Ben Newman has had a colourful past few years, being one of Animal Rising’s co-directors and being arrested multiple times for various bits of direct action and disruptive protest. 

Now, Animal Rising has turned its attention to campaign against the RSPCA, the world’s largest animal charity, for running the RSPCA Assured scheme. This has been quite a divisive campaign within the animal advocacy movement, with some, including both co-hosts, having fairly big questions about the effectiveness of this campaign.

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:04:55:02 | Direct Action Rescues
00:10:01:20 | Mass Arrests Strategy
00:13:40:07 | RSPCA Assured
00:19:19:10 | End of Animal Farming?
00:28:24:12 | RSPCA Scheme Shutdown
00:35:19:01 | Public Opinion on RSPCA
00:45:41:18 | Slaughterhouse Investigations
00:50:24:08 | Social Media Controversy
00:55:36:06 | Animal Rising in 2025
01:02:29:10 | Closing Questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

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Join us for an enlightening conversation with Aidan from Pro Animal Future and Almira from Direct Action Everywhere. 

A really interesting episode about their recent US ballot initiatives which actually has a lot of cross applicable learnings about fighting strong opposition to campaigns, the benefits of loosing forward, and how frequently narrative outperforms spend when it comes to campaigns. 

Almira and Aidan share insights on collaboration, leadership, and the courage to experiment with new strategies in the face of fierce opposition. Their stories underscore the importance of perseverance and adaptability in the fight against well-funded adversaries.

For a more in-depth deep dive on ballot initiatives, head to the episode with Josh Balk as he gave a really thorough run down of these measures and how we can use them to push pro animal issues in the US.

Resources:

Aidan:

• narrative.paxfauna.org
• Media recs
  • The Engagement, Sasha Issenberg
  • Get Political for Animals, Julie Lewin https://www.getpoliticalforanimals.com/

Almira

• directactioneverywhere.com
• This Is An Uprising (chiché, I know)
• Waging Nonviolence
• Read fiction!

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Jesse Marks is the newly appointed Farm Animal Welfare Program Officer for The Navigation Fund, a new major funder in the anti-factory farming space. 

We spoke with him about his experience becoming a grant-maker, interpersonal dynamics in funding, new areas he is excited about, how the movement can improve corporate campaigning and much more. 

• www.navigation.org 
• Navigation Fund Farm Animal Welfare Strategy
• Good Strategy Bad Strategy
• This is an uprising
• How to survive a plague
• www.digital-advocacy.com 
• Beautiful Trouble’s “toolbox”
• Link Paul Engler talk at Animal Liberation Conference / DxE
• Rules for Radicals 
• James blog on winning 

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:05:37:16 | First shrimp welfare campaign ever?
00:08:48:21 | Transition to a grantmaker role
00:15:58:10 | New insights on applying for funding
00:26:40:20 | Priorities in TNF funding and why
00:35:59:13 | Youth organizing
00:48:30:21 | How to reach out to TNF for funding
00:50:23:21 | Where the movement can improve in corporate campaigns
00:55:06:08 | The importance of focus in programs
01:07:07:10 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Known affectionately as the mother of animal law, this weeks guest Joyce Tischler has over 45 years of experience advocating for animal rights through the law in the US. Starting off in 1979 by co-founding the Animal Legal Defense Fund where Joyce would serve as executive director for 25 years, we hear about the first cases Joyce worked on as well as her bold decision to take on the US Navy. 

Joyce now lectures at the Lewis and Clark Law School in the Centre for Animal Law, specialising in Industrial animal agriculture law teaching students both locally and internationally. We hear from Joyce on some great case study examples of effective campaigning and her decision to switch from circumstantial cases to prioritising cases to develop legal theory.

