Our Core Values
At Project Animal Freedom, we strive to build a fully vegan world by 2056 through a series of innovative outreach initiatives, from our College Outreach Program to our Compassionate Cities Campaign. We exist, first and foremost, for the animals with a relentless focus on their rights, lives, and well-being. We embrace nonviolent community organizing as a guiding principle, organizing social, educational, and outreach events at an increasingly ferocious pace. We strive to save as many lives, reduce as much suffering, and do as much good as possible by addressing the leading cause of unnecessary nonhuman animal suffering, vast swathes of human animal suffering, and immense oceans of environmental devastation: modern animal agriculture. Guided by these core values, we are unstoppable.
Compassionate: We behave compassionately not only toward nonhuman animals, but also toward human victims of other injustices, from sexism and racism to homophobia and ableism. Justice, love, respect, and compassion for all mandates we treat each respectfully, fairly, and compassionately. We will compassionately witness the suffering of others, sharing their stories with others with the same heartfelt compassion.
Nonviolent: We not only advocate for nonviolence toward Earth’s creatures, both nonhuman and human, but embrace nonviolence in word, action, and tone; nonviolent movements are significantly more likely to succeed than violent ones. We also embrace compassionate, love-based education rather than spiteful, hate-filled confrontation; love-based education, not inflammatory confrontation, is the key to most people’s hearts.
Equality-driven: We strive to build not only a world where all animals are equal, but also an organization where our leaders are equal to each other to foster mutual respect, reciprocal achievement, and self-actualization. Equality gently plucks the chords of peace while inequality stokes the chords of mission-impeding, organization-crippling discontent.
Encouraging: We encourage everyone, no matter their current stead along their beautiful, plant-based journey, to embrace a compassionate, healthy, sustainable plant-based lifestyle. We will also encourage everyone to embrace the animal rights philosophy, even if but one issue at a time; after all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Supportive: We will support every soul who wishes to make a meaningful difference for animals, even if they support other facets of our collective oppression. Everyone, no matter how seemingly dyed-in-the-wool, can make a meaningful difference for animals if we support them during their journey toward joyful, compassionate plant-based living.
Sensitive: As we support others along their plant-based journey, we will remain ever vigilant, cognizant, and sensitive to the fact not everyone will go vegan overnight. We will consider internal and external factors, from income and culture to family and friends, that influence the behavior not only of nonvegans, but also vegans themselves. Through this kindhearted sensitivity, we will inspire others to become the best version of themselves.
Nonjudgmental: No matter how resolute our impassioned dissent against animal use, abuse, and exploitation, we strive always to remain nonjudgmental, realizing human animals, just like nonhuman animal victims, are products of their environment, culture, and upbringing. While such factors do not justify carnistic behavior, they should temper our response to injustice, enabling us to attack institutions, not individuals.
Animal-focused: We prioritize the rights, lives, and wellbeing of all animals. Their suffering, pain, and oppression takes center stage in our organization, and we will always pursue whichever course of action helps the greatest number of animals to the greatest extent possible. This way, we will achieve animal liberation by 2056.
Utilitarian: We focus our energy, resources and talent on actions that reduce the most suffering. Our utilitarian mindset influences how we select our tactics and our targets.
Relentless: We are an indomitable force with an unwavering commitment to our mission, and we are determined to succeed. We are tireless in the pursuit of results and remain vigilant in our mission to reduce animal suffering, both nonhuman and human.
Abolitionist: We strive for the total abolition of all factory farms, slaughterhouses, and other animal-abusing facilities. While we envision a world where all animals live safe, happy, and free from needless harm, exploitation, and oppression, we are willing to make strategic compromises en route to realizing a worldwide vegan utopia.
Anti-speciesist: We reject the derogatory, discriminatory, fundamentally destructive ideology of speciesism. Instead, we advocate for a world steeped in justice, love, respect, and compassion for all, nonhumans included. We therefore reject any and all speciesist bias, prejudice, and discrimination, advocating instead for animal equality.
Educational: Rather than adopt an aggressive, strident tone, we will strive to inspire where necessary and to educate as needed. Our commitment to compassionate education applies to vegans and nonvegans alike, driven by the goal to not only educate nonvegans about the value of veganism, but also teach animal advocates of every color, stripe, and denomination the skills needed to achieve animal liberation by 2056.
