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What does our movement mean?

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This weekend you will attend workshops, hear talks, see films,

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and learn about organizations that represent the wide breadth of efforts

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taking place under the banner of the animal rights movement.

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You will hear about work to spread veganism,

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efforts to enact and enforce laws that protect animals,

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and campaigns to stop specific abuses.

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You will learn how to use certain tools in your activism

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from social media to storytelling to virtual reality

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and you will have opportunities to debate the best strategies for making change.

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You will meet other compassionate and passionate people

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who are deeply committed to improving the world for animals.

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You will undoubtedly walk away inspired.

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As you go about your days at this conference, keep this question in mind:

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What does our movement mean?

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To an outsider?

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To our society?

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What does it even mean that there is an animal rights movement?

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Does it mean that animals should suffer less before they become food?

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That some of the worst confinement, mutilations, and violations of animal cruelty laws should be stamped out?

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Does our movement mean that certain uses of animals

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like imprisoning them in theme parks and circuses

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are simply beyond the pale?

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Does the existence of an animal rights movement mean there should be more vegan options?

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More vegan products?

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More vegans?

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Because another thing you will hear about this weekend

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is that we are making progress in these areas.

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I've been doing animal rights activism for two decades,

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and in that time we have achieved many of the goals

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that seemed so out of reach when I first joined this movement.

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The term factory farming is widely understood,

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and the practice is widely condemned.

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There is growing awareness that producing dairy and eggs

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involves at least as much suffering as producing meat.

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We are enacting animal welfare legislation

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and forcing other policy changes to stop some of the worst practices.

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We are seeing the increasing recognition

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of the liberty interest of so-called higher animals

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and widespread public opinion that has decimated the attendance and profits at SeaWorld

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and forced Ringling Brothers to retire elephants and then close up shop entirely.

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[Applause]

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I became a vegan 21 years ago this month

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and for my first several years I met few people who even knew what the word meant.

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Now the diet is widely known,

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and vegan food is widely--though not sufficiently or equitably--available.

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And public discourse about animal issues is growing.

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They are being discussed in prominent publications by so-called thought leaders,

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and academic animal studies programs are spreading.

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It is not enough.

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These accomplishments are notable.

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They deserve applause.

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They have come about through the extremely hard work,

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the tirelessness, the blood, sweat, and tears of people who are ferociously dedicated.

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Believe me.

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I understand the sacrifices we make to achieve even the smallest gains for animals.

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Still, it is not enough.

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Because it rests upon a flawed foundation.

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We have yet to make the meaning of the animal rights movement

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a challenge to the use of species to deny rights,

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inflict violence, and cause suffering.

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We have yet to make the animal rights movement and anti-speciesism movement.

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Every social movement contains a variety of meanings.

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It pursues numerous goals and has internal disagreements.

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But if we look at movements for equality and justice

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that have been organizing longer than we have

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movements that are still fighting but which have made more progress than us

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we see that they rest upon a firm foundation:

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that whatever illegitimate characteristic has historically been used

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to treat one group as less than another,

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it will no longer fly.

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A movement for racial justice has many goals

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and seemingly countless manifestations of racism against which to fight.

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But at bottom, its very existence means

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that race is not a legitimate basis for treating individuals and groups differently.

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A movement against sexism and for gender justice

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challenges our society in a variety of practical and theoretical ways.

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But most fundamentally, the meaning of such a movement

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is that sex and gender are not legitimate bases for treating people unequally.

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A disability rights movement seeks many concrete changes,

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but ultimately it means that no one should be treated

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as less than anyone else because of what abilities they do or do not possess.

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These movements are not similar in all respects

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to the animal rights movement, nor to each other.

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There are many relevant differences.

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But I think they have at least this much in common:

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that in order to be effective in the long run,

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the primary message they consistently deliver

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is that people ought to be treated equally

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independent of their membership in different groups.

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Whatever concrete goals and conceptual changes these movements seek,

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whatever systems of power we must continue to tear down to actually create a world

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in which people are not treated unequally for these reasons,

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the demand for equality is clear.

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The animal rights movement has yet to do this.

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To make the foundational meaning of our movement

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opposition to speciesism and a challenge to human supremacy.

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To be clear, I am not saying there should be no more welfare campaigns,

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no more meat reduction efforts, no more vegan outreach,

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no more short term goals.

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Other movements have benefited from incremental gains and moderate efforts,

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and so can we.

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And on the road to animal liberation, we must make as many reforms as possible

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to help animals who are suffering right now.

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And I believe in a pluralistic movement.

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That moderate and radical effort can complement each other.

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Rather I am talking about the center of gravity in our movement.

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Right now our moderate efforts are the primary idea people associate with animal rights.

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The primary meaning of the so-called animal rights movement is animal welfare,

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and this needs to shift.

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The primary ideas associated with our movement should be the stronger ones,

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not the moderate ones.

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[Applause]

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This is the only way to get at the root of the problem.

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Speciesism is the operating principle at the bottom

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of exploitation and violence against animals.

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And the fact that speciesism is deemed legitimate

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is the reason for the extent of that exploitation and violence.

