Cheese Louise! Serving Dairy in School is Racist, Claims Environmentalist

LONDON - JULY 12: A store assistant cuts brie, which can contain between 45 and 60 percent
Cate Gillon/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

A climate change activist has called for schools to stop serving cheese to children, claiming that dairy products are inherently “racist”.

Alison Plaumer, a member of the far-left Extinction Rebellion group, has launched a petition demanding that the Brighton and Hove city council introduce more plant-based meals in schools across the coastal English city.

The petition calls for a “managed transition to at least 2 plant-based days in all state-run schools as soon as is practically possible. We also request that all council run events be plant based, (post pandemic) plus any other council run establishments (e.g. day centres etc ) in order to reduce food emissions.”

The local news outlet Sussex Live, reported on Wednesday that during a meeting of the council in March, Ms Palmer said: “Arguably, there is a racist element to serving dairy too much because 65 per cent of the world’s population are lactose intolerant, many from the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) community.

“Loads of parents around here give lots of support to this. What do children want? They want action. They want it now,” she added.

The petition, which will run until June 13th, has so far garnered some 256 signatures.

It is not the first time that environmentalists have equated dairy with racism, with the American animal rights activist group PETA saying in 2018: “Cow’s milk really is the perfect drink of choice for all (even unwitting) supremacists, since the dairy industry inflicts extreme violence on other living beings.”

The left-wing activist group vowed to “wake people up to the implications of choosing this white beverage.”

More recently, London mayoral candidate Laurence Fox was accused by How to Argue With a Racist author Dr Adam Rutherford of adopting a supposed white supremacist meme — which likely began as a troll by users on 4chan — after Fox put a glass of milk emoji in his Twitter handle.

Mr Fox denied that he was using the emoji for nefarious purposes, posting a link to a House of Commons speech given by lockdown sceptic Tory MP Charles Walker, in which Walker said that he will be protesting the government’s draconian coronavirus measures — and the price of milk — by carrying a pint of the dairy beverage through the streets of London.

In his speech, Sir Charles expressed hope that others would take up his act of protest.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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