I am of the opinion that humanity treats animal life in a generally appalling manner, in one way or another, and that an effective (and moral) manner to confront the ruthless industrialised (capitalist) farming industry, is to refuse to eat meat and fish, drink dairy milk, or wear (or use) any products made from animal products. This is, of course, primarily a dietary response to the 24 hour slaughter industry in the West. There are vegans, vegetarians and a number of diets that ‘limit’ the intake of animal products. Within Chinese Buddhism (or that system which inspires my dietary habits) advocates a strict vegetarian diet for its followers. Ordained Monks and nuns eat a ‘vegan’ diet of plain rice and mixed vegetable, whilst drinking water, certain types of tea, and perhaps soya milk. Devout lay-followers within Chinese Buddhism is also expected to be a ‘vegetarian’, but within the Chinese language, and due to the ‘strictness’ of Chinese Buddhist moral rules, there is no distinction between ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’. Of course, in the UK things are very different, with some so-called ‘Animal Rights’ groups openly engaged in the rhetoric of anti-Chinese racism, and intolerance toward other cultures, as well as some vegan associations (and individuals) actively attacking anyone who does not hold their righting views, or who do not follow their particular dietary habits. Of course, I do not mean to say that ‘everyone’ who is vegan is intolerant to vegetarians or meat-eaters, or routinely practises racism, but some do, advocating an aggressive policy of attack and demean. Furthermore, just because someone is a vegan it does not necessarily follow that they adhere to a leftwing political doctrine – as some vegans manifest a distinctly ‘fascistic’ attitude and behaviour, and can in no way be described as ‘Marxist’, or ‘Marxist-Leninist’. These people ma not eat meat or use animal products, but nevertheless are fully supportive of the destructive capitalist system. The point is that individuals control their own diets and behaviours, and it is completely counter-productive to attempt to ‘force’ people to follow a diet (or political doctrine) that they do not yet understand, or have no reason to follow. The only way to change people for the better is through a non-coercive educational process – and the use of a fascistic forcefulness. Although I am a vegan-vegetarian, as a Marxist-Leninist, I am continuously striving to peacefully and politically transform the current ‘brutal’ and predatory capitalist system we currently live under as a means to free the British Working Class from the tyranny of bourgeois oppression. Eating meat in the modern era (as Marx Explains in Das Kapital I) is entirely premised upon the industrialisation of farming (prior to this, the European peasantry ate a mostly grain-related diet). Intolerant vegans must stop ‘attacking’ those who do not share their views, and understand that the true enemy of humanity (and animals) is the capitalist system.
