Three weeks ago, and after 22 years, I became vegan again.
Let’s go step by step. In 1992, my friend Joaquim Pedro showed me this scruffy-looking punk ‘zine from the UK. It had an article about animal rights, and a many-times-photocopied image of pigs in an industrial pen. The text, but especially that image, those eyes that seemed to be looking straight at mine, were stuck in our adolescent minds forever. I wonder if he still has that zine! (will ask him and report back).
By 1994, I was finally at a place where I could become vegetarian. Also, I had been reading up a lot of stuff on this brand new thing called the internet, learning all I could from pages like the Animal Rights FAQ 
and the Veganism FAQ (I couldn’t find the one I printed out and read from back to back, but here’s a decent one) .
It soon became pretty clear to me that the reason why any animal (including humans) should be free from oppression - the capacity to suffer - demands, if we are being logical about it, not only the end of all unnecessary suffering of sentient beings (sentient = that can feel) but even the “usage” of said being. To just, whenever possible, leave them alone - that about sums it. And I mulled over it, and by 1995 I became vegan.
Then nine years after, by 2004, I was at a point in my life in which I was feeling I was making one too many sacrifices. I was in a monogamic relationship, but feeling that wasn’t really me and I was craving all the egg-based pastries of the past, as well as cheese on pizza. So, I folded. I half-joked about it, saying that either monogamy or veganism had to be dropped, and I chose to drop the ethical choice, lapsing because of cravings and relationship pressure (which were probably more in my head than anything). I downgraded to vegetarianism.
Mind you, in the 90s and early 00s, it was A LOT harder to be vegan than it is now. I went on an interrail in 1996 to the British Isles and went down to Brighton specifically to buy Doc Martens boots from The Vegetarian Shoes! Also, food choices were a lot more limited, and outside of Lisbon and Porto there were hardly any vegetarian restaurants (let alone any vegan one).
So time passed, and the 00s became the 10s and the 10s became the 20s. All this time I kept firm in my idea that the ethics of animal rights (or more specifically, the ethics of sentient beings) were correct. I was, if you want, “vegan in my mind”, a cop-out for not doing what was right.
Earlier this year - I guess about 6 months ago, or so - I told my partner that I would become vegan again, sometime in the near future. And so it happened, 22 years after I lapsed.
I guess the reason why I could no longer maintain a barrier between what I believed and how I was (not) living it, was the fact that I kept thinking about the concept of total liberation.
I’m an anarchist because I don’t believe in (and oppose) any form of oppression between humans (as individuals and societies) - even if I too oppress others (but I try not to!).
I am collapse-aware because I understand the ways in which current human societies, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (but even more so since the 70s), have been exploiting the planet in ways that not only will eventually bring about our doom as a species, but also how it’s all based on oppression of ecosystems.
Animal liberation, the third arm of total liberation, follows the same logic. I simply had to apply it (again) to my life.
If you’re unfamiliar with the definition of veganism, here it goes, straight from The Vegan Society (which I also visited back in 1996!):
Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.”
And if you’re unfamiliar with the ethics of animal rights (or sentient beings rights), it’s easy to quickly explain:
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I am a rational being, therefore I am responsible for my actions (unlike, say, a lion)
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I don’t want to suffer and be exploited by others
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The reason why I should have the right to not be made to suffer is my ability to feel emotions, including pain
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All beings that share the basic physical and neurological characteristics that allows them (curses them?) to suffer can feel suffering (pain, discomfort, etc.)
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If I have the right to not suffer and not be exploited by others, then all those who share with me that ability to suffer should also have that right (even if they themselves are incapable of understanding the very concept of “rights”, like a chicken or a newborn human baby)
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There are situations in which it is not possible to avoid suffering, and that is what it is, but for the most part, we should try to limit sentient beings’ suffering as much as possible (aka, become vegan).