Nos alegra saber que algo queda en nuestros alumnos y alumnas más allá de letras y números.
Compartimos la carta que envía Alba, ex alumna del IES Miguel Catalán de Zaragoza : )
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Han pasado ¿Cuántos? 4 años. Todavía recuerdo el momento en el que le dije a mi familia que no quería comer más animales. Acababa de cumplir 16 años y según mi madre tenía un lavado de cerebro tremendo. En mi casa nadie me apoyó, bueno en realidad Lucrecio fue un apoyo muy grande. Mi madre me llamaría loca por esto, pero sí, en mi casa me apoyó el perro. Mi amor hacia él y los ojos con los que lo miro me daban fuerza. Al igual que podía ponerme en el lugar de un perro podía hacerlo con el animal muerto que tenía en el plato. En ese momento la comida paso a ser un cadáver; un cerdo, una vaca, un conejo, una oveja, una gallina, peces… asesinados para el disfrute humano. Yo ya no podía disfrutar de un plato tan macabro.
Over time, I've come to understand many things. I'm beginning to grasp how this damn oppressive machine we've been trapped in for millennia—they call it civilization—works. Veganism was the beginning, the first bomb that exploded inside me. It took me straight to the root of a lot of garbage that ended up being a complete landfill. And I started weaving networks, becoming interested in feminism, anarchism, transfeminism, political lesbianism… tools that, when incorporated into my body, liberate it.
Ultimately, giving up animal products meant much more than changing my eating habits. It changed my perspective on the world, on nature, on animals—both human and non-human—and on myself. The human species became just another species cohabiting the planet. However, everything I had learned up to that point, the education I had received, said the opposite, placing human beings above all else, or rather, men. There was the heterosexual, white man, crowned king of the world, at the top of the pyramid, master and lord of nature. A scientific and rational absurdity that I couldn't understand. And if I'm honest, becoming aware of this established hierarchical order frustrated me; it was difficult to find my place in such a world. But I gradually came to understand it, and I began to find words to explain it. Anthropocentrism, speciesism, heteronormativity, capitalism… and thanks to my pack, to my lifelong loves who are still there and growing, we began to question and find our own way of inhabiting and understanding the world. They were my support and still are. And what's more, they stuck together; out of 7 friends, 4 ended up eating green.
I remember it as a very turbulent time. Suddenly, because I was defending animals, I was forced to defend myself. I lost the privilege of comfort, I felt displaced from the norm, since eating animals is considered normal and normative. Because of this, my decisions were constantly and violently questioned without any consideration. Does a 16-year-old girl have any say in the adult world? Just as I felt that animals were being ignored, I realized that the same thing was happening to women, especially if we are young. Something is wrong with teenagers; it seems like only they are supposed to listen. Less silence and more speaking up. I began to find my own voice, something that patriarchy tries to take away from us. I encountered an unexpected level of oppression, and that made me grow.
Just as I didn't receive support at home, I was lucky at school, or as my mother says, they brainwashed me there. Although, if I think back on my entire life connected to the education system, the issue of animal abuse has been addressed by promoting it, and the mechanism is very simple: from childhood, we're taught that the cow is the animal that gives us milk, the hen eggs, the pig ham… and an endless list of forms of exploitation presented to us as something natural, normal. Our families teach us this, the school farm, the teachers with their stories. We grow up, and then the biology or science teacher appears, who, in the name of science and knowledge, normalizes animal experimentation; the use of animal bodies as objects of study. I'll never forget the days in the lab surrounded by pig kidneys, sheep brains, and lungs of dead animals. I didn't see the difference between buying a brain to eat or to dissect it; in both cases, the animals are objects for human use, and other species always lose out. Therefore, I believe that the educational environment promotes animal abuse; however, we always find defenders of dogs, cats, or anti-bullfighting activists, and well, it is appreciated, they do something, but not enough.
Until I reached the fourth year of secondary school, no one ever talked to me about animal exploitation, animal emotions, or their rights. It was Pilar, my language teacher, who somehow managed to introduce these values into the subject. I remember some videos, the texts we had to analyze, a book or two—little things that made me think and ask questions.
It might sound silly, but knowing that cows give milk because they're mammals just like me, or that farm animals have emotions like Lucretius, really shook me up a bit. How could I have been so unaware of something so obvious? Hearing words like speciesism, sentient beings, animal exploitation, or seeing that it's possible to live without consuming animals, definitely made an impression on me.
I began to realize my own ignorance on the subject. I had no idea how "farm" animals, the enslaved ones, lived. I looked for information and saw what happens daily on farms and in slaughterhouses. Seeing how animals live and die brought about a drastic change in me. The steak lost its flavor and price; for me, it began to have a story. It was no longer just another meal, but another dead calf that didn't even reach eight months old. I couldn't see the difference between eating a steak and drinking a glass of cow's milk or eating an egg. After all, behind milk and eggs, there are also enslaved lives. Faced with such cruelty and injustice, the least I could do was not participate in it. In my case, the change in habits was very simple and quick. I experienced it as a consequence of the injustice I had perceived; it was and is an attempt to reduce harm and suffering. Perhaps the most complex part was getting there, asking myself questions, and having the desire to answer them. And I was lucky in that respect, having a vegan teacher.
And I'm so grateful for that. I can count on one hand the teachers who have truly taught me something beyond memorizing, keeping quiet, and sitting still. I learned more from people than from textbooks. From the teachers who dare to show their true selves in class and share their values with us. And to those mothers who say our parents brainwash us, I agree. The education system, and they themselves, do brainwash us, until we finally start thinking about throwing away all the baggage we're carrying.
So thank you to those brave women who don't stay silent and use education as a tool to change the world. It has helped me change myself. And the chain continues; every change we make, every vegan influences many others.