Scare Tactics
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Vegetarian/vegan cookbooks…We all need them and we all love them. What would a vegan/vegetarian site be without giving the proper attention to the art of cooking? But it turns out that these cookbooks are nothing more than vile propaganda. What? Yes, that’s right…propaganda!
Some time ago dutch politician Henk Jan Ormel attracted a lot of media attention with his requests to ban a vegetarian cookbook. According to him it was nothing more then a piece of propaganda that attempts to promote a ‘vegetarian lifestyle’. To make things even more bizarre, the book was being published by the dutch government itself and was meant to inform people of proper vegetarian nutrition. This didn’t bother Orem apparently, who also demanded that the funds for the book be used to inform the public of the importance and necessity of animal testing! (for those who read dutch, here is a good blogpost about it by Tobias Leenaert of the Belgian vegetarian union EVA: Tobias Leenaert )
This might seem strange and hard to believe, but this sort of weirdness is becoming more and more frequent in Europe the last couple of years. Just like in the US, we are being branded as nutjobs, terrorists and criminals. The advancements the animal movement has made are being threatened by an artificially created hostile climate, and the real question we have to ask ourselves as a movement is: How do we deal with this?
This is an important question that affects the future of billions and billions of animals. How did we respond in Europe? Animal activists in Holland seized the opportunity to make it clear to the public that meat is bad for your health, the environment and the animals. That was the only positive thing that came from the negative and absurd media publicity we got, and I question if this had any effect. Holland, Belgium (my country) and other Western – European countries have seen good progress in the last decade or so when it comes to animal rights. Of course resistance has been mounting and the climate is getting dangerous and dark.
Two things that took place in Holland this year made this quite clear. Dutch minister Guusje Ter Horst announced that she wants to deal with ‘increased’ animal rights extremism by forcing all animal right groups (including animal protection groups such as ‘de dierenbescherming’, equivalent would be RSPCA) to sign a contract in which they vow NOT to use violence anymore. So, in fact all groups are considered violent until they sign a contract that they aren’t violent and won’t break the law. So in essence you are considered guilty of breaking the law until you sign a piece of paper. This caused a small legal riot in Holland and eventually all animal rights and protection groups collectively decided to refuse to sign such a document.
Another example is a severely hyped interview in the dutch media of an ‘ALF infiltrator’ (Adrian Redford) who warned people on prime time TV not to donate to any animal right groups, because most of the money is used to fund terrorist ALF activities. Of course the usual suspects (meat industry, …) loved this. In this case it was mostly the dutch blogosphere that responded (including myself). If you read dutch, you can read everything here: animal rights extremism (or you can use google translate)
The question is: how do we deal with this? In the US this has been going on for some time, but we see the same problem emerging more and more here in Europe. How must we react as a movement against such a storm of scare-mongering, scare tactics and maligning of activists? What can we do? What do you think?
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“Hypnos” has been an ethical vegetarian for over half a decade and find myself moving more and more in the direction of veganism the last year or so (don’t wear leather, don’t use any diary products,…). Hypnos has been very active online for years for animal rights and is a complete blog addict. Hypnos started blogging and partaking in internet debates many years ago and has been running several internet blogs such as the empathy for animals blog and the dutch animal liberation blog. Besides blogging Hypnos also likes to study languages and read horror and thriller novels. Hypnos enjoys fitness and hiking.
I found this very interesting on several levels. On one hand dHr Ormel’s efforts to ban a book on how to cook vegetables goes against the grain of the much-vaunted Dutch national virtue of tolerance. The Dutch will tolerate what they in fact despise even if it just about kills them. However, the assassinations of Pim Fortuyn (by an animal rights activist who in this particular case was motivated by something other than animal rights) and Theo van Gogh (a victim of Islamic extremism) have contributed to a recent wearing thin of Dutch tolerance.
OTOH raising livestock for milk and meat is a huge part of the Dutch economy and culture. Every little town in Friesland has a statue of a cow in the village square. The supermarkets have walls stacked from floor to ceiling with large wheels of every sort of Gouda imaginable. Grownups drink milk and buttermilk with their meals, and there are many dairy products Americans have never heard of. Anyone for vla? When Edward visited me in a Dutch hospital, he asked me if the Dutch eat anything else besides bread and cheese. Um, actually, no. Typically the Dutch eat two meals a day of bread, cheese, and cold cuts. The Netherlands also has a huge swine production industry which exports tons of canned hams all over the world. Dutch supermarkets also have cases and cases of a wide variety of pork-derived cold cuts, dripping with layers of fat. The cheapest American bacon is positively lean compared to Dutch cold cuts which of course are eaten without rendering the fat. Frankly, it’s hard to believe that the Dutch don’t keel over from clogged arteries at the earliest possible moment. I think they are protected by their mad love for the bicycle.
So campaigns for vegetarianism/veganism represent a significant threat both to the livelihoods of many Dutch people and to Dutch culture. The average Dutch kaaskop (cheesehead) is not going to take kindly to attacks, whether verbal or violent, on the meat and dairy industries. That being said, there are certainly Dutch and Flemish vegetarian restaurants (I have patronized them) and hence vegetarians and vegans (I know several). IMO the animal rights movement will have a harder row to hoe in the Netherlands and Flanders than in some other parts of the world.
