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Campaign for the Abolition of Animal Slavery
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vegetarian
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Following raids on various organisations in Austria activists were imprisoned. One of them, Martin Balluch from VGT (an organisation against animal factories, which has successfully campaigned to close fur farms and stop battery egg production in Austria and was in negotiations to get animal rights into the Austrian Constitution) was on hunger strike for part of his remand. Statement
from Martin Balluch after his release This
has been slightly edited for length by me. “It's
now been a week since I was released from prison. 104 days in a prison
cell are over! It is seriously shocking to see how far police repression
will be taken in order to stop legitimate and successful protest for animals in
the name of a majority of the population, just because it runs contrary to the
profit interests of a powerful minority. Many, many thanks to each and every one
of you for all you have done for me. I am deeply humbled by the immense amount
of solidarity and support we prisoners have received from the international
animal rights community. I was released without the keys to my home, my car or
my office being returned to me. I was not given my computer either, access
to my bank account, nor even my wristwatch! If it had not been for
friendly folk supporting me, I would have had to sleep rough this last week,
without any money. Our office and the offices of 6 other animal rights
groups are still empty. Nothing has been handed back so far, no video
material or photo cameras, no computers, no membership data, no photo or film
archives and no accounts books. The intention is obvious: as we had
to be released from prison, depriving us of any material is the next move to
silence VGT and prevent us from being effectively active.
{VGT has been successful in getting
the production of battery eggs and fur farming banned in Austria.
They were on course to getting animal rights written into the Austrian
constitution}. “At the end of 2006 the owners of Kleider Bauer (fur
business) and representatives of the Conservatives as well as high ranking
police officers met and spoke about how to destroy VGT. The minutes of
those meetings are now in our hands and make for gruesome reading. They
say that there is no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing and that banning our
demos cannot be upheld, so a special police unit consisting of more than 32
agents from the Secret Service, the murder division and the anti-terror police
locally and nationally was formed with the sole purpose of framing us. This
special unit started the largest operation of spying on political activists ever
conducted since World War II. For almost 2 years 2 private houses, a
pub used as a meeting place and the VGT office were bugged. The telephone
and the e-mail conversations of more than 30 people were monitored. 2
cars, including mine, had tracking devices put on them. 17 people were
followed and watched 24 hours a day. 3 private homes had video cameras
filming their entrances. And undercover agents infiltrated VGT.
Furthermore, more than a dozen potential targets of animal rights activists were
under permanent surveillance. To justify this operation the Secret Service drew
up a list of 240 acts of criminal damage and arson (including ripping up illegal
circus posters) from the last 13 years that could have had something to do with
animal rights and claimed that one big international criminal organization was
responsible for all of them. In order to inflate the damage, a number of
cases of accidental fire were presented as animal-rights-related arson, and one
butyric acid attack on a Kleider Bauer shop was inflated to damage of 500,000
euro, which later led to civil-law suits
because the insurance company made it clear that this figure was about 50 times
too high. Most likely that was another dirty trick out of the hat of
the Secret Service, to inflate the damage out of proportion in order to be able
to justify a violent police attack later on. By May 2008 this huge surveillance
operation had not come up with any hint of any criminal activity so the Ministry
of the Interior intensified the police terror. Doors were smashed open and
masked officers surrounded people in their beds, pointing guns at their heads
and going on to turn the places upside down. As the law against criminal
organisations, which was used in this case to justify the operation, states that
at least 10 members are necessary to make the law applicable, exactly 10 people
were put on remand whilst almost 40 were arrested and questioned for up to 10
hours. As police and public prosecution had absolutely no evidence against any
of us, they spoke to media as well as the judges responsible for extending the
incarceration and claimed that they had a huge amount of evidence but that it
had to be kept secret since the operation and investigations were ongoing…… But
police and state prosecution lost the media battle for public sympathy. An
unprecedented wave of international protests in front of Austrian embassies in
countless countries shamed the Austrian government. Throughout the whole
104 days of incarceration daily demos were held outside the prisons and
additional vigils and protests took place, including large protest marches
drawing in 800 participants. The Green Party and the Social Democrats
criticised the police actions with increasing impatience. A huge number of
protest letters were sent to the Ministry of Justice as well as to other
politicians, heads of state and newspapers. Eventually the Green Party
decided to nominate me as a candidate for the next Parliamentary elections. The
case of whether the remand imprisonment was legal is still pending at the
Supreme Court. A decision is expected within the next 4 weeks. The
release was justified by saying that the time already spent in prison was out of
proportion with the prison sentences expected if a guilty verdict were reached.
A weird move to save face! Instead of saying truthfully that there was no
evidence, the reference to an expected sentence was used, although the charge of
criminal organisation carries a maximum sentence of 5 years – and arson 10
years. The case is not over yet though…. In order to safeguard
animal-rights activism and, more generally, political activism in Austria, 3
things must be achieved. 1) Those responsible for this police terror must
be brought to account for what they did. 2) The damage inflicted must be
fully compensated for. 3) Law §278a must be revoked. Exactly 40 years ago
the tanks of the then Soviet Union broke into the Czechoslovakian Republic to
destroy with violence the 'Prague Spring', the new socialist system with a
humane attitude. Dissidents were locked up and the tiny seedlings of a new
society were violently uprooted. This attack on basic rights has been
justly criticised all over the globe. Western democracies boast of being
so different and defending liberal principles but our case proves them wrong.
Dissident animal-rights thinking was infiltrating ever more areas of society.
