The Big Questions at the AVA Summit
I just arrived at the Animals and Vegan Advocacy Summit in LA, and I thought I’d share some of the key issues facing the animal rights movement right now. I’m hoping we can try to brainstorm and find solutions to these challenges at the summit.
The Future of Alternative Meats. There has been a cataclysmic decline in sales for most alt-meat products. Beyond Meat is on the brink of collapse, with its products being pulled from stores across the nation. And Impossible isn’t doing much better. A friend who is in VC has shared with me that, out of 150 investments, not a single one is on the path to being profitable. Perhaps the only examples of success in this sector are Huel and Oatly, both niche drinks that don’t focus primarily on the fact that they are vegan. Can this disastrous trend be reversed?
The Battle over Animal Welfare. The age-old conflict in the animal rights movement continues to rage, as the two most prominent animal protection organizations are warring over HSUS’s role on the board of the Global Animal Partnership. Will the movement reach a consensus on these animal welfare issues, or at least a resolution that serves all sides of the debate?
Movement Conflicts. The AVA organizers had to put out a number of statements this year indicating they do not plan to cancel any of the speakers. (For once, this doesn’t seem to be about me!) The focus of the conflict appears to be the summit’s invitation to an Israeli speaker, Omri Paz, who apparently provided food to IDF soldiers shortly after the war in Gaza broke out in 2023. I think AVA made the right call here. People who disagree with Omri’s actions should take it up with him directly.
NGOs v. Grassroots. I’ve spoken to a number of people who feel tension between the grassroots and NGOs. There is always tension here in movements. The volunteers in the grassroots often feel space and power are too often occupied by paid professionals in the NGO sector. Will AVA be a place where some of these tensions can be mitigated?
What’s next? There have not been many big, bold ideas in animal rights over the last few years. It still feels like we’re in a post-COVID malaise. Will this be the year that some new ideas take the movement by storm? Let’s see!
If you’re at the summit, and a reader of this blog, hit me up! I’d love to chat in person.
Maybe Huel and Oatly not focusing on the fact that their products are vegan is following some of the ideas from your last post that it's important to build large, broad range communities that are all-inclusive and don't isolate vegans from non-vegans. It's a club that anyone can join.
It's noteworthy how "vegan" seems widely associated with trending, expendable income, remote production, competitive market choices, and not primarily associated with urban agriculture/horticulture and collective self-sufficiency --- including community solidarity with all fauna. Widespread personal access to a great variety of raw produce combined with a variety of traditional and innovative culinary knowledge, as well as engagement with natural urban food forest habitats where wildlife can be supported along with humans, should make a difference in defining "vegan" as time goes by. . . it's about a living world, whereas meat-eating was a bullet train to hell . . .