A call for systemic change

El que lucha por la vida nunca muere.

— Anonymous¹

I had plenty of time on the train back home after three days at the Conference for Animal Liberation in Copenhagen (CALC from now on). And I needed that time to process the amount of thoughts the conference had left me with.

Usually when I go to a conference I like to write a report on that experience.² It’s my way of recording what the event has been and has meant to me. It’s also a trivial opportunity to say “thank you!” to the organisers of said event.

However, CALC was no ordinary conference for me, and not just because, for once, it had nothing to do with the IT business. CALC has been special because it made me feel exactly where I was supposed to be, as if it was an extension and an enrichment of the sense of belonging I feel in my activism.

This was true from the very beginning of the conference. I immediately felt in a safe space when I arrived. The quiet atmosphere, the care everybody had for each and every one of us attendees, the cozy space, the breaks between sessions, the food and the workshops, the Animal Liberation March. I cannot fathom the amounts of hours that it must have taken to build such a wonderful environment, but even before the first talk started I knew CALC would end up meaning a lot more than the chance to learn something new.

Maybe it had to do with what Jake Conroy said in his final talk, when he highlighted the importance of the do-it-yourself approach and the difference that it makes when it fuels grassroots activism. You discover how resourceful you can be if you are not backed by someone, you transform what is uncomfortable into something comfortable as you struggle to make ends meet. And together with fellow activists, this can become the experience of a lifetime.

Coming sponsored by no one,³ CALC displayed the power of a community driven to a cause so few seem to deeply care about. But instead of preaching to the choir, CALC pushed hard on the intersectionality pedal in order to encourage us to think about and work for a much needed systemic change. The conference raised awareness on multiple connections that sometimes escape the movement for animal liberation.

For example, I learned a great deal about the abuse of amphibians and reptiles in China thanks to Jin Qian’s research, and I was horrified when Fernando linked cattle ranchers to civil wars in Colombia. At the same time, as Laura Broxson told us the successes of NARA and Animal Rebellion in Ireland when it comes to pig farming, I was enthralled.

Admittedly, I wanted for CALC to never really end because it looked like the beginning of something much bigger than a conference. Or I don’t know, maybe it —whatever it is— has been going on for a while and it’s just me being fashionably late to the party once again.