To be honest, I’ve never been a radical person. I’m probably less aware of the machinations of governments than I should be, so what right do I have to offer any opinion or viewpoint on anything? I find the news channels a strange form of entertainment rather than a valuable source of untarnished information. But I have recently watched documentaries like ‘Hypernormalisation‘ – which helped me understand why war and shit just keeps repeating itself – and the Netflix documentary ‘What the Health’ which single-handedly changed me from being an omnivore to completely plant-based overnight (I kid you not).
What I eat, what I buy and where and how it was produced has pricked my conscious. My own research has led me to have a much clearer understanding of how governments have played a major role in the economics of food production and consumption and the dire consequences on our health and well-being. Some people have said I’m a ‘vegan’ but it’s not a word I choose to use – besides, I have a leather jacket and boots I wouldn’t want to give up! My issue is less about the ethics of eating animal products, and more about animal welfare, the desecration of the natural habitat to grow feed for livestock, the shameful waste of over-production and all the chemical shit they ingest that inevitably gets into our bodies. Imagine if we changed our diet – how much better this would be for the NHS and all the other overworked and underpaid nurses. Now I’m getting political.
I think the effect of political activism on the street is slowly being killed off by past and present governments, killed by the apathy that follows the inactive government response to any one issue. They’re in control of every debate that shadows their policy intentions. Protests and uprisings have to be organised and approved by the authorities. They even have the pre-emptive nerve to categorise groups such as Extinction Rebellion as a terrorist threat. Veg-culling vegans beware!
What I believe is that educating people to make their own informed choices could/should have a forceful effect on the big manufacturers to meet the changing demands of greener, sustainability-conscious consumers, because they will always need consumers to profit from. From my perspective, this type of political activism – kicking them where it hurts – feels more persuasive than venting at police lines on the streets.