“Be careful what doors you allow cynicism to lock in you. All dreaming is dangerous to those who benefit from our hopelessness.” -Cole Arthur Riley

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If we believe animal liberation is possible, we can make it happen. I don’t mean this in some nonsensical way, like how all the Christmas movies insist if you just believe hard enough in Santa he’ll suddenly be real. Luckily for the animals, there’s actually evidence in the field of sociology to back up my claim. 

The book Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail by Francis Fox-Piven and Richard Cloward looks at four social justice movements and analyzes the contexts in which they were able to emerge. Piven and Cloward determined several commonalities shared by all of these movements. Based on their evidence, they propose that, in order for there to be a mass insurgency of activists that can create drastic, systemic change, two things must occur: There must be a profound transformation of consciousness and of behavior. 

The change of behavior has two aspects. Masses of people must become defiant and they must act together, united. The change of consciousness, however, must come first. The system at fault must no longer be viewed as legitimate. So, in the context of animal rights, people must stop thinking it legitimate to treat animals the way we do. Next, people must believe that change is possible and believe that they have the power to make it happen. If people do not believe that they can change a situation, they will never act to do so. If we do not believe that animal liberation is possible and that we can make it happen, it never will. In fact, animal agriculture and other unjust systems rely on our hopelessness and cynicism. 

There are, of course, many other things that are required for social change to occur. I simply mean to argue here that believing is, without a doubt, an essential prerequisite. I am aware that, at times, it can be hard to believe that we could possibly topple the massive power that is animal agriculture. I should know, as I am currently facing years in prison for challenging this industry. I’m being forced to wear a GPS ankle monitor as I write this. But, ironically, in facing these charges and bizarre repercussions, I have come to the conclusion that animal agriculture is an incredibly fragile system. 

Animal agriculture relies on maintaining their carefully constructed image. Anything that could threaten that image, such as footage of factory farming or the personalization of farmed animals, is a major threat that could topple the entire system. The rescue of four abused chickens, or two dying ducks, could topple the entire system. I mean, the system is so fragile that they seem to believe it could be taken down by a 22-year-old girl. Otherwise, why would they feel the need to use immense resources to track my every move?

We have an incredible amount of power and that is why they feel this panic to shut us down, and that is precisely why we cannot let them. If we remain steadfast in our struggle for animals, then this repression will not break us, it will only make us stronger. But, we have to believe. We have to believe that animal liberation is ahead of us and we have to believe we have the power to make it happen. I do.

However, there is one more thing we must believe. Boycotts and veganism will not be enough. Piven and Cloward insist we must not only recognize that a system is invalid and that we can change it, but we must also recognize that we are not at fault. Stanford professor and renowned sociologist Doug McAdam agrees with this assessment and has argued that only the recognition of systemic injustice can spark movements. We must stop pointing fingers at one another. No average person is single-handedly responsible for the mass abuse and slaughter of billions of farmed animals. In fact, most people are not even single-handedly responsible for the abuse and slaughter of a few of them. Big companies, factory farms, slaughterhouses, government officials and powerful CEOs are at fault. We must turn our focus to them. They want us to fight amongst ourselves, calling one another murderers and diminishing our ability to unite together before we even get started. They want us to blame ourselves.

In the Unemployed Workers Movement during the Great Depression, unemployed workers did not immediately take action. The federal government was denying the crisis was happening and refusing to provide aid. Laid-off workers were blaming themselves for their inability to get hired and they felt a great amount of shame. It wasn’t until people started realizing entire factories were laying off all of their workers that people began to acknowledge they weren’t at fault. Once people understood this, they started to protest and cause mass disruption. Very few people understand that President Roosevelt was only elected because of the Unemployed Workers Movement (with some help from the Bonus Army Movement), and he only passed New Deal legislation because of their pressure. If unemployed workers had not recognized that the government was at fault for their misfortune, this country would be a very different place.

Most people care about animals. In fact, 75% of people consider themselves to be animal lovers. Why aren’t those people joining the animal rights movement? I fear one reason may be that they feel embarrassed to join the movement because they eat animals. Of course, there must be other factors, too, considering that most vegans and vegetarians also have failed to join the animal rights movement. But, I think a barrier for a great deal of people is this sense of shame. Our movement must be a space that is welcoming for everyone. We need all the help we can get. One way we can make it more welcoming is by blaming those in power instead of each other.

In conclusion, I believe that there are (at least) three things that we must believe before we can make animal liberation happen:

1. The system of human supremacy is not our fault as individuals.
2. Animal liberation is possible.
3. By taking action, we can make animal liberation happen.

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