The animal rights movement faces challenges in building cohesion and attracting newcomers due to a lack of natural organizing community. Unlike other movements like civil rights or LGBTQ rights, animal rights is primarily an ally-based movement without a centralized community or organizing principle. Veganism, while a communal principle, is not strong enough to provide the same level of cohesion and support as other movements. Additionally, the movement primarily focuses on personal purity and activism, which is not sustainable or attractive to most people. To address these challenges, the movement needs to experiment and find ways to create a more accessible and exciting community. This can include local political engagement, organizing events and conferences, and making the movement more welcoming to newcomers. Currently, the movement can be intimidating for new individuals to get involved without sacrificing their modern lifestyle.
David Coman-Hidy is former President of The Humane League, one of the largest farm animal advocacy organisations in the world. He now works as a Partner at Sharpen Strategy working to coach animal advocacy organisations.
In this episode, we discuss the age-old debate facing animal advocates: Should we pursue incremental approaches to improve welfare or should we only advocate for the total abolition of animal exploitation. Additionally, David also shares some approaches he would like to see more of within the animal advocacy movement, as well as what we could learn from other social movements.
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