Vegan movement from the beginning to our days

Vegan

By Federica Gallocchio

"Besides agreeing with the aims vegetarianism for aesthetic and moral reasons, it is my that a vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect the human temperament would most beneficially influence lot of mankind "

Albert Einstein

Term vegan

The origin of veganism dates back to 1944 when Donald Watson with a group of five other non-dairy vegetarians questioned the name of this new diet and lifestyle. Donald Watson with the suggestion of Mr. George A. Henderson and his wife minted the term vegan.

But the current vision of veganism took place in 1949 with Leslie J Cross, who thought the definition of veganism lacked moral principles. It was the first time that veganism was related to the exploitation by man and the emancipation of animals. [1]

Photo made by Federica Gallocchio

Why do people become vegan?

There are different reasons to become vegan, I can speak about three main categories:

Animal rights

Environment and sustainability

Health concerns

In the journey to become vegan, different associations can help in this choice as the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG): a non-profit organization composed of health professionals, activists, and educators who are [2]

“dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger.” [3]

The difference between vegetarians and vegan is that vegans also avoid animal products and by-products.
Another organization similar to VGR is Vegan Action a non-profit organization that works to raise awareness of animal suffering and negative environmental impact, through human outreach and sharing vegan campaigns. [2]

The Vegan Action state: “veganism, the natural extension of vegetarianism, is an integral component of a cruelty-free lifestyle. Living vegan provides numerous benefits to animals’ lives, to the environment, and to our own health-through healthy diet and lifestyle.”[4]

Vegan Action also promotes a plant-based diet for health benefits according to the American Diabetic Association which suggests that a diet free of animal fats and proteins reduces one’s risk for “heart disease, colon and lung cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and several other debilitating conditions”.[5] Vegan Action explains also that a plant-based diet provides all the nutrients necessary.
With the term Vegan, we can define not only the diet but also the lifestyle because not all the people which have a plant-based diet could be defined as vegan: the difference between the terms is based on the lifestyle because vegans tend to eliminate all the products that are produced with animal substances or are tested on animals. [2]

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Animal rights movements

Over the years the animal fighting movement divided into two main groups:

· The first movement is based on the traditional humane interest, they care for stray animals and fight animal abuse, but it isn’t against medical research, zoos, or food animal production

· The second movement advocates animal rights and is interested in every kind of issue related to animals, from captive care of animals, biomedical research, and sometimes also farms and intensive agriculture

The American Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals gave the start to the first human movement against animal abuse in 1869, now it is the father of another 7 million groups.

In 1980 there the foundation of one of the most significant movements for animal activism also in current days: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). [6]

In animal rights movements morality is fundamental, it is the “glue” that keeps social groups together. In current days some groups are viewed as neo-Nazi because they have a very undemocratic and dystopian view. [7]

Usually, different groups need to connect because they can search for the effects from the same field. Animal Right Sweden provides training for its members on how to meet the public also with international activist camps, where they manage also to help activists to improve their emotional management skills. [8]

Also in lifestyle vegan activists are very straight, sometimes they can feel guilty for not living up to their self-expectations. To an ordinary person, the activist sees in the activist a passionate campaigner when he is moved by morality, but if he is a protester, he could be seen as an angry campaigner who wants to provoke. [9]

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PETA

PETA concentrates its attention on laboratories, the food industry, the clothing trade, and the entertainment business. They fight against every kind of animal abuse.

The founders of PETA began to protest in a very strong way from the beginning they wanted to protest in public places against animal cruelty in all its forms and they wanted to expose the behinds. In the long term, they start to apply more and more measures to be more effective as possible, with the enrolment of lawyers, and members of the scientific corporate and legislative communities to achieve a larger scale.

In 1981 there was the first case based on Silver Spring monkeys, they demonstrate animal abuse in the laboratory and confiscated abused animals, and pointed to the first victory for animals in laboratories.

Now thanks to PETA we have vegan options in big fast-food companies like Burger King, more than 100 major fashion brands suspended their use of animal materials and more than 5,900 companies don’t test on animals for makeup. [10]

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LAV

LAV (Lega Anti Vivisezione) is an Italian association born in 1977 to protect the life and the rights of animals with investigations and emergency action. They promote a total cruelty-free lifestyle. They want to change the relationship between humankind and animals to achieve a lifestyle where nobody suffers and to have respect for all species.

They combat to have laws that respect animals and they develop educational projects with teachers and students.

They want to eliminate vivisection, fishing, hunting, and animal industries.

From 2019 for the association antispecism and veganism are fundamental, but before everyone could join as volunteers. [11]

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WWF

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) was born in 1961 with the main value to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature and supports all life on Earth, to reduce humanity’s environmental footprint.

But recently they are accused of greenwashing because they received millions of dollars from governments and unethical corporations such as Coca-Cola, Shell, Monsanto, HSBC, Cargill, BP, Alcoa, Marine Harvest, and Rio Mare. [12]

Wilfried Huismann:
"WWF is a willing service provider to the giants of the food and energy sectors, supplying industry with a green, progressive image … On the one hand, it protects the forest; on the other, it helps corporations lay claim to land not previously in their grasp. WWF helps sell the idea of voluntary resettlement to indigenous peoples".[13]

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Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd was born in 1977 with the mission to protect and conserve the world’s oceans and marine wildlife. They work to defend every marine creature.

The association has agreements with the government that guests the fleet to assist the law in discovering and arresting illegal vessels.[14]