Building a bigger tent to help more animals
a presentation on reaching people right of center
Especially since Trump II (but also before that), I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of the animal/vegan movement reaching out to people right of center (see also this piece I wrote on it).
Below is the recording of a talk I gave on this topic at the Vegan and Animal Rights Conference (VARC) in Manchester in March 2025. Part of it is also about how we lower the price of the “entrance ticket” to the animal movement. Spoiler: the vegan thing might be keeping us back.
Bear in mind that this talk was given for a generally very progressive, left-to-far-left audience. Especially if you’re right of center, you might 1: say Duh! and 2: find the way I talk maaaaybe slightly offensive here and there. One has to give the audience something, though.
PS: You also might get a bit dizzy watching me - I realize that I shouldn’t do so much back and forth walking, if only to make it easier for the tech people.
Great talk Tobias. I agree that dealing with most you must take a different approach.
An example as such is the Australian animals protection organisation 'Animals Australia'.
In 2001 they realised an expose on National Televison of an Indonesian Australian cattle Slaughterhouse. The scenes were akin to an extreme horror movie. I became Vegan immediately as well as many others.
The rest of the country demanded an immediate ban on live export to some countries. It was stopped until the animal ag industry forced the government to reconsider.
24 years later the majority of Australian citizens are still demanding the ban of live export of all animals. Our latest government is phasing our sheep export by 2028. Have these people turned vegan? No; but they have been triggered by empathy.
We can't just rely on animal protection organisations anymore due to the decline in hard hitting journalism from water downed media. We as individuals need to cultivate empathy and steer people towards understanding,not demading.
TY, Tobias. I agree. It is so important that we advocate for animals, not a collection of everything we want personally.
I think walking back-and-forth is good for keeping people's attention. (Am I just rationalizing my personal preference? ;-)