Abolition vs Welfare

I do not think it is ok for anyone to eat, consume, or benefit from an animal product or from a product than an animal has suffered and died for.

Is it really worthwhile promoting the reduction of animal suffering, or should we stop wasting time and put all our energies towards abolishing animal-dependent industries altogether?

For example, I have signed my name to letters and petitions to:
Reduce the number of cage-eggs bought/sold, in preference of Free Range eggs
Reduce animal suffering by promoting Free Range meat products
Stop live exports of animals (international live travel, awful conditions)

These campaigns seem to be counter-intuitive to what should be our goal, ending all animal suffering, because they do not challenge the practices or the deaths required, only temporarily improve conditions. Whether conditions are actually any better anyway is another matter of debate.

I feel like if we congratulate someone for buying "free range" we are celebrating the suffering and deaths of animals. Because regardless of whether they lived a "free range" life or not, they still had to endure being killed and the various accompanying horrors.

As M. Butterflies Katz suggests, "there is perhaps more suffering in milk, cheese and egg consumption than meat consumption, therefore choosing to be vegetarian (for ethical reasons) is not logical" (from Vegan Voice 43 (2010), 39). The only logical choice, from an ethical perspective, is to live a completely vegan lifestyle.

I think that I need to grow some balls, so to speak, and stop cowering behind my need for everyone to like me. It's the same as when I laugh awkwardly at a joke I do not find amusing, and actually find offensive. Or when I watch films and someone is bullied, or raped. Why is this considered entertainment? We consume and exploit the violence and suffering of humans and animals alike. There are so many awful things in the world, and we just accept them as ordinary, everyday. We have become complacent, unfeeling, apathetic.

But it isn't ok, and I don't want to support any form of cruelty anymore. I don't want to tell people that "at least you're doing something", because it is not enough. Until there is no more suffering and cruelty, it will never be enough.