Donald Watson and His Vegan Society

01-28

前些日子我去一個小縣城旅行，平時吃飯通常會去普通的餐廳將就一下，但每次都要和廚師提前說明，「不要肉末、一定要用植物油，不要雞精和雞蛋，不要放蔥蒜」。性格好的廚師也許會接受你的要求，但很多時候廚師可能顧不上那麼多，造成的結果縱使你多遍提醒，他還按他的方式做出了。其實即使廚師接受我的要求，每回這樣點菜的時候我內心也頗為過意不去。無意間打開手機時，發現住處附近有家素食餐廳，內心竊喜。去了後點了一個套餐，我特意還問服務員點心是純素的嗎？她回答是的，結果後來發現點心中含有雞蛋成分，原來在素食餐廳這樣本可以放心吃的地方有時候也不那麼省心。

所以素食者在外面就餐處處當心，一不小心就會錯吃了食物。個人覺得大陸對於素食（Vegetarian）純素(Vegan)的定義尚不清楚，所以有必要回顧一下「純素」（Vegan）這個詞語的如何被發明的，「純素」（vegan）一詞由英國人多納德·華特森（Donald Watson）在1944年創造出來。他抽取了「Vegetarian」這個詞的前三個和後兩個字母，希望採用完全不同的發音「vee-gn」（維根）來強調其革命性的重要性。Vegetarian diet 在很早以前也不叫這個名字，而是被稱之為畢達哥拉斯飲食方式（Pythagoras diet），而Vegan 比Vegetarian 對食物的要求更為嚴格，除了飲食中不含有任何肉類成分外，也不含有包括蛋、奶等動物附屬品等成分，並且在可能和實際的情況下，拒絕對動物進行任何形式的剝削和殘酷待遇，包括不穿含有動物皮質或者絨毛的衣服、皮鞋等，盡量用無動物成分的替代品。「純素」比「素食」更清新，更富有挑戰性，因為它的範圍包含每一種有知覺的生命，從倫理的根本角度強調避免任何形式的不必要的殘忍行為。

提起素食，有時候不得不和「動物權利」聯繫起來，很多人一開始選擇素食時可能對此並沒有太多考慮，僅僅是是對動物的同理心而已，其實深層次的原因是內心承認動物生命意義上的基本權利，並沒有單純把動物當成可食用的選擇。這一點，其實民法總則里有句話「動物不是物」，也在強調動物非純粹物質的客體。將動物看作物質客體是「人類中心主義」在法律上的表現。如果說人類起初構建以權力為核心的法律是為人類自己的私立服務的，那麼人類仍然沒有跳出「人類中心主義」藩籬，會不會30以後回顧今天的現狀，我們也可能嘲笑當初的荒謬，人類的局限也常表現在：我們的視野總是被有限的認知所困。

回顧一下世界上最早的純素協會（Vegan Society），它是由Donald Watson在20世紀40年代再英國創辦，以下時問答的方式講述Donald的個人經歷和創辦素食協會的原由。

Q: Where and when were you born?

nA: I was born on 2nd September 1910 at Mexborough in South Yorkshire, into anmeat-eating family.

Q: Tell me about your childhood.

nA: One of my earliest recollections is of holidays on my Uncle Georges farmnwhere I was surrounded by interesting animals. They all "gave"nsomething: the farm horse pulled the plough, the lighter horse pulled the trap,nthe cows "gave" milk, the hens "gave" eggs and the cockerelnwas a useful "alarm clock" - I didnt realise at that time that henhad another function too. The sheep "gave" wool. I could never understandnwhat the pigs "gave", but they seemed such friendly creatures -nalways glad to see me. Then the day came when one of the pigs was killed: Instill have vivid recollections of the whole process - including the screams, ofncourse. One thing that shocked me was that my Uncle George, of whom I thoughtnvery highly, was part of the crew. I decided that farms - and uncles - had tonbe reassessed: the idyllic scene was nothing more than Death Row, where everyncreatures days were numbered by the point at which it was no longer of servicento human beings. I lived at home for 21 years and in the whole of that time Innever heard a word from my parents, my grandparents, my 22 uncles and aunts, myn16 cousins, my teachers or my vicar on anything remotely associated with anynduties we might have to "Gods Creation". On leaving school, I wentnto be an apprentice woodworker with another uncle. When I was 21, and due tonbecome a craftsman, we found ourselves in the economic slump of the early 1930snand I discovered that craftsmen could become woodwork teachers by qualifyingnthrough the City and Guilds. With a bit of trouble I managed it and liked thenjob so much that I never tried to get any kind of promotion.

Q: You are 92 years and 104 days old as of today. To whatndo you attribute your long life?

nA: I married a Welsh girl, who taught me a Welsh saying, "When everyonenruns, stand still", and I seem to have been doing that ever since. Thatnmust be part of the answer, because so many people are running towards what Insee as suicide, performing habits that everyone knows are dangerous. Ivenalways accepted that Mans greatest mistake is trying to turn himself into ancarnivore, contrary to natural law. Inevitably, I suppose, within the next tennyears one morning I wont wake up. What then? Therell be a funeral, therellnbe a smattering of people at it and, as Shaw forecast for his own funeral,ntherell be the spirits of all the animals Ive never eaten. In that case, itnwill be a big funeral!

Q: When did you first become a vegetarian?

nA: It was a New Year Resolution in 1924, so I havent eaten any meat or fishnfor 78 years.

