VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE ATHENS PRESENTS: A PMA JOINT SACRED LIFE A ZINE ABOUT THE VEGAN STRAIGHT EDGE MOVEMENTVESIETARDANISM: Veganism is the porsonal practice of ‘eimnating the use of non-human animal products. INTERVIEW 1. Do you see vegetarianisnvanimal tiveration and straight edge as a personal choica/ belief In one's Ife, or do you support direct action tactics? How far do you think people should go with direct action? Any good ‘eas? APOSTOLIS: In general, | don't belive that there is a huge ‘8p between a personal choice or ballet and direct actions. | ‘mean that a personal belief must be supported with actons, respectively. A belit without an action ts nothing at all i makes no sense to koop your ballot just for yoursell Moreover, i's so egoistic to Koop this chotea / belie hiden Inside your mind. If his choice good or If the purpose Is noble, then you have to unleash it fo the world. There's not ‘one truth of course and no one is the blessed one, do not ‘misunderstand mo, ‘As | can figure out, by ‘direct action tactos’ you mean activism, propaganda ard non-violent or violent actone, for animal iberaion... Thore exist a lot of maans to promote, and demonstrate your way of ile; from word of mouth and pamphlets to boycott, demonstrations and’ buming down laboratories. I donot think that violence fs ineviable, though. | prefer not to use any violence at all, even though | arm not the ‘na to judge people for tie way they choose 10 fight ageinst animal rvaty and oppression, ‘Conceming straight edge, i's a personal choice, ‘wel, but fing it healthy to demonstrate it and ty to ‘edu (couldn't find a better ver, sony) people about the harm that ‘bacco, alcohol and drugs do to One's sell. Besides that by supporting the alcohol and tobacco companies, you iully support the captalisic system. Ona might say “fuck you, you're drinking coke’, though... There's a strong point, but if Yyou reconsider, its not exact the same, By the way. stop sdenking Coca-Cola, there are a lot of local coke labels, a3, ww THIS IS A ZINE DOCUMENTING CERTAIN VIEWPOINTS ON STRAIGHT EDGE AND VEGETARIANISM, GREEK VSXE WHO'S WHO: Apostolis orvanizes HC/punk shows In Groeco, has put out fanaines (Keop it eal, The age) and has sung for many notable HC bands over the "years. Fotis doos Take Your Shot zine and plays guitar in My Tum. Giorgos plays bass in Those Days and conume tho Ferae Natwae collective. Yiann! sings for Those Days and ‘mashes. Nikes plays bass in Etemal Hated and covuns Forge Natura | guess we are all kids who aren? roaly ofned by t> things we dc tn hardoore: we're more tke ‘Peeple living uiec ves and there is 60 much more aside from ‘ur presence in this scene... Our opinions differ and this Is ‘ust a presentation of thoughts. on staight edge and vegetarianism ~ nothing more, nething lass ‘STRAIGHT EDGE: Staght odgo isa phiosophy of staying ean and sober. meaning refening from using. alcoho wettest. "ay how far one should go wih the direct © action acs. Here you have a vary of means, choose for, Yyoursal. Boypot companies that do anmal-testing, avoid» © ‘buying stu marutactured by muttnational companies, bring ® “+ pamphists to shows, do rot wear leather or fur, atend ‘damonstrations... ‘Do not dink, do not smoke, do not fuck. anal tmkigding... FOTIS: will tart off by saying that it sure Ie wel to anewer your own questions, 've never done anything ike that before but people said | should have a go... Sahere's my story In a. sense, | did not Become straight edge by choice, Sometimes | say that | had to go straight edge It ‘order to save my ass from bad habits that | had acquired over the course of time ator school and universiy. Tve boon ‘vegetarian for years (now vegan), and Ive been edye in tho ppast and broke it. but then came back strong, and for good, My cours is nthing to be proud of, realy. So al ths mix has come as a way of searching out to find what's good for ME Personally. Ive had a lot of prosiems with my. ilo. This Hfestyle makes mg it beter; | giva my own porsonal fight tke everyone ise and its great. Veganism and SXE is my own ‘way to try and find happiness by living fee, So yeah — being Straight edge and vegetarian are eurely personal choices to ime. At the same time | know these choices surely have Hoi outer effects towards my envirenment. With every passing ‘day, | see the extemal imoorance of my actions. | see how ‘thoy affect the people around me, my femiy and finds and the environment 1 happen to bein at any gven time | guess boing a constanty sober vegan atthe age of 29 is an unusual choice for mary, it diferentates me rom the people around me but tats OK. At the end of the cay | guess | dont mind cause that's what punk is all about, right? Being difaent in Yyour Gwn personal way; being an individual. What | magn is ‘hat, yes, itis personal but it goes a long way and atiects others toa,‘As far &s direct action and activism, | cant say 1 have dene so much fr the movernant othor than try to soroad it around ina mild way. Starting a vegan shop with my ditriend is some kind of action | guess but | wouldn't call it activism. | also do a bog called Athens Vegan Straight Edge which aims to promote veganism and sXe in Greece. Switching to vegan from vegetarian seams to form a more Solid approach between the personal and the extemal, 2s veganism is a much more active stance; i just changes your whove way of thirking and for sure makes you more of an Outcast (atleast an energetic and heathy one) and in etect, makes you more hardcore about your choices and beliefs, | am prety lov-key wien it comes tothe whole VSXE thing but its not ke hide or am scared to talk about my choices. ‘S010 sum up 'd say thatthe core of voganism and straight edge Is defintely something persoral, Dut it surely has its extemal outcomes that one can't ignora! (GEORGE: Well, | think thatthe question tsi 's wrong, since ‘both can