Somewhat unfair.
If they come out very explicitly in favour of veganism, they risk losing support and making it harder to build a broad coalition. Plus, they probably have plenty of non vegan members.
I was at an XR event in March, a conference. They bought in 100% vegan food for everyone. There was not even a meat option. Everyone was given vegan food without even being asked. They also arranged for a vegan caterer even though they couldn´t find one available in the city of the conference, and had to get someone to drive in from an hour away.
Look at what they have clearly said on their facebook page:
September 7th 2020
"Recent scientific studies have estimated that 75% of new and emerging infectious diseases come from animals. There have been numerous reports of Covid-19 outbreaks in meat plants across the UK. Hundreds of workers have tested positive at several abattoirs and processing plants. These industrial factories are hotspots for the outbreak and their continued use is putting workers’ health at risk."
Source:
Extinction Rebellion
September 7th 2020
"Animal agriculture currently accounts for 80% of Amazon deforestation, as well as 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. A 2018 study into the environmental impacts of food production - the most comprehensive of its kind - found that a plant-based food system could reduce farmland usage by 76% and greenhouse gas emissions by 49% from current global levels."
Source:
Extinction Rebellion
Also from 2018:
"We know the animal agriculture industry is an abhorrence.
We also know its a huge contributor to climate change.
Phased reduction of the animal agricultural sector must happen if we are to effect change yet its a highly provocative issue."
Source:
Extinction Rebellion
August 15th:
Join
#AnimalRebellion this 1st of September to march from Smithfields to the UK Parliament, where key decisions are made, to ensure that the
#AnimalEmergency is not ignored!
Source: (Deleted source to stop it coming up as a video which I don´t want.)
This one, literally from yesterday, is the clearest yet:
Join the
Animal Rebellion
today WEDNESDAY for a
DEFRA Street PARTY
on their last day of Rebellion
*
9AM meet at St John's Garden for a 10AM start at DEFRA Marsham Street
*
Now, since we're on the topic of
#MovementOfMovements and plant based food systems, what's XR's stance on veganism and vegeterianism
*
It's quite simple in fact: we don't get into personal choices. Should our food system be plant based
We leave that — and all specific solutions — to a
#CitizensAssembly within a framework of climate and ecological justice to decide. Though if you hang out with XR rebels you'll find that many don't consume animal based or meat products, or have certainly reduced what they do.
*
But given the FACTS what cannot be denied is that figuring out ASAP how land is "used" and how we feed ourselves is ESSENTIAL to avert catastrophe.
*
Individual choices such as going vegan or veggie are GREAT and every little bit counts, but given the unprecedented scale and speed of change required, personal actions are definitively nowhere near enough. We need radical transformational
#SystemsChange, including food system ones.
*
A lot less meat on the menu seems an obvious conclusion, as well as drastic changes in INDUSTRIAL animal (and plant) agriculture, that depends on fossil fuels and chemically produced pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers. Factory and intensive animal farming also needs reconsidering (some argue it might even need to go) because certain farming practices are not only ecocidal, toxic, unethical and immoral but they're also downright CRUEL.
Source: (Deleted source to stop it coming up as a video which I don´t want.)
Where I´ve deleted sources, you can find sources by copying and pasting a random string of five or six words of text into google along with this: site:
www.facebook.com/extinctionrebellion