I'm sitting in a very large conference room in a hotel just outside Washington DC. On stage is Peter Singer, the philosopher behind Animal Liberation, talking about successes in the animal rights movement since the book was published in 1975. Shortly before Singer took the stage, he was introduced by Ryuji Chua, the Surge Activsm video producer who just a few months ago sat in front of Trevor Noah and was interviewed about speciesism on The Daily Show. In the front rows of the audience, I spot Dr. Melanie Joy, the author of countless books on our relationship with animals and the person who coined and spread the term carnism. Not far from her sits Dr. Michael Greger, author of How not to Die and the person behind nutritionfacts.org. Looking around me in the packed room, I can see a myriad of people doing groundbreaking work for animals, people like; Genesis Butler, Seb Alex, Tobias Leenaert, Esther Salomon, Almira Tanner and Naijha Wright-Brown. I'm surrounded by thousands of people who are all passionate and working for the same thing: complete animal liberation. That's what it's like to be at the Animal and Vegan Advocacy Summit, one of the world's largest animal rights conferences.

At the end of October, I was lucky enough to be sent to Washington DC to attend the AVA Summit on behalf of Dyrenes Alliance - four days packed to the brim with presentations, workshops, networking and a little activism.

Highlights

I've been thinking a lot about how best to summarise the vast amount of impressions, knowledge and inspiration that I brought to the conference. And I've concluded that the best way to share it with you is by highlighting some of the best experiences. Here are 5 of the things I was most inspired by at the conference.

Value people:

To be a strong movement, we need to make sure that as many activists as possible can make a living fighting for animals. This means that we need to provide decent wages and good working conditions. For those we are unable to employ, we must do everything we can to educate, value and empower them in other ways.

Expand who leads and is a part of the movement:

We must work to make the billing more diverse and inclusive. In other words: We need to make sure it's not just white, cis, straight men leading the movement. 

Build solidarity with non-animal-rights allies:

We need to be better at working in solidarity with other social justice movements (e.g. the climate movement, the anti-racist movement and the LGBTQIA+ rights movement). When we are truly allied, we create allies.

Raise issue salience:

We need to change the dominant societal narrative that says it's okay to treat animals the way we do. Knowledge about the horrific conditions of animals must be normalized.

Be bold:

We need to stop doing things that don't work and not be afraid to try new things that no one has done before.

I would highly recommend checking out the website when you need something new. There is a huge lack of funding for BIPOC, including in the animal rights movement, so this is a great opportunity to put your money somewhere meaningful. Most outlets on the website right now are US, but many of them offer international shipping. You can also submit business to them if you have ideas for black-owned vegan businesses outside the US that should be added.

The conference seeks to address the barriers that exist in vulnerable areas that make it difficult to live plant-based. At the same time, they want to strengthen efforts to include veganism (and the benefits it has) in the great cultural shift we are in the midst of. 

The conference is now on Saturday, it is free and open to all.
You can register here.

She is also the founder of Genesis for Animals, a non-profit that raises money for animal sanctuaries around the world. She has received numerous awards for her activism and has been part of the Marvel Hero Project. What I am personally most impressed with is that she became vegan on her initiative at the age of 6 and inspired her entire family to follow in her footsteps. And oh yeah, she's related to Cesar Chavez.

There was so much inspiration at the AVA conference that I could easily write 20 pages about it, but I'd better stop here. If you want to read a bit about the various speakers and organisations that participated in the conference, you can do so on the conference website.

If you ever get the chance to participate in this kind of event, whether physical or online, I just want to say do it! It's deeply motivating to be surrounded by people who are all fighting for a better future - a future where animals are free from human exploitation and oppression.

I believe we will get there one day, and as Sharon Núñez of Animal Equality said in her keynote speech, "We are one movement, making history."

Bonus info

Finally, I want to share a very relevant bonus recommendation. At the conference, I met Steven Rouk, the founder of Connect for Animals. Connect for Animals is a brand new platform (still in a very early stage) that should eventually bring together animal rights activists worldwide. They already have an amazing newsletter that sends updates twice a week about events relevant to animal rights activists. The physical events are still mainly in the US and Canada, but there are plenty of online events in the listings too - and eventually, it should go global. I'm already super happy to be signed up, and I recommend all of you do the same right here.