September 27, 2021
Hundreds of Bay Area residents gathered in Mission Dolores Park on Saturday to speak out in support of the animal rights movement.
Organizers and attendees aimed to confront the animal agriculture industry through nonviolent direct action to help animals’ lives for ethical and ecological reasons, according to their website.
Direct Action Everywhere, a grassroots network of animal rights activists, organized the protest and march as part of the 2021 Animal Liberation Conference, a week-long set of events including speakers, networking opportunities, panels and more.
Also featured on Saturday was the conference’s keynote speaker, Chelsea Manning, a whistleblower known for exposing U.S. war crimes.
Zoe Rosenberg, Protest Organizer: I think it’s really amazing to see so many people coming together to speak up for animals.
Rosenberg: It’s been, you know, a long time since we’ve been able to have so many people come together. Because of the pandemic it really put a pause on activism in a lot of ways. So it’s really inspiring to see so many people finally coming out and coming together to advocate for the animals.
Rosenberg: I actually joined the animal rights movement when I was 11 years old. So, about eight years ago by founding my nonprofit organization called Happy Head Animal Sanctuary.
Rosenberg: And my nonprofit is in San Luis Obisbo, California and we rescue animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses and give them the lives that they deserve. We give them veterinary care and make sure that they’re happy and comfortable. So we’ve saved over 1,000 animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses.
Rosenberg: When I was 12 I joined Direct Action Everywhere and started doing more direct action, where I started doing protests and marches and undercover investigations and open rescues walking right onto factory farms and slaughterhouses and saving these animals.
Rosenberg: Every single person can change the world by just taking action and speaking up. We just have to leave our comfort zones behind and take action for these animals. Speak up, speak loudly, and you know we can make a huge difference.