Re dHr. Ormel–Edward also asked me if all Dutch men were named Henk. Sometimes it seems so
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Well actually there are a lot of vegetarians/vegans in Holland. They don’t always have it easy, but it is much worse in Belgium or france.
Um, Hypnos, I did say that there are vegetarians and vegans in the Netherlands. In fact there was a vegetarisch restaurant on my corner in a working class, heavily Turkish neighborhood in Nijmegen, and it did have a clientele. Even though it’s been seven years since I lived in the Netherlands, I dare say that the Dutch have not been as quick to embrace the vegan message as have, say, coastal Californians. It should also be remembered that California is, as Woody Guthrie put it, the Garden of Eden when it comes to the cultivation of fruits, nuts and vegetables. Just as meat and dairy production are cornerstone industries in Nederland, fruit, nut, and vegetable growing are basic to California’s economic health. Driving through the citrus orchards and vineyards of California has some of the same thrilling beauty as driving through Lisse during tulip time. Thus both the scenery and the economy of California encourage a plant-based diet. Instead of a cow statue in every village, every town in California boasts of being the world’s capital of this vegetable or that fruit. Given that major agribusiness in California is pro-fruit and veg, the vegan message falls on more receptive ears there. In West Texas where cattle ranching and feedlots are major sources of income, not so much.
LOL
“the scenery and the economy of California encourage a plant-based diet.”
That’s not really true. Having spent the majority of my life in California, I can testify that the meat, dairy, and egg farmers are prevalent. Moreover, the animal experimenters in California are powerful. So… in some ways it’s “easier” to be vegan in California, for example there are more 100% vegan restaurants in CA than in other places, but in many ways it’s more difficult in CA. For details you can search http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/ for “California.”
Regarding Hypnos’ question:
“How must we react as a movement against such a storm of scare-mongering, scare tactics and maligning of activists? What can we do? What do you think?”
I think the answer is to encourage animal advocates to stand up and use their voices to speak their truth. The goal of the animal exploiters is to silence us and make us afraid of speaking and acting out. So we need to stand up now and speak up. We need to model that for other advocates.
We need to find the venues where we can stand up without punishment. That’s where technology comes in handy – old and new. We need to get creative and get LOUD.
Elaine, I guess it’s just me then. Driving past all those fields and orchards of veg and fruit makes me want to have a feast. At the very least though, the interests of the fruit, nut, and veg industries provides a balance to the meat, dairy, poultry industries. In West Texas OTOH there is no balance to the meat industry–the other big industries there are cotton and oil and gas. At least that’s the way it was thirty years ago when I lived there. In those days they didn’t tolerate people who ate lamb instead of beef. Vegetarians were unheard of and probably would have been assaulted, never mind vegans. West Texas was the land of steak for breakfast.
Eccentric Vegan wrote: “We need to get creative and get LOUD.” Absolutely! Any opportunity to raise awareness and educate people about animal exploitation and why it’s wrong.
Well, of course they’re going to label us terrorists, nut-jobs and extremists. After all, we’re talking about radically changing the entire socio-economic, geo-political and cultural norms of the world! We’re talking about a cosmic shift from a human consciousness based on greed, cruelty, selfishness and insecurity based in perception of lack to one of love, grace, compassion, selflessness and security based on the truth that we have great abundance. It’s about goodness winning over evil – the mythic battle this world has always had to fight.
Yes, we must get creative and we must be loud, but we must be so lovingly, gracefully, compassionately and all with a spirit of strength found in humility. And, we must trust that even though we may not see this vision realized in our lifetime, it WILL happen.
That said, it occurs to me today’s youth are the people who really need to be educated and empowered. I have 3 teenagers who have lived a partially vegan life while they are with me. Their father is not vegan, and worse, is a hunter. My oldest who just went off to college has made an important independent decision to eat a vegetarian diet. Of course, I continue to encourage her to go completely vegan, and I know she will as she continues to grow. My other two are making progress. They have the valuable experience of two separate contexts and while they have not made the commitment to veganism (yet), what I find is that they are willing to engage in conversation about it; to approach the idea with an open heart and a willingness to learn and consider. Certainly much more than people of older age groups are to do the same.
In fact, I think it’s true that it’s harder to teach an old dog new tricks. I think about my Dad for example. He grew up poor on a farm in rural MS, lived through the Depression, fought in the Korean war. His ideas about food, animals, justice AND his own identity as a man, father, husband and American were all shaped by these experiences. For him, growing up in poverty, eating animals was about survival. There was no choice; choice was a luxury and could mean illness and/or death for him or someone he loved. These were his foundational experiences & choices and to examine & question them now at age 73 must seem both frightful and ridiculous to him. Of course, it isn’t, but my point is that understanding the barriers people face in changing their thinking and behavior is crucial and requires compassion and grace from those of us encouraging them to change. Some of them may never change but there’s nothing we can do about that. We can only reach the people who want to be reached.
Youth on the other hand still have many of their foundational experiences ahead of them. The youth of the day are seeking something beyond what’s being sold on TV or what’s in their bank account or the car they drive. They are looking for deeper meaning in their lives; a better way to be human. Their consciences can still be influenced and shaped to include a world view that values righteousness, animals, the earth and other people. Which is what they will then teach their the next generation.
That said, my next form of activism will be leafletting at Uconn which is where my daughter attends. Following that, hopefully some music concerts and other schools in the area. I’ve got loads of other ideas too that still need to be visioneered.
Thanks for all you do!