#spesciesism

[nebulaofchaosandwoe]

What does being vegan mean to you? You’re valid either way, sometimes vegan discourse can get complicated but curious about your perspective of it.

Thank you for asking!! I admit that I've been expecting nervously for this ask for a long time lol

If you google the definition of vegan you'll find the answers that most vegans are comfortable in using, but I don't really agree to those.

For me (and some other people) veganism isn't a diet, or a philosophy or a lifestyle. It is a political movement which aims to fight animal exploitation in all forms AND this is fight against the oppression of both human and non-human animals.

It doesn't mean transforming the slaughter more "humanitarian". It doesn't mean buying "vegan food" from brands and companies that clearly profit by animal exploitation. It doesn't mean defending dogs, pigs and cows but excusing all the oppression against humans - be it racism, ableism, misoginy, lgbtphobia and even slavery. The amount of vegans that excuse those is disgustingly HUGE!

Besides going against all of the things mentioned above, the vegan movement is also pretty much anti-capitalist. We fight for a world in which non-human animals are free to live their own lives in nature without suffering. We fight for a world in which humans get to live their own lives without suffering too - meaning that everyone gets access to their basic rights as humans. It is a world where everyone has access to nutritive food, education, culture, healthcare; it is a place where we can express ourselves without fearing for our lives. And we can't do any of that without fighting this system that is literally based upon oppression against all forms of life!!

Also, I'm not vegan because I feel pity for cows. Of course I do, but I didn't join the movement just because of an emotion. It's more like a sense of empathy and fairness you know? No one deserves a life like that, specially once we know that this suffering is completely unnecessary.

There's actually a name for this part of the movement, I'm not sure of the translation for English but it would be something like "political/popular veganism" while the one that doesn't see the social aspect as important is called "liberal veganism".

This is too long already I'm so sorry, but if you want to learn more about it, I recommend a lot Carol J. Adams' work and Sabrina Fernandes' channel on youtube, 'Tese Onze'. She has a playlist about this subject, some have subtitles in English, and it is just 🤌✨. She's incredible, pls go watch it!!

This one is my favorites and it sums up what I've just said: https://youtu.be/3sYc358yPas

Ty sm for asking and feel free to ask me anything else! I'm more than happy to help :3