This Might Be the Whirlwind Moment. Here's What We Need From You.

Storytelling, logistics, and decentralized leadership will be crucial to seizing this moment for animal rights.

On March 15, 100+ activists descended on Ridglan Farms to rescue dogs who faced imminent torture or death. Mass chaos ensued. Teams were threatened by workers. Others were grabbed by police. And still others decided to sit in the freezing rain, refusing to leave, until the authorities acted to save the dogs. I was arrested almost instantly after removing a dog and so barely witnessed what ensued. (The pup, thankfully, was brought to safety.) But many people have described the event, and the incredible attention and outcry in the weeks since, as a whirlwind.

And despite the chaos that implies, a whirlwind is exactly what the pups at Ridglan need.

That’s because, in the history of social justice, “whirlwind” moments have been crucial to social change. In This Is An Uprising—the book that has become a bible for social justice activists—a whirlwind moment is described as “a dramatic public event… that sets off a flurry of activity, and that… quickly spreads beyond the institutional control of any one organization. It inspires a rash of decentralized action, drawing in people previously unconnected to established movement groups.” These whirlwind movements, such as the Birmingham campaign by civil rights activists in 1963, are immensely chaotic but just as immensely important for making change.

And the Ridglan rescue may be the animal rights movement’s whirlwind moment. The rescue on March 15 was a dramatic event that triggered a flurry of activity on behalf of tens of thousands of people—virtually all of whom were outside of any central organization. These remarkable supporters, including 1500 people who have committed to physically join the next rescue effort, are independently acting to protect the Ridglan dogs—and raise the abuse of animals to global prominence.

Whirlwind moments do not always go as well as Birmingham in 1963, however. The animal rights movement, in particular, has never truly been able to seize a whirlwind. Even when stories go viral, such as the killing of Cecil the Lion or the Fauci beagle scandal, we struggle to coordinate our efforts and push for institutional change, such as bans on hunting wildlife or on testing on dogs. Moreover, even movements that have seized the whirlwind, such as MeToo and Black Lives Matter have struggled to sustain their progress. The wave of policy changes from those movements has, at this point, mostly been reversed. What do we need to ensure that we harness the Ridglan rescue to achieve maximum progress?

There are three priorities.

The first is storytelling. Effective movements are fueled with stories, and effective stories are not told by any one person. Even the greatest storytellers of our generation—e.g, the filmmakers at Pixar—use a brutal and decentralized feedback process to ensure their best stories come forward. Movements can do even better than this, as we can capitalize on the storytelling ability of the masses. Research shows that a story told by you is most effective at changing the people around you.

You are a more important spokesperson, in your network, than I am.

But to tell these stories, we need to create a structure and resources to make that happen. This is why we’ve drafted a short communications memo, with photos and video, and encourage everyone to give us feedback and use our content.

If we are going to reach 2000 rescuers on April 19, we’ll need you to tell the story of the rescue and get people to sign up at savethedogs.io. Don’t bother to ask me for permission. Just steal our content (including anything I post on social media)!

The second priority is logistics. Whirlwind moments are exciting, and everyone wants to do the most intrinsically inspiring things, like rescue dogs. But effective movements build, not just inspiration, but logistics. The Civil Rights movement needed people to print fliers in Montgomery, for example, and not just rally for inspiring direct action. Our own effort has similar demands. We need people to prepare housing for dogs, review huge archives of photos and video for social media, manage onboarding systems, help other activists with housing/travel advice, and even just look through documents for spelling or grammar errors.

If a movement doesn’t scale up its logistical capacity, it will be top-heavy and collapse. Of particular importance right now: we need more rescues with large scale logistical capacity to place dogs in homes!

The third priority is decentralized leadership. In the modern social media era, there’s a tendency towards passive participation in movements. We wait for the “leader” to tell us what to do—and only then do we act. That won’t work in a whirlwind. Independent leaders need to step up throughout our movement if we are going to rescue 2000 dogs—and raise the issue of animal rights to national prominence. This applies to the smallest of details, such as making sure two activists in an argument don’t escalate it into a bigger fight. A community of 150 can rely on a single leader intervening to ensure unity and commonality of purpose. A community of 1500 needs 10x more leaders—including many who have no formal title—to ensure we stay focused and unified.

A simple note—“Hey folks, you’re both great! What do you think we can do to keep our movement unified and focused on the Ridglan dogs?”—can make a big difference.

But say you want some more specifics. What things do we need most, right now, to turn this into a whirlwind moment?

• People who can identify key videos and photos of the March 15 rescue. A picture is worth a thousand words. We have a massive archive of media shot at the action but have had virtually no time to review it. If you’re interested in helping with this, and have some skill in it, shoot an email to comms@savethedogs.io.

• Large-scale rescues that can commit to being on site on April 19. Our placement team can’t realistically handle thousands of applications to take dogs. A few large-scale rescues, that can take 100 or more dogs, would add immensely to the logistics of our effort. Email placement@simpleheart.org if you can help.

• Experienced activists who are willing to lead teams. Our aim is to have every activist on April 19 have a “team” that can guide them through the preparations for the rescue. But to do that, with 1500+ people already signed up, we need far more team leads—especially those versed in rescue and able to work effectively in a big, diverse movement. If you’re interested, shoot us an email at recruiting@simpleheart.org.

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Other updates

• One of the most breathtaking accounts of the beagle rescue was published by Vox writer Marina Bolotnikova. Read it. Marina is gifted in her ability to write in a way that makes you feel you are part of dramatic unfolding events. Here’s an excerpt:

  Nobody knew whether any beagles would come out that day, and I did not really believe they would. Then the white-suited activists re-emerged along the horizon, each cradling a vulnerable, bewildered yet improbably trusting animal. I became fixated on the sight of the dogs’ tricolored fur drenched with freezing rain, and wondered, as I had many times before, what the world looks like from the perspective of an animal who has never seen anything beyond the walls of her cage. Suddenly, I was filming as police seized a crated beagle from a rescue van, and, over the furious objections of activists, pulled the terrified dog out of the crate and into a sheriff’s cruiser.

  But Marina’s gift is not just recreation; it’s analysis. Her list of reflections on the significance of the Ridglan rescue, at the end of her piece, is well worth reading.

• We’re having a Zoom briefing tonight to give you the latest updates, get your feedback and questions, and also loop new people in. The link is here, but also make sure to sign up for the rescue at savethedogs.io, if you haven’t, and join our WhatsApp community on that site.

• If you’re in NY, join me at Revolutionists’ Night tomorrow in Manhattan. We’ll be discussing the strategy behind the Ridglan rescue—and how we can use it to potentially take animal rights to new heights. Join here!

That’s all for now!