Animal Rights National Conference

The Animal Rights National Conference has been organized since 2000 by the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM).

FARM was also responsible for an earlier series of annual conferences, named Action For Life, between 1981 and 1987, as well as two special conferences in 1991 and 1997. Between 1988 and 1996, the annual animal conferences were organized by the former National Alliance for Animal Rights.

Early years

In August 1975, Dr. Alex Hershaft[1] became involved in the vegetarian movement after attending the World Vegetarian Congress in Orono, Maine, and meeting Jay Dinshah. A year later, he founded the Vegetarian Information Service (VIS) to distribute information on the benefits of a vegetarian diet.[2][3][4][5]

VIS also organized several conferences in Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania on strategies for promoting vegetarianism. Some conference participants, influenced by Peter Singer’s 1975 treatise Animal Liberation, argued that the scope of these conferences should be expanded to include animal rights.

Accordingly, in the summer of 1981, Hershaft organized Action For Life, a national conference at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, that effectively launched the U.S. animal rights movement, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Farm Animal Reform Movement, and the since defunct Trans-Species Unlimited[6][7] and Mobilization For Animals.[8] Participants included such animal rights pioneers as Cleveland Amory, Ingrid Newkirk, Alex Pacheco, Peter Singer, Henry Spira, Gretchen Wyler, as well as radio host Thom Hartmann.

These conferences continued for seven more years in San Francisco (1982), Montclair, New Jersey (1983), Washington (1984), Los Angeles (1985), Chicago (1986), and Cambridge, Massachusetts (1987). In 1991, FARM organized A Decade of the Animals conference in Washington, DC, to commemorate the 1981 launch.

Between 1988 and 1996, the annual conferences were taken over by Peter Link and the National Alliance for Animal Rights.[9][10] In 1990, his March on Washington attracted 25,000 participants. In 1996, a similar effort led to a much smaller turnout of 3,000. The disappointment at the small turnout and allegations of financial mismanagement sent Link into exile from the animal rights movement, and he was never heard from again.

Current series

In 1997, FARM jumped in to organize a national conference in Washington to lift the disappointment of the preceding year and to signal that the animal rights movement was alive and well. With no other group stepping forward for the next two years, FARM arranged another conference in the 2000 "Millennium Madness" year. The 2001 and 2002 conferences followed, all in Washington DC.

By then, West Coast animal rights activists began clamoring for moving the conference to Los Angeles. Unsure of whether the West Coast could support a conference and wary of losing the continuing interest of the Washington area, FARM organized two conferences in the summer of 2003, in both Washington and Los Angeles. The success of the latter ensured that, beginning in 2004, the annual animal right rights national conference alternated between the two cities.

In 2018, Alex Hershaft retired as Conference Chair. Former Conference Operations Director, Jen Riley, is currently named Conference Chair, working with Program Manager & Registrar, Ethan Eldreth, a Program Advisory Committee consisting of longtime movement leaders, as well as a team of managers.[11]

Conferences

A typical conference involves a thousand attendees, 90 presenters from 60 organizations, a hundred sessions, screening of new video documentaries, 90 exhibits, and 15 co-sponsors.[12][13]

Animal Rights Hall of Fame

Beginning in 2000, animal rights conference presenters have inducted national leaders, authors, or other key agents of change to the U.S. Animal Rights Hall of Fame. The following people were named to the Hall of Fame in the corresponding year:[14]

2000:

2001:

2002:

2003:

2004:

2005:

2006:

2007:

2008:

2009

2010:

  • Zoe Weil, co-founder and president of the Institute for Humane Education

2011:

2012:

  • Joe Connelly, co-founder of VegNews Magazine
  • Colleen Holland, co-founder of VegNews Magazine

2013:

2014:

  • Jon Camp, animal rights activist

2015:

2016:

2017:

2018

Other recognitions presented at the conference include the Henry Spira Grass Roots Animal Activist Award, the Young Animal Activist Award, and the Vegan Celebrity Award.

References
  1. "The Brains Behind the Great American Meatout" VegNews. Retrieved 2014-3-17.
  2. "Holocaust survivor heads animal rights group Alex Hershaft throws himself into cause" Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2014-3-17.
  3. Lawrence & Susan Finsen. The Animal Rights Movement in America. Twayne Publishers, 1994; p. 75
  4. Norm Phelps. The Longest Struggle. Lantern Books, 2004; pp. 190, 222.
  5. "24 Carrot Award" Vegetarians in Paradise. Retrieved 2014-3-17.
  6. Lawrence & Susan Finsen. The Animal Rights Movement in America. Twayne Publishers, 1994; p. 121.
  7. Norm Phelps. The Longest Struggle. Lantern Books, 2004; pp. 190, 226.
  8. "1983 Mobilization for Animals" Primate Research. Retrieved 2014-3-17.
  9. Lawrence Finsen and Susan Finsen. The Animal Rights Movement in America: From Compassion to Respect. Twayne Publishers, 1994; pp. 75-76.
  10. Norm Phelps. The Longest Struggle. Lantern Books, 2007; p. 222.
  11. "Program Team". Animal Rights National Conference.
  12. Norm Phelps. The Longest Struggle. Lantern Books, 2007; p. 274.
  13. (August 17, 2008) “Animal Advocate Envisions a Vegetarian World” The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-3-17.
  14. "Hall Of Fame". Animal Rights National Conference. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2018.


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