Thinking Outside the Vegan Bubble

[Tim Gier]

The founders of Our Hen House have just published an article on One Green Planet reflecting on their experiences at the recent Animal Rights Conference in Los Angeles. They write:

It is important, however, as the vegan community grows, to remember that we don’t want to stay within it all the time, since just talking to each other isn’t going to create the change we want to see in the world. Activism can only take place when we reach out of our vegan comfort zone into the world of non-believers. Or, we should say, not-yet-believers. For that reason, we wouldn’t classify conferences and other inside-the-vegan-bubble events as activism per se. Rather, they are benchmarks in between the real work.

You may read the whole thing here: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/animal-rights-thinking-outs...

[Lisa Qualls]

That is what the Vegan Community Center is doing (I posted about it before, but did not use the name because we did not have our url yet).  We will be to veganism what church is to religion.  We will be a constant tangible reminder of Veganism so that anyone who wants to learn how to live vegan can come to us for guidance, support and community.  Our long-term goal is to be in every community, just like churches are now.  We will have mentors who are certified by us to represent veganism properly and personally assist those who want help.  We will be starting with open meetings in places we rent for the event, but eventually we want our own building.  Can you imagine having a Vegan Community Center with one of those signs out front (like churches have) to promote a message or an event (Pancake Breakfast This Saturday!) and people drive by and see it everyday and think of veganism and think of coming to try it out?

I appreciate the point that hen house is making.  We need to be everywhere.  I work in a private sector job and as awful as it is to be around them sometimes I know that my presense makes people think.  One of my co-workers has been especially receptive.  After we had a conversation he went home and did his own research and talked to his wife and the next day he told me that he will never take his kids to an animal circus, and another day he asked me to bring him mock foods, so I made a dish with Gardien beefless tips.

I know one activist in my area who hosted a challenge at his work to get people to pledge to eat animal-free for a month.  We need people in the work force, churches and clubs.  This is too important to keep to ourselves.

Conferences, parties and other vegan events are important for us to take a break, share ideas (we actually could do a better job of that), and be renewed, but we do need to do actual activism.  I am very disturbed by the trend I am seeing.  It is increasingly hard to get activists to come out for protests.  I live in the DC area and the group I am active with can only count on getting 5 protesters!  I am on an email list of over 100 area activists, and I am lucky if I, or some of my friends, can get 3 of them to show up for a protest, leafleting, pay-per-view, or projections event.  I know of groups that have trouble staffing a table for a festival.  But, invite those same people to a party and you are sure to get more than 25 people.  That is disturbing.