Innovative: We constantly seek opportunities to improve and create forward-thinking solutions. We are not complacent, we do not accept the status quo, and we are future-focused. When we change, we do not just follow what others are doing; we try to do better. Continuous self-improvement is our motto and creed.
Nimble: We quickly and efficiently embrace whatever change is needed to be most effective for animals. We are willing and eager to take on new projects, change plans with short notice, and take quick, bold, decisive action in alignment with other core values.
Inventive: We strive to not only synthesize new solutions to old problems, but also implement these solution in meaningful, impactful, even earth-shattering ways. We never remain content with the status quo, instead searching for an ever more impactful way to fight for nonhumans animals until every animal lives safe, happy, and free.
Coalition-building: We strive, in all our endeavors, to build the largest, strongest, most resilient coalition for nonhuman and human animal liberation the world round possible. We do not discriminate against other organizations simply because of minor differences in ideology. Instead, we provide an umbrella organization for the unification of all reputable animal rights groups into an indomitable force for nonhuman and human animal liberation.
Political: We strive to not only advocate for the rights, lives, and well-being of nonhuman animals, but also to draft, pass, implement, and enforce new legislation that meaningfully improves the lives of millions of nonhuman animal victims. We hope our legal advocacy on behalf of nonhuman animals culminates in the passage of our Animal Freedom Bill, blindly ending all oppressive farms, slaughterhouses, and other animal-abusing facilities.
Honest: We will not only communicate in a radically bold, courteous, yet respectful manner, but also communicate in an honest, free, and open way. We will also be uncompromisingly honest about the horrors, injustices, and atrocities of modern animal agriculture; we owe each other no less than fair, free, honest, open communication.
Communicative: We believe in communicating not only the truth behind animal products, but also communicating healthfully with each other about any issues that arise as they arise. Effective communication is crucial to building and maintaining healthy relationships whereas sustained miscommunications can herald the downfall of an entire organization.
Compromising: We will not only communicate in a healthy, proactive fashion, but also compromise where necessary. We will amend our mission, strategies, and tactics as necessary and compromise with each other to ensure we continue operating effectively however, whenever, and wherever disagreement arises. Healthy compromise is a must.
Civil: We will communicate with each other, fellow activists, and our community at large in a healthy, civil, courteous, and respectful manner. While we respect civil disagreement, we will not tolerate unnecessary, mission-impeding drama, dysfunction, and division. We will show each other as much compassion as we show the animal victims we strive to aid.
Assertive: We are neither aggressive nor submissive, instead striking a happy medium between the two. We strive to not only be confrontational and unapologetic in our impassioned dissent against the status quo of nonhuman animal use, abuse, and exploitation, but also to moderate our “radicalism” with radical love, kinship, and candor.
Drama-free: We strive to build a welcoming, supportive environment that enables all activists to grow, thrive, and succeed by offering a drama-free zone for the mutual realization of our shared vision: a world where all animals live safe, happy, and free from needless harm, exploitation, and oppression. The animals, not our egos, matter most.
Proactive: We not only respond to emergencies, but we prevent them from happening. We also do what is best for the animals long-term, not only stamping out the fires of today, but also addressing underlying issues as they arise before they become full-fledged crises; after all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Inclusive: We are team players who strengthen each other by building a positive, welcoming movement. We create, cultivate, and celebrate our diversity, and we strive to foster an inclusive, open-minded environment in which everyone, both human and nonhuman, can speak freely, be heard fairly, and thrive fully. We do not discriminate against vegetarians, plant-based enthusiasts, or even carnists; each group has a unique, vital role to play in the inexorable march toward justice for all, both human and nonhuman.
Intersectional: We advocate for the victims of all oppressive ideologies and institutions in a diplomatic fashion. We recognize that no one can be truly free as long as others remain unfree, and we firmly believe all social justice movements must unite into an indomitable force for nonhuman and human animal liberation the world round if we are to achieve a world where all know the riches of life, the securities of justice, and the joys of freedom.
Community-driven: We exist to not only serve our local animal rights community, but also the whole of society at large, nonhuman animals included. We will hold regular community-building events, always trying to foster an open, inclusive environments that not only welcome everyone, but also help them become their best selves through our compassionate, radically inclusive, coalition-building organization.
