When I first stumble upon the animal rights Abolition movement I thought that they and it were all total nut jobs. Not that abolition is a bad idea, it is the ultimate goal of any green blooded vegetarian, but it seemed that it was far to lofty of a goal for our current society to even warrant its suggestion.But then I started researching the slavery abolition movement that it is modeled after. When the small group of Quakers in Britain began their quest for the abolition of slavery, it must have seemed like just as much of a half baked moonshot. At the point in time of the main slavery abolition movement slavery had been a part of human society for thousands of years, our economy was fundamentally linked to it, and it was part of the global culture.
The end of human slavery did not occur over night. The time line for the abolition of slavery began as early as 1000 AD in Hungary, or perhaps much earlier. Slavery was abolished as early as 1335 in Sweden, 1587 in Japan, 1777 in Vermont, 1833 in the British Empire, 1865 in the United States, 1948 by the United Nations, and even today in 2008 in Nepal. Even today while most forms of slavery are illegal in almost all the world slavery still continues with perhaps 27 million slaves world wide, in the sex trade, and forced labor in various countries around the world.
So, perhaps the animal rights abolition movement is not nuts, perhaps now is the time to start. I began to think, that if it were possible, what would be the best way to go about it. Following the slavery abolition movement, it is clear that the whole world is not, and does not need to absolve animal slaughter and slavery at the same time, and the first country to start in, is probably not the United States.
The best way to start the movement is to make it become law in one country, any country, perhaps even in one state. We have much to learn from religion in this respect. When the Protestants desired their own laws, they did not remake Catholic Europe, the migrated to the "New World" and made their own country based on their own values. The Jews did not demand equal rights, and freedom from persecution in Europe, they sounded the call to Zion, and migrated in mass from Europe and Russia to found Israel, a land where they would be able to live under their own law. The same for various religions such as the Amish, Mennonites and Mormons migrating to the mid-west.
So, I put forth that we sound the call to Zion for the animal rights and vegan movement. We begin the migration of ethical minding peoples of the world to our vegan Zion and make abolition into law and a reality. That we show the world first hand the benefits of a vegan society, and that it is not only possible, but a great economic, environment and social benefit to live as a vegan society. That we take our chair at the United Nations and start the waterfall affect into the rest of the world.
Now one thing that we must do is decide on where our vegan Zion is? Since there are perhaps one million to five million vegetarians and vegans in the world that may consider eventual migration to Zion, the country cannot be too large, it must also have open immigration laws, and perhaps be somewhat connected or near to either Europe or the United States. Fortunately there is a large number of small island countries in the Caribbean, perhaps a country such as Trinidad and Tobago ("Lulu for president"). A small country with about one million people, a large population is already Hindu, which would at least hopefully be sympathetic to our cause. So we would need probably less than 500,000 people to migrate to this island nation. Perhaps it can be the retirement destination of aging vegans, the vegan Florida. Aging vegans can bring their money and their vote, and start a new world order.
Or, perhaps we can migrate within the United States, such as to Vermont, which only has 600,000 people. It would be quite historic to start the animal rights abolition movement in the same state that first abolished slavery. But perhaps history does not need to repeat itself exactly and we could choose Virgina, as we already have a base in Norfolk in that state.
I don't know, maybe now is the time, maybe this is the call, will you answer the call?
