We'll never change the world unless we change people's hearts through a vision of nonviolence; that begins with veganism. – ....Gary.... L Francione ....

We will never change the world unless we change people's hearts through a vision of nonviolence; that begins with veganism. -- GLF....

We will never change the world unless we change people's hearts through a vision of nonviolence; that begins with veganism. -- GLF....

Ahimsa begins with what you put in and on your body. Veganism is an essential component of Ahimsa. --- GLF....

Although there are few vegans writing on animal ethics/philosophy, the number is growing with people like Gary Steiner and Rupert Read. ---....Gary.... L Francione....

Many welfarists say that we must reduce suffering pending the end of animal use. But how many of them call for an end to use? Almost none.---- GLF....

We'll never change the world unless we change people's hearts through a vision of nonviolence; that begins with veganism. --- GLF ....

The moral schizophrenia of the RSPCA is shocking.Dogs & cats matter; others animals are "Freedom Food." --- GLF ....

Single-issue campaigns give public the impression that some forms of exploitation are worse than others. --- GLF....

Single issue campaigns can never work as long as animal exploitation is the unquestioned default position. --- GLF....

"The primary value of single-issue campaigns is to act as fundraising "vehicles.....

Xmas time is so depressing; people celebrate the birth of Christ by doing exactly what Christ said not to do: be materialistic and consume. --- ....Gary.... L Francione....

Veganism is a necessary step on the road to Ahimsa. ---GLF....

Animal welfare does not move toward abolition; it merely makes animal exploitation more efficient. ----GLF....

“As far as I'm concerned, veganism is the single most important form of social activism that anybody can engage in.”—Gary L. Francione....

Advocates do not need to campaign for welfare reform; most reforms will happen because they are economically efficient. --- GLF....

Gary L Francione "Welfare reform further enmeshes animals in the property paradigm and does not move them closer to nonhuman personhood."....

Gary L Francione: "You want to save an animal through direct action? Go to a kill shelter and adopt. No drama required /Just responsibility"....

Gary L Francione "RSPCA claims that it cannot promote veganism for legal reasons. Surely, that is a joke"....

Animal welfare does nothing to eradicate the property status of animals. Animal welfare standards are generally linked to what is required to exploit animals in an efficient manner. That is, animal welfare generally protects animal interests only to the extent that it provides economic benefits for humans. This explicitly reinforces the status of nonhumans as commodities, as property. --- GLF....

Welfare and abolition aren't 'different tactics to meet the same objective'. They're opposed views. --- GLF ....

Ahimsa begins with what you put in and on your body. Veganism is an essential component of Ahimsa. --- GLF....

Gary L Francione: "Racism, sexism, heterosexism, and speciesism are all forms of violence. We should reject all violence."....

Those who profess to embrace Ahimsa but who continue to consume flesh or dairy do not understand the meaning of Ahimsa.-- GLF....

Fur=wool=leather=silk. Distinguishing fur from other forms of animal clothing is like distinguishing beef and pork. -- GLF....

Gary L Francione "Think about fasting today. With all the obsession over food, it can help focus our thoughts on those thousands who die daily of starvation."....

Animal welfare reform does not weaken industry; it strengthens it. Animal welfare increases production efficiency & public comfort. - Prof Gary L Francione....

The best way to celebrate Thanksgiving (apart from being vegan) is to go to a shelter and adopt someone. If you can, get a special needs. --- GLF....

By claiming criticism is "divisive," new welfarist groups mean "do not interfere with our business model. They pretend to promote animal interests when it is just a matter of business. - --- GLF....

Veganism is an act of nonviolent defiance. It is our statement that we reject the notion that animals are things and that we regard sentient nonhumans as moral persons with the fundamental moral right not to be treated as the property or resources of humans. -- Prof. Gary L. Francione....

Social movements do not regard critical thinking as "divisive." Cults, however, discourage critical thinking. -- GLF....

"I am often asked why I bring civil rights / women's rights / gay rights into my work. Answer: All forms of discrimination are related and represent violence." Gary L Francione....

"We would never think it appropriate to be "flexible" with respect to rape or pedophilia. "Flexible" veganism is no more appropriate." -- GLF....

