I generally try to ignore and avoid faction fighting because it’s energy draining and time consuming and is frequently personality based, but I decided to address some of the issues that have arisen from recent claims by a small few that the abolitionist movement is “rampantly racist”, “sexist” and “hostile to people of colour”. If you are not involved in the abolitionist community you may wish to skip this one.
I discuss the history of the term “abolitionist” and why it is not racist to use it in relation to veganism and why it is not appropriating the term if we look at history. I talk a little about overt and structural racism, credentialism and tokenism. I ask the question, has the movement become more about the messenger than the message?
Please read my disclaimer about any pages, groups, sites, individuals, opinions, etc mentioned in this podcast episode or any episodes past and future.
Thanks to Vegan Ethos for her contributions relating to the history of abolition in particular.
Disclaimer: Friends please note, abolitionist veganism is about nonhuman animals only. As a logical extension of justice, we should also care about all forms of discrimination. Therefore if I am to highlight a particular issue, then I need to provide the historical background. This historical background I provided is an account of US interventions in the Middle East and the reason I supply this is because rarely is this addressed in mainstream media. It helps us understand the issue better and we can then draw out own conclusions. I’m not conflating veganism with politics. I am commenting on community and our attitudes. If we want to know why something is happening, we need to look to history. It is not “Americanophobic” as someone accused me of being recently. It is simply meant to provide an historical backdrop to the current anti-Muslim climate. If I criticise government in this, that is not an attack on US citizens. In this day and age, governments do not represent the people. Most governments all over the world now have been taken over by corporations. They are a kleptocracy. They do not represent the people. They represent corporations. Mainstream media represent and speak for corporations. So please don’t see view this as an attack on US citizens, because it is not. It is what it is. A backdrop to what I find to be a very distressing situation.
Disclaimer: Please note I do not endorse opinions, links or ads of any individual or their sites.