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:06:18:06 | Animal Rights in the 1970s
00:10:51:11 | Animal Law and CAFO's
00:13:20:18 | Significance of the meeting in 1981
00:17:38:12 | Early cases
00:27:23:20 | How were the cases picked?
00:34:54:17 | Feelings on leading an organization as a woman in that time
00:38:53:16 | Evolution of Animal Law
00:48:12:12 | Shifting focus over the years
01:01:36:07 | Main goals in Animal Law
01:10:22:10 | Personal preference versus effectiveness
01:23:17:08 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

There are not many people who have spent time in prison for their commitment to help animals, but Tom Harris is one of them. We spoke with Tom about his time in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign (SHAC), one of the most well-known animal rights campaigns of the last 20-30 years.

We speak about why he thinks the campaign was so effective in applying pressure to companies, things he would do differently, common misconceptions about the SHAC campaign and the importance of grassroots advocacy in the animal rights movement. We also spend a bit of time talking about his future plans for rebuilding the grassroots advocacy scene in the UK so stick around to the end for some exciting plans.

Resources: 

• Your Neighbour Kills Puppies: Tom Harris
• SHAC Justice Site - The campaign to have the convictions appealed
• Contact Information
• Email Contact for SHAC Justice

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:14:01 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:04:46:18 | SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty)
00:12:02:22 | Lord Sainsbury
00:16:11:20 | Secondary Targeting
00:19:19:18 | Misconceptions about SHAC
00:24:55:18 | Losing local activist groups
00:35:17:05 | Lessons learned from SHAC campaign
00:38:18:09 | Prison sentence
00:46:32:17 | Benefit of focusing on one target
00:54:04:04 | Future work with local groups
01:09:57:05 | The SHAC Justice Campaign
01:19:28:21 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Jakub Stencel is the recently appointed interim director of Anima International. A refreshingly candid conversation about organisational culture, transparency and its limits, as well as the constant journey of testing and learning that Anima undertakes. 

Jakub talks us through his thinking on culture in an expanding organisation, split across multiple countries and how his first important task as interim director is to assess whether Anima International should continue to exist, or, if other organisational structures could save time, resource and increase impact for animals.

Resources:

• Fearless Organisation - Amy Edmondson
• Kirsty Henderson Blog Post
• No Rules Rules – Erin Meyer
• Powerful – Patty McCord
• Swarmwise - Rick Falkvinge
• Culture Map - Erin Meyer
• 80,000 hours podcast
• Anima international Blog 
• Keyvan Mostafavi Blog: Fighting animal suffering: beyond the number of animals killed
• Robert Sutton – No Asshole Rule
• The E-myth Revisited
• Anima International

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:00:03 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:30:09 | Early days of Anima International
00:10:39:20 | Work culture and transparency
00:18:10:10 | How has this approach shaped the work at Anima?
00:26:01:09 | Importance of small rituals
00:32:50:23 | Building psychological safety
00:35:45:06 | Hiring process
00:46:23:07 | The transparent leadership transition
00:52:42:18 | Vision for Anima International
01:01:05:08 | Biggest mistake of Anima International
01:13:51:05 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Rune-Christoffer is an impressive person. In addition to being almost 10ft tall, he led the Vegetarian Society of Denmark’s efforts in getting the Danish government to invest over 110 million Euros in plant-based foods and develop an Action Plan to boost plant-based foods in the country. 

Given this is one of the most significant policy wins the animal advocacy and plant-based movement has seen in recent years, we chat about how they built the political will to achieve this. We speak about the importance of building coalitions, developing relationships with politicians, and even engaging with the animal agriculture industry. We also speak about their plans to scale this work in the EU so stick around to the end if you want some optimistic and ambitious next steps.

