I recently asked my vegan followers on Twitter, "Would you eat in McDonalds?" The results were overwhelmingly a huge "NO" with some of the answers including: "Never have, never will" "Not even at gun point" "I'd rather stick pins in my eyes" Now, before I go any further, let me clear up a point of confusion. I live in the UK where there are a handful of fully plant-based options at McDonalds, including the fries, apple pie slice, veggie wrap - the veggie goujons are even certified by the Vegan Society - but I understand that in the U.S. there are no vegan options to choose from. Even the fries there aren't vegan so the question evoked some puzzled responses from my North American followers.
One or two people from outside the U.S. said they did eat there because, although it wasn't ideal, they didn't see it as any different from eating at a pub or shopping at a supermarket that also sells meat and animal products. Since many vegans cannot afford to shop at fully vegan stores (or don't have access to one) we have to make compromises all the time by supporting businesses that are involved in animal abuse. Interestingly, only one person indicated they would actively buy the vegan options at McDonalds as a political gesture or form of economic activism in order to encourage the sale of more vegan options. This is an argument put forward by Joey Carbstrong who has stated his belief that buying vegan options from McDonalds is the right thing to do for the animals in order to change the company 'from within' by encouraging a move towards more vegan options rather than just attacking them for their malpractices. My own views are that, whilst I can see the logic behind this stance and I can understand the economics of supply-and-demand, I do nevertheless feel that McDonalds are different to, say your local supermarket, for example, because they are not just a company which 'also sells meat' but their entire empire is built primarily on the murder of billions upon billions of sentient beings. This is a world of animal abuse on a whole other level. Whilst a supermarket stocks everything from bacon to bread, pastrami to pasta, eggs to egg-plant and chicken to chips, McDonalds has built up their entire brand around glorifying the consumption of dead animals. As far as I can see, their choice to sell vegan options is merely an attempt to capitalise on a corner of the market which was previously untapped and, perhaps even more importantly, to silence many of their active critics who have campaigned against their evil empire for many decades. Back in the nineties, McDonalds famously sued two unemployed activists, Dave Morris and Helen Steel, in what became England's longest-running libel case. The corporation didn't win. Judges ruled that many of the points made by the activists were completely true and irrefutable. Not only that, but the whole thing kept McDonalds' abuses of animals, the environment and human rights in the public spotlight for years and cost them an estimated £10million. The company has also had countless activists intimidated and arrested by police simply for carrying out legal protests but this has still failed to silence opposition. It seems to me that where legal action and intimidation have failed, the company hope to 'buy' the silence of their critics by throwing them a few vegan scraps from the metaphorical blood-stained table. Personally, I am pleased that so many of my fellow vegans have refused to be won over in this way. I am pleased that groups like Animal Rebellion are still campaigning against them, including recent blockades that disrupted the supply chain to every single UK store and I look forward to the day when the rusted carcass of the big, happy clown collapses among the carcasses of all his victims because we are not only campaigning for the right to buy vegan food - we are campaigning for the right of non-human Earthlings to be free from abuse and to be treated as individuals rather than commodities. Roll on that glorious day. |