Free Sean Kirtley!
Fight the police state!
Liberate the animals........

The more gratifying for Sean Kirtley is aware that the fight for animal liberation will not stop until the last cage it empty
greetings

A critical look at hierarchy within the animal liberation movement and other social justice movements and how a different approach to campaigning might be needed.

It has been many decades since the formation of the animal liberation front as a group of individuals willing to take action to save the lives of animals using tactics which were seen as radical and direct action which crossed legal boundaries on many occasions. The ALF in its infancy was seen as a group of super heroes willing to risk freedom by the public and their brash actions were revered by those who saw images of animals being rescued from the horrors of the vivisection laboratory.

Some argue the animal liberation movement has lost public support after being marginalized as terrorists by the police lobby groups and state controlled media, however support received during street level activism e.g. information stalls and animal rights outreach seems to be as strong as ever.

It might sound cliché to say “make no mistake, we are at war” but this sadly is a fact. With the creation of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) and the creation of the National Extremist Tactical Co-Ordination Unit (NETCU) evidence gatherers now interfere with peaceful demonstrations and targeting so-called leaders and campaign organisers of high profile campaigns such as SHAC (The campaign to close Huntingdon Life Sciences) and SPEAK (Against the Oxford University primate lab).

That said, the use of illegal direct action has continued across the UK and animals are being liberated all the time from farms, breeders, pet shops and various other exploitative hell holes. The clandestine non-hierarchical nature of the animal liberation front has always been the key to its successes this is also the case with the Earth Liberation Front who use the “no leader’s” small cell approach where a group of friends will decide to take action in defence of animals or the planet earth and seem to almost always avoid capture by police or security.

So we have two sides to our movement, the above ground, and those who take part in clandestine actions to liberate animals and sabotage industry. The police however have, in recent years taken the easy option and started to target legitimate campaigners and have imprisoned and remanded many high profile campaigners such as Greg Avery of SHAC, Mel Broughton of SPEAK and most recently Sean Kirtley of the Sequani campaign.

The police have taken the easy road and used “conspiracy” charges to lock away campaigns for noisy demonstrations and supposed intimidation. Conspiracy is a weapon of mass destruction for any social justice movement as the supposed culprits don’t have to have actually broken the law themselves, they need to only have conspired with others or as the law states “persons or persons unknown”.

How terrifying for those who have kept within the boundaries of the law thinking themselves safe from police tyranny. The Sequani trial recently saw a media blackout to prevent any media coverage of the case against six campaigners from the Sequani campaign against the labs in Ledbury, Herefordshire. The reason being that the trial was a farce, with supposed witnesses caught out in lies, admissible evidence given in court and the small fact that the judge who sentenced Kirtley was himself a blood sports enthusiast.

As a movement we will need to keep up the good fight and open campaigning in the public eye is a must but we might be able to take something from the success of the ALF and ELF that is the non-hierarchical structure.

The Carnival Against Vivisection at the Sequani Labs in Ledbury on the 6th September will see the first mass action against a lab in years which has no organisers and should serve as a template for future actions and protest. In a time when organisers of lawful demonstrations are criminalised we must do away with leadership. If police wish to monitor us and take our photos we must cover our faces. If they make legal avenues of protest impossible we have no option but to take illegal direct action.

The police have only themselves to blame, we can disappear as an open public protest movement but when the sun goes down, those who exploit humans, animals and this planet are not and never will be safe from those righteous people who are being born every day.

Resist!

----------------
www.sequani.wordpress.com
www.speakcampaigns.org
www.shac.net

It's ment to be... a movement "evolving", not "involving". It was posted a few days ago on the newswire and somebodies copied it over to here, if a mod could change it would be good.

Are you having a laugh?

I'm nothing to do with any of the campaigns, but really?

You would rather the risk of the word not getting out enough for an event that could quite possibly change the way the animal rights demos are organised (or not in this case)?

I would rather this website be absolutely full up of 'Spam' so that absolutely everybody that is available can see when and where and be alerted to it.

And you decide to stay in Devon because there are too many posts?

Good work

Why was annoyed Sabs post hidden? What guidelines did it go against?

To Sam: Annoyed Sab said he/she would do something local. Given they are a sab presumably this will be something of benefit to the animals. Why are these people in the Carnival thinking that they are the Animal Lib movement? They aren't there's lots of others trying to help too.

