“There comes a time when you have to stand up and be counted” – Gale Sayers.

Dear Climate Healers,

When One Team United a Nation

In 1995, newly elected South African President Nelson Mandela faced a country tearing itself apart. Apartheid had just ended, but the wounds were raw, the divisions were deep, and the rage was real. White South Africans feared retribution, while Black South Africans demanded justice. The nation stood at the edge of civil war.

Then came the Rugby World Cup.

Rugby was seen as the white man’s sport, a symbol of apartheid oppression. Most Black South Africans supported any team except their own national team, the Springboks.

Nelson Mandela saw something different. He saw an opportunity.

Against all advice, and despite the anger of his own followers, Mandela threw his support behind the Springboks. He wore their jersey. He learned their names. He showed up at their games. And when they reached the finals against New Zealand, the entire country, Black and White together, rallied behind one team.

The Springboks won. South Africa exploded in unified celebration. For one transcendent moment, a nation that couldn’t agree on anything was agreed on this: we are one.

The movie Invictus immortalized this moment. Not because rugby matters more than justice or reconciliation. But because symbols matter. Sometimes, a single unifying victory creates momentum for the harder work ahead.

The Vegan movement needs its Invictus moment on its path to a unified Vegan World 2026. And it’s happening right now.

Green Goddesses vs. Jimmy Fallon: More Than an Awards Vote

UnchainedTV‘s original reality series Green Goddesses Take New York has been nominated for a 2026 Webby Award in the Video & Film: Variety & Reality category, where it is currently in second place behind The Jimmy Fallon Show.

Please let that sink in. An independent Vegan comedy series, created on a shoestring budget, with no corporate backing, and no mainstream distribution deal, is competing against one of the biggest names in late-night television for one of the internet’s most prestigious awards.

Starring Justina Adorno and Jamie Logan, the unscripted series is described as “Lucy and Ethel meet guerrilla street theater,” using comedy to dismantle barriers around serious ethical issues.

This isn’t just about an award. This is about visibility. This is about legitimacy. This is about showing the world that Vegan media has arrived and consequently, an unified Vegan World is inevitable.

This is our Springboks vs. New Zealand Rugby World Cup finals moment.

Why This Matters: The Power of Symbolic Victory

“But it’s just an awards show,” you might think. “Shouldn’t we focus on actual animal liberation? Or policy change? Or direct action?”

Yes, yes, and absolutely yes. And also this.

Nelson Mandela didn’t stop fighting for justice because he supported a rugby team. He understood that symbolic victories create conditions for substantive victories, that visibility enables legitimacy, that momentum in one arena creates energy for the fight in all arenas.

A Green Goddesses win would legitimize Vegan media in the mainstream, demonstrate movement unity and power, and create momentum for the harder fight ahead. Directed by Jordan Ehrlich and produced by UnchainedTV and CaveLight Films, Green Goddesses represents independent Vegan media created outside corporate structures.

UnchainedTV isn’t Disney, Netflix or NBC. It is an independent streaming network founded by Jane Velez-Mitchell, operated mainly out of her living room. Of course, we in the Vegan movement know Jane to be a tireless force of Nature who will not rest until every cage is empty and every animal is liberated and happy. But we also know that UnchainedTV doesn’t have the marketing budget of the Jimmy Fallon show. Not even close.

On the flip side, Jimmy Fallon doesn’t need this Webby Award. He’s got four primetime Emmy awards and a Webby Lifetime Achievement award already. His trophy cupboard is full and winning this award changes little to nothing for his career trajectory, visibility or cultural influence.

Green Goddesses winning changes everything for Jane Velez-Mitchell, UnchainedTV and the Vegan movement.

The stakes are not equal. And that’s precisely why we all must vote.

The Call: Rally Now!

Nelson Mandela knew that he was asking Black South Africans to do something that felt wrong, supporting the Springboks, the symbol of their oppression. He knew that they were angry. He knew that they wanted justice, not reconciliation. He knew rugby seemed trivial compared to the actual work of transformation.

He asked anyway. Because he understood that sometimes, a symbolic victory creates conditions for the substantive victories ahead.

I’m asking us Vegans to rally now. Not because this award solves anything by itself. But because victory here creates momentum for everything we desperately need to achieve soon.

Between now and April 16th, please make this a priority:

– Vote yourself at https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/video-film/general-video-film/variety-reality (it took me less than 2 minutes);
– Share the voting link everywhere on social media, group chats, email lists, and forums;
– Tag Vegan influencers and ask them to boost; and
– Contact Vegan organizations and ask them to mobilize their members.

Make this the topic of conversation in Vegan spaces this week

Vote. Share. Mobilize.

This is our Springboks vs. New Zealand Rugby World Cup Finals moment. This is our chance to show that when the Vegan movement unites behind a shared goal, we’re absolutely unstoppable.

This is our chance to demonstrate that independent Vegan media can compete with and beat corporate entertainment.

This is our chance to create momentum heading into the harder fights ahead.

The Springboks Won. We Can Too.

On June 24, 1995, the Springboks defeated New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final. Nelson Mandela, wearing the Springbok jersey, handed the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar. The stadium erupted. The country erupted. For one transcendent moment, South Africa was unified.

The work of actual reconciliation, justice, and transformation still lay ahead. The symbolic victory didn’t replace that work. But it created conditions for that work to get done. It proved unity was possible, lifted peoples’ spirits and built momentum toward reconciliation, justice and transformation.

On April 16, 2026, voting closes for the Webby People’s Voice Award. If we mobilize, if every Vegan, every animal advocate, every person who wants food system transformation votes, Green Goddesses will defeat Jimmy Fallon.

The work of actual animal liberation, planetary healing, and civilizational transformation will still lie ahead. This symbolic victory won’t replace that work. But it will create conditions for that work to get done. It will prove our movement has power, lift activists’ spirits and build momentum towards animal liberation, planetary healing and civilizational transformation.

This is our Invictus moment. We have four days. Let’s make it count.

Vote for Green Goddesses Take New York. Share widely. Rally everyone.

When we unite, we win.

Voting ends April 16, 11:59 PM PT: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/video-film/general-video-film/variety-reality

INVICTUS by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me
Black as the pit from pole to pole;
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

With much love,