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Considering that vegans think that humans are animals, and vegans are against deriving benefit from animals, especially those who are abused who didn't agree to work for whoever is benefitting from them, then would a vegan be careful not to eat any food or use any products that are made through human slavery?

(For example some factories in China, and even products made in USA prisons where the workers don't have a choice to work or not)?

Robert Longson
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Yaakov Yitzchak ben Moshe
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  • Products from USA prisons are not slave labor. The work they do there - whether in the kitchen, the laundry, the farm, the manufacturing facility - is all voluntary and is more like a skill development program. The first intent is they have a skill and are used to employment so they don't come back. The second intent is to give them something productive to do when they're in prison for years, decades or life. American prisoners are not at all like Uyghurs in China. – Paul Walker Mar 31 '24 at 15:39

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There is no official rule book for being a vegan and certainly no police force who will prosecute you for claiming to be a vegan while breaking one of the rules. So, a vegan who knowingly consumes the products of slavery is not impossible.

Nonetheless, I would be surprised to meet a vegan who knowingly and happily consumed the products of slavery.

Sadly, sometimes compromise is necessary to interact with society. C.S.Cameron gives a good example of license plates. Do you refrain from driving, drive illegally, or reluctantly accept it.

Some vegans (and many other groups) don't check the rules too hard. I know some who check most products carefully but forget to check beer and wine.

badjohn
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Would vegans wear clothing or eat food made from human slavery?

How would the average Vegan, (or Ethical Vegetarian), know that their food or clothing is made using human slavery?

I have not seen a label on food or clothing stating "Made using Forced Labor".

Just because a shirt is cotton, does not mean that it was harvested by an Arkansas chain gang. Should we refuse to use license plates on our cars?

It is said that Jain are taught that karma is associated with unintentionally harming a being. Buddhists are taught that karma is only associated with intentional actions.

C.S.Cameron
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  • On one hand, I would agree with you. I don't think the average person doesn't read labels on clothes, food, or whatever. But if a person goes to the trouble of trying to determine whether or not Bayer Aspirin is "vegan," they're not average. Slave labor products simply are not the average vegan's hot button. To them, slave labor is just a milk cow. – Paul Walker Mar 31 '24 at 15:33
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Yes, I think they would. And this is not a vegetarian-thing. It's an attitude of radical vegans. The Vegan Society has a boiler plate statement about human slavery and trafficking. But the common thing is to compare animal slavery to human slavery. Something that at least one vegan is begging them to stop doing.

Comparisons of killing animals to the Holocaust are common.

I answered a question on this site about "https://vegetarianism.stackexchange.com/questions/2261/durable-trekking-boots-vegan" where I included the statement and link below. I was downvoted, the answer was called "misinformation" and the question was deleted by the moderator.

Now, someone might not agree with an answer, but slavery in the supply chain is very real.

Vegans promote animal rights over human rights because they believe animals are oppressed and humans are the oppressors. They care about "https://vegetarianism.stackexchange.com/questions/1559/what-vegan-or-animal-rights-events-have-spread-internationally/1566#1566".

They COULD check labels and understand supply chains and find out where clothing is sourced so they don't support human trafficking and slavery inadvertently. I mean, even Bayer Aspirin is a target of investigation, but not Nike shoes?? And it's not that they don't care about people. I know they do. But they don't have room in their ideology to address human slavery. It's not in the gospel they preach.

The "misinformation" that caused that answer to be deleted...

Sadly, there is a lot of slavery in supply chains. https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/slavery-in-global-supply-chains/ Buying a pair of vegan boots thinking you're saving an animal or preventing animal cruelty is good. But the only way to get them is through a supply chain where almost 20% of the world’s global cotton production is linked to forced labor. In my opinion, vegan boots made by a slave is not a win.

Paul Walker
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