Vegan Warrior Princesses Attack!

The Princesses tackle the election this week, discussing everything from third party voting to the hot debate over wearing safety pins, and some tips for what we can do now the Cheeto-Jesus is president elect.

In This Episode

Disheartened by the election results, and the election in general, Nichole and Callie try to tackle some tough topics surrounding the post-election atmosphere, namely the hate and vitriol that’s being thrown around at third party voters, non-voters and, yes, even Trump voters. We dig into how it is shortsighted to alienate and other people that we will need on our side to protect our rights during the looming presidency. We discuss the safety pin movement, ally theater, and what we can do now to effect change.

We hit a lot of complex and difficult topics in this episode, and as carefully as we tried to flesh out our opinions and ideas, there was so much that we left out or still have to say about this. If you want to further the discussion, the VWPA Society on Facebook is a great place to work through the themes brought up here.

Links and Information

News

* Kids Win the Right to Sue the U.S. Government Over Climate Change (Vice)

Resources Related to Episode

Voting Demographics & Opinions on Election

* Blaming Trump on Voters is for Privileged Democrats (Medium)

* Almost Half Of The Country Didn’t. Even. Vote. (Scary Mommy)

* Marc Lamont Hill Interviewed on Breakfast Club about 2016 Election (Let The Madness Begin Facebook Page)

* The Onion Knight Talks Election Minutia on the Differences Between Candidates:

* A Privileged Vegan Talks Environmental Impact of War and Likeliness of War by Candidate:

What Do We Do Now?

* Christopher Sebastian: A seven-point plan to disrupt White Supremacy and U.S. American Exceptionalism (they gon’ be mad) (Facebook)

* Bernie Sanders: Where the Democrats Go From Here (NY Times)

* If You’re Overwhelmed By The Election, Here’s What You Can Do Now (Huffington Post)

* Sign the #NoDAPL petition to tell Obama to stop the pipeline (Credoaction)

Safety Pins

* So You Want to Wear a Safety Pin (Isobel Debrujah)

* So You Want to Wear a Safety Pin Part 2: Is it Really About Your Feelings? (Isobel Debrujah)

* How to Disrupt Bigotry Safely:

The Princesses further the discussion of positivity culture this week after feedback from listeners; then are joined by Marine from the A Privileged Vegan YouTube channel to talk about anxieties over our show names.

In This Episode

Continuing the Conversation about Positivity

While many found our recent episode railing against positivity culture cathartic, we did receive a lot of feedback that some listeners took it personally. Many people use positivity in their lives to mitigate the effects mental illness. It was never our intention to put down any individual’s need for positivity in their life; our aim in the original episode was to comment on the overall culture of positivity that makes many of us suffering from mental illness feel like we have to hide our true experiences of the world under a false veneer of cheerful outlook. In an effort to reconcile these two avenues of thought, Nichole details some of the ways that she includes positivity in her life in order to keep the depression demons at bay, particularly around her chronic illness.

Chatting with A Privileged Vegan

The second half of this episode is dedicated to a conversation we were able to have with Marine from the A Privileged Vegan YouTube channel about her recent changes to her channel’s name. The Princesses confide they’ve had concerns about the name of this show as well. An interesting talk for anyone interested in marketing, branding, entrepreneurialism, and/or just hearing our inner thoughts on things.

A Privileged Vegan is an amazing channel, we strongly encourage our listeners to check it out. Marine covers a wide range of intersectionally-focused issues in a well-researched, forthright way. We are huge fans of hers!

Links and Information

News

* Veganuary to Launch Vegan Billboard Campaign in London (VegNews)

* Cheese is Healthy, Says the Dairy Industry (VegNews)

* China Considers Animal-Free Cosmetics Testing (VegNews)

Lorelei of Eat Plants, Drink Beer is with the Princesses to talk about her response to an article in Elephant Journal that addressed the impossible conundrum vegans face: we feel obligated to advocate for animals, but are told we are being harsh and awful simply by telling people the truth. What to do?

In This Episode

Former fellow San Diegan Lorelei Plotczyk of Eat Plants, Drink Beer drops in on the VWPA studio to discuss her amazing article in Elephant Journal that was a response to another article written by a non-vegan farmer who was making the statement that vegans are too harsh and offensive in their approach.

