Ecorazzi, Francione, White Priveledge, and Pettyness

Ecorazzi.com have finally made an official statement over their handling of the McGrath-Francione scandal.

I am guessing that it was an attempt to counter the backlash the site is facing, has it done that?

Or, is it too little too late, and digger them into a far deeper hole than they first thought?

Setting The Stage

Like all good or even not so good counter pieces, they start with a disclaimer.

The following article is written by Hellenic Vincent De Paul (Owner of Ecorazzi & Person of Colour) and edited by Eva Lampert (White Female Staff Writer and Moderator).  No white male has contributed or acted as the “unofficial editor in chief” of this article.

To those who understand double speak, and considering how long it too to write the reply, the opposite could be true.

Unfortunately for Ecorazzi, things don’t get any better the more you read.

Approved Then Not Approved

What started this whole fiasco was an article written by Lauren McGrath.

The article “When Social Justice Ignores Marginalized Vegans“, was submitted for publication.

AFTER being “briefly looked over” it was published.

Then, at some point, the article attracted the ire of Gary Francione.

The keeper and sanctifier of all things vegan disagreed with it and wrote a facebook comment.

This set in motion a sad and embarrassing sequence of events.

Which ended with the article being removed, and Ms McGrath’s employment terminated.

Censorship Or Bullying At It’s Worst

Did Ecorazzi remove the article because it wasn’t in line with their leaning “towards an abolitionist approach”?

Or, does it represent something far worse?

I wonder if anyone has pointed out that there is a difference between leaning towards AN abolitionist approach, and towards THE abolitionist approach?

Mind you, Ecorazzi also claim to be writing from an “unapologetic vegan perspective”.

How one can do both is beyond me.

The question we should be asking is.

Did Ecorazzi censor an article under the direction of a white male law professor?

Or were they bullied behind the scenes into removing it?

If Francione and his followers used their tried and true game play, I suspect it is the latter.

What is interesting to note in Ecorazzi’s response is their claim, “At that point, we had no formal or informal relationship or contact with Francione,”.

This would imply that they now do.

If this is the case, they need to declare with the relationship with Francione is now.

And what impact this relationship will have of their unapologetic vegan perspective.

Digging A Deeper Hole

In the rebuttal piece, Ecorazzi attempt to throw a large amount of mud at Ms McGrath, by claiming X, Y and Z.

They even link to their own articles as proof of this.

All this does is give off the impression that they are throwing a tantrum because they got caught out.

This gives Ms McGrath the high ground, even if she was the worst employee in the world.

Remember, they were the ones who allowed the alleged behaviour to continue. They were the ones who published questionable articles.

One thing a news/media site should never do is slander former employees.

And that is exactly what Ecorazzi have done with this “statement”.

Any respect they could have garnered from this “statement” disappears with the last sentence.

Where To From Here

Ecorazzi treatment of Ms McGrath highlight some of the challenges within the vegan movement.

Racism and sexism are rife, and over looked.

Bullying and harassment is common and not spoken about.

Francione doesn’t have the last word on what is and isn’t vegan.

None of this indicates that the movement is doomed.

What they do point out is that we all have a lot of learning and understanding to do.

For the rest of us.

The best and possibly most important thing we can do is not allow this behaviour to continue.

Time to draw a line in the sand.