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It is because you are not human that we can eat you.

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It is because you are not human that we can turn you into shoes and belts and coats.

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It is because you are not human that we can lock you in a cage,

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pump you full of chemicals, and kill you

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to test things like coffee sweeteners and detergents

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and drugs to stop compulsive shopping.

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It is because you are not human that we can kidnap you from your home,

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tear you from your family, and force you to perform for our entertainment.

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I could go on.

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And of course being a member of the human species

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is hardly a guarantee against violence, exploitation, and oppression.

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Declaring that certain differences may not be used to deny right

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does not make it so.

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But failing to declare it guarantees that it will never be so.

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Until we vocally, prominently, and unflinchingly demand an end to speciesism,

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we are just trimming branches.

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We have not yet attacked the roots of the poison tree.

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Some will argue the opposite:

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that in fact the things we have accomplished came about

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because we have avoided showing our true hand.

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Because we have moderated our demands and joined forces

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with those who would never entertain the idea that speciesism is wrong

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but who will support an end to battery cages.

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My critics will point out how far we have come

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in 20, 10, even 5 years.

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They will remind me how back then

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we could not have imagined achieving things we have now done.

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And they will say again that we have done it

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without invoking controversial ideas like speciesism,

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without using uncomfortable terms like human supremacy.

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Don't get me wrong: I was there too.

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Back in my college days, back when I was running the SHAC campaign,

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I could not have imagined entire states banning extreme confinement and animal agriculture.

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I would have been floored by a New York Times columnist noticing

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"a broadening deepening concern about animals that is no longer sufficiently captured by the phrase animal welfare,"

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and his declaring that

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"an era of what might be called animal dignity is upon us."

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I could not have imagined the idea that the circus I protested for years,

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which had arrived in town marching its elephants through the streets of my city,

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would close up shop because the idea of forcing majestic animals

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to perform in a circus was no longer profitable.

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And don't get me wrong: we should be very, very proud.

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But we must never let what we have achieved

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limit what we think we can achieve.

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We must never let looking back on our successes

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limit our imagined goals for the future.

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Yes, we should remember that 20, 10, 5 years ago

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we could not have envisioned what we have now achieved,

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and that should tell us not to limit our vision now.

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And the truth is we don't know.

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We don't know what it would mean for our movement

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to truly stand for an end to exploitation and violence on the basis of species.

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Because we have yet to turn the growing groundswell

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of concern for animals in that direction.

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At first it may look like the wrong turn.

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Make no mistake: when we finally speak up

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in a way that challenges a norm that runs so deep,

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that pervades our society at every level,

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that structures our entire world,

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we will get flak.

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Whenever we do it, whether it is tomorrow as I am calling for,

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or whether it takes another 10 years.

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When our movement finally speaks up for animals in this way

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we will be dismissed, we will be ridiculed,

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we will be subjected to one of the most powerful polices

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of behavior there is: social condemnation.

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And it will make us feel like we should stop.

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We will take those initial reactions,

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the immediate feedback we get from our activism,

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as a sign that what we are doing is counterproductive.

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But this too must be part of our vision.

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We must be able to see beyond the initial reactions of those

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who have never questioned the things we are raising questions about.

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We must see past the abandonment by powerful interests

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who claim to be our allies.

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We must be able to see even beyond dismissal and ridicule

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by our fellow animal activists who will be so unsettled

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by how firmly we stand up for animals.

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They will want to temper our activism even more than our opponents.

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I attended a Superbowl party this year.

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As we were watching the game, a fellow party goer joked

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"what if animal rights activists ran out onto the field."

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This person who has done animal rights activism for decades,

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who has been arrested and convicted and jailed for it,

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who had their home raided by the FBI,

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has faced civil suits, and faced down grand juries

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was making fun of our fellow activists

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who have disrupted sporting events in the name of animal rights.

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Everyone else at the party,

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also vegans and animal rights activists, laughed.

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But I know if people had rushed the field

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to condemn Donald Trump's xenophobic and unconstitutional travel ban,

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if they had disrupted the Super Bowl to demand an end to police violence,

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if they had done it to oppose pipelines that violate treaties,

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destroy sacred land, and pollute our planet,

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my fellow Super Bowl partiers

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my fellow animal rights activists

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would not have laughed.

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They would have rightly cheered on those people

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who interrupted while the whole world was watching.

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Demanded attention to these issues

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and an end to oppression and violence.

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But when it comes to animals, it looks weird even to us.

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We feel ashamed by those who will do for animals

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what it seems admirable to do for humans.

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In our heads we know that oppression and violence

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against animals is no less an emergency,

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no less deserving of forcing the issue into everyone's attention

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and onto everyone's TV screen.

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And yet our stomachs flip.

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It makes many of us uncomfortable to see people acting like it.

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We have trouble seeing beyond the water we are swimming in.

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That we are affected by the very biases we are trying to challenge.

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It is as though we are saying:

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because you are not human, we will not rush the field for you.

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In the course of writing this talk

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I thought a lot about why I'm up here.

