Vegan anarchist anti-fascists join May Day Chicago march, then block S. California Ave with anarchists of color in front of Cook County Correctional Facility

Vegan anarchist anti-fascists joined the Chicago May Day demonstration with black and green flags and a big banner. After a long day of marching in the streets chanting things like "burn the jails, burn the prisons, just make sure the cops are in em!" and "Arms Up, Shoot Back!" the vegan anarchists weren't ready to call it a day just yet.

While the mass crowd of May Day marchers gathered in the park at the end of the march for speeches and food, the vegan anarchists remained in the street with a small group of anarchists of color who rather than going into the park to enjoy food shared by Food Not Bombs, decided to block and disrupt the heavy flow of traffic in front of the Cook County Correctional Facility on 2684 S. California. Both anarchists of color and the vegan anti-fascists blocked traffic for about an hour and a half, forcing police to re-route traffic (traffic which mostly consisted of police officers trying to go home after their shift ended).

In the article Unconditional Anti-Oppression: The Rise of Anti-Speciesism in the Anarchist Movement radical veganism is discussed as an anarchist perspective on anti-speciesism, anti-anthropocentrism, anti-capitalism and anti-statism. As more vegans begin to embrace an intersectional struggle against all forms of oppression, the state becomes less desirable. This comes with the understanding of how state-sanctioned reform serves as an antithesis to genuine freedom for both human and non-human animals. Radical vegans acknowledge how the state or centralized bureaucracy protects capitalism and preserves the white supremacist, patriarchal order.

As more vegans find the state less desirable, more anarchists are acknowledging the environmental and ecological devastation of capitalism. An intersectional approach to liberation reveals the interconnected relationship between sexism, speciesism, racism and other forms of oppression. Anarchism against all oppression must include anti-speciesism since discrimination based on species upholds an authoritarian hierarchy of human supremacy. Veganism for non-human animal liberation must include a critique of the state which assumes the role of the sole legitimate violent force in pursuit of maintaining colonized territory and imperialist expansion. Any struggle for liberation whether human or non-human necessitates a conflict with the state, capitalism and fascism.

Against all oppression, for total liberation!