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After finding about the size and power of the meat and dairy industries in the US, and learning that not one single animal is saved despite the growing number of vegans and demand for plant-based food, Connie felt the need to urgently amend the broken US food policies which lead to lopsided subsidies in favor of the animal industries. “So I founded Vegan Justice League.” Laura Reese, the co-founder of Vegan Justice League, gave up her eighteen-year career in the semiconductor industry and started lobbying Congress, on behalf of farm animals, in 2018. Looking into the systems, policies, and laws which needed to be changed to fix the system, Connie Spence and Laura Reese realized that the changes would cover equity among farmers, equity among food consumers, fairer subsidies, and environmental protection, including multiple issues related to social justice. They decided to change the name, Vegan Justice League, to Liberation 360, to reflect the extensive changes that will affect farmers, consumers, animals, and almost every aspect of our lives. Connie also told us about the bailouts. “Bailouts are basically a large amount that is supposed to be a direct payment that steps in to pay for their losses.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a huge stockpile due to overproduction. During the pandemic, we saw milk dumping and animals being euthanized so that the farm could produce “loss.” In the U.S., subsidies to the agriculture sector typically run around $20 billion per year. In 2020, bailouts rocketed that number to over $50 billion. “With the pandemic and all the shutdowns, and all of the bailouts that they saw, our bailouts - our money bailing them out, made 2021 of the most profitable years for livestock.” “I define success on how many animals are saved. Going vegan is the first step. It is not enough to achieve animal liberation. To achieve animal liberation, we have to get political.” “Our organization, Agriculture Fairness Alliance.org, and Liberation 360 are staunch with our anti-oppression themes. This is an abolition lobbying group. We are about animal liberation. We are anti-oppression, and advocate for human issues as well.”
