Ever since lockdown, a huge number of online choirs have sprung up. Just like physical choirs, they reflect a great diversity of different musical styles and different interest groups – examples of the latter are female or male choirs, LGBTQ+ choirs, choirs for young or old people, religious choirs, culture-based choirs, profession-based choirs, choirs for homeless people, choirs for people affected by an illness, to name but a few.
Given this level of variety, I was disappointed that my search for a vegan online choir didn’t bring up any positive results. In fact, among the irrelevant search results, was actually a discriminating joke about vegans that was based on the fact that there are no vegan choirs. Despite the number of vegans rising continuously, a lot of carnists still cling to the gaslighting method of making vegans feel like they are a lone, crazy person.
Although there’s nothing intrinsically speciesist about a choir (except maybe the lyrics of some songs), a vegan choir would still come with a lot of benefits. So here’s my list of reasons why we desperately need some vegan choirs, in hopes that someone will start one and more will follow!
1. Representation
There can’t be enough of it. Our speciesist society needs to be reminded of animal oppression and the growing number of people who refuse to partake in it in all areas. Carnists complaining about vegans bringing up veganism and animal rights wherever they appear is a sign that they can’t ignore us any more. A vegan choir would express pride and would also have a positive role model effect for other vegans.
2. Strength In Number
As I mentioned above, the gaslighting tactic of making the victim feel isolated and friendless is commonly applied to vegans. A vegan group turns the table. More than being a mere reminder of the existence of vegans, it would show that there are enough of us to form special interest groups. There’s something particularly impressive about a group of people that is organised and coordinated enough to create complex art through collaboration (such as choirs, orchestras, bands, or dancing ensembles). It exemplifies just what we can achieve when we work together.
3. The Power Of Voice
Not only is there something special about creating something that we couldn’t create on our own, but also an inherent power in using your voice (alone or together). We all know the slogan “A voice for the voiceless”, which raises awareness of the fact that all oppressed individuals and groups have been silenced.
As well as being voiceless in the metaphorical sense, a growing number of studies are showing that when it comes to long-term trauma (especially that experienced in childhood), the actual physical voice of victims is affected by their trauma. This isn’t surprising when we remember just how much emotion is conveyed through our voice – for example, fear might cause our voice to tremble, intense emotion might cause the voice to go up in pitch, to sound hoarse, or to break; a barely audible voice might belong to someone who has been neglected and ignored as a child, and there’s “speechless terror”.
Given the fact that vegans speak for animals AND that they are discriminated for this, not only the symbolical power of raising our voices is important, but also the psycho-physical effects of this. Singing together would make members of a discriminated group feel powerful, reassured, heard, and connected.
4. Self Care
There’s a lot of stress that comes with being vegan. There are social implications (such as stigma, bullying, or relationship issues) and practical problems (sourcing information, food, and other vegan/cruelty-free products, which means investing time, energy, and money). But most importantly the sudden awareness of living in a system that is based on exploitation and unspeakable violence on a gigantic scale that everyone has been brainwashed into not seeing, is traumatising. It is only recently that this trauma has been named (vegan’s trauma by Shiri Raz and vystopia by Clare Mann) and become the subject of psychology.
With all of this, focusing on self-care is absolutely essential for vegans. The psycho-physical benefits of singing, especially in a group, have been widely studied. For example, singing reduces the amount of stress hormones in your body while also releasing endorphins and oxytocin, boosts your immune system, increases the amount of oxygen in your blood, and stimulates the vagus nerve (a part of the nervous system greatly involved in trauma recovery, as stimulating it makes you feel safe and calm). As such, singing can very well be seen as a form of therapy or self-help, similar to yoga, meditating, or other creative activities.
5. Artivist Potential
It might counteract the benefits in point 4 if someone suffers acutely due to vegan’s trauma, but for some activists using a vegan choir as a form of outreach might be an interesting option. Music draws attention and more importantly also connects the audience emotionally. If done right, music can move people more than a painting or a spoken/read narrative. There already are a number of vegan musicians who use songs to raise awareness about animal rights. A vegan choir would gain an instant spotlight simply for being the first (or second, or third, etc.) of its kind. Artivist songs could not only help with outreach about animal suffering, but also aim to reduce the stigma about vegans.
That being said, I think it is particularly important for animal rights activists to have safe places where they can forget about the stressors outlined above for a while, without feeling guilty for it or being seen as a waste of time. Preventing or dealing with compassion fatigue due to vegan’s trauma (and possibly interlinking with other personal traumas) is paramount for this group.
This is why having several vegan choirs would be really important, as some could define themselves as a form of artivism, and others as self-care groups (or both). They could have different aims and offer different benefits to different people (and not to forget that, of course, the differences mentioned at the beginning of this post, such as music genres, will be relevant for vegans as well). The more the better.
Personally, my dream choir would be an Intersectional Feminist Vegan Online Choir. Intersectionality is extremely important especially for the animal rights movement, as arguing for respecting animals while disrespecting certain groups of people is an awful form of hypocrisy. However, this is a huge problem in the movement. POC are just as lacking from vegan representation as elsewhere, while sexual harassment and misogynous advertising are common. How can we as human beings help the animals if we cannot even stand in solidarity with each other? Intersectionality should be fundamental to every anti-oppressive movement and its groups.
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