Effective advocacy for animals: The Animal Activist's Handbook

June 23, 10:50 AMSeattle Vegan ExaminerVirginia Messina, MPH, RD

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I knew I would like The Animal Activist’s Handbook even before I picked it up.

I’ve long been a fan of Matt Ball who is co-founder of Vegan Outreach. His essays (published on that group’s website) are among the most thoughtful, generous and focused pieces I've read on veganism and animal rights.

I knew less about his co-author Bruce Friedrich, and was curious to hear about his perspective on activism, since he works for PETA, an organization whose tactics don’t always sit well with me. Bruce brings an interesting background to his work—coming to animal rights from employment in a homeless shelter that was part of the Catholic Worker movement—and I ended up being pleasantly surprised by his point of view on animal advocacy.

Together, these two seasoned activists have put together a guide that is motivating, inspiring and—best of all—useful. While there are many ways in which we can help relieve animal suffering and achieve animal liberation, Matt and Bruce build a simple case for devoting efforts to promoting vegan diet based on three things: the huge opportunity it represents for reducing suffering (because of the sheer number of animals involved), the extreme suffering of farm animals, and the opportunity that every single person has to make a difference right now by changing his or her own diet and—hopefully—impacting others to do the same.

The book is succinct, the writing style engaging and the emphasis is on being effective, not just active. The authors use examples to show how interactions with people impact our success in producing change. They encourage discourse that is logical, kind and respectful and activities that are practical and outcome-oriented. Like all good students of human behavior and behavior change, they suggest using various approaches depending on whom you are talking to, and they accept that “all or nothing” makes for poor strategy even when total animal liberation is the goal. Finally, their ideas for “rocking the world” are simple and doable.

Both the big and small questions that the authors pose to activists gave me a lot to think about. I often found myself nodding in agreement and just as often underlining something I needed to remember and use.

The book ends with a chapter titled “Is Animal Liberation Possible?” If you’re looking for a little morale boost, this chapter alone is worth the price of admission. Animal liberation is the moral imperative of our time and, according to Matt and Bruce, we can revel in the opportunity we have to be a part of the world’s next great ethical advance. It will happen—but it is dependent on optimal advocacy. That’s why every animal rights activist needs to read this book.

Here is the link for ordering this book directly from Vegan Outreach.