César Chávez
who defended animals so unequivocally, we celebrate their work on behalf of humans and completely ignore their positions on animals.
Chávez did not just stop eating animals and stop supporting animal exploitation himself and call it a personal choice. He called on others to do the same, including many of his friends within the farm labor movement:
“Cesar was a vegan. He didn’t eat any animal products. He was a vegan because he believed in animal rights but also for his health,” Chavez said. “Growing up I was always surrounded by vegetarians and vegetarian meals were always an option. When Cesar died, I decided to become a vegetarian in honor of him.”
espoused an inclusive worldview that illuminated the common oppressions forced on farm workers, the environment and animals by modern agribusiness.
A passionate animal rights advocate and vegetarian for the last 25 years of his life, he embodied these values as a model for others to emulate and urged union members to eat a plant-based diet out of respect and concern for animals. Due to his influence, many people within the farm labor movement today are vegetarians.
Chávez considered vegetarianism to be an integral part of living nonviolently – that is, without causing other beings to suffer and die unnecessarily.
producing numerous converts to vegetarianism over the decades.
His conviction that the power of people working together for a common cause would ultimately prevail is epitomized in his personal motto, sí se peude (it can be done), which remains the UFW’s slogan to this day.
"Cesar practiced vegetarianism and fasting as a means to focus the movement on nonviolence and a form of ‘spiritual activism’ that nourished a movement with little material resources." Chávez’s compassionate spirit inspired people to reach beyond themselves toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life. Like Gandhi, he believed dignity to be the birthright of all sentient beings, and helped people realize how much they shared in common with each other and all other creatures.
he foreshadowed the food justice movement that has taken root around the globe.
"We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves...We know we cannot be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them – exploiting animals in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food."
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César Chávez, Vegetarian
This week activist César Chávez's birthday was celebrated in California and across the country. Animal Rights blogger Stephanie Ernst laments that, in all of the hoopla surrounding the event, there wasn't a word about his opposition to exploitation of animals on all fronts, including research, sport, food, and entertainment. Given Chávez's stature among activists, Stephanie finds the omission inexcusable. (Read more)
Honoring César Chávez--and His Call to Stop Eating Animals
Published March 31, 2009 @ 06:55AM PST
http://animalrights.change.org/blog/view/honoring_csar_chvez--and_his_call_to_stop_eating_animals
And this is inexcusable.
It's inexcusable that when we talk about luminaries such as Coretta Scott King, who was a committed vegan for the last decade-plus of her life, and César Chávez, who defended animals so unequivocally, we celebrate their work on behalf of humans and completely ignore their positions on animals. Could it be that their realizations and decisions in this area are boxed away and rarely spoken of because they challenge the rest of us to come to the same realizations and decisions? Could it be that those who are made uncomfortable by those views, because of their own continued exploitation and consumption of animals, choose not to give attention to their heroes' stances on animal issues? Is the compassion toward animals they modeled and encouraged too challenging?
Chávez did not just stop eating animals and stop supporting animal exploitation himself and call it a personal choice. He called on others to do the same, including many of his friends within the farm labor movement:
"Cesar took genuine pride in producing numerous converts to vegetarianism over the decades. You’re looking at one of them," UFW president Arturo Rodriguez said in 1996 during a speech at a farm conference. "He felt so strongly about it that sometimes I think he took as much personal satisfaction from converting people to vegetarianism as he did to trade unionism."
His niece similarly reported on Chávez's influence, in Más Magazine:
Camila Chavez found her transition to a vegetarian lifestyle not only easy, but also saw it as a way to honor her uncle Cesar E. Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union.
“Cesar was a vegan. He didn’t eat any animal products. He was a vegan because he believed in animal rights but also for his health,” Chavez said. “Growing up I was always surrounded by vegetarians and vegetarian meals were always an option. When Cesar died, I decided to become a vegetarian in honor of him.”
He took the philosophies of compassion and nonviolence to their logical next step. And my assumption is that most people just don't know this. But those who celebrate Chávez and yet knowingly ignore his call for the end of exploitation of animals, knowingly leave it out of his biography--because it's not convenient, because they don't want to stop exploiting and killing animals themselves--are doing his memory a dishonor.
César Chávez said, in 1992, during his acceptance of a Lifetime Achievement Award from In Defense of Animals,
We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to make all people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves. And that's the basis for peace. The basis for peace is respecting all creatures. . . . We cannot hope to have peace until we respect everyone--respect ourselves and respect animals and all living things. . . . We know we cannot defend and be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them – exploiting them in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food.
Birthday and every day, Mr. Chávez, you were and are beloved by countless people, and many of us thank you and honor you not only for your tireless work on behalf of humans, but for your inspiring, compassionate efforts on behalf of animals as well.