"WHY does the RSPCA think it's okay to love dogs but eat "Freedom Food" cows?" From Twitter -- GLF....

"The real movement consists of people who labor in relative anonymity without thanks and praise. They just work. They educate, care for animals, etc." --- GLF....

"No woman is safe anywhere in a patriarchal world because her interests are systematically and structurally undervalued." -- Prof. Gary L Francione....

Prof. Gary L Francione: "I am somewhat bewildered as to why so many people seem to want to link veganism with atheism. Religion has been a source of mischief re: animals for sure. But so have many other institutions, such as capitalism. Religion can be misused. But so can golf clubs. Religion also represents important... spiritual expression and almost all emphasize love and peace and some equate God with love."....

"The choice is not between animal welfare or nothing; the choice is between perpetuating the property paradigm or rejecting it." --- GLF....

"Ethical veganism represents a commitment to nonviolence." -- GLF....

"Welfare reform is structurally constrained by the status of nonhumans as property; animals are protected only when it benefits humans." Gary L Francione....

"Why do welfarists always refer to welfare reform as "compassion"? "Complicity" is actually more accurate-welfarists help increase efficiency." GLF....

There is absolutely NO evidence that welfare reform, which has been around for 200+ yrs now, ever leads to anything but MORE exploitation. --- GLF....

"If something's horribly unjust, the solution is to eradicate the injustice not pretty it up to make it look less horrible" --- GLF....

"Today's resolution: talk to a non-vegan friend about veganism. Help her/him to see what you see." --- GLF....

Fact: the "happy meat" movement is making things go backward. Absurd to talk about happy slavery being a "teaching" moment --- GLF....

Veganism is an act of nonviolent defiance. It is our statement that we reject the notion that animals are things and that we regard sentient nonhumans as moral persons with the fundamental moral right not to be treated as the property or resources of humans. —Gary L. Francione (..October 24, 2009..)....

"Violence has never solved any of the world's problems; violence is the cause of those problems." GLF....

"Veganism is the one thing you can do today/right now/right this very second to make a statement about nonviolence and who you are." -- GLF....

"The history of humankind is the history of violence; if violence ever really achieved peace, the world would be at peace. It isn't." "People who promote violence against institutional users fail to understand that as long as demand persists, someone will fill that demand"--- Gary L. Francione....

"Veganism is the only coherent response to our recognition that animals are members of the moral community." GLF....

"The only way animal exploitation will stop is if we shift the paradigm away from animals as property and toward personhood." ---GLF....

"Exposes of "cruelty" do NOTHING more than reinforce the idea that HOW it is done is what matters." --GLF....

"The "happy meat/animal products" movement threatens to destroy the animal rights movement." GLF....

"You do not need a big org or expensive campaign to go vegan.You do not need any "leader."You need one thing: your desire to embrace Ahimsa." Gary L Francione....

"Do not let today end without having a discussion with someone about veganism." Gary L Francione....

"Got Ahimsa? Go Vegan." -- GLF....

If you think that being vegan is difficult, imagine how difficult it is for animals that you are not vegan. -- GLF....

Veganism is not difficult. What is difficult is living with yourself knowing that you are participating in the exploitation of the innocent. What is difficult is maintaining the incredible denial required to justify non-veganism. If you believe in non-violence, then be non-violent in your life and don't make non-violen...ce a matter of abstract thought. Go vegan. [Random tweets by GLF....

Random Tweets by GLF: "I am often asked why I bring civil rts/women's rts/gay rts into my work. Ans: All forms of discrimination are related and represent violence."....

Random Tweets by GLF: "Just got the Heifer Int'l catalog.All the "hip" stars telling us how guinea pigs/lambs can provide more protein for poor people. Disgusting."....

Random Tweets by GLF: Translating new welfarism, lesson #1: "Stop bashing [org x]" = "I have nothing of substance to say to critique of org X." Translating new welfarism, lesson#2: "You attack vegetarians" = "I cannot deal w/ your point that no diff. between flesh & other prods." Translating new welfarism, lesson#3: "...divisive" "bashing" "attacks" = nest of words used to avoid substantive discussion.....

