Five trustees quit Vegan Society after a row about amid allegations of institutional racism and transphobia

[FreeBritnee]

I thought this article might be worth a read. I’m intrigued how cultural appropriation and institutional racism got caught up with veganism and transphobia.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9849251/Five-trustees-quit-Vegan-Society-row-claim-veganism-cultural-appropriation.html

The articles seem very different. One painting a picture of genuine racism in which case this thread isnt very nice.

All I learnt from the "exclusive" article in The Vegan Review and the resignation letter was that the former vice chair is disabled, queer, black and from a working class background.

Did you know that the former vice chair is disabled, queer, black and from a working class background?

In case I didn't make it clear before, the former vice chair is disabled, queer, black and from a working class background.

I am all for animal welfare, which is why I rarely eat meat but there is no way I could become a vegan if it meant being represented by The Vegan Society, even if the former vice chair is disabled, queer, black and from a working class background.

Alfonso, I would tak

Agh posted too soon.
I wouldn't take any vegan organisation as representative of vegans. They tend to attract an extreme element.
We're mostly normal people who eat grains and tofu.

The articles seem very different. One painting a picture of genuine racism in which case this thread isnt very nice.

It does seem likely that there is genuine racism and probably other issues as well, as there are in all charities, I've seen some charities working constructively together to address racism and similar, and others descend into accusations and counter-accusations and people being too scared to speak from all angles. Most people are somewhere in the middle and able to have constructive conversations, but others have extremes on both ends and just become paralysed and acrimonious. The "queer" thing has been linked in with racism in lots of cases, which isn't helping if you want to challenge racism but can't buy into queer and gender identity. It needs people with enough life experience and emotional maturity to steer a path through, but it might be a while before this happens.

Christ on a bike. No wonder people think vegans are all pathetic snowflakes! Cultural appropriation?! Where is the cultural appropriation in reducing your meat intake for your health, for the planet and for animal suffering? Are we supposed to just live off plain beans, rice and veg? Mad, completely mad. It is actually possible (far fetched though it may seem) to be vegan and not a delusional idiot.

@FluffyBattleKitten

Agh posted too soon. I wouldn't take any vegan organisation as representative of vegans. They tend to attract an extreme element. We're mostly normal people who eat grains and tofu.

Thank you, @FluffyBattleKitten, that is reassuring!

Especially PETA!

"The "queer" thing has been linked in with racism in lots of cases, which isn't helping if you want to challenge racism but can't buy into queer and gender identity."

Can you explain this a bit further @TabbyStar? how are they connected?

@WhereYouLeftIt

"The "queer" thing has been linked in with racism in lots of cases, which isn't helping if you want to challenge racism but can't buy into queer and gender identity."

Can you explain this a bit further @TabbyStar? how are they connected?

They aren’t connected, that’s the whole point. The problem is when someone basicallly sets themselves up as a professional victim it means that when they are a victim of an actual injustice it’s hard to believe them. Given that this clearly female person considers it an affront if anyone would dare to refer to her as she, I can’t really trust her judgement on any other type of discrimination.

Yes, pretty much what korawick12345 said. To be fair it's definitely not always the case that they're connected everywhere, but there are plenty of people who are just jumping on whatever bandwagon is going with whom it's impossible to have any open conversation. Though there are also leaders in the charity sector who haven't thought enough about this before and are now either out of their depth and highly repentant and grovelling (I've seen mainly women in this category) or completely ignoring it (more men) so it's a mess from both ends.

@Imnobody4

I think ‘activist’ is a career now. It’s all you need on your CV to get doors to open. That and 'influencer' Beam me up Scotty.

And blogger...

@aliensprig

Christ on a bike. No wonder people think vegans are all pathetic snowflakes! Cultural appropriation?! Where is the cultural appropriation in reducing your meat intake for your health, for the planet and for animal suffering? Are we supposed to just live off plain beans, rice and veg? Mad, completely mad. It is actually possible (far fetched though it may seem) to be vegan and not a delusional idiot.

Only if your rice is from the area where you live isn't it cultural appropriation to eat it in a country not of its origin

Are potatoes allowed?

A relative is an Iranian vegan. He does enjoy chips. I must tell him he is wrong on so many levels.

The only vegan food I can think of that's not cultural appropriation is turnips.
No thanks.

But you’d be taking the food out of the mouths of the wee donkeys...

A life without hummus isn't bearable.

@KittenKong

But you’d be taking the food out of the mouths of the wee donkeys...

Donkeys eat hummus?

Obviously if there has been actual racism, that's wrong, but there's so many other complaints mixed up in it that it's completely obscured. The idea that eating foods from other countries is 'cultural appropriation' is utterly daft. There's also a tendency on the left to try to make every organisation generalist. It started with feminism but it's creeping in elsewhere. A vegan organisation should be for all people who don't eat animal products, regardless of their other beliefs. Why would it need to take a position on gender ideology or Palestine or anything else? If you want 'intersectional activism' then start an organisation focused on that, don't try to make existing ones conform to your purity spiral politics so that only people who hold all the views you deem correct can be part of it.

I tried reading that article and letter.

It was in English, but not.

God , this is depressing. I've been a member of the vegan society for a couple of decades and had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. I joined to support their education work and just flick through the magazine, checking out the recipes.

Most of my friends are vegan and have been for years. We're vegan because we like and respect animals and don't want to be complicit in causing them pain or distress. Nothing else needs to be dragged into it.

No, that's probably why donkeys always look sad!

What does trans have anything to do with nanni-mules?

@TabbyStar

Yes, pretty much what korawick12345 said. To be fair it's definitely not always the case that they're connected everywhere, but there are plenty of people who are just jumping on whatever bandwagon is going with whom it's impossible to have any open conversation. Though there are also leaders in the charity sector who haven't thought enough about this before and are now either out of their depth and highly repentant and grovelling (I've seen mainly women in this category) or completely ignoring it (more men) so it's a mess from both ends.

Thank you for the explanation, both of you. I thought I must be missing something but it seems not. A link is being claimed, that does not actually exist.

Well I got part way through that resignation letter and realised that though she could have been telling the truth about the racism she claims to have suffered but with such a serious case of nonsensical verbal diarrhoea no one in their right mind is going to get through to the real issue or believe anything that she says due to her clear agenda (professional victim hood) rather than her claim of wanting to improve the organisation.