OUR WORK
Animal Think Tank is currently focused on laying the foundations for a broad-based nonviolent movement for Animal Freedom. Here you can explore our key areas of work.
Movement Ecology
A successful freedom movement requires many different individuals, groups and organisations working in varied ways. Like a forest flourishes best when there is a diverse ecosystem, a movement performs better when there is a wide range of strategies being pursued. Movements become more powerful when they can overcome differences and work together towards a shared vision.
Animal Think Tank is supporting the growth and development of the wider movement ecology, enabling collaboration between different groups, and building alliances around shared goals and narratives. We know it will take all of us to win.
Animal Rising
In May 2019, we helped launch Animal Rising, formerly known as Animal Rebellion, (an initiative of one of our original co–founders) as a partner to Extinction Rebellion. Animal Rising brought a ‘plant-based food system’ narrative into the environmental movement and helped make the industries of farming animals a legitimate target of environmental campaigns. Animal Rising grew into a global movement and brought together 18 Animal Freedom organisations at the time of its launch.
Through Animal Rising, we tested the power of our organising methods and learned important lessons that are informing our current movement–building.
Narrative
The Freedom to Marry campaign achieved rapid success when they shifted from a narrative centring ‘rights’ to a narrative centring the values of ‘freedom’ and ‘love’. This change in narrative resonated on an emotional level with millions of people across the political spectrum and tapped into their underlying values and beliefs. Adopting this narrative led to a quick turn in public opinion in favour of marriage equality.
We’re currently researching alternative narratives that can have a similar impact for Animal Freedom. We expect that a powerful and persuasive narrative will move beyond veganism as a lifestyle identity and focus instead on fellow animals, their lives and the freedom they long for, as well as how Animal Freedom can benefit all of society.
Strategy
We’re defining our future vision for society, the key legislative goals to ensure animals’ freedoms are protected in law, and a strategic roadmap to achieve these wins.
We’re developing expertise in peaceful resistance and different methods of organising to ensure we can engage in dramatic and effective people-powered campaigns. We will also identify and seed the institutions necessary to ensure Animal Freedom is embedded within society and to bring about longer-term cultural shifts.
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Kinship and Anti-speciesism
We are working to create a world where every individual animal is respected by society and protected by law. We demand this future in solidarity with other animals and recognise how they long for their freedom and resist their oppression in countless ways.
Essential to the success of our movement is having a coherent understanding of speciesism and its root causes, as well as developing a strong theory and practice of kinship and anti-speciesism.
We are continually developing this in collaboration with other animals, academics, campaigners and allies to create proposals for legal and cultural change that are most likely to ensure freedom for fellow animals and a better future for all of us.
Organisation Building
The struggle for Animal Freedom will last for decades. So will Animal Think Tank. Right now, we’re building the foundations of our organisation so that we remain effective, resilient and focused, and we can scale rapidly in the future.
Leadership Development
Successful freedom movements are driven by people power. Our long-term aim is to organise and mobilise hundreds of thousands of people for Animal Freedom. To achieve this, we’re training a network of empowered and effective leaders who can act with courage and integrity, have the knowledge and skills to act strategically and respond to future challenges, and are committed to building leadership in others.
Culture
Strong culture is half the work of an effective movement. We’re building a freedom movement that welcomes a broad and diverse range of people, one where individuals can become empowered, unleash their creativity and collaborate effectively. We are creating an environment of mutual support and care to sustain us in the face of challenges. We see the potential to persuade and even form alliances with those who may seem like our biggest opponents.
Structure
Impactful movements like Serbia’s Otpor! and Extinction Rebellion have shown that to build a movement effectively, organisations need to distribute power to enable thousands of volunteers to assume responsibility and take collective action. Animal Think Tank is designing organising structures that will enable large numbers of people to participate—and remain active—in this movement.