WHAT WE DO

Education without Violence

We live in a culture that not only normalizes but valorizes violence against animals; education at all levels and across all disciplines accordingly “teaches” this violence both implicitly and explicitly. Animal dissection and animal experimentation are two of the most explicit ways that students are assured that violence is necessary for scientific knowledge and, more generally, for “mature” thinking.

We reject this abuse of both animals and students.

Currently, we are working in alliance with the UVa student group Animal Justice Advocates at UVa and support their Education without Violence mission.

Anti-Carceral Animal Rights Law

We reject a traditional approach to animal rights law that measures progress for animals (such as felony anti-cruelty statutes) through the severity of punishment imposed on humans.

Instead, we insist that mass incarceration of humans and the caging and killing of animals be resisted simultaneously, and we advocate for animal liberation and prison abolition through anti-carceral legal outreach.

Faith Outreach

We believe that faith communities are called not to justify violence against animals, but rather, to struggle towards nonviolence within and also across species lines.

Through the support of CreatureKind we organize and host discussion groups and events within local faith communities that explore the often-unacknowledged religious basis for relations of love and respect for all living beings.

Vegan Roots Fest

While our focus is not primarily on dietary veganism, we still love a good vegan party!

The annual Charlottesville Vegan Roots Fest, held at the end of September in Booker T. Washington Park, highlights local animal sanctuaries and social justice organizations as well as regional vegan food and drink, and is free!

We are excited to promote the health benefits of a vegan diet for humans, animals, and the planet we all share.

Image Credit: We Animals Media Jo-Anne McArthur