The Liberation Pledge is simple. Publicly refuse to eat animals; Publicly refuse to sit where animals are being eaten; Encourage others to take the pledge. The Liberation Pledge is an everyday anti-speciesist action. It is a refusal to bystand those committing hate crimes and violence against animals. Is it extremist? Divisive? Or a necessary act at the centre of bringing about Animal Justice? This talk will explore the basis of the Liberation Pledge: the practicalities, the skills, the impact and the discovery of the speaker’s own speciesism as a vegan. See www.liberationpledge.com. 

Who is Animal Rebellion, and how are we planning to tackle the issues of climate breakdown and mass extinction? This talk lays out the emergency action that needs to be taken on the animal agriculture and fishing industries, and the contribution of these industries to the climate crisis. We introduce the concept of mass participation in Civil Disobedience as the only way to address the urgency of the problem. There will be space for questions after the talk.

Join Tim in imagining the UK landscape of the future and how it could change in response to changing UK diets. What would a switch to plant-based mean for UK agriculture? How could we use land to address the combined challenges of both food security and the climate emergency? And how can we overcome the social, economic & political barriers to this transition?

This talk is for people who want to think big and get inspired. Drawn from cutting-edge research on mass movements and civil disobedience, this talk will introduce some key concepts, principles and strategies for building a powerful mass movement that can achieve transformative change for other animals. This session provides an overview of the strategies of Animal rebellion.

The movement is seeing a surge in veganism and activism again. We have had many successful moments and successful campaigns in the past. Knowing about our history can help us learn from these achievements; how we organised and how we strategised; as well as help us learn to avoid the challenges and disappointments. We have had tens of thousands on the streets before and we want to see that again. This talk will cover the animal liberation movement from the early days to present times, by three animal liberation activists who have been involved in the movement for quite a number of years and have seen many changes and battles won.

Why are we fighting each other? We all want Animal Justice, so why aren’t we united? We will look at some potential root causes to the disagreements which once understood can help us understand one another, become allies, and build a more powerful movement. Some of these issues are unique to the Animal Justice movement, while some have been experienced by other movements of the past from which we can learn. Understanding the ‘Ecology of Social Movements’, and our role in them, can help us build a more powerful movement together. This session will include an extended Q&A on the topic of infighting.

Being right is not enough, we need to persuade the public and legislators to support Animal Justice. This is an introduction to how we can use Story-based Strategy as an analysis tool to frame Animal Justice in a way that convinces people to change sides. It will be of interest to campaign managers, activists and anyone who has wondered why vegans are the villains, and meat eaters the victims.

We all harm animals; we all invade their spaces and land; we all bystand the harm others do to them; we all prefer some species over others; and we all deny much of what happens to other animals. To be effective advocates to end crimes against other animals we need to tackle our own everyday speciesism. This session will look at what we can do in our everyday lives as animal advocates to bring about animal justice.

Animals resist their oppression every day. Sharing their stories is moving, inspiring and enriches our animal advocacy and campaigning. This talk will share some particularly poignant stories and then explore why centring animals and sharing their stories resistance is a moral obligation, an expression of true solidarity and strategically essential to achieving animal liberation.

Is veganism compatible with Christianity? As veganism rises amongst a secular public, Christians who have also turned to veganism, amongst other religious believers, have been re-evaluating their faith in light of this awakening compassion to non-human animals. In this talk I will look at the Christian vegan movement to show how a renewed exploration of Christian biblical narratives shows clearly that Christianity is wholly compatible with a vegan ethic. I will explore the work of the growing number of Christian Vegan organisations and writers in Christian ethics who champion the rights of animals.

In this panel discussion, we shall be exploring how people of varying faiths and beliefs find resonance in Veganism and how the practice of Veganism is in congruence with their faith. We shall explore some of the obstacles they may face amongst friends and family of the same faith and how some of these obstacles have been overcome.

Chair: Tree Kelly (University of Manchester)

Panel Members:

• Mara Whyte – Muslim Animal Rights Activist
• Krishna Gandhi – Hindu Animal Rights Activist
• Lara Balsam – Jewish Vegetarian Society
• The Green Vicar – The Rvd Janey Hillier
• David Clough – Professor of Theological Ethics in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester and a Methodist preacher.