Vegan Activism
Going vegan is a great start, but a closer look at morality shows that it's not enough. Vegan Activism is the moral base line. This can be demonstrated in an analogy, adapted from one told by vegan educator Ed Winters, at the 2017 London Animal Rights March.
Walking down a street, you pass a boy who is kicking a dog. He invites you to kick the dog with him. You have three options:
1 - You accept the invite and you kick the dog. You contribute to unnecessary animal cruelty.
2 - You say that what he's doing is wrong and you won't participate, and then walk by whilst the boy continues. This is veganism, you don't contribute to it, but you don't stop unnecessary animal cruelty.
3 - You say that what he's doing is wrong and you intervene to stop him. This is vegan activism, and it is the only option you have that can stop unnecessary animal cruelty.
By only ceasing our own contribution to the cruelty, we do not stop the cruelty caused by others who may not know better. To reduce unnecessary animal cruelty as much as possible, vegans must become activists and share the information we have with others.
There are many different forms of vegan activism. Simple and effective methods include being well informed and talking to people, as well as sharing information by forwarding links. One easy activist task is to simply share this website whyvegan.info with others. And if you have an Instagram account, following us @whyvegan.info will help to increase our reach.
A great, non-graphic video to share that clearly and logically addresses many of the common objections that people have against veganism is the below 19 minute TED Talk by Ed Winters.
More involved methods can include signing petitions, participating in marches or joining activist groups such as Anonymous for the Voiceless. Everything counts, just be mindful of your audience and the situation when choosing how and if to act. Try to avoid making others feel bad for not knowing, remembering that you too did not always have this knowledge. Rather than pushing your views too strongly, provide people with information, and then let them decide how they feel about it over time.
The key to the vegan movement is mass public awareness. As more and more people become informed of the reasons and start to adopt a vegan lifestyle, soon business, industry and governments will follow, and the world will quickly move towards a vegan future. So please share information with as many people as possible.