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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?

Animal Warfare
- Homepage: http://animalwarfare.blogspot.com

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This probably covers it......

08.09.2010 18:10

Since this investigation began in 2007, there has been a sustained reduction in criminal activity linked to animal rights extremism. We hope the events today send a clear message that harassment and intimidation has no place in peaceful protest and will result in prosecution.

"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

Of course it hasn't lost it's edge. Actions are still happening, both legal and otherwise, successes are being gained.

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

Grass roots has lost key figures and all that's left are young egocentric idiots trying to fill their place. These new laws change nothing because laws were already in place to deal with law breaking.

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

Read the article, no one is criticising the people actually still doing shit! And yes there has been some great successes recently but there has been a decrease in militant activism that's all it is saying – that's not criticising those doing legal or illegal activism those people are great.

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

too much talk not enough action

liberator

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But why 'Guilty'

09.09.2010 07:00

Why are all pleading GUILTY? Why give up the platform? Why not give it a run - one got off last time.
It's just so defeatist!

Despair

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@Despair

09.09.2010 08:17

Actually they all seem very upbeat, the only one here being defeatist is you. So why don't you go and do something that will inspire us all? You may as well do something big, as if you get caught you can fight it to the end, and show us all how it should be done.

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

What has gone on over the past couple of years. I see that charges were dropped from blackmail and a whole range of other charges to 145 in the case of a couple. This case has gone on for many months and reading between the lines it seems that the first two plead prematurely and should have fought the charges in court.

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

we're out there all the time, smashing, attacking and fighting back

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

> 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.

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

Rats leaving a sinking ship etc etc, It's all over for the A.R movement, the writing was on a the wall when Greg, Natasha, Mel Broughton and so on lost their liberty. Now Ryan Lamb from Emmerdale is looking at life the movement is history.

Ernest Seal

@ Smash Brigade and x29

10.09.2010 15:17

You both make good points. Another reason that communiques can be useful is the effect they have on others in the industry. Often companies linked to animal abuse will crack at the first contact from AR groups as they have been convinced by the media that we are all 'dangerous terrorists' – not doing communiques will mean they are totally unaware of any threat. This means more risks and time will have to be taken to get the same result.

Animal Warfare
- Homepage: http://animalwarfare.blogspot.com

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