This week I speak of an email I received, special thanks to Doug Hines, and I speak of a wonderful concept that was given to me by Randy Sandberg.
Please visit the wonderful Quotes on Slavery website: http://quotesonslavery.org/
Here is a quote I think relevant to the theme of this podcast:
"A common criticism is that the time is not yet ripe for our reform. Can time ever be ripe for any reform unless it is ripened by human determination? Did Wilberforce wait for the
~ Donald Watson (November, 1944)"
ripeningof time before he commenced his fight against slavery? Did Edwin Chadwick, Lord Shaftesbury, and Charles Kingsley wait for such a non-existent moment before trying to convince the great dead weight of public opinion that clean water and bathrooms would be an improvement? If they had declared their intention to poison everybody the opposition they met could hardly have been greater. There is an obvious danger in leaving the fulfilment of our ideals to posterity, for posterity may not have our ideal. Evolution can be retrogressive as well as progressive, indeed there seems always to be a strong gravitation the wrong way unless existing standards are guarded and new visions honoured. For this reason we have formed our [Vegan] Group, the first of its kind, we believe, in this or any other country.
~ Donald Watson (November, 1944)"
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI had meant to comment on this a while ago. You mentioned difficulty in starting up a university club. I founded the University of Victoria Vegan Association (UVic Vegan Association or just UVA) in 2003 and am still involved with the club. It didn't start as an ethically consistent club (read: not abolitionist) because I was a young vegan and my vegan education up to that point had been very poor. In retrospect, that may have made it easier to get such a club going (less "exclusive"). However, the club has since transitioned to abolitionist ideals but through significant turmoil, in some ways similar to what you have experienced. I have certainly learned important lessons to draw from should I ever start any sort of vegan/AR group in the future.
The reason I mention this is because I'm more than happy to share my knowledge and experiences with you should you ever consider trying such a club again. Perhaps something we've gone through over here can help you come up with solutions over there.
FYI, the UVA has three distinct objectives, in order of importance: vegan advocacy (e.g., info sessions, presentations), supporting vegans (e.g., cooking classes, more info sessions), and supporting animal rescue (the non-violent kind). The UVA is quite active and has a number of ethically consistent events that it runs, so there is a bit of variety to help grab volunteers' and attendees' interests. Of course, it's harder to do these things on your own before you get some well-informed abolitionists to help out. But over time, as you know, the message hits home and people join in. With the UVA, we've been recently gifted with as many as 7 active directors at the same time (in our 8th year).
If you wish, I can post more information here or provide it to you via email.
- Niilo
Hi!
ReplyDeletethank you so much, I would love to have you as a guest to talk about it.... would you do that?
:-)
I'm honoured that you'd consider it, Elizabeth. I'm open to the idea (though thinking about it makes me a bit nervous). I'll contact you by email. Thanks.
ReplyDelete- Niilo