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Several hundred animal rights activists took to the streets of San Francisco during a Friday afternoon rush hour to participate in “Cubes of Truth,” a vegan outreach concept created by the animal rights group Anonymous for the Voiceless (AV). The multi-cube event was staged during the 2019 Animal Liberation Conference, which took place in nearby Berkeley.

During the cubes, participants either display videos of animal exploitation or engage pedestrians who stop to watch the footage.

“We’re out here to educate non-vegans about the imperative of being vegan and speaking up for animals,” said Paul Bashir, who co-founded AV with his partner Asal Alamdari in 2016. “We need to hold non-vegans to account for the evils we commit against animals and ask them what they’re going to do about it.”

An activist conducts vegan outreach with a pedestrian who stopped to watch the footage being displayed in a Cube of Truth

The growth of AV has been meteoric.  In 2.5 years, AV chapters have been created in approximately 1,000 cities worldwide. In that time, an estimated 15,000 cubes have been staged. In May, 2019, hundreds of AV activists participated in a 24 hour cube in Amsterdam. In July, AV plans to operate cubes in New York City for seven consecutive days.

Among the largest cubes of truth produced since AV’s 2016 inception were Berlin in 2018 and Amsterdam in 2019,

During Direct Action Everywhere’s (DxE) 2018 Animal Liberation Conference, an estimated 500 animal rights activists took to the streets of San Francisco to participate in what was, at the time, the largest Anonymous For the Voiceless (AV) event ever.  As more than 100 video screens displayed footage of animal exploitation in six “Cubes of Truth,” dozens of advocates conducted vegan outreach with pedestrians who stopped to watch the videos.  Animal rights activists Chase Avior, Jane Velez-Mitchell and James Aspey spoke to TheirTurn about the impact of AV:

Anonymous for the Voiceless uses “standard-practice” footage of animal agriculture to expose the public to the atrocities that the industry goes to great lengths to hide, and it provides people with tools to switch to a vegan lifestyle.

Jane Velez-Mitchell of JaneUnChained reporting from the Cube of Truth in San Francisco

Since its inception in April, 2016, AV has staged over 4,000 “Cubes of Truth” in 650 cities around the world, convincing over 214,000 people to consider making the transition to veganism.

Cube of Truth in San Francisco organized by Anonymous for The Voiceless and Direct Action Everywhere during the 2018 Animal Liberation Conference.