I went vegetarian in 1974 after working in a chicken slaugherthouse. I became vegan in 1976. I have a longer perspective to look back upon from which to measure any progress made. And, yes, there is progress to report. And fifty years in any social justice movement's lifetime isn't that much time. Sadly, from the animals' perspective, every year and every minute is too long. I take many of the points made in this commentary. But feel there are some key points missing that challenge whether progress is being made. The most important point is how we frame our understanding of animal rights and how it will be achieved. Essentially, animal rights is viewed as a personal, optional lifestyle choice. But it's more than that as it's a political, socio-economic issue. Animal rights is a personal issue but it's also institutional. All the while we frame it as the former and ignore, or pay feeble attention to the latter, animal rights progress will be minimal. Not everyone will voluntarily become vegan and embrace animal rights. Public policy and laws are needed. But the animal rights movement is sadly all too weak in this area and failing to understand its importance. This must change to achieve personal and political/institutional change.
thanks for your input Kim. Happy I'm not the oldest one around ;-)
While I think the movement has already to some extent made the shift from the personal to the institutional and political level, I agree with you that we need much more of this. I actually believe that the focus on individual change (which is hard for most) prevents us from growing politically.
I don't know if it was clear enough from my piece, but I think that the animals are no better off than compared to when we started out. What I meant is that the movement has grown and matured, and that probably (hopefully) we are now in better shape to tackle the problem (even if it has grown bigger).
I went vegetarian in 1974 after working in a chicken slaugherthouse. I became vegan in 1976. I have a longer perspective to look back upon from which to measure any progress made. And, yes, there is progress to report. And fifty years in any social justice movement's lifetime isn't that much time. Sadly, from the animals' perspective, every year and every minute is too long. I take many of the points made in this commentary. But feel there are some key points missing that challenge whether progress is being made. The most important point is how we frame our understanding of animal rights and how it will be achieved. Essentially, animal rights is viewed as a personal, optional lifestyle choice. But it's more than that as it's a political, socio-economic issue. Animal rights is a personal issue but it's also institutional. All the while we frame it as the former and ignore, or pay feeble attention to the latter, animal rights progress will be minimal. Not everyone will voluntarily become vegan and embrace animal rights. Public policy and laws are needed. But the animal rights movement is sadly all too weak in this area and failing to understand its importance. This must change to achieve personal and political/institutional change.
thanks for your input Kim. Happy I'm not the oldest one around ;-)
While I think the movement has already to some extent made the shift from the personal to the institutional and political level, I agree with you that we need much more of this. I actually believe that the focus on individual change (which is hard for most) prevents us from growing politically.
I don't know if it was clear enough from my piece, but I think that the animals are no better off than compared to when we started out. What I meant is that the movement has grown and matured, and that probably (hopefully) we are now in better shape to tackle the problem (even if it has grown bigger).