BENJAMIN SELWYN: The two souls of Veganism
An ideological gulf separates mainstream Consumer Veganism and Ethical Veganism’s more political foundations. In many ways, the former contradicts and potentially undermines the latter.
BENJAMIN SELWYN: ‘While veganism is often portrayed in the mainstream media as another dietary fad, the reality is that it embodies two distinct approaches to our place in the world. On the one hand… Consumerist veganism appeals to individualism and a faith in the power of capitalist markets. From this perspective, if enough people switch from meat to plant-based diets, then market mechanisms will generate environmentally friendly outcomes. On the other hand, more radical vegan politics are hitting the headlines. Witness the employment tribunal victory by Jordi Casamitjana, sacked from the League Against Cruel Sports after revealing that the company had investments in pension funds involving animal testing… The tribunal judged that ethical veganism is a philosophical belief protected by law against discrimination…
The Vegan Society, founded in 1944 in the UK, aimed to establish a philosophy and way of living which excluded as far as possible all forms of exploitation and cruelty to animals. Early vegans promoted the philosophy as a ‘way of life concerned with living without hurting others … which avoids exploitation whether it be of our fellow men, the animal population, or the soil upon which we all rely for our very existence.’ An ideological gulf separates mainstream consumer veganism, which has nothing to say about the exploitation of our ‘fellow men’, and ethical veganism’s more political foundations. In many ways, the former contradicts and potentially undermines the latter…
Ethical veganism contains notable anti-market philosophical foundations. It points to a more holistic understanding of the world, rooted in an aversion to exploitation. In the current context, it has much in common with overt political protests, such as the youth climate strikes and Extinction Rebellion. The production and consumption of healthy, environmentally sustainable food, free from animal and human exploitation, requires more than shifts in diet, however widespread. It necessitates nothing less than a fundamental transformation in the way humans relate to each other and interact with nature… These two souls of veganism are antagonistic: veganism’s consumer variant promises to undermine the objectives of ethical veganism’. SOURCE…
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