The Vegan Ideal

In the mid-1940s, when the founding members of the vegan movement organized themselves into The Vegan Society they set out a clear purpose for the movement that "seeks to abolish [humans'] dependence on [other] animals, with it inevitable cruelty and slaughter, and to create instead a more reasonable and humane order of society. Whilst honouring the efforts of all who are striving to achieve the emancipation of [humans] and of [other] animals." (Read more...)

We commonly hear about people adopting a "vegan diet" for health reasons. Oprah Winfrey, with her "21-day vegan makeover," is one of the latest and biggest names to be promoted as such. But this is actually a case of miscommunication. I wrote about this in my post on Labeling Products "Vegan" where I pointed out that "not everyone who consumes a totally vegetarian diet is doing so because of vegan principles or beliefs, so it is incorrect to label the diet 'vegan.'" (Read more...)

The exploitation of other animals for food and other goods involves more than the human privilege that comes from the direct exploitation of other animals, it also come at the exploitation of the world's hungriest people. So the rise in global food prices is not just linked to the conversion of food crops like corn and soybeans into ethanol and biofuels. This food-to-fuel conversion follows an older system where food crops, also mainly corn and soybeans, are turned into flesh, eggs, and dairy. (Read more...)

On Friday, a local peace organization hosted a screening of Something the Lord Made, the story of Vivien Thomas (Mos Def), his experience working in the field of experimental surgery, and his pioneering work in cardiac surgery. (Read more...)

While keeping pets and eating meat is often described as hypocritical, I think they are actually two-sides of the same coin. Both involve exploitation, but in the case of pets the exploitation is marked by affection. (Read more...)

Peter Gelderloos, a self-identified anarchist and author of How Nonviolence Protects the State, claims that veganism is a consumer activity. His arguments are a combination of ignorance and problematic assertions. There really isn't much point in responding to Gelderloos claims about "veganism" since he presents absolutely no understanding of veganism, but I'll do it anyway. (Read more...)

Some recent articles ("Idaho dairy producer battles U.S. military," "Valley Milk in Iraq?," "Dairyman wants to send milk to Middle East," "Idaho Dairymen Fights with U.S. Military") on the local dairy industries connections to US militarism illustrates the complex interrelations and interconnections of various forms of privilege and oppression. (Read more...)

"Green" dollars in USA "Green Movement" is the most recent topic on the Sistah Vegan Project Blog, which asks who really benefits from "green" consumerism. (Read more...)

I found it surprising that Stepaniak would claim that vegans "must work towards reforming current animal production practices" as if such a claim were a fact of veganism. With other questions Stepaniak has been careful to reference some source of knowledge on veganism. But here Stepaniak is just making an unsupported assertion. (Read more...)

When H. Jay Dinshah founded the American Vegan Society in 1960 he interpreted the vegan ideal of non-exploitation as ahimsa, or "dynamic harmlessness." This parallels Barbara Smith and Keith Tudor when they write that "'non exploitation' may be viewed as a part of the ... commitment to 'non maleficence' or doing no harm." (Read more...)

Keeping in mind the centrality of exploitation to oppression, I think it is important to place the vegan ideal of non-exploitation firmly in the context of anti-oppression organizing. (Read more...)

I'm going to come back to these two quotes in future posts, but I just wanted to start by posting them together. (Read more...)

Labeling consumer products "vegan" is problematic in terms of the vegan ideal. I'm not opposed to labeling products, but I do think it is preferable if such products where simply labeled "animal-free." This would be more accurate since the commercial and marketing use of the term "vegan" is only denoting that the product was produced or manufactured without using animal-derived ingredients or animal testing. (Read more...)

I originally started The Vegan Ideal on here when the administer of this site invited me to write a blog. But, I then started posting over on Blogger when the ARCO site was down last December. Since then, with the exception of one lonely post in late January, I haven't done anything with the blog. (Read more...)

The dominate way of life in the Western World, especially in the United States, is based on consumption. In our society the consumer lifestyle is the mainstream. Hence, those who seek simple living -- that is, a lifestyle based on conservation and sustainability as opposed to consumption -- are said to be living an "alternative" lifestyle. So the question I'd like to address is: What kind of lifestyle is veganism? Is it a mainstream, consumer lifestyle, or is it an alternative, sustainable lifestyle? (Read more...)