Resources: 

• Denmark’s Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods
• Strategy of the Plant-Based Food Grant
• Plant-Based R&D strategy made in collaboration with farmers
• Ishmael – Daniel Quinn
• Meat: A Natural Symbol – Nick Fiddes 
• Meat: A Benign Extravaganza – Simon Fairlie
• In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:26:23 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:04:30:12 | Action Plan for Plant-based Foods
00:08:20:01 | The Plant-Based Food Grant
00:17:22:12 | Key things that helped on the way to success
00:24:59:13 | Whole-Food and Plant-Based diet
00:28:35:17 | Building relationships
00:37:06:14 | Stance of the Meat industry
00:41:40:18 | Organic Denmark
00:46:57:16 | Collaboration with other organisations
00:51:54:04 | Tactical tips
00:58:31:03 | Plan for expanding through EU
01:10:45:20 | Working with more challenging countries
01:17:49:12 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Giulia Malerbi is attempting to prevent octopus from being intensively farmed for food. As head of Global policy at The Aquatic Life Institute, Giulia’s important work aims to stop intensive octopus farming before it even begins and has hopefully contributed to the passing of some groundbreaking legislation to support this ban. 

A really refreshing episode about the complexities of advocating for such an unknown species with the ins and outs of why farming this inquisitive species is so problematic from multiple perspectives.

Resources:

• Aquatic Life Institute's Campaign Page
• The Soul of an Octopus - book
• My Octopus Teacher - documentary 
• EA Forum Post - Banning Octopus Farming
• ALI Fish Policy
• Octopus ban campaign

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:01:42:13 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:39:12 | Octopus farming in the United States
00:16:36:18 | Octopus welfare challenges
00:32:21:20 | Strategy behind choosing focus on octopuses
00:43:14:03 | Global campaign against octopus farming
00:48:38:09 | Industry reasons for farming octopus
00:53:57:00 | Other projects of Aquatic Life Institute
00:57:51:14 | How important is public opinion to politicians and legislators
01:03:17:05 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Wu Hung trained as a monk before his journey into animal advocacy began and it is these teachings in the  ‘inconsistencies of life’ that led him to believe he could change the future for animals in Taiwan. 

Through liaising with government officials, top business people and the general public, as well as predictable pushback from the industry, navigating the complexities of a relatively new movement in Taiwan has not been easy for EAST. We hear about these challenges and also how members of the global north can support this important work in Taiwan. 

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

• EAST website

00:00:00:00 | Intro
00:02:32:07 | A recent mistake others can learn from
00:06:44:05 | Wu Hung's beginning in the animal rights movement
00:10:48:11 | The Movement in Taiwan
00:19:00:13 | Welfare challenges specific to Taiwan
00:26:12:11 | Food security and quality
00:32:59:10 | Cage free eggs in supermarkets
00:37:59:18 | Main focus area of EAST
00:40:56:23 | Cage free commitments
00:47:27:01 | Fish welfare campaign
00:54:31:18 | Staying motivated with Buddhism
00:59:18:23 | Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!

Léo Le Ster is a campaigner at L214, a French NGO focused on helping farm animals. Léo talks to us about L214’s creative campaigning tactics and the importance of open and collaborative brainstorming when it comes to generating new ideas.

Léo gives us an update on the state of the movement in France and insight into their organisation with a multi-tactic approach from investigations and campaigning to education programmes and lobbying.

Relevant links to things mentioned throughout the show:

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• John Cleese on creativity
• BBC Connections on inventions 
• Peter Singer book on Henry Spira – Ethics into Action
• Burger King campaign
• Le Gaulois campaign with a specially designed truck 
• Transparency on L214 funds
  • 9 million € budget in 2023. 100 employees. Equal salary for everyone. French median salary.
  • 76% of funding comes from donations. 16% from the Open Philanthropy
  • 78% of our funding goes to our missions. 15% operating costs. 6% fundraising.
• Aaron Ross CARE talk on negotiation 
• L214 Politique Animal website – Database of MPs positions on animals 

00:00 // Intro
02:55 // A recent mistake others can learn from
05:51 // Origin of L214
11:44 // Creative campaigning
26:59 // Brainstorming
32:24 // Seriousness and playfulness
40:14 // Meat consumption by 2030
44:45 // L214 Education programme
48:19 // Politics in France
57:44 // Campaigns during Olympic Games and Tour de France
01:05:17 // Closing questions

With thanks to Tom Felbar (Ambedo Media) for amazing video and audio editing!

If you enjoy the show, please leave a rating and review us - it means a lot to us!