported, or --- in "a race to the bottom" --- to where the industry will be exported --- displacing farmers and wildlife and externalizing production costs upon their communities. We, therefore, must work to destroy these systems that allow non-human animals to be viewed as commodities. Just because there are more vegan options doesn't mean we are destabilizing the speciesist system in a meaningful way --- indeed we cannot even impact all aspects of exploitation and slaughter through our consumptive practices.
4. We must also realize that speciesism is not wholly a product of capitalism, merely amplified and systematized by it. The fact of the matter is, capitalism treats animals horribly. While many civilizations have normalized abusive behavior towards animals, capitalism tops them all in the intensity, frequency.
We must use a broad, critical understanding of how different forms of oppression are interrelated, seeing human animal, nonhuman animal, and earth liberation as inseparable projects; and, thus, promote an anti-capitalist alliance politics with other rights, justice, and liberation movements who share the common goal of dismantling all systems of hierarchal domination and rebuilding societies through decentralization and democratization processes.
5. Veganism has been co-opted to largely mean a plant-based diet and unhelpfully focuses the core message on the lifestyle or philosophy of humans, rather than centering non-human animals. This creates the environment in which vegans are viewed as merely living an inconvenient and noisy lifestyle, as opposes to being a movement looking to remove speciesism from our systems in the same way we aim to remove racism, homophobia, ableism and sexism. Most people understand the concept of discrimination already, and speciesism is just another form of discrimination.
6. In its name veganism refers to neither the oppressed group nor the injustice that the group suffers. Rather, it refers to a group of humans who live, and more specifically, consume in a particular exclusionary manner. By reframing veganism, not as a consumer activity, but as an anti-speciesist ethical framework, we will build a path to a radically more animal-friendly society that will not be achieved by lifestyle choices alone, no matter how popularly implemented. We must look to anti-speciesist action as the moral baseline.
7. This of course, does not mean we should not be vegan. Being vegan is the absolute bare minimum standard we should advocate for but we must recognize that the goal of total liberation means more than our consumptive practices --- it means radically changing our systems of production and society. But to do so, we require committed individuals taking action, and a wider receptive audience. We still need individual action --- simply waiting for "the revolution" does not free anybody, but we must recognize that the changed individual is not the endpoint. We also cannot stall taking personal action because 'perfection' is not yet feasible but we also cannot ignore the need for collective action.
8. Change the hierarchy of power relations
Remove unjust power from hierarchies
-Push for anti-capitalist and anti-statist politics
-Advocate for intersectional total liberation
-Solidarity with other social justice movements
Mutual aid
-Sharing economies
-Open access community gardens and improving access to fresh food in disadvantaged areas
-Share-housing cooperatives
-Strengthening unions and workers' rights
-Community programs to assist those in poverty, and/or individuals with mental and physical health issues
-Rebuilding communities to improve access to essential services such as improved public transport, and combatting ableism in our social and urban structures
9. It is not just the practice of inequality that contributes to environmental and trans-species violence; it is the construction and persistence of ideas that maintain these inequalities. --David Naguib Pellow, Total Liberation
There is much to learn from other social justice movements about re-shaping dialogue surrounding animal rights, to legitimize the movement in the eyes of the public and bring about changes to social consciousness. At its core, this is a fight against oppression --- we should act accordingly.
10. Starbucks now sells a vegan Pumpkin Spice Latte with a soy-based topping, and a vegan Pumpkin Spice Cookie <-- Does THIS, challenge the political and social structure of our society?

{EDIT SLIDE 6: “...animal friendly society *that* will not be achieved...”}
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There is a recurrent misapprehension being sold by the vegan community that “going vegan” will directly translate to saving x-amount of animals each year. In actuality, year after year, the number of animals being produced for exploitation and consumption has only continued to increase.

Please trust me, I would far more enjoy posting about my breakfast, or giving you a virtual tour of my minimalist, “cruelty-free” closet, or taking selfies where my earrings match my smoothie...but this is reality here.

And there is a lot to consider. The social, political and economic hierarchies of speciesism under capitalism, which necessitates exploitation — can this be undone by veganism? The slides above are merely *excerpts* from an essay that I highly recommend. It can be found through @anti.speciesist (link in their bio). I would also recommend checking out the work of @vegan_batgirl, who fights for systemic change — and notably, a video she posted on July 5th, 2020 talking about the challenges veganism faces as it relates to liberating animals within our food system.

Not only is the supply/demand element of our food system heavily intertwined with our government, the meat and dairy industries are steeped in lobbyist corruption. Each year, our tax dollars bail out the meat and dairy industries from any losses, consumer-driven or otherwise, which in turn incentivizes them to oversupply/overproduce. A seemingly infinite number of bailouts ($ billions) coupled with very heavy gov’t subsidies and our “vegan gains” are effectively cleared away.

Vegan or not, our taxes in the U.S. are also used for animal testing and experiments ($16 billion), including funding to the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, a federal institution with little to no oversight by the USDA, whose main purpose is to find ways to make livestock bigger, leaner, more prolific and more profitable for the American meat industry as diets continue to shift.
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For vegans with genuine interest to liberate animals...let’s reflect, then take action.

The slideshow uses a splash background of red and orange watercolors. The first and last slides each picture a nonhuman animal in distress. The post is typed.

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