Our next action in the It's Not Food, It's Violence campaign (on February 22nd) is themed "." Here's why:

Our society places great value on this word “love.” Love gives us meaning. We admire those who give love selflessly.

A firefighter who rescues a cat from a burning building is a hero to us, and anyone who attacks a dog is met with our outrage. Why? Because we love animals. We cannot bear to see them hurt.

And Chipotle knows that. That's why they tell you that the animals whose bodies they profit from are “unconditionally loved.” Well those are empty words. Lies. Distractions from the brutal, violent reality of exploitation.

The body of someone who did not want to die is not food, it's violence.

If we love someone, we do not tear them from their families. If we love someone we do not leave them to suffer in dark, filthy cages. If we love someone, we do not beat and mutilate them. If we love someone, we do not rip the life out of their lungs and sell their bodies for a profit. If we love someone “unconditionally”, we do not forcibly use them for our own selfish gain, and we do not degrade them from a unique, conscious individual to a mere object to be used. And if we love someone we do not hide and justify our violence against them with empty words.

Love is not words. And love is not vegan options.

If Chipotle “unconditionally” loves the animals, it will set them free. If we love animals, it is our responsibility to listen to their cries for liberation and demand their freedom. If we love anyone, then we know that it is wrong to deprive any being of the family, friends, freedom, and very life that they would have had the chance to love if we hadn't thrown them in a cell for no crime, but for having been born different “enough.”

Love is not words. Love is liberation. Love is action.

And we will fight until every animal is free.