Here's the full post from Annoyed Sab - why are all posts questioning the Carnival being hidden? What guideline did this go against?:

"Fed up with the constant spam from this event. Carnival against viv, Stop Sequani, WARN and Netcu Watch are all the same people and yet they write here as if they are different groups. Can we stop the spam please. There are enough posts for people to read, we don't need more. These idiots even spammed a post for hunt sabs against Cameron. I was going to go to the Carnival but then they kept spamming so I think I'll stay in Devon and do something local instead."

But to say you are now refusing to come because there is spam? Do you not think that is pathetic, I agree doing something local is just as helpful to stop animal abuse but it's the idea that the 'spam' has made him change his mind.

In my opinion there is still a large importance to this demo.

It is the first of it's kind, and if it goes well then there's nothing to say demos like it won't pop up all over.

It's up to you how you perceive what the people promoting the Carnival think they are, but in my opinion, I think the turn out to this march will have a large significance on how the movement moves forward.

Sam

It's not the first of it's kind at all. This sort of action was done in the 80's with the Liberation Leagues, maybe you aren't old enough to remember, but I am. They failed and this demo isn't even as well planned as the Leagues were (at least they got into vivisecotrs premises). This demo will either achieve a nice walk in the country or a staged fight with the police, no animals will be saved.

Whatever I do locally will achieve far more than walking down a street shouting slogans and trying to start a fight with the police to get news headlines. If the hundreds or thousands of people who will come to this instead did something locally more will be achieved.

I'm more interested in saving animals than I am with walking around the streets shouting..

I should have added that I was going to go to the Carnival but the amount of spamming involved pretending to come from different sources when it was obviously from the same person/small group made me realise that this is much more about ego of a few than it is about saving animals. Therefore I'll stick to my local area to help the animals.

Where is this logic? An individual is imprisoned for four and a half years and you're saying the worst thing that could happen is the possibility of media highlighting police brutality, animal suffering, big pharma gone mad and the current state of the right to protest the UK?

I'm not sure why a Sab would get Annoyed because others are highlighting the police state and a political prisoner who was thrown in jail for protesting, seems a little odd to me. As is the asumption that one person/the same group are promoting the event. It's clearly not one person, but many groups and a variety of different individuals.

Even Animal Aid are promoting the event!

The first demo in years where people wont be telling each other what to do and yet everyone seems to want to tell everyone what they are doing...

Rather than calling for a boycott of the event because of spam why dont you just keep your mouth shut and do what you want? Take control but dont try and fuck things up for others because you arent coming, no-one is interested...

See you on the rooftops :)

Bob, no need to get aggressive at someone for deciding to save animals in their local area rather than go to a national demo. From what I've read Annoyed Sab has not once said anyone else should stay away, only that they themselves wouldn't be going. Unlike one particular group which seems to be ordering everyone around on this no leader demo!

Bob, no need to get aggressive at someone for deciding to save animals in their local area rather than go to a national demo. From what I've read Annoyed Sab has not once said anyone else should stay away, only that they themselves wouldn't be going. Instead of getting aggressive at someone who will be saving animals this weekend why don't you save it for the vivisectors.

animals cant speak out but show pain or sream .so why not do the tests on peodaphiles .rapist and child and oap murderers .plus mp .s that con the public /gary glitter first .lets wipe his smile away .he is ,into hurting children .lets see his response to pain /at least he.ll be able to shout enough .it hurts .an animal cant so some perverted person gets a kick out of the torture of that animal .it is a form of perversion ...a loving normal person could not do this barbaric torture .out of all research .weve found medicines .usually 10 year later .that medicine gets banned .problems found after afects ..so a rat or cat .obviously are not like humans .what it boils down to is some self aclaimed proffessor .claims hes got a cure .gets a load of dough .hes usually old and grey .he dies .then the side affects are found .so leave wildlife alone .and bring in the perverts .murderers .and lying poloticains .im up 4 that ..ill be the proffessor peter ambler

so they lock us up the jails only hold so many fill them up show them goal is nothing .once in there they feed and clothe you .best medical treatment .but once in thier go on hunger strike for freedom of speech and human rights,.ive been through it 2year 9 month in solitary .in 1976 walton goal .no other prison would accept me .i stuck it out i was worse in there .they gave up in the end .now you imagine 200 prisoners together doing it .human rights act someone would sit op and listen .i did the same leicester prison 1n 1986 .i got moved out bout left alone ./now im classed as mad .i do things on purpose .i do a bit with foe in derby ..they think im mad .but i get away with things as .what can they do to me .im not mental weve been down that avenue 2 .weve got a anti nuclear demo on 22 nd against rolls royce nuclear .its monthly .your all welcome ..good place new ideas .weve done the concrete blocks .4 hours to ger people out .dorothy and i put the caravan on the bus station roof .so ideas and ventures are welcome .i do my animal bits alone i feed them everyday and night ,srange when i bought this houe .there was a animal testing lab on my lane .they moved .ill never know why .but animal slaughter i believe goes on again in the factory .why because they make ciggerette tips .which has acetic acid in that too kills humans ..maybe it wont last .ive just found out .read my profile peter ambler .i love 2 make friends .and sell them off road tyres ..but dont sell to hunters .or wed not keep up with then=m pete b good lads .im here safe house /

60 people?