Random Tweets by Gary L Francione : "The *only* question in the vegetarian/vegan debate is whether we can defend a distinction between meat and other prods. We cannot." "Meat is murder. Dairy is murder. Wool is murder. It's all murder. There are no lines to draw, no way to make it "okay." Go vegan."....

Random Tweets by Gary L Francione : "We cannot justify domestication. But we have an obligation to care for those domesticates that are here now. Please adopt."....

"Vegetarianism" no longer has any meaning and often includes fish as well as dairy. There are no distinctions. Less than vegan=exploitation." -- ....Gary.... L Francione....

"Meat is murder. Dairy is murder. Wool is murder. It's all murder. There are no lines to draw, no way to make it "okay." Go vegan." -- ....Gary.... L Francione....

"The *only* question in the vegetarian/vegan debate is whether we can defend a distinction between meat and other prods. We cannot." --- Gary L Francione....

Gary Francione: Animal welfare reform only makes our exploitation of animals more economically efficient; it does nothing to recognize their inherent value.....

Animals have an interest in not suffering; they also have an interest in continuing to live. A "humane" death is still unjust. Focusing on intensive agriculture misleads people into thinking that the issue is treatment; the issue is use. The primary problem is not intensive animal agriculture. The primary problem is ...animal agriculture. Go vegan. (Random Tweets from Gary Francione)....

"Race, sex, sexual orientation, species: none of these has any relevance to moral value" ~ Gary L Francione....

"It is a mistake to see issues of human and animal exploitation as mutually exclusive. On the contrary, all exploitation is inextricably intertwined. All exploitation is a manifestation of violence. All discrimination is a manifestation of violence. As long as we tolerate violence of any sort, there will be violence of every sort. As Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy noted: “As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.”" Gary L Francione.

"Never seek to be part of the mainstream. It is polluted with the very worst toxin: indifference." Gary L Francione...

"If you are a vegan, you can still engage in violence. But if you are not vegan, you cannot be a nonviolent person." Gary L Francione....

Veganism is our moral/spiritual commitment to nonviolence. Nonviolence starts with what you put in and on your body.....

Heterosexism is a form of violence. Animal advocates should never support heterosexism.....

There's no such thing as a "humane" slaughterhouse or a "non-abusive" one. Death that is more "humane" is not more just. ---GLF....

"30 years ago, animal people were arguing that we needed welfare reform to help animals "now." It did not work; it won't work; it cannot work. We have had animal welfare for more than 200 years & we are exploiting more animals today in more horrific ways than at any time in history." Gary L Francione ....

"Violence against institutional users makes no sense; they are just filling a demand generated by consumers. End demand: go vegan."- ....Gary.... L Francione....

"Many animal advocates think that theory/ideology is useless - an academic extravagance. Nothing could be more untrue. Theory is indispensable. Without it, you don't know whether to spend this afternoon talking to people about cage-free eggs--or NO eggs"- Gary L Francione....

"Speciesism is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of morality.Speciesism is immoral, just as racism, sexism, homophobia are immoral" Gary L Francione....

"If animal advocates consistently campaigned for abolition of animal use--and thereby sent a clear message to the public, the reaction of industry would be to engage in welfare reform anyway. At least we will be positioned to be speaking clearly and delivering a clear message about veganism. So we would be further ahead. Gary L Francione....

"Cage-free = one big battery cage. It's torture."....

The problem is use not treatment but because animals=property, treatment is always bad.....

We have had welfare reform for 200 years now. We are using more animals in more horrific ways than at any time in human history. Welfare reform does not work. It cannot work. Animals are chattel property. Given that status, and the reality of markets, including and especially the fact of international markets and "free trade" agreements animal welfare will rarely if ever provide more protection to animals than what is economically justifiable." G L Francione

"Free-range" and "cage-free" are made up catchphrases intended to sell more eggs at inflated prices." --- GLF

"I stand by my view that species discrimination is no different from
racism, sexism, or heterosexism, but I am reminded just how much work
remains to be done to dismantle the pervasive structures of prejudice
in our society." Gary L Francione....

"Regulating animal exploitation through welfare reform is like regulating torture by adding padding to the water board. If the conduct is wrong, we should advocate its cessation, not propose that we impose harm in a “better” way." --G. L. F

"Speciesism is morally objectionable because, like racism, sexism, and heterosexism, it links personhood with an irrelevant criterion. Those who reject speciesism are committed to rejecting racism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of discrimination as well." Gary L Francione.

