Donald Watson
Donald Watson
He lived from September 2, 1910 to November 16, 2005. He was the founder of the U.K. Vegan Society and the inventor of the word "vegan". He died at the age of 95 in his home in northern England.
In 1944 he got together with a group of friends and they brainstormed to find a word that would describe their diets. He suggested "vegan", using the first three and last two letters of "vegetarian". It was the "beginning and end of vegetarian". Together they founded the Vegan Society. He wrote their first newsletter, which came out in November of 1944 and was called "The Vegan News".
| In their first newsletter, you can find the following passage: |
|
| "The object of our Group is
to state a case for a reform that we think is moral, safe and
logical. In doing so we shall, of course, say strongly why we
condemn the use of dairy produce and eggs. To resign oneself to lacto-vegetarianism as a satisfactory solution to the diet problem is to accept a sequence of horrible farmyard and slaughter-house incidents as part of an inevitable Divine Plan. Need it be added that it would imply too accepting the spectacle of a grown man attached to the udder of a cow as a dignified and rational intention on the part of Nature!" |
| In this newsletter, he also asked members their opinion about the name "vegan": |
| "We should all consider carefully what our Group, and our magazine, and ourselves, shall be called. 'Non-dairy' has become established as a generally understood colloquialism, but like 'non-lacto' it is too negative. Moreover it does not imply that we are opposed to the use of eggs as food. We need a name that suggests what we do eat, and if possible one that conveys the idea that even with all animal foods taboo, Nature still offers us a bewildering assortment from which to choose. 'Vegetarian' and 'Fruitarian' are already associated with societies that allow the 'fruits'(!) of cows and fowls, therefore it seems we must make a new and appropriate word. As this first issue of our periodical had to be named, I have used the title "The Vegan News". Should we adopt this, our diet will soon become known as a VEGAN diet, and we should aspire to the rank of VEGANS." |
| When Donald Watson was asked in an interview how "vegan" is pronounced, he answered: |
| "The pronunciation is "VEEGAN" not "VAI-GAN," "VEGGAN." or "VEEJAN." The stress is on the first syllable." |
Other quotes from the first newsletter of "The Vegan News":
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Other quotes are taken from a transcript of a 3-hour taped interview conducted by George D. Rodger on December 15, 2002, when Donald Watson was 92 years old and a 2004 interview with Vegetarians in Paradise when he was 94.
| "One of my earliest recollections is of holidays on my Uncle George's farm where I was surrounded by interesting animals. They all "gave" something: the farm horse pulled the plough, the lighter horse pulled the trap, the cows "gave" milk, the hens "gave" eggs and the cockerel was a useful "alarm clock" - I didn't realise at that time that he had another function too. The sheep "gave" wool. I could never understand what the pigs "gave", but they seemed such friendly creatures - always glad to see me. Then the day came when one of the pigs was killed: I still have vivid recollections of the whole process - including the screams, of course. One thing that shocked me was that my Uncle George, of whom I thought very highly, was part of the crew. I decided that farms - and uncles - had to be reassessed: the idyllic scene was nothing more than Death Row, where every creature's days were numbered by the point at which it was no longer of service to human beings." |
| When asked what events in life led him to vegetarianism and veganism, he answered: |
| "As a child seeing animals pushed through
doors alongside butchers' shops to be killed. I once saw a cow
and a calf enter together. I wondered later which one the
butcher killed first. On one occasion I actually watched a cow
being killed at an abattoir in a field where local children were
free to watch and where they hoped to be given a bladder to use
as a football. I also watched a pig being killed when I visited
an uncle's farm. I turned vegetarian at the age of fourteen." "It was a New Year Resolution. Did you ever hear anyone say there's no point in making New Year Resolutions because they're always broken? You can quote me as an exception to the rule, because, since 1924, I've never eaten any meat, or fish." "My conversion to veganism was about eighteen years later when I learned about the biological mechanics of milk production." |
| "quite early in life, I came to the conclusion that, if I was to report on Man's progress, I had to settle for the comment beloved of schoolteachers: "could do better". And from that, The Vegan Society was formed." |
| "the world population, which was about 2 billion people in 1944, is now more than 6 billion people,... along with, I would say, a corresponding explosion of animals to feed most of them. And those animals are there, fed on food that should be growing for the Third World." |
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"Whenever I look across a graveyard and see all the stones, I think what enormous agony all the people who are buried there -most unnecessary agony -must have gone through during their lives and all the herds of cattle and flocks of sheep and shoals of fish went into the lives of every one of them to keep their little show on the road, believing, as Lang said, they were doing nothing wrong." |
| "fishing, which has always been accepted as a very peaceful occupation, one to encourage young children to adopt, because it takes their mind off other nefarious things that young people fall into -these creatures can never be a threat to man, because they're trapped in their environment. Unlike any other animal pests, they can never over-run the dry land -they're trapped there, and, when caught, they can never relieve their feelings with a scream, like other animals do. What agony they die in, in their millions, will never be known. So much for the pacifist view of fishing." |
| "whatever sort of place Heaven might be, I consider veganism is, as near to that aspiration that we, as fallible humans, can get. Someone also said, "Heaven is a temper, not a place." and I hope most vegans would believe in that." |
| "vivisection ... is probably the cruellest of all Man's attack on the rest of Creation. Particularly since it hopes to give benefits. Even if it does, we must ask the question, after millions of lives have been sacrificed, if all this effort had gone into other fields of investigation, like simple reformed living, would not the results far outweigh the benefits of vivisection, whatever they may be." |
| When asked about his views on direct action, he answered: |
| "I respect the people enormously who do it, believing that it's the most direct and quick way to achieve their ends. If I were an animal in a vivisection cage, I would thank the person who broke in and let me out, but, having said that, we must always remember: is it just possible that our act could, just could, be counterproductive? I'd rather not say "yes" or "no", because I don't know the answer to that." |
| When asked whether he has a message to all the people who are now vegan, he answered: |
| "Take the broad view of what veganism stands for - something beyond finding a new alternative to scrambled eggs on toast or a new recipe for Christmas cake. Realise that you're on to something really big, something that hadn't been tried until sixty years ago, and something which is meeting every reasonable criticism that anyone can level against it. And this doesn't involve weeks or months of studying diet charts or reading books by socalled experts - it means grasping a few simple facts and applying them." |
| When asked about his message to vegetarians, he answered: |
| "To vegetarians, I would say, accept, as, if you're honest you must, that vegetarianism, whilst being a necessary stepping-stone, between meat eating and veganism, is only a stepping stone. ... vegetarians must realise that, although they might find it inconvenient at times, to go the whole way, that is the path that our experience shows that they must go." |
| "We don't know the spiritual advancements that long term veganism -I mean not over years or even decades, but over generations, would have on human life. It would be certainly a different civilisation, and the first one in the whole of our history that would truly deserve the title of being a civilisation. Full stop." |
| "Veganism gives us all the opportunity to say what we "stand for" in life. The ideal of healthy, humane living is now easy with modern transport bringing us vegan foods from all over the world. Join us and add decades of health to your life, with a clear conscience as a bonus." |
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