Hardly the 'stand' that was required. This isn't working.

3:37pm
About 200 protestors of all ages are now marching through the town, with police on motorcycles leading the way and unmarked police cars being used to stop traffic.

 http://www.ledburyreporter.co.uk/news/local/3651885.Protest_takes_to_the_streets

According to the Hereford Times as of 1.20pm there were 60 protesters , the police are allowing only 15 at a time to demonstrate directly outside Sequani Ltd. The rest are being held on the grass verge opposite the train station.


read full article here :-
 http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/3651764.Animal_rights_activists_stage_Ledbury_protest/

There is little point in pumping up the numbers after the event. The pictures and videos show the truth.

The later report is clearly more accurate than Hereford Times, who pissed off after people went under the bridge. The Ledbury Reporter however were there for the full day.

Did you not consider more people might of arrived over 1pm? Obviously not. Trains etc were reported to of been cancelled so would of made sense activists arriving late.

Ledbury Reporter video shows a good 200 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBBI_oRHi0)

In Devon, a small group of locals stopped 2 hunters shooting rabbits, we got to them before they had even managed to shoot one rabbit and stayed there for just over 3 hours until the hunters went home. We also disabled 4 traps n the area which we considered had been illegally laid.

I'm glad we stayed local and didn't go along to this.

Put a handful of vid on Youtoobe if anyone fancies a look

 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HaqJB95SWjc

happy viewing folks.. and keep shouting :)

Well done you saved lives and took considerable risks, commendable. I am glad you stayed in your local area and did that rather than attending the demo' because that is what you felt was the right thing to do, everyone should be thinking and acting as they see right. Of course there are times when I like many others choose to do something local rather than go halfway accross the country to attend a national but also choose not to undermine and moan about those who are attending the demonstration. Some people manage to not only attend national demonstrations but sab' hunts, liberate animals and other things en route to the demo and back. In this locality we all went to support the David Cameron demonstration and have been known to sab' hunts and shoots before as well as the badger cull so we do try. None of us would presume that we were superior to other activists because of our achievements, however.

Tommrrow night 16.00 Hereford race course we are all off to the circus, anyone got space for an elephant? Just around the corner is Cargill chicken slaughterhouse full of broiler chickens about to be murdered. Sadly Rocky died last week but had a few months of being pampered.
Lynn

Lynn, I personally think that anyone who helps animals is as worthy as anyone else I don't think the annoyed sab was saying he/she was better than anyone else. They may have made some points that were a little petty but I can't allow you to lecture a fellow sab when it comes to saving animals lives. I'm guessing annoyed sab has never once helped a terrier man dig out a fox. You have helped terrier men in the past You mentioned badgers on one of the threads, how many badger setts did you help dig out?

By the way what did you do with the car reg (one of which was probably mine!) in the late 80's that you collected as an infiltrator in the Sabs? That's right you passed them on to your hunt scum friends in the BFSS.

You may be doing your bit for animals now, but I won't allow you to lecture sabs who are just trying to do their best when you used to fox hunt, worse than that you used to help dig out foxes when they went to ground.

To sum up though I hope no-one gets down hearted by whats happened recently. The animals are too important to let pettyness on Indymedia get in the way. Lets all go out and do something to help them, put the weekend behind us and carry on doing what needs to be done to save lives.

Another Sab.... Helping Nature to Bite Back

I so admire people who used to be foxhunters/vivisectors/butchers etc, especially when they have never made any secret of it, and cross over to the pro animal side to help us in our fight.

We all know ex vivisectors etc who have turned around and said "look, I used to do this and that but now I realise I was wrong and want to fight for animal liberation". I personally actually respect these people more than someone who was born vegan/has never been involved in animal exploitation, which, lets face it, hardly any of us can claim.

If I had been a fox hunter, I would probably have tried to keep it quiet but I think Lynn (I don't know her personally) has used that fact to help animals by saying that anyone can change their lifestyle to help animals. That takes an extremely brave person in my opinion.

I would imagine Lynn is rolling her eyes at that last post, especially as her previous post appeared (to me) to be rather supportive to the post she was referring to (sorry, forgot the postees name).

