Have you ever dreamed of freedom, justice and, overall, a life without violence, discrimination and hatred? This has been a question I have constantly asked myself from a very young age. As a woman born into a male dominant, misogynistic society, I always thought of myself as being a victim of unequal treatment; of a downright discriminative, oppressive culture. Feeling as one of the unfortunate members of the losing side of the game, I armed myself with words and knowledge, doing research on women`s rights, feminism and gender equality, questioning religion, tradition and culture.
However, it was not until I came across animal rights issues that it finally struck me and altered my worldview. My struggle for gender, race and even social equality suddenly changed. I was no longer the victim, nor was I on the side of the oppressed. At that moment I understood and finally accepted that I was the oppressor. Every day, through every single action and choice made, I was inflicting far worse pain on someone else than I had once felt. I was paying others to exploit, abuse, imprison and kill someone else for the sole reason that they were “just” animals. I was a speciesist.
In addition to the billions of land animals slaughtered for food each year across the world, there are millions more who are shot by hunters, killed in shelters, used and eventually destroyed in laboratories, victims of fashion who die only so that a human can wear their fur or skin, and those starved to death by irresponsible humans who only see them as an accessory for their home. In total (not including marine animals) more than 150 billion individuals are slaughtered each year worldwide. An appalling number, right?
What does veganism have to do with women’s rights and human rights? The answer is as simple as the understanding that no one has any right over anyone else. We do not own other sentient beings, so we have no say in regards to their freedom or their lives; we can only respect their existence and the fact that they are born with an inherent right to life. As long as we cannot understand that, we cannot presume to be evolved beings, and the fight for social justice will remain a dream.
I have chosen veganism for life because I believe in freedom, social justice, and equality. Most important, I respect the life of all sentient beings. I will do whatever I possibly can to help this message spread and get through to all people, so we can finally evolve and live free from harm. We are all earthlings sharing a moment in time and the desire to live and love.