Violence Against Vegans? Not A Joke

Vegans have seen an increase in cyber bullying by non-vegans for their lifestyle choices but to an extent of life-threatening violence?

Shasha Ali, who is known to be one of few Muslim vegans in Auckland is the owner of Nusantara Indonesian Tea Cafe and founder of a community market project called Vegan Village.

Recently she faced a threat of having her event “suicide-bombed” with the cyber-attacker calling vegans “sinners”.

She felt the cyber threat to also be Islamophobic in nature.

She called the Police who met and addressed the matter by tracking down the person based in West Auckland making the threat and eventually received an apology.

However recent articles stating top chefs making remarks to “kill all vegans” have triggered her to speak up and tell this story in New Zealand.

triggered her to speak up and tell this story in New Zealand. “How did we let violence become acceptable, a joke?”

“When I ran Vegan Village as a pilot project in New Lynn with Auckland Council, it was about making food accessible, inclusive and diverse to people from all dietary, cultural backgrounds,” she said. “Anyone and everyone can eat vegan food. At the event we had many people telling us they were not vegan but really enjoyed the food!” The Vegan Village a monthly event project was patroned by over 1,000 community members across West Auckland, and even encouraged local non-vegan street food vendors to cater to this market.

“We wish to promote the message that violence is unnecessary, not on the plate at the dinner table and definitely not amongst each other,” says the young start-up entrepreneur who used to work for Women’s Refuge. “I think New Zealanders regardless of their personal consumption choices need to relax and stop this aggression against vegans. People who choose to go vegan may do it for different reasons - health reasons, for the animals, for the environment...what is so wrong about all that?”

“As much as I wish to forget the incident, it just makes me feel that there is a huge lack of awareness, and I am even more determined to continue promoting a peaceful message through healthy, tasty plant-based food for everyone in the community,” says Ali.

The Henderson resident is currently working with Auckland Council, and local business stakeholders to develop Waitakere City’s first fully vegan food eatery and provide a hub for people to gain information, have a conversation and learn about the ethics behind vegan lifestyle. A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to fundraise for this project will be launched on 1st September 2016.

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