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Promoting veganism is the singular most effective way of changing
the world long-term for animals. There are almost as many ways of
promoting veganism as there are vegans. To get a look into different
ways of promoting veganism, Team Earthling has kindly asked vegan
activists what they do. The aim of this Activist Profile series is
not to suggest that there is one right way to promote veganism, but simply to present approaches that some
may not have considered.
Jaylene
Musgrave has been vegan for seven years and has decided to dedicate
herself to vegan and animal activism full-time in Queensland,
Australia. She was kind enough to share her approach and thoughts on
vegan activism with Team Earthling.
Founder
of Vegan Warriors, Jaylene Musgrave, is a passionate activist. She
does many things to help animals, part of which involves promoting
veganism. From picnics to leafleting to savvy marketing, she works
around the clock to try to change the world for our non-human
brethren.
Our
experiences will always inform the way we approach the world; for
Jaylene, living with a father who worked in an abattoir helped make
her the fearless advocate she is today. He 'was incredibly violent
both emotionally and physically' and she made the connection between
animal slaughter and her father's violence at a very early age. The
human cost of working in violent industries is often overlooked; it
affects not only the workers but also their families. Having
an affinity for animals and seeing the direct effects of working in
an abattoir, Jaylene refused to eat meat from about the age of ten.
Her experience has given her an acute awareness that it's not just
the animals who suffer, making her a fearless and passionate
advocate.
Being
vegan is vital, but Jaylene encourages people to be active in
promoting veganism and animal rights. Creating a vegan world
involves more than just talking about getting people to go vegan.
She finds holding lunches in the park, pot-luck style, effective. The
lunches are open to all, and they are vegan. Jaylene invites local
musicians to play and people within the community to come speak on
animal issues. Sharing vegan food and vegan ideas in an informal
setting is a great idea to share the love.
Jaylene
also uses traditional forms of out reach such as stalls and
leafleting to promote veganism and other animal issues. Local
markets and malls with pedestrian traffic are good places to get up a
stall. Jaylene recommends having food at stalls. Vegan cupcakes and
other goodies that people don't expect to be veganisable help open
people's mind to the wonderful foods that are available.
When she
is at a stall or leafleting, she finds it best to ignore nay-sayers:
'I used to stand there and debate with them and waste an hour of my
time. I've learned now if someone's going to defend what they're
doing, they're not there to open their mind and eyes. They're not
willing to change, they just want to be right.' She refers to the
'defend, deflect, and attack', attitude as just 'white noise'. She
would rather spend time with those who are interested and open to
what she has to say.
Although
she promotes single issue campaigns, which many regard as
problematic, Jaylene encourages people to be active in a way which
conforms to what they believe: 'if you don't agree with the way I go
about it, maybe hold a vegan cupcake stall and raise money for a
vegan organisation or something you consider as being worthwhile
donating to.'
Working
as a publicist has given Jaylene the skills to get media attention on
an issue. Choosing the name 'Vegan Warriors' for her organisation
was important to Jaylene for making the word 'vegan' more visible.
As she often gets media publicity for protests and other events, the
media has no choice but to use the word 'vegan'. Jaylene
is working in her own way to help raise awareness for veganism. Some
vegans might be disillusioned with the way animal groups advocate for
animals, but as she has proven that if you don't have to be part of
an organisation to be an activist. You can hold a stall, or start a
website, host a pot-luck.
Not
everyone can dedicate their attention full-time to animal activism.
Nevertheless, Jaylene thinks activism doesn't have to take up lots of
time: 'the very least that you could do is just write to your local
paper. What's an issue in your local community? Just write a letter
about the animal industry. The five minutes it takes for you to
write it and it reaches so many people just in your little
community.'
There are
so many things that an individual can do; you don't have to do
everything. In the words of Colleen Patrick-Goudreau: 'do something,
anything.'
Team
Earthling would like to thank Jaylene Musgrave for sharing her
thoughts and experiences as an activist with us. You can check out
more of what Jaylene does at Vegan Warriors.
©
Stevie
Schafer, 2012
