I reject animal welfare reform and single-issue campaigns because they are not only inconsistent with the claims of justice that we should be making if we really believe that animal exploitation is wrong, but because these approaches cannot work as a practical matter. Animals are property and it costs money to protect their interests; therefore, the level of protection accorded to animal interests will always be low and animals will, under the best of circumstances, still be treated in ways that would constitute torture if applied to humans. By endorsing welfare reforms that supposedly make exploitation more compassionate or single-issue campaigns that falsely suggest that there is a coherent moral distinction between meat and dairy or between fur and wool or between steak and foie gras, we betray the principle of justice that says that all sentient beings are equal for purposes of not being used exclusively as human resources. And, on a practical level, we do nothing more than make people feel better about animal exploitation.
Gary L. Francione
We do not need to eat animals, wear animals, or use animals for entertainment purposes, and our only defense of these uses is our pleasure, amusement, and convenience.
rights slavery purpose life wisdom education inspirational-quotes justice animals abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth sentience veganism
Being vegan is easy. Are there social pressures that encourage you to continue to eat, wear, and use animal products? Of course there are. But in a patriarchal, racist, homophobic, and ableist society, there are social pressures to participate and engage in sexism, racism, homophobia, and ableism. At some point, you have to decide who you are and what matters morally to you. And once you decide that you regard victimizing vulnerable nonhumans is not morally acceptable, it is easy to go and stay vegan
rights slavery life wisdom education racism inspirational-quotes justice animals sexism abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth sentience veganism classism heterosexism moral-obligation speciesism vulnerable
Veganism is not about giving anything up or losing anything; it is about gaining the peace within yourself that comes from embracing nonviolence and refusing to participate in the exploitation of the vulnerable
rights life wisdom inspirational-quotes life-lessons justice animals abolition abolitionist ahimsa francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth veganism vulnerable
Ethical veganism results in a profound revolution within the individual; a complete rejection of the paradigm of oppression and violence that she has been taught from childhood to accept as the natural order. It changes her life and the lives of those with whom she shares this vision of nonviolence. Ethical veganism is anything but passive; on the contrary, it is the active refusal to cooperate with injustice
rights health slavery life wisdom extinction education racism inspirational-quotes justice animals sexism abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth sentience veganism classism heterosexism moral-obligation speciesism vulnerable climate-change global-warming
We should always be clear that animal exploitation is wrong because it involves speciesism. And speciesism is wrong because, like racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-semitism, classism, and all other forms of human discrimination, speciesism involves violence inflicted on members of the moral community where that infliction of violence cannot be morally justified. But that means that those of us who oppose speciesism necessarily oppose discrimination against humans. It makes no sense to say that speciesism is wrong because it is like racism (or any other form of discrimination) but that we do not have a position about racism. We do. We should be opposed to it and we should always be clear about that.
rights slavery life wisdom education inspirational-quotes justice animals abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth sentience veganism
Veganism is an act of nonviolent defiance. It is our statement that we reject the notion that animals are things and that we regard sentient nonhumans as moral persons with the fundamental moral right not to be treated as the property or resources of humans.
Veganism is about nonviolence. It is about not engaging in harm to other sentient beings; to oneself; and to the environment upon which all beings depend for life. In my view, the animal rights movement is, at its core, a movement about ending violence to all sentient beings. It is a movement that seeks fundamental justice for all. It is an emerging peace movement that does not stop at the arbitrary line that separates humans from nonhumans.
rights peace inspirational justice animals abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation nonviolence peace-movement veganism movement
People need to be educated so that they can make intelligent moral choices
morality education communication marketing delusion animal-rights vegan
Ethical veganism represents a commitment to nonviolence.
Any serious social, political, and economic change must include veganism.
If we take the position that an assessment that veganism is morally preferable to vegetarianism is not possible because we are all on our own journey, then moral assessment becomes completely impossible or is speciesist. It is impossible because if we are all on our own journey, then there is nothing to say to the racist, sexist, anti-semite, homophobe, etc. If we say that those forms of discrimination are morally bad, but, with respect to animals, we are all on our own journey and we cannot make moral assessments about, for instance, dairy consumption, then we are simply being speciesist and not applying the same moral analysis to nonhumans that we apply to the human context.
You cannot live a nonviolent life as long as you are consuming violence. Please consider going vegan.
rights slavery life wisdom education inspirational-quotes justice animals abolition abolitionist ahimsa exploitation francione nonviolence nonviolence-jainism peace-making peace-movement peace-on-earth sentience veganism vulnerable
Speciesism is morally objectionable because, like racism, sexism, and heterosexism, it links personhood with an irrelevant criterion. Those who reject speciesism are committed to rejecting racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of discrimination as well.
An abolitionist is, as I have developed that notion, one who (1) maintains that we cannot justify animal use, however humane it may be; (2) rejects welfare campaigns that seek more humane exploitation, or single-issue campaigns that seek to portray one form of animal exploitation as morally worse than other forms of animal exploitation (e.g., a campaign that seeks to distinguish fur from wool or leather); and (3) regards veganism, or the complete rejection of the consumption or use of any animal products, as a moral baseline. An abolitionist regards creative, nonviolent vegan education as the primary form of activism, because she understands that the paradigm will not shift until we address demand and educate people to stop thinking of animals as things we eat, wear, or use as our resources.
Showing 1 to 15 of 23 results
You must log in to post a comment.
There are no comments yet.