From the vegan duo The Pleasants, who were kind enough to travel across North America with me for issue three, to photographer Jo-Anne McArthur, who continues to challenge our view of animals within our world, the T.O.F.U. grant has been our way to give back to a community that has supported what we do since day one.

So, when work started on the sixth issue we knew we also had to keep our eyes open for the recipient of the third grant. Given the serious focus of the issue, it seemed logical that the recipient would be heavily involved in pushing the envelope on the topics we knew we would only be able to touch on. Thus, the decision came easy to choose A. Breeze Harper.

Truly Ethical Veganism

A PhD Candidate at the University of California, Harper’s work focuses on intersections of critical food studies, critical race theory, and black feminist thought. She is also the founder of The Sistah Vegan Project, which explores the lives of black female vegans. The project also looks at how geopolitical status, race, class, gender, and sexuality affect vegan philosophy. In 2010, Lantern Books published Harper’s edited volume Sistah Vegan: Black Female Vegans on Food, Identity, Health and Society, the first book of its kind to look at the experiences of American veganism through the lens of race and gender.

In an interview with the Creative Director for issue six, Harper goes into detail about the importance of critically thinking about veganism and its intersectionality with forms of oppression:

“…it’s not that I have a problem if a vegan still chooses to eat a vegan tomato product, but I have issues with the lack of transparency of how the vegan food actually got to your plate. Marking it as ‘cruelty-free’ elides the possibility that human beings may suffer in order to get that product to you. I actually feel that framing a vegan product as ‘cruelty-free’ creates a one-dimensional “it’s only about the animals not being exploited” approach to vegan consumerism.”

It is due to her continued efforts to put such problems on the table that we proudly support A. Breeze Harper and her work to make veganism, and the world, better.

Show Your Support

A. Breeze Harper is trying to finish her dissertation work, titled Situating Racialization, Racisms, and Anti-Racisms: Critical Race Feminist and Socio-spatial Epistemological Analysis of Vegan Philosophy in the USA. Due to California budget cuts, her dissertation fellowship for 2011-2012 was not renewed. If you would like to support her finishing her PhD and social activist scholarship for 2012 summer graduation, she is accepting donations through paypal: breezeharper@gmail.com

“Bananas are the single most profitable item passing through the check-outs in British supermarkets, accounting for 1% of all sales. In the USA, it is estimated that bananas represent 2% of the total turnover of North American grocery retailers.”
- Banana Link, “Supermarkets“

You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you’re grocery shopping and something seems too good to be true? Like a mango for less than a dollar, or a handful of kiwis for less than your bus fare? There’s a reason for that. It is too good to be true.

I’m sure a lot of you already know the food industry is messed up, and for the most part, we only see the benefits. In grocery stores it translates to lower prices, while the story behind the scenes is never as pleasant. Of course, how deep into that tangled mess you choose to go is usually a matter of how much guilt you want to associate with that fresh pineapple, or how easily you can convince yourself that the winter where you live means lots of preserves and root vegetables instead of fresh produce. Sure, you can choose to buy fair trade when possible, and maybe even focus on local products, but as a vegan there are plenty of things you should be eating that probably will not grow in your backyard.

So, that nagging feeling in my stomach is sometimes pushed aside for the sake of the benefits an imported product would provide me. One of the major ones would be bananas. I grew up eating them, and they still make cereal seem a little healthier every morning. Since I’m not a nutritionist, and I arguably don’t know enough for my own diet concerns, let alone someone else’s, I’m not going to say bananas are a necessary part of one’s diet. However, I have been led to believe that they are ridiculously healthy for you, and pack one hell of a nutritional punch in a small package. A lot of times, bananas are one of the only non-local things I buy, and coming from Newfoundland that means a lot of carrots and potatoes with the occasional Canadian apple.

Thus, when I started digging a little deeper into the background of the little yellow wonder, I was not surprised to find out the true reasons why they remain so cheap throughout the year, no matter how far they travel.

Bananas – globalissues.org

The Banana Trade War – globalissues.org

Banana Link

Sadly, I’m not sure what the solution is. I just felt the information was useful, and it should be something you think of every trip to the produce aisle.

All items are fairly-traded and sweatshop free without the overly-sexualized ad campaigns to sell them.

One of a kind

Black shirt w/ white logo

Apple of my eye

Brown shirt w/ black logo

Brown shirt w/ black logo