David Olivier

He introduced Peter Singer's works to French activists and significantly influenced the formation of the animal rights organisation L214.

His activism led to the creation of Veggie Pride and the annual Les Estivales de la question animale meetings, contributing to the animal rights discourse in France and beyond.

A staunch opponent of speciesism, Olivier asserts that ethical considerations should extend to all sentient beings, advocating for a world with reduced wild animal suffering and rejecting traditional environmentalism.

[1] Author of a leaflet initially distributed in libertarian circles of Lyonnais from 1985, Olivier is considered one of the founding figures of the French antispeciesist movement.

Oliver himself authored many of the journal's articles, in addition to creating French translations of the texts of Singer, Tom Regan, Paola Cavalieri, James Rachels, and Steve F. Sapontzis.

He and the other co-founders of the journal were a decisive influence on Sébastien Arsac and Brigitte Gothière, future founders of the animal protection organisation L214.

[6][7] In October 2001, in a bid to increase recognition of the refusal to eat animals, Olivier founded the first Veggie Pride in Paris, defining in his manifesto the term "veggiephobia".

In 2018, the publication of The Antispeciesist Revolution by Presses Universitaires de France, containing for one third a collection of Olivier's articles,[17] met with relative media success.

[18][19] Renan Larue and the critic Thierry Jacquet consider the book's publication to be symbolic, doing justice to the work of the editors of Cahiers antispécistes and granting the animal question the seriousness it deserves.

"[20] He also contends that "species" do not exist and asserts that the concept is irrevocably essentialist and should be ontologically discarded in the same way that race has been for humans.

[20] Olivier's antinaturalism is associated with his defense of interventions in favour of reducing wild animal suffering,[25] as well as his rejection of environmentalism.

[30] In Luc Ferry ou le rétablissement de l'ordre (tahin party ed., 2002): In Espèces et Éthique - Darwin: une (r)évolution à venir (ed.