Is the movement still considered a fringe activity and marginalised by the state and society?
Yes, absolutely, though the movement has grown in numbers. Take the U.S for instance. There are at least 20 million people who support animal rights organisations. It is getting increasingly entrenched in popular culture like Hollywood movies. I saw a film recently where Hugh Grant is chased by a bear and, as he runs, he shouts, “I’m a member of PETA!” But unfortunately, it hasn’t progressed much in terms of behaviour change on the part of individuals, at least not yet, or political action. That’s a huge gap. But this is a movement that has come of age. The animal movement is different from other movements in that animals cannot speak for themselves and are entirely dependent on humans to speak for them. Do you see this as a huge handicap in the trajectory of growth of this particular movement? Oh absolutely. For instance, look at the anti-slave trade movement. At one point, there were close to 1200 anti-slavery organisations in the U.K, you had countries applying international pressur
