Episode 24: Chas Newkey-Burden discusses why vegan activism needs to focus on animal rights rather than plant-based consumerism

For Episode 24 of Always for Animal Rights, I am pleased to share my recent interview with the professional writer Chas Newkey-Burden. As part of his animal rights activism, Chas writes articles about animal rights and animal cruelty for mainstream media publications in the UK, including the Independent, the Guardian, and others.

In this interview, Chas speaks about his experiences writing about animal issues for the mainstream media, how people have responded to his articles, and how receptive the media is to publishing nonhuman-centric stories. He also tells me about why he went vegan and why he opposes "Ahimsa dairy".

This interview also covers why vegan activism that focuses on animal rights and liberation, rather than the promotion of plant-based products, is the proper way forward for the animal rights movement. This is very important for us to remember, especially since we’re seeing a surge in the popularity of "plant-based" products nowadays (which, as discussed in the interview, are often not truly vegan anyway). Animal liberation cannot be achieved through capitalism, and Chas provides compelling arguments as to why this is the case. Remember that veganism isn't about buying the latest plant-based consumer products; rather, veganism is an ethical philosophy and corresponding way of living that opposes animal exploitation.

It's a very thought-provoking interview. Here are some of Chas's articles that are discussed in this episode:

• "Burger King’s not so vegan whopper shows what happens when we believe big corporate shares our values" (The Independent, 15 April 2020)
• "Sorry vegans, Burger King's Impossible Whopper won't do anything to save animals" (The Independent, 4 April 2019)
• "If you're a vegan who wants to try a 'bleeding' burger, I'm suspicious – what's appetising about animal slaughter?" (The Independent, 12 November 2018)
• "We always believed Cheltenham Festival put profit before safety. Now we’re seeing the true moral consequences" (The Independent, 22 April 2020)
• "Dairy is scary. The public are waking up to the darkest part of farming" (The Guardian, 30 March 2017)
• "Dairy Is Scared: More People Are Discovering Its Disgraceful Truth" (Plant Based News, 8 February 2019)

How to listen to this episode

There are two ways you can listen to this episode.

1. Listen to the episode on CKCU FM's website at https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/553/47680.html.
2. Listen to or download the podcast from Archive.org at https://archive.org/details/afar-april-29-2020.

You can also find Always for Animal Rights on Facebook and Instagram.

Until next time :)