Veganism is Nonviolence

Friends, Thank you for visiting my abolitionist vegan site.

Something I have noticed is how many people have taken an interest in Veganism in recent times. I’ve noticed an exponential shift, particularly in the last 18 months. As of today my page LiveVegan has almost 14,000 members from many different parts from the world and it grows each week. This is how a political nonviolent grass-roots social justice movement like Veganism takes hold – exponentially.

Veganism is about nonhuman animals exclusively, but we need to consider that all forms of discrimination are all inextricably linked. Where we have one form –  speciesism — there will be all forms  — heterosexism = racism = sexism = classism = ableism and so forth. All cause violence. Any form of discrimination targets a group or individual and “otherizes” them because they are different. Any form of discrimination reduces individuals and groups to *objects* of violence. Taking nonhumans, the most discriminated against group, out of consideration for a moment, we see how the LGBTIQ community, Muslims, women, certain racial groups, etc. are targeted and reduced to objects of violence.

Simply put, we are all interconnected (human and nonhuman) and we have an important relationship with the eco-system. This is not recognized by many and it’s often ignored due to ulterior motives.

Change starts with the individual.

This idea that we discriminate and otherize based on our own projections and biases, and that this discrimination has no basis in reality is not a new idea. The idea that when we inflict violence on any individual or group, we are inflicting violence on everyone is also not a new idea. It’s been around for at least a couple of thousand years.

This is the overall message I am trying to convey on my site. But the most important message I am trying to convey to the public is that we need to end (nonviolently) the most widespread and acceptable form of discrimination — speciesism — through Vegan education.

Change is up to you and I.

We all have been indoctrinated since birth to believe it is morally acceptable to use animals as property, as “things”, as resources. Our deeply entrenched speciesism has caused, and continues to cause unspeakable violence on an unimaginable scale never witnessed before in this planet’s life. The way to end speciesism and animal slavery is to wake up to our own individual animal use and realise that what we are doing is morally unjustifiable.

Friends, we need to get our heads around this ethical Vegan position. I invite you to read some essays from this blog site. Veganism is not a diet or health kick as so many like to portray it. Being vegan means we need to stop using animals for food, clothing, entertainment and other reasons. Veganism is the only way we are going to end this unspeakable violence we inflict on 56 billion land animals who are bred into existence to be tortured and murdered each year and a further 3 trillion plus sea animals suffer the same fate — mostly for our palate pleasure.

Animal use in all its forms is morally wrong and we have to do our part in ending it nonviolently. There’s no other way to abolish the property status of animals except to educate the public to become vegan. We must educate the public that nonhuman animals are not lesser because they are different; they are not “things”; they are not resources — they are sentient beings who have their own interests; and it is irrelevant that they are a different species. It’s irrelevant whether they are “like us” or not. All nonhuman animals deserve at least one right — the right not to be used as property. They belong to the moral community. That’s Veganism. We need to be confident in this position. We need to internalize it because it takes a while to undo our indoctrination.

So lets work together to end this unimaginable, unspeakable horror we are inflicting on the vulnerable. Let’s not promote what’s morally wrong –  “happy animal slavery” and “happy animal products”– because “humane” use of animals does not exist and even if it did, it would still be unjust. No. The way to end this abomination is to unequivocally oppose animal slavery in all it’s forms (nonviolently) equally by becoming vegan and educating others to do so.

On this site, Veganism is normal. On this site, animal exploitation in all its forms is an aberration and immoral. On this site, I do not promote the idea that one species is more important than another or that it’s morally acceptable to exploit nonhumans as long as it’s done “humanely”. That’s nonsense. On this site, nonviolence (including nonviolent speech in private and public) is what I promote. So enjoy my site and let’s educate ourselves to help bring nonviolence to each other’s lives by being nonviolent ourselves. Veganism is what the world desperately needs. Being vegan is a first step to a nonviolent life. It’s the least we can do.

Thanks for visiting and thanks for helping to spread Veganism. If you are on Facebook, I hope you will drop into LiveVegan and say hi