An Animal Rights/Vegan Activists' Strategies Article used with permission from All-Creatures.org

Jon Hochschartner reflects on the importance of maintaining our commitment to the long-term goal of animal liberation without remaining too stubbornly attached to any particular activist strategy.

Strategic humility in the animal movement
From Jon Hochschartner, Slaughter-Free America, slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com
November 2025

Photo from Canva/Pexels

When I start arguing with a deep confidence, bordering on arrogance, that vegan activists should focus their energy on advancing cellular agriculture, I try to remember a brief exchange the animal-rights philosophers Jeff Sebo and Gary Francione had on social media a couple of years ago. Francione, I should note, has sadly gotten swept up in right-wing hysteria about transgender people, and, as a result, has increasingly lost interest in the nonhuman movement.

They were debating the merits of a legal strategy being used in an effort to free elephants from a zoo, which linked moral status to human-like intelligence. Francione condemned the approach on ethical grounds, before adding similar efforts had failed for decades. Sebo agreed the approach was problematic, but then made a very wise comment: “If ‘failed to achieve animal liberation within 40 years’ was a reason to reject a general strategy, then a pox on all of our houses.”

Accelerating the development of cellular agriculture through the political process is very new. Scientist Mark Post created the first cultivated-meat burger in 2013. The approach, however, that seeks to lower meat consumption by producing more convincing flesh analogues is ancient. So far as I’m aware, these efforts have failed to have a significant effect. I’d like to think cellular agriculture is different than these past attempts, as it creates a product identical to flesh at a cellular level.

Still, a degree of humility is in order. It’s possible the technology behind cultivated-meat production is never able to scale, or, if it does, the protein fails to find a market beyond existing vegans and vegetarians. Besides demonstrating historical awareness, strategic humility seems connected to activist longevity. There are many people, including Francione to some extent, who dropped out of the movement after a strategy with which they became deeply associated fell out of favor.

I’m not sure what the lesson is here. Surely, campaigners should have strategic beliefs. It’s hard to imagine how activists without these could be effective. But maybe we should hold onto our strategic beliefs relatively loosely. In other words, perhaps we should be unyielding in our commitment to the long-term goal of animal liberation, while remaining open minded about how exactly we get there, because circumstances change and we’re always learning new information.

I don’t quite know how to do this in practice. How can you really throw yourself into a particular strategy, enough you advocate others adopt it as well, without developing a personal attachment to that approach? It’s a tough, psychological question, or, if you prefer, a spiritual one. I imagine the answer involves not allowing your identity or pride to get wrapped up in a specific strategy, but, of course, that’s easier said than done. I’ve seen others do it, though, so it’s possible.

While I have my doubts, and am less optimistic about the pace of change than I was a few years ago, I continue to believe accelerating the development of cellular agriculture is the most promising means of reducing nonhuman suffering and premature death. However, I want to conduct myself in such a way that I’m open to changing my mind on the issue, and, if I do change my mind, I’m not so wary of losing face that I’d rather leave the movement than admit a mistake and try a new approach.

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Posted on All-Creatures.org: November 24, 2025
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