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Editorial: Can Sweatshop
Products Be Considered Vegan?

By Travis Moose

Animal exploitation is around us everyday in all facets of our lives. We watch most of the members of our species contribute to the exploitation of animals for flesh, dairy, eggs, entertainment, and vanity. To combat these horrible abuses of nonhuman animals, many of us live a vegan lifestyle, abstaining from animal products and any products or services that contribute to animal exploitation. But, animal exploitation is not limited to nonhuman animals. Everyday, many human animals are exploited for their labor as part of an economy based on greed and power.

How can we consider ourselves as strictly abstaining from animal exploitation without recognizing the plight of many within our own species?
Workers all over the world are subject to labor with little or no choice of an alternative means of survival. The latter (about 30 million individuals) are modern-day slaves who work as brick makers in Pakistan, gold miners in Brazil, prostitutes in Thailand, soldiers in Burma, and a variety of other forced occupations all over the world. Countless millions of others, those I have referred to as having little choice, are the economically destitute who work in fields and factories producing all manner of goods. These individuals receive inadequate monetary compensation, little if any medical benefits, are exposed to dangerous situations, and work 60 to 80 hours a week or more. Workers' unions are scarce, and union busting is a common tactic used to thwart existing and potential unions. To these individuals, the oppression in which they live is very real, and, although they have a choice, their economic situations make them vulnerable to accepting these horrible working conditions.

Can products produced in these horrible working conditions be considered vegan? I believe the answer is no. How can we consider ourselves as strictly abstaining from animal exploitation without recognizing the plight of many within our own species? Are they being slaughtered by the billions? Are they being poisoned in laboratories? Are they forced to live in their own excrement? No, but their exploitation is very real. They are economically destitute and forced to accept sweatshop work or slavery as a way of life. Their labor culminates in huge profits for others in the same way that many humans make their money from the sweat and/or blood of the animals who are enslaved and murdered by them.

By no means am I suggesting that nonhuman animal suffering is any less significant, but I feel it is important for the animal rights movement to remain consistent in its approach to all social injustice. To consciously acknowledge the oppression of individuals working in these conditions and to continue to consume the products they make, sends a message that we have little or no regard for their dire situation. This may give credence to the stereotype that animal rights activists care more about nonhuman animals than we care about our own species. Our belief is that all beings who have the capacity to suffer deserve equal consideration in all aspects of life. Saying sweatshop labor doesn't matter, as we consume Nike, Wal-Mart, or Gap apparel, and Mt. Olive Pickles and Chiquita Bananas, when there are alternatives, makes animal rights activists look inconsistent and hypocritical to anyone who is familiar with these issues of human exploitation. While it is impossible to be completely consistent, we can all strive to do our best to live more compassionate lifestyles.

I don't suggest that anyone take their focus away from animal rights, as there is a great need for dedicated animal rights activists. However, I think it is important not to lose sight of other groups of individuals who are oppressed in our fight for the rights of nonhuman animals. I believe a more consistent message will aid us in helping others to realize the importance of animal liberation from human tyranny and the importance of equal consideration for all who suffer.

TRAVIS MOOSE, formerly an organizer in Charlotte, N.C., recently relocated to D.C. and is presently a dedicated member of COK.

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