Effective Advocacy for Animals and Activists' Rights

Last month, as part of Bay Area Vegetarians’ Compassionate Living program, local San Francisco Bay Area activists Tammy Lee, Suzanne Haws and Nora Kramer presented Activist Skills, for three types of animal advocacy: tabling, leafleting and letter-writing, in an aptly named workshop entitled Effective Advocacy for Animals. Additionally, another local advocate, lawyer Thea Langsam discussed activists’ legal rights.

This workshop was geared towards those new to animal activism as well as experienced activists who were also given the opportunity to share strategies and experiences, and towards those who fall somewhere in-between, which is where I would consider myself. Although, I’ve been vegetarian/vegan and into animal rights for over 16 years, it has only been in the last year or so that I have been more actively involved in activism, with letter-writing being my primary form of activism. So, I found this workshop useful in that it gave me some pointers and brought up some ideas I had not really thought about before. What I also got out of the workshop was some new inspiration and the motivation to get out there and do more, such as tabling or leafleting.

If I had gone to a workshop like this one 16 years ago, I definitely would have done more for advocating for animals much sooner. (And I would have gone vegan much earlier than I did, too.) Those in attendance who are new to animal activism, most likely got a lot out of this workshop and learned a lot of useful tips.

Following are summaries of each presentation:

Tabling: One of Tammy’s main points was, that when you are tabling, you are trying to sell an idea. So, you would want everything on your table to be consistent with that idea. For example, if your main point is to encourage people to become vegan, you would want the literature on your table to support that idea. And of course, always remain friendly-you are the face of veganism during the time you are tabling.

It is important to present the information on your table in a way that is most accessible to those who might approach your table. For example, make sure all your literature/brochures are out of their boxes or wrapping and not hiding under other pieces of literature.

If you choose to have display items, know who your audience is. For example, you wouldn’t want one of PETA’s posters with a nearly naked woman if you are tabling at a family event with kids. But the poster might be great at SF Pride.

Leafleting: Suzanne says that even though it may seem scary to leaflet, the fear or hesitancy you have is nothing in comparison to what the animals who are factory-farmed are going through. So just get out there and do it. It’s really not that scary once you do it. If you’re worried about someone yelling at you, that rarely happens. Of all the times Suzanne has leafleted, only one person has yelled at her. And it actually turned into a positive experience because the guy made such a scene that it made other people come over to her and take leaflets. Don’t worry about people not wanting the leaflet you hand them. As Suzanne said, “who cares”. They can throw it out later, or they just may go vegan because their eyes were opened to the horrors of factory farming and the treatment of animals that they may have never known about. Just get out there and do it.
Letter-Writing: Nora’s main point for writing letters to companies or legislators was to be brief. Make your letters short, but also have a point. Also, threaten them with something, such as not voting for them, boycotting, protesting, etc and ask for a response from them. Hand-written personalized letters, as opposed to form letters, are most effective when writing companies or legislators.

According to Nora, writing letters to the editors of magazines or newspapers is different. Always use email. Write the letters as soon after the article comes out as possible to increase your chances that it will get published. Make sure not to exceed the word count. Always include your full contact information: name, address and a phone number where they can reach you. (They may verify that it was you who wrote the letter.) No matter how angry you might be about an article, always be polite. Nora suggested starting out with “I was extremely disappointed to read…”

A great resource that Nora pointed out is http://www.dawnwatch.com/ where you can subscribe and get alerts for letters to the editor, so you don’t have to read through tons of newspapers or magazines searching for animal rights articles.

Activist’s Rights: Thea stated that although the law is case-specific, and she wasn’t giving legal advice, for the most-part you can leaflet on public sidewalks or public campuses. As long as the sidewalk or property is public, and not privately owned, you should be okay. Even when managers of KFC restaurants, for example, try to get you to leave, as has been the case at the protests in Marin, if it is a public sidewalk, don’t be easily intimated into leaving.

For more details of the workshop, listen to the podcasts at:

Activist Skills
http://www.generationv.org/index.php?title=generation_vegan_podcast_4

Activist Rights
http://www.generationv.org/index.php?title=generation_vegan_podcast_5

To learn more about Bay Area Vegetarians, the Compassionate Living Program, and upcoming vegetarian and advocacy events in the San Francisco Bay Area, please visit their website and sign-up for one of their mailing lists to stay informed about local events & activities.

Bay Area Vegetarians:
http://BayAreaVeg.org/

Upcoming Compassionate Living events:
February - Animal Liberation book discussion
March - Use the Law, Help the Animals with Virginia Handley
April - Inside An Open Rescue with Christine Morrissey

2006 Schedule:
http://BayAreaVeg.org/cl