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Why the organizers of this conference felt

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I was a fitting person to fill a top speaking slot.

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And I think it's because we want to see people

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who have been knocked down due to their activism

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and have gotten back up and kept fighting.

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We want to hear from people who are bloodied but unbowed.

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[Applause]

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As much as you need to see me up here

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still fighting after prison

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I need to see you out there in the world

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demanding an end to speciesism

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and supporting one another in doing so.

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Because I do not always speak up strongly for animals.

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I stood up here a few years ago and told this entire conference

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how I had gotten up from a dinner table and turned my back on my family

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rather than eat with them while they are eating animals.

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I told you that walking away from them

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was harder than walking into prison.

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And I will tell you now that it is still hard,

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and I do not always succeed.

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I work at the Center for Constitutional Rights,

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where we do what I believe is some of the most important

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human rights and social justice litigation there is.

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I've been at CCR for six years

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and that entire time I have struggled

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to urge CCR to consider whether animal rights

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is part of our broader struggle for justice.

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My dear friend and colleague Rachel Meeropol

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who is in the audience tonight

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will remind me that we have made substantial gains.

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That while CCR may not yet have confronted

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the fundamental issue of animal liberation,

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we have for example an acted a vegan policy

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for all of the food that CCR provides and pays for.

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[Applause]

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But even while Rachel is talking me out of my exaggerated sense of failure,

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she will concede that I have most often bit my tongue

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when something at work sets me on fire for animals.

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And I did not speak up at the Super Bowl party.

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I did not say to my friends what I am saying now.

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That if we think there are different standards of protest for humans and nonhumans,

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then we ourselves have yet to escape the very ideas we are challenging.

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But I thought about it.

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And it has nagged at me.

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There were many things that were hard about prisons.

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One thing that was not hard was standing behind my actions,

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feeling proud of having stood up for what I believed in.

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And that is because of the overwhelming support I received

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for doing what quite frankly was a hell of a lot crazier

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and more foolish than rushing a football field

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with a banner about animal rights.

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My peers celebrated me.

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Let me assure you:

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what I'm suggesting we all need to do for animals

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is much harder than going to prison.

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To stand up and stand strong even when few will celebrate you

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and many will scorn you.

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It is one of the hardest things in the world

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to be virtually alone in saying

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that something almost everyone else believes is wrong.

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It can be harder to stand up to your peers,

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to people you admire and respect,

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than it is to stand up to evil corporations and governments.

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And it can be next to impossible to do it alone.

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When you are out there in the world

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and not sitting in a room with hundreds of people

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feeding off our shared energy.

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We must support the heretics,

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those who are ridiculed for most firmly proclaiming our shared beliefs.

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We must help them tap into the feeling in the room tonight,

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even when they are virtually alone.

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And we must join them.

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Though I have often been too afraid to speak up at CCR.

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Though my conflicting desires have sometimes kept me sitting at a meaty dinner table.

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Though I stayed silent in the presence of a friend's super bowl mocking.

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I will also say this:

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anytime I have had just one other person willing to speak up

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or walk away with me,

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I have found the strength to do it.

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If we do what needs to be done

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to make the very existence of our movement a challenge to speciesism

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we will be called silly,

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we will be dismissed,

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we will be condemned.

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At first.

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But the only way out of that is through it.

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We can only challenge what is normalized

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by normalizing the challenge to it.

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[Applause]

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Many of us have had the experience

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of being written off as a caricature.

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This reflects that we are still relatively speaking

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in the early days of our movement.

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But the way to push forward is not to back off

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when we are written off.

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It is to continue to deliver the message

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until we cannot be written off.

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There will not come a time when people are ready to hear it.

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That is not a time you wait for.

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It is a moment you create.

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Another thing you are likely to hear this weekend

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is that we are winning.

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We are not winning.

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And truly no disrespect to those speaking

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on various "we're winning" panels this weekend.

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We are indeed setting campaign goals and we are achieving them.

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But I mean something different by winning.

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We are winning when the status quo must defend its position.

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When the point over which we are arguing is the fundamental one.

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We are winning when we create an actual debate

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over whether we can continue to eat, wear, test on,

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capture, confine, breed, mutilate, slaughter,

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and destroy the habitats of billions,

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simply because they were not born into our species.

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The subtitle of this panel is "inspiring messages for our movement."

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And I do not mean to uninspire

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when I say that it is not enough

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or when I say that we are not winning.

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But I would rather inspire you by what we can do,

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than by what we have done.

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And I believe we can win.

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Our moral position is strong.

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The dominant ideas about animals are not dominant because they are right,

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they are dominant because they have never faced a true challenge.

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Those who believe these ideas have never actually had to defend them.

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If we force this debate, we will win it.

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[Applause]

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No doubt the industry hacks in the audience tonight

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will warn in their publications that I am up here

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touting crazy ideas like speciesism,

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tossing around extremist terms like human supremacy.

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Please, prove them right.

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The next time I ask what does our movement mean,

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let the answer be that speciesism is wrong,

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and we will end it.

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Thank you.

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[Applause]