Go Vegan World’s Campaign Launches for World Vegan Month 2024
Anytime there is media coverage of animals being harmed, there is a public outcry demonstrating that most of us have strong moral beliefs about hurting or killing them. Just think of the recent racist comment made by Donald Trump falsely accusing immigrants of eating ‘pets’ and the ducks and geese in the local park. It is ironic to hear non-vegans expressing disgust at the notion of heads being cut off ducks and geese. It shows how little thought they give to the history of the neatly packaged bodies of the animals they buy from the supermarket or at their local restaurant or fast food joint, all of whom are beheaded before they end up on a dinner plate. We witness this same outrage every year around the time of the Yulin Dog Festival. TV programmes that catalogue the atrocity of suffering in the racing industry or in dog breeding also capture public attention, with people expressing deep sympathy for the animals who are exploited and outrage at those profiting from it.
The outrage stems from our recognition that other animals share our human capacity to feel and appreciate life. When we hurt them, they experience pain and suffering. When we confine and exploit them, we deprive them of their right to independently enjoy their lives. We turn the entire purpose of their lives into being human resources. When we kill them, we deprive them of the most fundamental right: the right to the remainder of their natural life.
Most outrage is reserved for the animals we use as companions. Yet few of those who are upset at the exploitation of companion animals are vegan. They consume the products of cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese who are bred into a life of exploitation and slaughtered at a young age even though they too are sentient. They suffer the same as companion animals and they have the same right to life. In fact, their capacity to suffer and their right to life is not different to our human capacity to suffer and our right to life.
Our theme for World Vegan Month 2024 is anti-speciesist perspective taking. We ask people to mentally swap places with the animals who are slaughtered every time someone chooses to buy a piece of animal flesh, a litre of milk, a piece of cheese, or a dozen eggs. Our ads invite non vegans to witness the price other animals pay when they are exploited for profit by the animal agriculture industry as it caters for for the taste, convenience, and traditions of non-vegans.
If you would not be willing to swap places with them, is it fair to pay for the brutal violence meted out to the most innocent, defenceless, young animals on farms and in slaughterhouses when there is no justifiable reason for you not to be vegan?
Our ads will be shown throughout Ireland, and at Port Glasgow (A8) (Westbound) in Greenock, Park Royal Tower (A406)(Southbound) London and the M5 (Northbound) Birmingham.
