After we had visited Paris Vegan Day, the French anti-fascist initiative terre d’abord critisised our attendance at the event. They stated that by visiting Paris Vegan Day we indirectly supported pro-fascist and right-wing populist structures because the organizers co-operate with people who made racist and right-wing populist comments. Furthermore, Paris Vegan Day is supported by Fondation Brigitte Bardot.
We want to thank terre d’abord for their input and would like to respond to their critique: We hereby declare that our conviction as a collective is not only anti-speciesist but also anti-fascist. We reject any kinds of racist, right-wing populist and inhumane ideologies and we especially condemn all attempts to instrumentalize animal rights issues to breed resentment against Jewish or Muslim population groups.
We didn’t know in detail about the structures of Paris Vegan Day beforehand, so our attendance should not be interpreted as a form of pro-facist support. In the past, we boycotted events when “Universelles Leben” or related groups attended and this should make clear that we don’t agree when people try to link animal rights issues to totalitarian ideas. The same applies to extreme right-wing and other kinds of inhumane ideologies.