;))

Yes I used to hunt, saw and did some terrible things and I regret it. I have the utmost respect for all sabs especially those who patiently lectured me until it finally sank into my thick skull that I should be helping animals as opposed to hurting them and hindering those who were saving lives. I became vegan in 1994 and became an animal rights activist. I have to live with my past and have had to face up to my evil acts. I will never be able to put this behind me and think about it every day. I have chosen to campaign against animal abuse rather than skulk off in some corner because I think that I am of more use to animals by doing so. I have never ever tried to hide the fact that I was an absolute shit throughout the late 80s,early 90s.

I do often feel inadequate against the sheer scale of animal abuse as I am sure we all do which is why when other activists seem to try and undermine what we as a local group try and do to stop animal abuse and the imprisonment of a fellow activist for peaceful protest I feel that I have a right to defend our actions. Annoyed sab, as I read it, was a little sanctimonious, I was maybe a little sarcastic. S/he saved lives which as I said before is brilliant but s/he seemed to imply that other activists were wrong to attend the demo. Of course that is his/her opinion but surely we have the right to reply? Yes I have done some dreadful things (and I deserve to be criticised about my past) but not so those in their teens and twenties who have sone their utmost to help animals at the first opportunity as young adults who do not warrant being lambasted, accused of being informers or at least a hindrance to the animal rights movement. It appears as though some people want to create a climate of fear whereby anyone who is associated with arranging any anti vivisection protest whether it be a Shac national or the carnival against vivisection has to run the gauntlet of accusations from fellow activists (or those pretending to be so, a mixture I think) as well as facing possible prosecution from the police and/or corporations. What exactly are all these negative posters trying to achieve (excluding some constructive, intelligent, thoughtful criticism)? Paranoia? A huge great big split in the AR movement? Or just spread poison for the fun of it? We don't have to like or trust one another but the constant sniping just because some of us went to a demonstration that others did not want to attend is all out of proportion and rather petty. Talk about washing dirty laundry in public folks.

Finally if I have been sarcastic, rude and/or an egomaniac, sincere apologies I was defending what to most of us who were there thought was a productive day. It was not organised at all other than a couple of banners, a few leaflets brought to the demo and prisoner support set up. The point is that we feel people should be thinking and doing things in small trusted groups without permission or deference to anyone else for example staying in the local area and stopping rabbits being killed.
Lynn

I have been involved in animal liberation for about four years and met Lynn for the first time at the Bobby Roberts circus when they visited Cheltenham three ish years ago. We talked about various things one of story involved her getting smacked about by the daughter of Bobby Roberts during a demonstration in a previous encounter. People have always spoken highly of Lynn, there is a reason for this, she is one of very few of us who have really proved her mettle as an activist she has never rested in her fight for animal liberation, she was nearly killed by a police officer during the fight against HLS, HLS took Lynn to court in an attempt to take her house off her because she offered her address to be used for the SHAC campaign, she has had HLS staff and police phone her work to try and get her struck off as a midwife and after working superhuman hours as a midwife she returned home to hate mail where sick individuals threatened to rape her.

I have never heard her complain about any of these things which would ruin the most hardened activists, she understood that fighting against industry and animal abusers would be a difficult journey. But she still has boundless creative positive energy that our movement cannot do without, not to mention the fact that she is cheeky as hell and has (excuse my language) bollocks the size of grapefruits.

So Lynn used to be a hunter? READ ALL ABOUT IT! It’s in Keith Mann’s book, Lynn will talk about it openly if you ask her, the story of her “joining the antis” is on the HSA website. Lynn hates the fact she used to hunt, however as a sab, she knows more about how the hunt operate than most which made her an incredibly effective activist against the hunt.

Lynn clearly wasn’t criticising “annoyed sab” even if they were clearly trying to criticise others for attending the Carnival. There are far too many people telling others what they should do, what is so wrong with people thinking for themselves? The Carnival was a great day out, it was so much more than another animal rights event, it was a change in tactics which scraped the need for leadership and drew support from other movements which I admire and am grateful.

This infighting, sniping and bullshit has no real effect on our protests, we will continue to fight for animals as will future generations and a mixture of shit stirring and outright lies wont shake those who are committed to the long term goal of animal liberation.

Keep fighting everyone, whoever you are, whatever you do for animals I appreciate everything you do.

Chris Dowdeswell
WARN

let the bugger rot in Jail. your ideas suck anyway

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyPulans1lw&feature=related

had a lovely bit of rabbit stew tonight mmm baby rabbit so sweet so crunchy