CONFERENCE MISSION
The Animal Rights National Conference is devoted to advancing the vision of animal rights, as promulgated at the 1990 "March For Animals" over the signatures of 50 organizations: "Animals have the right to live free from all forms of human exploitation." Consequently, advocacy of continued exploitation of animals under improved conditions, sometimes referred to as "happy meat," is not welcome. At the same time, we recognize that there are multiple paths, missions, strategies, and tactics for bringing us closer to the vision of animal rights.
The more popular paths or missions include:
Writing books and lecturing about the ideology of animal rights,
Seeking recognition of animal rights through legislative or judicial bodies,
Exposing abuses of animals for food, research, and amusement,
Distributing literature and food samples and screening videos leading people to a vegan path,
Supporting people along a vegan path through periodic interactions,
Promoting welfare reforms in the hope that the publicity will lead people toward a vegan path,
Rescuing and rehabilitating animals that have been exploited and abused,
"Encouraging food manufacturers, servers, and retailers to offer more vegan choices,
Discouraging other institutions and individuals from exploiting and killing animals.
Strategies associated with some of these missions may range from gentle appeals to feelings and beliefs to direct behavior modification through social, economic, or political pressure. Thus, a key mission of our Conference is to provide a forum where the relative merits of various paths, missions, strategies, and tactics leading to animal liberation may be aired and discussed in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We view such discussion as critical to finding our own optimal way to advance the vision of animal rights.
We view any attempt to disqualify from our Conference a proponent of any one of these paths (except for injury to living beings) as a disservice to the successful advancement of animal rights.
Other key missions include:
Detailing animal abuses for food, research, and amusement
Providing training in personal growth and organizing
Offering opportunities to network with other activists
Offering a forum to potential movement leaders
Reaching out to kindred movementsOur Conference is always a "work in progress," and we welcome suggestions for improvements."
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