coexist. For example, may be a personal choice for me but | may support crect action too. in that s0n80, | think the above aversion i false. would be moro acourata i the question was about the vegieterjan staight edge on @ personal or on a sociopoltical level or something like that. Somehow that would be wrong too, because everything we do has a peiltical dimension, but anyway, let's assume that Politica is ciferent from personal to move on. ‘To answer your question as | percoved it, | balave that both decisions can be personal and sociopolitical t00, i Just depercis on how someone seas it. Someone can bo veg for many other reasons (heath, environmental, tc) than the Neration of all animals. Someone can be straight eds for ‘many reasors 109 (sai conto, sobriaty, health, etc), and its rot necessary to think outside the context of a personal choice. On the other hand, someone can be vogleteran and believe in the cause of animal liberation, and someone can be straight edge and act against the roots. of addiction. From these perspectives, its a clear poltical stance, So, 2 veg(oter)an straight edgo moral tasis can be sition personal, ether police ether Bot. From the political asp. ct Of this could outcome two kinds of direct action, the one for the actual animal Nbecaion and the other for the ioeration ftom acdictions. As for animal iberation, | Delleve that drect action can ‘bea ponerful means and a dangorous one atthe same tine, Powertu, because itis diect, it ends the oppression ard ‘opens the door to freedom immediately. Dangerous, because tho resuts might be the opposite of the desired, if not used wisely. We must not forget how things were during the black Nboration sttugge, for examole, and how M. L. King and Malcolm X contributed in their own way tof I's the same for ‘he animal iberation strugge, all io dferont tates must be ‘combined in order to be truly etfctvo. ‘As for straight edge, tho use of direct action is more Complex and Fm pretty confused about i. What would it be like? The case of Lone Wolf and the arson of the meth lab ould be an example of staight edge direct action. The ‘ombarrassing practice of beating up drug addlts or throwing ‘away beers from cients’ hands could never be considared as Such. So, if wo ae to tako direct acton in the name of straight edge, who are we against, were shall we aim to? The drug dealers, the whole drug market, the caplalsm ise that gives bit to these adcictons? | think that's a big conversation that we -not only as a straight edge corrmunity: ought to do some. time, it not already. Whatever the case ig, | baliove that we ‘must always have in mind the important prnciie ‘of Nonviolence; no living being must be harmed. Property destruction is not violence, since Ws simply materi destruction, but murder is. And probably tis is the answer to hhow far people should go with erect action, ‘YANNI: Vegetarianism and straight edge have a fot of things Jn comman. However, ifs up 10 each person to put ital fogathor and find out its truly right for them fo be jst one ut ofthe two, or be both at the seme time. As for actvem Je ALF, 1am notin a posi to answer whether what they o is right. 1 generally just want to see some type of activism, be lt violent o nt. NIKOS: To begin with, I would lke to mention that straight ‘edge Is not necessarily connected to veganism ard animal liberation, however their partal connection exists, Straight ‘edge is partaly a personal choice, but i somecne goes deeper. he will understand that t has a revolutionary core ‘against the society of drugs, alcohol and the stupor of the ‘mind via the telovision drug, family Violence, sexism, iolaton {and homophobia. So; just drug, alcohol or srnoke abstinence Isn't enough, i's important to 900 the scciety’s drugs that ule ‘ur everyday if and are devouring us. ‘On the one hand, these bolts (etaight edge- \eganisrvanimal liberation) are _persoral croices in someone's Ife. However, we shouid no! stay on the personal level. Maybe personal level is the foundaton on wich @ person wil bud ideologies, will make them part of him and of his everyday ie. After personal search comes relive acton (Girect acton) | totaly support direct action practces of the animal liberation movement and | corsider them the most fffective, because as the histoy of the movement hae repeatedly proved us, they ar the only tacos able to close down businesses whicn manipulate animals the worst way Possitle for the sake of science, or for food, clothing, ‘ntortainmert, having profit as their goal. The only thing suo 's that lagal ways are never enough to achieve somating tke this, as laws and their servants make whatever they can to Prevent the closing of those poftaole eerporaions. Lots take a look at the history of othor subversive movements; “The American anth colonists in tho 17708 | asserting ‘no taxatiol without representation’, the French evolutonaries in the 17806 demanding “bor oqualty fraternity’ the English Chartsts in the 18908 demanding & ‘People's Charter; the Sutragetes of the 1900s demanding ‘votes for women; the Gandhian disobedience movement from the 18205 calling for ‘Swaral/seit government, all of ‘hese were movements of civ dscbedience, and have ‘shaped the poltica tradtions that wo lv with today.” (taken bby Steven Bests artcie:You dont support tho ALF because | why?) Unt now there has been no radical change that came with egal means. And never wil be. Thats why the animal liberation movement ic similar. A for the limit of ect ection practices, | boliove that its only the premise no animal’ le (human's or non) should be in danger. There are many ideas for activites that someone can do without much help, even ‘alone. From the simplest thing i.e. witing leaflets or even {9ssays to give out and inform poop, to come daring action, such as meatfurdeather trangporing truck sabotage. For more ideas, read the lyrics of Confers song “This & the ALF, hohe!