Talk to many vegans and they may often disagree on many things but one thing that seems to come through loud and clear is that it was some form of activism that originally influenced them to go vegan, and this underlines the importance and relevance of campaigning and activism within the broader vegan community. Activism and campaigning has changed significantly over the last 50 or so years, and even more so this last decade, with a big shift to online activism and content creation which has changed the landscape considerably. 

 

Vegan activism and campaigning takes on many different forms these days – one of the most popular forms of vegan activism is simply vegan outreach in public. Viva! run a whole network of vegan outreach stalls across the UK, staffed by volunteers, usually involving some free vegan food giveaways and plenty of literature about the benefits of plant-based lifestyles, and welcome people new to activism to come and join them, and We The Free are another national groups that operates regionally, with a focus on the their 3 minute movie challenge, asking members of the public to view a 3 minute film about what’s happening to animals on a daily basis, before engaging in conversations around animal use and abuse, and why going vegan is a good response to this. Both groups provide training and support and have strong social sides, ensuring activism is fun, uplifting, supportive and effective, and both groups actively welcome new members to get involved. Other groups such as Earthlings also do regular vegan street outreach, and all these groups have a strong focus on individual change and helping people go vegan, stay vegan and advocate for veganism.

 

And of course – you are very much encouraged to help distribute our own Why Go Vegan posters and flyers, these are all readily available on request and ideal for vegan street outreach.

 

Groups like Plant Based Treaty, Plant Based Councils, Plant Based Health Professionals UK and Plant Based Universities focus on Institutional change and their campaigns often involve letter writing and petitions to help influence key decision makers, and are easy, safe and quick to join and support and get involved with – other groups like Animal Rising tend to favour more direct action and can involve more confrontational activism, with  focus on system and corporation change over individual change.

 

The Vegan Society now has a widespread regional contact network and support a number of initiatives to effect change at all levels and make a great starting place for getting a bit more involved in vegan activism and campaigning, whilst Animal Aid has a strong focus on helping animals in laboratories as well as active campaigns against the shooting and horse racing industries. Freedom for Animals campaigns against zoos and circuses, Animal Justice Project focuses on the welfare myth and welfare washing, exposing the standards for what they truly are and challenging the use of all animals for food. There are so many more groups that are active and doing incredible work to help animals, some of which you will find here (Community – Campaigns), ensuring that whatever your interest, there’s a way to get involved and contribute to the movement.