I have always said that the dichotomy "abolitionism" vs "welfarism" is bogus and counter-productive. Those self titled "abolitionist" purists, those 5th column vegans who seem to spend most of their time attacking other animalist organisations and refuse to accept diversity within the movement are only beneficial to the meat industry.
Everyone is welcome to care about animals. Some strategies might seem more effective but a variety of strategies can go a long way as long as we're united on common goals.
(This is an article by Dan Murphy, a veteran food-industry journalist and commentator published on a cattle/meat industry website.)
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/news/meat-matter-great-debate
The way the meat industry views the «welfarists»:
«Because no one involved in livestock production meatpacking or processing has any illusions about the goals, strategies or tactics of HSUS. They are veggies in drag, charlatans pretending to be mainstream lobbyists interested only in making animal husbandry more humane, when in fact they are dedicated to the full vegetarian agenda that demonizes livestock production, condemns meat-eating and pretends that global utopia is only a vegan lifestyle away.»
This will be interesting to quote to those who assert that "welfarists" are beneficial to the meat industry and welcomed by it.
