A new law in Phoenix, AZ, may help horses:

“[Phoenix] City Council members on Wednesday approved an ordinance that makes roping or tripping equine animals for the purpose of entertainment a misdemeanor punishable by jail time or fines.” (source)

This sounds like good news. Defining animal cruelty and making laws that prevent or ban certain cruel practices can improve animal welfare. Moreover, they can be a small stepping stone in the path to a peaceful, compassionate world where animals have the basic right to live their lives without harmful interference from humans: a vegan world.

This stepping stone idea is called “incrementalism.” If the path does actually lead to the intended goal of a vegan world, then it’s “incremental abolitionism.” However, the path doesn’t always lead to the goal. The article continues:

“A California animal rights activist wrote to Phoenix City Council this month to suggest that the Phoenix language is identical to California’s law, which is “not working as intended” to curb animal abuse.”

That statement should be taken with a grain of salt since the “California animal rights activist” isn’t identified. He or she could easily be a mole, a fake advocate planted by the anti-animal industries. But the worry still has some merit:

• Animal cruelty laws need adequate enforcement, and
• Animal cruelty laws should include public education.

Animal cruelty doesn’t stop just because it becomes illegal. It stops when people start learning and understanding that animal cruelty is morally and socially wrong, not merely legally wrong. When we ban dogfighting, cockfighting, or hose tripping, the activities will simply go underground until the social stigma against animal cruelty is strong enough to condemn the activities even without law enforcement.

This is why measures like California’s Prop 2 should be coupled with vegan outreach. The humane movement and the animal liberation movement mustn’t focus purely on legal reform. They should include social reform. We MUST educate the public. It’s not either/or, it’s both. We can reform the legal system as well as inspire a larger social movement for animal rights.

But how? We can ask the big organizations to do it until the cows come home (pun intended) but they may never invest the time or resources necessary. We must take it into our own hands. We must do the public education ourselves. If each of us does a little, it all adds up to something enormous.

Here are some options for small ways you can make a big difference. Make your own stepping stone for someone else on their path to veganism:

• Blog - write about factory farming, vegan recipes, or animal rights.
• Leaflet - hand out booklets or pamphlets about veganism. A good booklet is Why Vegan?
• Dress - wear t-shirts and buttons that say “vegan.” Identify yourself publicly as a vegan. Come out.
• Email - send stories, links, and recipes to non-vegan friends and family members.
• Ask - ask restaurant owners and chefs to provide vegan options.
• Write - send letters to newspapers and magazines.
• Feed - have dinner parties, potlucks, and feed-ins.

1,275 views
Sections: Vegan Activism, Vegan Theory
Topics: activism, law, Theory, veg, Vegan