| Status | Exploratory |
| Primary Work Area | General Animal Advocacy |
| Website | Collectively Free |
| Review Published | December, 2016 |
Collectively Free is working for “total animal liberation” through grassroots outreach and pro- intersectional community building. They advocate for a variety of anti-oppression principles including anti-racism and anti-colonialism. They encourage their members to participate in creative and nonviolent tactics, including disruptions, “artivism,” and theatrical demonstrations. They were founded in New York City in 2014 and now have chapters in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Australia.
Collectively Free is working for “total animal liberation” through grassroots outreach and pro- intersectional community building. They advocate for a variety of anti-oppression principles including anti-racism and anti-colonialism. They encourage their members to participate in creative and nonviolent tactics, including disruptions, “artivism,” and theatrical demonstrations. They were founded in New York City in 2014 and now have chapters in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Australia.
Impact Evaluation:
Movement Building
Collectively Free promotes pro-intersectionality, inclusivity, and diversity in the animal rights movement. While they primarily work to fight speciesism, they are explicitly opposed to all forms of oppression. At their 2016 CF United conference, topics of discussion included food justice, racial justice, and LGBTQ issues in addition to animal rights. Collectively Free activists attended the 2016 National Animal Rights Conference and confronted speakers about the lack of diversity within the animal rights movement. We think that cultivating diversity within the movement and strengthening its ties to other social justice movements are important and relatively neglected causes.
Media Coverage
Collectively Free’s activities have received press coverage in The New York Times, CBS NY, ESPN, Fox 5 NY, and other venues. They received particular attention for their disruption of Easter Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, their protest of the opening of New York’s first Chick-fil-A, and their disruption of a Nathan’s hotdog eating contest. Such media coverage will likely raise public awareness of the animal rights movement, though it’s unclear how it will affect the public’s attitudes towards animal rights.
Uncertainty About Decision Making and Use of Funds
Collectively Free avoids making top-down decisions. Rather, they encourage each organizer to make decisions in conjunction with their teams. This is consistent with their values of “decentralization and collaboration,” but it makes it difficult for us to predict their future activities or allocation of funds. Additionally, Collectively Free is a young organization, so they don’t have a substantial track record yet. It’s possible that in the future we’ll have a better understanding of their potential based on their past patterns of behavior.