Advocating veganism on the streets and vegan stalls

I and Hannah were out having a vegan information stall this last Saturday. It went well. The table was put up on a busy Oslo-street, and we noticed that not that many paid attention to the table. But some people approached the table, and took a flier and/or had a discussion. In total we passed out about 50-60 leaflets.

Here follows an outline of one of the discussions that I had: We passed by a seller who had a wagon where he sold pins. I stopped by and said hey with the intention of wanting to start a conversation about veganism, and started looking at his pins. One of them said ‘No to fur’. I realized that this is a good conversation starter so I asked him about the pin, and after his answer I said: ‘So you agree that it is wrong to harm animals unnecessary’. After this I told him that I am a vegan because that I believe it is wrong to harm and kill animals without any good reason. We have no nutritional need for meat, milk, eggs and other animal foods, so the animals used for these products are harmed and killed without any legitimate reason. He said about fur: “We don’t need to use fur, since there are other clothes available, so the animals are made to suffer in vain.” I said: The same is true with meat, milk, dairy, leather, down and other animal products. We can easily choose to buy vegan alternatives in the store. We don’t have to harm and kill animals. We kill them either because of that we enjoy the products they produce, or because of convenience, and these are no legitimate reasons to harm and kill animals. He had some further comments, and I answered them. In the end of the discussion I gave him a leaflet and he told me he would read it. I started talking with another person who was at his booth. I asked her if I could give a leaflet and handed it to her. She asked if I was a vegetarian, and I replied that I am a vegan and then we discussed some about that and some about the dairy cows. She said that she agreed with what I said, but said it would be hard to ditch some animal foods. I said: If you think it is hard, imagine how hard it is for the animals that are exploited because of the consumption of animal foods. She said that she got a bad conscience over what we were talking about.

It doesn’t always come naturally to hand out fliers on the street, train, in the food store, etc., or to initiate a conversation, but it is still the right thing to do. If you feel inconvenient, you can imagine the suffering and oppression that the animals go through, and how the seeds you plant will lead to less animals being exploited. Fight against injustice with the same energy and vigor as you would like someone else to do if you were the victim of oppression, exploitation and injustices. The world is vegan if we want it.

Another example of my advocacy:
http://bloganders.blogspot.no/2014/05/take-your-opportunities-to-educate.html

A great lecture with a very effective vegan educator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwGGd757RiI