Vegan Explosion: What we do & what we want

We’re a group of human animals in Berlin who want to connect tasty vegan food to political struggles. We would like to explain briefly why we think that both belong together.

Vegan Explosion – What we do

Since 2012, we have been supporting political events and actions as well as parties with vegan food – either with warm meals as a KüfA („Küche für Alle“ – kitchen for all, donation-based food) or with confectionaries such as our famous cream cakes. Or, at times, both. We also take part, together with other food collectives, in mobile-kitchen efforts to provide food to participants of anti-Nazi or home eviction blockades. Besides, we’re doing a regular KüfA at B-Lage in Neukölln on every fourth Wednesday of the month.

All surpluses are donated: We’re giving to different political projects we consider worthy of support. If you would like us to support your event with food or if you are collecting money for an emancipatory projects, feel free to contact us!

For us, cooking is not simply work but a communal, joyful activity. We’re organizing the process as anarchically as possible – all the way to our democratic seasoning procedure.

Veganism

The exploitation of sentient beings is generally unacceptable to us. That factory farming always means torturous living conditions for animals has become a commonplace notion. It would be impossible to provide large populations with animal products to the extent that is customary these days without such methods.

But other forms of animal rearing and hunting equally do violence to these beings, which violence is only justified through a categorical separation between „human“ and „animal.“ However, such a dichotomy is not only ethically questionable, it is also logically indefensible, as illustrated by numerous borderline cases. Thus, the only remaining justification is the rather meaningless biolog(ist)ical criterion of species membership (i.e., speciesism).

For these reasons, a vegan lifestyle appears appropriate to us – and in our times and under the given geographical and climatic conditions in Europe (and elsewhere), it’s quite doable.

But veganism does not only present us with the challenge of baking tasty cakes. It is not primarily about individual lifestyle choices, which can only ever lead to limited social change. The question of nutrition is political, especially so since most of what we consume is socially produced. It therefore is imperative to reflect on the social conditions of animal exploitation.

Under capitalism, animals are being exploited through their commodification – i.e., they are turned into commodities that are produced for the market. „Animal welfare“ provisions are only thinkable to the extent that they do not seriously threaten the profitability of the „production of animals.“ Individual veganism, while an important step, does not change this fact – we have to confront this problem politically.

…and human animals?

Human animals are equally exposed to various forms of oppression and exploitation. The logic of justification applied in each case is strikingly similar: Whether using gender, color of skin or sexual orientation (or species membership, as described above) as the criterion, it always involves the construction of an inferior Other, whose alleged inferiority then legitimizes or even requires its oppression.

Capitalism equally functions as a state of hierarchical conflict and tension. Social hierarchies, constructed as described above, are made productive in capitalism (e.g. in sweatshops and factory farms). By dividing different groups in society and pitting them against one another, such hierarchies also make it much harder to overcome capitalist relations.

Thus, it is only consistent to turn against every form of domination. Animal liberation is not supposed to mean tolerance for oppression among humans – why would one seek to liberate all species except one’s „own“?

Obviously, nobody can actively participate in all these struggles simultaneously. But we can respond to these problems with sensitivity and solidarity. Just like we cannot tolerate racist attacks or sexual discrimination in our everyday lives, it would be inappropriate to support speciesist exploitation through our consumption habits just because we’re currently focused on other struggles (even though we know that changing our habits is not enough).

We’re counting on your support!

We want…

  • antipasti, not animal suffering!
  • chocolates, not cops!
  • filled pastries, not forced evictions!
  • fondue, not fascism!
  • nougat, not nations!
  • raisins, not residence restrictions for refugees!
  • sorbet, not sexist bullshit!
  • surprise meals, not surveillance!

Feel free to e-mail us at veganexplosion ( at ) lists [ dot ] riseup { dot } net or check out our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/VeganExplosionBerlin (yeah, we know it’s dubious, but that’s how we reach people…)