As a broader topic, the trio discuss the concept around reverse victimization, why the truth of our food system is so brutal for people to hear, and what can we do about spreading our message while not shutting people down?

Elephants Journal Articles

* Original Article: Dear Vegan, There’s Something I Have to Say.

* Lorelei’s Response: Dean Non-Vegan, There’s Something You Won’t Let Me Say.

Links and Information

News

* NY Times: Pig Farmers Should Overhaul Waste Systems (VegNews)

* Australian Plant-Based Milk Market Booming (VegNews)

* Veggie Grill Raises $22 Million in Funding (VegNews)

Often vegans refer to their diet and lifestyle as “compassionate” or “cruelty-free”…but is it really? We sit down with Lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project to discuss the often overlooked ways that food can be produced with cruelty, even when it doesn’t contain animal products.

In This Episode

While in London for the Pro-Intersectional Vegan Conference, we were lucky enough to connect with Lauren Ornelas, Founder and Executive Director of Food Empowerment Project to talk about all the ways our food may still contain cruelty even when it’s technically vegan.

The Food Empowerment Project needs donations and financial support in order to keep up it’s Shame on Safeway campaign, if you have the means to contribute, please consider making a donation to this wonderful organization today. A generous contributor has agreed to match donations up to $50,000, so whatever you can contribute will be doubled!

The princesses attended the 2016 People of Color: Animal Rights, Advocacy and Food Justice Conference at California State University in Northridge and brought back several highlights from the amazing presentations they saw.

In This Episode

Nichole and Callie give their favorite highlights from the 2016 People of Color: Animal Rights, Advocacy and Food Justice Conference that they attended over the weekend.

Schedule of Presentations:

VEGAN GAINS: A VEGAN PERSPECTIVE ON HEALTH AND FITNESS

DAVID CARTER, DOMINICK THOMPSON, TORRE WASHINGTON

THE FOUNDATION OF JUSTICE: VEGANISM AND THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

SARAH K. WOODCOCK

BREAKING DOWN PRIVILEGE: ACCESS TO HEALTHY FOODS IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR AND LOW-INCOME AREAS

LAUREN ORNELAS

COLONIZATION & CAPITALISM: THE COLLAPSE OF THE TRADITIONAL MESOAMERICAN PLANT-BASED DIET

CHEMA HERNANDEZ GIL

VIOLENCE, MIGRATION & CENTRAL AMERICAN WORKERS IN THE US FOOD SYSTEM

LINDA ALVAREZ, PhD

DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR COMMUNITY-BASED VEGAN ACTIVISM

BRENDA SANDERS

VEGAN NOIR: BLACK VEGANS IN LOS ANGELES A DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING & Q&A

TONI BELL

10TH ELEMENT OF HIP-HOP: HEALTH, WELLNESS & JUSTICE

ASHEL SEASUNZ ELDRIDGE

THE HOOD FOOD MOVEMENT

EUGENE COOKE

LEADERSHIP AWARD

$500 Award given to a vegan activist/leader. This year the award was given to lauren Ornelas of Food Empowerment Project

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

DAVID CARTER

Links and Information

* Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016) (Outside Online)

* Great Barrier Reef Obituary Goes Viral, To The Horror Of Scientists (Huffington Post)

* PETA’s ‘Grab a Pussy’ Ad Under Fire for Being Misogynistic (Heat St)

In a rant-y extravaganza, the princesses talk about how much they hate being told to be grateful or positive.

In This Episode

Inspired by a Toastmasters talk given by a coworker, Callie is all fired up about the concept of “being grateful;” while Nichole fumes about our culture’s emphasis on being positive. Both contribute to the atmosphere of complacency in the United States, keeping people from making waves, not to mention the overwhelming amount of classism and ableism inherent to both.

Links and Information

News

* The end of meat? Economics, the environment and changing tastes have top protein feeling the heat (Financial Post)

* First African American Vegan Starter Guide Launches (VegNews)

* Vegan Options More than Double at US Colleges (VegNews)

This week the Princesses watched episode 2 of the new Netflix original, Easy. Entitled “Vegan Cinderella” this episode delighted us with it’s realism and overall depiction of relationships between vegans and non-vegans.