To my readers who are still eating animals and animal products, I ask that today, on César Chávez's birthday, you open your mind and heart to what he opened his mind and heart to and consider extending your circle of compassion to animals. Make today a vegan day. Pick up a book or two about animal sentience and emotions and animal rights. Pick up or order a vegan cookbook. Honor Chávez's memory by opening yourself up to the possibility that he was right not only about the rights of humans, but about the rights and lives of animals as well. Honor a remarkable, nonviolent man by embracing true nonviolence in your own life.
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Image of Chávez with his canine companions by Cathy Murphy. Retrieved from the Walter P. Reuther Library United Farm Workers Collection.
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Cesar Chávez – A Legacy of Animal Advocacy
by Mat Thomas
http://www.idausa.org/feature_060328.html
As the founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) and a tireless civil rights leader, Cesar Estrada Chávez spent his life fighting for justice and brought hope for a better life to millions of people around the world. 
Considered "one of the heroic figures of our time" by Robert F. Kennedy, Chávez espoused an inclusive worldview that illuminated the common oppressions forced on farm workers, the environment and animals by modern agribusiness.
A passionate animal rights advocate and vegetarian for the last 25 years of his life, he embodied these values as a model for others to emulate and urged union members to eat a plant-based diet out of respect and concern for animals. Due to his influence, many people within the farm labor movement today are vegetarians.
In all aspects of his life, Chávez committed himself to the principles of nonviolence pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi in colonial India and practiced by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in America during the turbulent 1960s. Chávez considered vegetarianism to be an integral part of living nonviolently – that is, without causing other beings to suffer and die unnecessarily. "Cesar took genuine pride in producing numerous converts to vegetarianism over the decades. You’re looking at one of them," UFW president Arturo Rodriguez said in 1996 during a speech at a farm conference. "He felt so strongly about it that sometimes I think he took as much personal satisfaction from converting people to vegetarianism as he did to trade unionism."
Chávez organized and led countless strikes, demonstrations, boycotts and pilgrimages in the struggle for workers’ rights, standing up to agribusiness’ brutal repression every step of the way. Even though strikebreakers sprayed toxic pesticides on farm workers who demonstrated for better living conditions and fired buckshot through their picket signs, Chávez rejected calls for violent action, insisting that positive social change could only come about through the diligence, patience and sacrifice that are at the core of nonviolent tactics. Like Gandhi, he also fasted to call the world’s attention to crucial issues as well as to strengthen his own resolve to keep struggling against the forces of oppression. His conviction that the power of people working together for a common cause would ultimately prevail is epitomized in his personal motto, sí se peude (it can be done), which remains the UFW’s slogan to this day.
Given his beliefs and actions, it comes as no surprise that Chávez was also a profoundly spiritual man. Attorney Bill Monning was one of many to confirm this when he wrote of his time working with the UFW. "I was fed spiritually by a powerful new ally and role model – Cesar Chávez," proclaimed Monning. "Cesar practiced vegetarianism and fasting as a means to focus the movement on nonviolence and a form of ‘spiritual activism’ that nourished a movement with little material resources." Chávez’s compassionate spirit inspired people to reach beyond themselves toward a more meaningful and fulfilling life. Like Gandhi, he believed dignity to be the birthright of all sentient beings, and helped people realize how much they shared in common with each other and all other creatures.
The fruits of Chávez’s lifelong effort have left an indelible imprint on today’s world. Decades ago, he was one of the first prominent figures to promote a return to sustainable organic farming as essential to restoring ecological balance, farm workers’ control over their own lives and consumer confidence in our food supply. As such, he foreshadowed the food justice movement that has taken root around the globe. The UFW successfully lobbied under his leadership for passage of the 1975 California Agriculture Labor Relations Act, which is still the only law in the U.S. protecting farm workers’ right to unionize. Chávez also made a lasting impression on the thriving animal rights movement, which he viewed as inextricably linked to other social justice causes.
That is why IDA proudly recognized this great leader’s contribution to both human and animal rights by awarding Cesar Chávez our Lifetime Achievement Award in 1992. In his acceptance speech, Chávez said, "We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves...We know we cannot be kind to animals until we stop exploiting them – exploiting animals in the name of science, exploiting animals in the name of sport, exploiting animals in the name of fashion, and yes, exploiting animals in the name of food." Click here to view IDA’s new PSA featuring his acceptance speech.
A year after Chávez’s death in 1993, Bill Clinton posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor an American citizen can receive. Since then, communities all over the U.S. have declared March 31st, Chávez’s birthday, a holiday to commemorate his life. These and other honors help ensure that the great union organizer, civil rights leader, environmentalist and animal advocate will be long remembered as a true American hero who taught that peace can only be realized by ensuring justice for all, regardless of race, class or species.
To learn more about Cesar Chávez, visit the Cesar E. Chávez Foundation, established by his family and friends to keep his memory alive and inspire people to carry on the struggle that was his life’s work.
Read the article Cesar Chávez and Comprehensive Rights
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