"The reality is that we are never going to see any change until we shift the paradigm away from violence to non-violence; away from 'humane' treatment to the abolition of use." —Gary L. Francione....

Other Quotes of Note....

I have lost more friends than this over arguments about animal ethics. One lapidary conclusion to be drawn here is that people take deadly seriously the prerogative to use animals as sources of satisfaction. Not only for food, but as beasts of burden, as raw materials and as sources of captive entertainment — which is ...the way animals are used in zoos, circuses and the like. These uses of animals are so institutionalized, so normalized, in our society that it is difficult to find the critical distance needed to see them as the horrors that they are: so many forms of subjection, servitude and — in the case of killing animals for human consumption and other purposes — outright murder. --- Prof. Gary Steiner....

"Truth does not become more true by virtue of the fact that the entire world agrees with it, nor less so even if the whole world disagrees with it." —Maimonides

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.” —Mohandas Gandhi....

"Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.

Moral Schizophrenia and Animal Rights Ideology from Gary L. Francione on Vimeo.

I thought I'd share this very interesting blog post by Gary L Francione. It's a couple of years old. To see his recent posts, just go to http://www.abolitionistapproach.com

“Oh my god, these vegans…”

[T]o avoid inflicting suffering on animals—not to mention the environmental costs of intensive animal production—we need to cut down drastically on the animal products we consume. But does that mean a vegan world? That’s one solution, but not necessarily the only one. If it is the infliction of suffering that we are concerned about, rather than killing, then I can also imagine a world in which people mostly eat plant foods, but occasionally treat themselves to the luxury of free range eggs, or possibly even meat from animals who live good lives under conditions natural for their species, and are then humanely killed on the farm.

[T]here’s a little bit of room for indulgence in all of our lives. I know some people who are vegan in their homes but if they’re going out to a fancy restaurant, they allow themselves the luxury of not being vegan that evening. I don’t see anything really wrong with that.

I don’t eat meat. I’ve been a vegetarian since 1971. I’ve gradually become increasingly vegan. I am largely vegan but I’m a flexible vegan. I don’t go to the supermarket and buy non-vegan stuff for myself. But when I’m traveling or going to other people’s places I will be quite happy to eat vegetarian rather than vegan.

When I’m shopping for myself, it will be vegan. But when I’m traveling and it’s hard to get vegan food in some places or whatever, I’ll be vegetarian. I won’t eat eggs if they’re not free-range, but if they’re free-range, I will. I won’t order a dish that is full of cheese, but I won’t worry about, say, whether an Indian vegetable curry was cooked with ghee.

I think it’s more important to try and produce a change in the right direction than to be personally pure yourself. So when you’re eating with someone at a restaurant, and you ordered something vegan but when it comes there’s a bit of grated cheese or something on it, sometimes vegans will make a big fuss and send it back and that might mean the food is wasted. And if you’re in company with people who are not vegan or not even vegetarian, I think that’s probably the wrong thing to do. It’d be better off just to eat it because people are going to think, ‘Oh my god, these vegans…’

The reason I’m vegan is because I see it as a tool to help reduce animal suffering. Vegan Outreach has written about this extensively, and I agree with them. They write that vegan eating ‘is not an end in itself. It is not a dogma or religion, nor a list of forbidden ingredients or immutable laws—it is only a tool for opposing cruelty and reducing suffering.’

It’s pretty difficult to be a conscientious omnivore and avoid all the ethical problems, but if you really were thorough-going in eating only animals that had had good lives, that could be a defensible ethical position.

Human Nonhuman Relations by Roger Yates

Abolitionist Animal Rights
Alternative Vegan
Animal Person
Animal Rights Malta
Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach
Bitchin Vegan Kitchen
Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary
Randy Sandberg
Suicide Food
The starting point. Le point de depart
The Unofficial Francione Site
The Vegan Ideal
Tribe of Heart
Unpopular Vegan Essays
Vegan Abolitionist

Commentary: An Up-Close and Personal Encounter with Moral Schizophrenia