Has UK Animal Rights Lost It's Edge?
Animal Warfare | 08.09.2010 17:44 | SHAC | Analysis | Animal Liberation | Repression | World
Has police repression worked? Has some of the AR militant edge been crushed? An open and frank discussion on the UK AR scene.
Speaking after the second wave of guilty pleas from the SHAC trials DCI Andy Robbins, of Kent Police state “Since this investigation began in 2007, there has been a sustained reduction in criminal activity linked to animal rights extremism.”
Does the DCI have a point? Has state repression effectively crushed much of the militant edge that effectively complimented the lawful protests conducted by the vast majority of us in the movement?
I have always been a lawful activist but appreciate the work of the underground. The effectiveness of lawful activity is often directly linked to the actions of more militant forces. Something I think some of my aboveground colleagues often forget.
While it is certainly true that since the 2007 shake up things have improved and gradually got back to 'business as usual' within the community, it would be dishonest to over look the lasting effects the trials have had. The UK animal rights movement was very much shaken by the arrests and repressive sentences and there is no getting away from that.
To some extent the police repression has worked. Rather than simply fuelling the fires of resistance as has been the case in the past, the police have succeeded in crushing some of the spirit of militancy within the UK scene.
Peaceful activists are bullied by police at demonstrations and face repeated arrests. This is not an attack on 'unlawful activists' and it's time for us moderates to realise that! The police are not combating the 'extremists' they are combating all of us. The conditions are right for militancy.
My more experienced, older friends, tell me that the UK movement goes in waves. The UK animal rights movement has always been versatile and rebellious but how far will the police be allowed to push the movement before the next wave of rebellion begins?
Does the DCI have a point? Has state repression effectively crushed much of the militant edge that effectively complimented the lawful protests conducted by the vast majority of us in the movement?
I have always been a lawful activist but appreciate the work of the underground. The effectiveness of lawful activity is often directly linked to the actions of more militant forces. Something I think some of my aboveground colleagues often forget.
While it is certainly true that since the 2007 shake up things have improved and gradually got back to 'business as usual' within the community, it would be dishonest to over look the lasting effects the trials have had. The UK animal rights movement was very much shaken by the arrests and repressive sentences and there is no getting away from that.
To some extent the police repression has worked. Rather than simply fuelling the fires of resistance as has been the case in the past, the police have succeeded in crushing some of the spirit of militancy within the UK scene.
Peaceful activists are bullied by police at demonstrations and face repeated arrests. This is not an attack on 'unlawful activists' and it's time for us moderates to realise that! The police are not combating the 'extremists' they are combating all of us. The conditions are right for militancy.
My more experienced, older friends, tell me that the UK movement goes in waves. The UK animal rights movement has always been versatile and rebellious but how far will the police be allowed to push the movement before the next wave of rebellion begins?
Animal Warfare
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This probably covers it......
08.09.2010 18:10
"We also want to make it clear that the actions of these few people in no way reflect the peaceful campaigns that are carried out by the majority of animal rights campaigners in the UK. Everyone is entitled to express their views and the police will continue to facilitate peaceful protest - but we won't accept a minority of people taking the law into their own hands in an attempt to further their cause.
The rest of it
Not effective....
08.09.2010 18:23
If we had gone down and protested outside HLS (Huntingdon Life Sciences) every day for the last five years we would have got nowhere
Greg Avery, SHAC
Protest
Not really!
08.09.2010 18:30
Have you had your eyes covered over the last week? Four airlines refusing to fly primates into the UK and pulling out, along with one airport handler and others issuing policies. All in a matter of five days.
Lost it's edge? My arse! It's just some idiots are too stupid to realise their potential as an activists and instead go on whining about oppression. People are only as oppressed as they let themselves be.
Anon
No
08.09.2010 19:08
I can't see this government throwing the amount of cash into policing AR activists, it will come back in a big way.
These new laws need challenging in the courts of Europe.
pob
@ Anon
08.09.2010 21:37
Is AR still more effective than most movements, yes I think so. Is it as effective as it was pre-2007, no I don't think so. That's all it's saying really.
Animal Warfare
Homepage:
http://animalwarfare.blogspot.com
i think.........
09.09.2010 02:41
liberator
But why 'Guilty'
09.09.2010 07:00
It's just so defeatist!
Despair
@Despair
09.09.2010 08:17
Anyone who claims to be an activist, but lowers themselves to sniping at others who have actually got off their butts and done something is a pathetic douche. These people deserve our respect and support, and the assumption that they have made the pragmatic decision for themselves and the movement should be presumed until the unlikely event it is proven false.
I'm sure all will be revealed at sentencing. That gives you over a month to martyr yourself.
Ollie the Optimist
It's obvious.
09.09.2010 09:07
This is a common tactic of the police and cps. Throw as many charges at them and see what sticks. I get the impression that these defendants were willing to plead their guilt but only what they are guilty of and not what the police wanted to stick.
Time and money could have been saved if the police and cps kept to the real facts and not try to make charges stick.
The two who plead early might have been best waiting. Probably scared into pleading guilty after the last trial and wanted max off their eventual sentence.
The legal system stinks.
pob
to let you defeatists know
09.09.2010 09:44
about a hundred grands worth of damage done in the last two months, but we dont put out communiques as they help the police to map our movements.
get out there and fight, talking is for politicians, and what do they ever do for us???
Smash Brigade
communiques are worthwhile
09.09.2010 13:34
> but we dont put out communiques as they help the police to map our movements.
But they also inspire others. If an action is easy to replicate and resonates with many more people, this inspiration can be hundreds of times more effective than the action itself.
You might want to consider that (done carefully) it might be worth the risk..
x29
It's over
10.09.2010 09:48
Ernest Seal
@ Smash Brigade and x29
10.09.2010 15:17
Animal Warfare
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