I worked with members of the Humane Party to write this handbook. Sadly, the group fell apart when conflict came up, and was not resolved in a way that enabled us to go forward. I was not the team leader, and we did not have agreements as to how to deal with conflicts.

I wrote many of the handbook entries, and thus I am publishing them on my blog. In this introduction, you will see that I use the pronoun “we” because originally it was a team effort.  I wrote this intro, and it was never approved by the team. Here you go!

…………………

Intro:

We write this handbook knowing that we are utilizing the knowledge, experience, writings and sacrifices of dedicated communitarians.

First of all, just what is an intentional community? According to the definition on the Federation of Intentional Communities website, which the most comprehensive and long-standing website about intentional communities present at this point, extensive information about intentional

“An “intentional community” is a group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values. … …a group of people who come together deliberately in a residential situation around a specific vision, agenda or shared values.”

So why create a vegan intentional communities handbook when there is so much information about intentional communities around? There are three reasons (at least!)

1. We who are vegans/animal rights activists have unique needs and challenges because we have chosen a lifestyle that has the common value of compassion to all of life. Very few intentional communities are vegan, thus we want to help vegans find their way to an intentional community they feel comfortable being a part of.

2. Many of us in this movement have a desire to have a profound impact in transforming this world into a place where dominance of any kind is a thing of the past. Therefore, we focus on ways of governing and forming communities where everyone’s voice can be heard and honored.

3. Because there continues to be cutting edge information on how successful communities thrive, we want to take the best of the best of information for you–sifting through the mountains of wonderful information available to make sure we are offering ideas that are in alignment with the basic values of veganism and contribute to creating activist communities who want to spread the ideas of veganism.

Our research tells us that there are no handbooks which show a clear pathway to how to create  a vegan intentional community. And there are few models of vegan intentional communities that are easily duplicated. Thus, we wanted to create this handbook.

The authors, editors and organizers of this handbook are passionate animal rights activists and vegans who have experience in intentional communities and veganic agriculture. Thus, they can give suggestions for vegan communities that offer guidance for their unique needs.

We who co-authored/organized this handbook decided early on that we wanted to help Vegan Communities contribute to the growing AR movement, instead of only creating safe places from the storm.

We do see the need for vegans to be able to live in place where their needs are honored and where they can be empowered to live activist lives, contributing to the movement in their own unique ways, depending on the people who are part of the community.

It is our hope that this handbook will be an ever evolving document which continues to supply tools, experiences, and resources so that it is increasingly easier for people to start vegan communities, promote their existence,  and even inspire existing communities to adopt the vegan lifestyle. The vision of most intentional communities is to create spaces where people can thrive. Perhaps we can inspire them to also include nonhuman animals in their vision.

If you have any questions, comments, additional resources, or even want to apply to be a member of the team, please do contact us.