Dear Colleagues:

As a result of the efforts of Dra. Ana María Aboglio and Regina Rheda, the blog essays are now available in Spanish and Portuguese.

Please also remember that our video presentations, Theory of Animal Rights, Animals as Property, Animal Rights vs. Animal Welfare, and Animal Law,, as well as our vegan-abolitionist pamphlet are all available in Spanish and Portuguese (as well as other languages).

Thanks to Ana María and Regina.

Gary L. Francione
© 2008 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

Eric Prescott and his colleagues at the Boston Vegan Association have produced an excellent pamphlet on the importance of veganism. When I talk about creative, nonviolent vegan education, this is the sort of thing that I mean.

Gary L. Francione
© 2008 Gary L. Francione

The New York Times Magazine (October 26, 2008) has a lengthy article on California’s Proposition 2. I will blog more about this article, which is disturbing on multiple levels.

But I could not let a moment more pass without commenting on a statement attributed to HSUS president Wayne Pacelle: “For people who want a vegan revolution–that’s too passive for me.”

Creative, nonviolent vegan education is anything but “passive.” It is the most effective way of decreasing demand for animal products. It is the most effective way of effecting a cultural shift from the notion that animals are things that we can exploit as long as we do so “humanely” to beings who are members of the moral community with a right not to be brought into existence and killed just because we enjoy the taste of their flesh and the products that we derive from their suffering.

It is nothing short of remarkable that Pacelle would support as not “passive” a ballot proposition that won’t come into effect until 2015, is riddled with exceptions, and will only make consumers feel better about continuing to support animal exploitation.

It is nothing short of remarkable that a man who controls an organization that has reported revenues of $124,000,000 and assets of $223,000,000 would complain about grassroots vegan education as “passive.” Imagine what could be done for nonhuman animals if a significant portion of those resources were devoted to a creative, progressive vegan campaign. The fact that Wayne envisions Proposition 2 as the strategy to undertake bespeaks a complete failure of imagination at the least.

The New York Times article says that Pacelle became a vegan when he was 19. I would imagine that what caused Wayne to become a vegan was a shift in the way that he looked at nonhuman animals. Perhaps others should be given the chance to change their perceptions rather than being told falsely that they can do something meaningful by supporting efforts like Proposition 2.

Gary L. Francione
© 2008 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

It seems as though Proposition 2 is not the only reactionary measure that will be put before California voters next month.

Proposition 8, which will eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry, will also be on the ballot.

In May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that limiting marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution and that persons of the same sex have the right to marry under the California Constitution. Proposition 8 asks the voters of California to deny equal protection to gays and lesbians in California despite this Court ruling.

Proposition 8 is nothing more than blatant heterosexism.

We live in a society permeated by racism, sexism, heterosexism, and speciesism. These attitudes all share in common exclusion of some group from membership in the moral community based on irrelevant characteristics (race, sex, sexual orientation, species). If we are ever to make progress as a civilization, we have to reject all of these forms of discrimination. All discrimination is a form of violence.

I certainly hope that California voters will resist this regrettable attempt to deny dignity and respect to gays and lesbians.

Gary L. Francione
© 2008 Gary L. Francione

Dear Colleagues:

Earlier today, Anna and I went to Whole Foods. We detest shopping there but we have no choice; our local health food stores have largely disappeared in the wake of chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. On Sundays, there is an outdoor market in the Whole Foods parking lot. Local vendors sell fruits, vegetables, baked goods—and animal flesh and products. One vendor had decorated her “organic meat” stall with pictures of her “free-range” chickens, pigs, and cows. We stopped to look at the pictures. I pointed out to her that there were no pictures of the slaughtering process.

“Oh, well we slaughter our chickens on the premises and our cows and pigs go to a slaughter facility that is only six miles away. They don’t stay overnight and we try to make it as stress free as possible.”

Another shopper had appeared and said, “I feel so much better about buying my meat from farms like this.”

The vendor remarked, “Oh, yes, these animals are our dear friends.”

I responded, politely but seriously: “That’s an odd thing to say; I hope that you don’t treat your other ‘dear friends’ this way.”

The vendor laughed. She thought I was joking.

“These animals are our dear friends.” Think about that. Think about what terrible confusion such a statement reveals.

This is where the happy meat/animal products movement is leading us.

This is where the PETA–KFC controlled-atmosphere killing campaign is taking us.

This is where efforts like Proposition 2 are taking us.

We are moving backward.

Go vegan. It’s the baseline of the abolitionist movement and is nonviolence in action.

Gary L. Francione
© 2008 Gary L. Francione