Q: Tell me about the early days of the Vegan Society.

nnnn

A: In the two years before we formed a democraticnSociety, I literally ran the show. From the response that I had - thousands ofnletters - I feel that if I hadnt formed the Society someone else would havendone so, though it might have had a different name. The word "vegan"nwas immediately accepted and became part of our language and is now in almostnevery world dictionary, I suppose. I cant help comparing our attractivenquarterly magazine with my humble "Vegan News" which I produced atngreat labour. Normally I spent a whole night assembling the various pages andnstapling them together. Id limited the number of subscribers to five hundrednbecause I couldnt cope with a bigger number. Compared with democracy,ndictatorship has obvious advantages. In the early days of "VegannNews" I could do everything my own way. I dont think I could have survivednif I had had to write to the few people concerned and ask for their opinion. Inhad no telephone and no motor car - I could only hope that they would see mynpoint, until I handed over the work to a committee.

Q: How does your veganism relate to any religious beliefsnyou may have?

nA: I never had very deep ones. Ive never been clever enough to be an atheist -nan agnostic, yes. Some theologians think that Christ was an Essene. If he was,nhe was a vegan. If he were alive today, hed be an itinerant vegan propagandistninstead of an itinerant preacher of those days, spreading the message ofncompassion. I understand that there are now more vegans sitting down to Sundaynlunch than there are Anglicans attending Sunday morning service. I think thatnAnglicans should rejoice at the good news that somebody at least is practisingnthe essential element in the Christian religion - compassion.

Q: What do you find most difficult about beingnvegan?

nA: Well, I suppose it is the social aspect - excommunicating myself from thatnpart of life where people meet to eat. The only way this problem can be easednis by veganism becoming more and more acceptable in guest houses, hotels,nwherever one goes, until one hopes one day it will become the norm.

Q: And the other side of the coin: what do you findneasiest about being vegan?

A: The great advantage of having a clear conscience andnbelieving that scientists must now accept conscience as part of the scientificnequation.

nQ: How important has gardening been in your life?

nA: When I lived in Leicester a friend let me use an allotment. When the cropsnmatured, I had to wheel them back four miles to the other side of the city.nWhen I was lucky enough to get a job in Keswick, I got a house with an acre ofngarden, which was a dream come true. My compost bins are filled with all thenweeds, grass mowings, vegetable waste from the garden, dead leaves - no animalnmanure. By the way, all my digging is done with a fork - not a spade - tonpreserve earthworms.

Q: What are your views on animal experiments?

nA: I said that cruel sports were the bottom of the barrel, but I think Illnhave to move even them up one and put vivisection at the bottom. One thing wenshould always ask when we think that cruelty is largely delegated to the peoplenwho perform it is the simple question, if these butchers and vivisectorsnwerent there, could we perform the acts that they are doing? If we couldnt,nwe have no right to expect them to do those things on our behalf. Most orthodoxnmedicines are tested on animals, and this perhaps is the greatest inconsistencynin vegetarians and vegans who take orthodox medicines - a more seriousninconsistency even than wearing leather or wool because these are by-productsnof industries that are primarily there to provide meat.

Q: What are your views on direct action?

nA: Ive never become involved in it. I respect the people enormously who do it,nbelieving that its the most direct and quick way to achieve their ends. If Inwere an animal in a vivisection cage, I would thank the person who broke in andnlet me out but, having said that, we must always remember: is it just possiblenthat our act could be counterproductive? Id rather not say "yes" orn"no" because I dont know the answer to that.

nQ: Do you have any message for the millions of people who are now vegan?

nA: Take the broad view of what veganism stands for - something beyond finding annew alternative to scrambled eggs on toast or a new recipe for Christmas cake.nRealise that youre on to something really big, something that hadnt beenntried until sixty years ago, and something which is meeting every reasonablencriticism that anyone can level against it. And this doesnt involve weeks ornmonths of studying diet charts or reading books by socalled experts - it meansngrasping a few simple facts and applying them.

Q: Do you have any message for vegetarians?

nA: Accept that vegetarianism is only a stepping stone between meat eating andnveganism. There may be vegans who made the change all in one leap, but Im surenthat for most people vegetarianism is a necessary staging post. Im still anmember of the Vegetarian Society to keep in touch with the movement. I wasndelighted to learn that at the World Vegetarian Conference in Edinburgh thendiet was a vegan diet and the delegates had no choice. This little seed that Inplanted 60 years ago is making its presence felt.

Q: What do you think of the way the Vegan Society has developed since younwere running it?

nA: Better than expected, certainly. The genie is now out of the bottle and nonone can ever put it back to the ignorant days before 1944, when this seed wasnplanted by people full of hope. Now wherever Man lives he can have a vegan diet.nAll the early work was done by volunteers. In a way, everyone the Society hasnever paid to do the office work have all been volunteers. Even our ChiefnExecutive is on a wage at the very bottom of anything that is paid in thencommercial sector. Because we can afford nothing more. So the Vegan Society hasnalways, in that sense, been supported by voluntary labour. And were enormouslyngrateful to these people because heaven knows what would happen if they allnpacked in.

Q: In what direction do you think the Vegan Societynshould go in the future?

nA: I hesitate to suggest anything to a movement which seems to be going wellnand spreading world wide. The edifice that survived all attacks before wenstarted our work is now crumbling because of the inherent weakness of its ownnstructure. We dont know the spiritual advancements that long-term veganism -nover generations - would have for human life. It would be certainly a differentncivilisation, and the first one in the whole of our history that would trulyndeserve the title of being a civilisation.

順手列舉幾個當代的素哲學家：

Tom Regan 、Peter Singer 、Steven Best 、 Martin Vinzenz Baldur Paul、Oesiderio Murcho