In This Episode

Nichole and Callie do a review/recap of episode 2 of Easy, a new original show on Netflix. The premise is that two girls meet and fall in lust/love at first sight. One is an ethical vegan and the other is, well, not.

***WARNING: Massive Spoiler Alerts in the Show!!!***

We do a review but also basically recapped the entire episode for those that haven’t seen it and wont’ likely watch it, so be aware that if you don’t want the show spoiled, go watch it first!

Handled with nuance and hilarity, we found ourselves overall impressed with this episode. We did dislike, at the end, when the non-vegan seemed to get a total pass, it came across as “veganism is a personal choice,” which we don’t agree with, as we’ve discussed on previous episodes. However, the show was amazingly accurate and well done, overall we loved it and can’t wait to watch the other episodes!

Links and Information

News

* Earth Reaches Carbon Level Tipping Point (VegNews)

* Ireland’s Former President Urges Young Leaders to Go Vegan (VegNews)

* Meat and Dairy Industries Favor Trump Over Clinton (VegNews)

The Princesses talk about All Lives Matter and why it’s soooooo fucking problematic.

In This Episode

Nichole and Callie realized that they had been relatively silent on the topic of All Lives Matter on the show, which was never their intent. Very vocal about it on social media, they decided to bring their passion, anger and thoughts to VWPA for an episode about why All Lives Matter is so harmful and why everyone needs to stop saying it, including and especially vegans.

Links and Information

News

* Activist Angela Davis Featured in Heroes Exhibit (VegNews)

* People Care More About Animals Than They Did in the 70s (VegNews)

* Kat Von D’s Team is a Very Diverse Group of White People, Thank You Very Much (Yahoo)

Mentioned in this Episode

* Shaun King’s Facebook Page: Shaun King is an amazing activist to follow, and he has started the Injustice Boycott movement, starting on December 5th, which is a great peaceful way to protest and effect change.

* Bill Bunting’s video post about police shootings and what we can do about it: really powerful, emotional stuff from a someone you wouldn’t expect.

* Free Hugs Project at the North Carolina Riots: extremely emotional and gripping footage of the riots.

After reading an article on this topic, the Princesses were inspired to talk about the concept of “vegan-shaming,” the complexities of wanting people to change at their own pace but also being acutely aware that lives are on the line, and the appropriation of the term fat-shaming.

In This Episode

Callie read an opinion piece posted on The State Press titled, “Vegan-shaming is the new fat-shaming” and wanted to talk about this concept on air.

Both of the girls struggle with thinking that people should have choices over what they do with their bodies, and also thinking that eating animals is murder and shouldn’t be”ok” ever. How do we reconcile with this in how we approach our activism?

Nichole rails about the appropriation of “fat-shaming,” which is a tool of oppression, being compared to shaming carnists as a method of activism to try to dismantle a system of oppression. Callie chimes in that fat-shaming isn’t exactly a thing of the past, so saying something is the new fat-shaming is pretty fucking offensive and dismissive of the experiences of people who experience fat-shaming in their lives.

Also, the “vegan-shaming” in this article is a misnomer, it really should be “carnist-shaming” or something similar.

Links and Information

News

* The U.S. Government Votes to Slaughter Wild Horses to Make Room for Cattle (Inhabitat)

* UPDATE: After uproar, U.S. government says does not plan to kill wild horses (MSN)

* California Bans Orca Captivity And Breeding (Huffington Post)

After the Salt Lake City VegFest, the princesses sat down with the boys from Which Side to discuss the need for a welcoming vegan community, tips we can take from organized religions to achieve this, and a whole unrelated tangent about anarchy at the end!

In This Episode

Callie and Nichole chill in the Which Side Podcast studio with Jeremy Parkin and Jordan Halliday in Salt Lake City to talk about why it’s so vitally important that we build a warm, inclusive vegan community, and ways that we can do that. There’s a lot of support and pressure around tactics for getting people to go vegan, but not much for keeping people vegan and, let’s be real, our retention rate is not so good.

Although we’re all hardcore atheists, we all think there’s a lot that religions do right in terms of welcoming newcomers, building community, and caring for their own, so we talk a bit about what we can take from religion to do this within our community as well.

And then it wouldn’t be a true VWPA episode without at least one tangent, so we end up going completely off rails and talking a lot about anarchy towards the end!