And the tanks of a 'democratic' system smashed it all up and locked up the most
active critical thinkers. Yes, we have the right to free speech and to protest
and to associate freely. But those
freedoms end when they are used effectively to change society. You
are allowed to express your opinion - as long as not enough people listen and
act accordingly. You are allowed to protest - as long as profits are not
touched by it. And you are allowed to associate freely – as long as you
only debate and do not influence society significantly by action.
Austria has a relatively low level of animal rights related criminal activity
but a very high level of animal-rights-related successes. And Austria has seen
the largest and most violent police operation ever conducted against animal
rights anywhere and at any time in the world. Is it not obvious that there
is a direct connection?..... Police violence has had the opposite effect on our
movement to what was intended. We now have more activists than ever
before. The animal-rights movement is being taken seriously as a new
social movement. It is being talked about everywhere and the public sympathizes
ever more with us. Since being released from prison I have been approached
countless times on the streets by strangers who congratulated me and wished me
luck, and many even put money into my hands. People I mostly don’t know
bought me a new computer, a watch, a mobile phone and a bike and even offered me
a new flat to live in for a while. The bike shop gave me a 100-Euro bike
lock in solidarity. The movement stood up in solidarity behind us prisoners.
Now as a movement we are more united and willing to cooperate than ever before.
And events prove beyond any doubt that our approach to achieving animal rights
in the long run is effective….. This year our campaigns may have
suffered a drawback, but when the case is won we will push on with more energy
than ever before. I am determined to see this through and am looking
forward to new advances towards animal rights in the years ahead.” Since
this was written there have been more police raids on animal rights people in
Austria Palin
uses oil money to oppose polar bear protection The Republican Sarah Palin and her officials in the Alaskan state
government drew on the work of at least 6 scientists known to be sceptical about
the dangers and causes of global warming, to back efforts to stop polar bears
being protected as an endangered species. Some of the scientists were funded by
the oil industry. One paper was partly funded by the US oil company ExxonMobil.
In May the US department of the interior rejected Palin's objections and listed
the bear as a threatened species, saying that 2/3 of the world's polar bears
were likely to be extinct by 2050 due to the rapid melting of the sea ice. Palin,
governor of Alaska and the Republican nominee for US vice-president, responded
by suing the federal government, to try to overturn the ruling. The case will be
heard in January. Though the state of Alaska has no polar bear specialists on
its staff, the governor's stance has pitted it against the combined scientific
fire-power of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Geological Survey, and
world experts on the mammal. In its lawsuit, Alaska said it opposed the
endangered label partly because the listing would "deter activities such as
... oil and gas exploration and development". Oil companies recently bid
$2.7bn (£1.5bn) for rights to explore the Chuckchi sea, an established polar
bear habitat. The threatened species status might also impede the building of an
Alaskan natural gas pipeline, which Palin has called the "will of
God". In a letter last year to the US interior secretary, Dirk Kempthorne,
she said she believed the polar bear population was "abundant, stable and
unthreatened by direct human activity". She opposed the call for the
listing because it "did not use the best available scientific and
commercial information". Last month Palin agreed that the Alaskan climate
was changing but added: "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being
man-made." She later tried to retract the statement. Edited from
The Guardian 1st Oct Animal
killer Palin’s speech writer Matthew
Scully wrote a book 5 years ago called Dominion: The power of man, the suffering
of animals, and the call to mercy. A former editor for The National Review, he
wrote Dominion in the middle of a 5-year stint as George W. Bush’s
speechwriter. He also put words in the mouths of Dick Cheney, Bob Dole and Dan
Quayle. It’s ironic enough, then, that Scully wrote speeches for Cheney, whose
hunting prowess became legendary in 2006 when he shot his 75-year-old friend,
Texas attorney Harry Whittington, in the face while indulging in the sort of
“canned” hunting that Scully derided in his book. But Palin makes Cheney
look like an amateur when it comes to indifference to the suffering of
non-humans. And yet Scully returned to right-wing speechwriting to craft her
trite, childish monologue and give his conscience a thorough gutting. Maybe the
money was just too tempting. Circus Protests Jolly’s
Circus - On Sat 4th Oct
there were only 2 women protesters at Jolly’s Circus in Penkridge
Staffs. The circus mob (8 of them) chased and threatened them.
Fortunately a local person came to the rescue. The huge protest placards
and accompanying 'bungies' and stand were stolen by the mob. Nevertheless
the Pussies Printing Press went into action immediately and on Sunday we
were back out there, along with the 2 victims. Jolly's are an evil
bunch. They have llamas, zebras, camels, horses, fox, bull etc. In
the past couple of months they have assaulted 2 young protesters, threatened
others and were found to be performing without a license. They were
subsequently stopped when the council's licensing dept were informed!! Duffy’s
Circus - Animal
Rights Action Network took our nationwide campaign, 'Stop Circus Suffering in
Ireland' to Cork city to expose circus goers to animal suffering in travelling
Irish circuses. Our stop today, 8th Sept, was outside Duffy's circus
where our supporters staged a peaceful protest whilst distributing educational
leaflets to passing members of the public and people going to see the circus.
The response was fantastic, many people stopped to ask questions, take leaflets
and others took the leaflets but still went into the circus - however we are
confident judging by feedback from ex-circus goers that many of these people
will never return to circuses using animals again. We've taken some nice footage
here www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zsQqgSwRQ
for you to see, enjoy! Great
European Circus - On
the evening of 17th Sept, a member of the National Animal Rights
Association was assaulted and threatened while peacefully leafleting outside the
Great European Circus (which is also known as the Royal Russian Circus), where
they are currently staying on the Trim Road in Navan, Co Meath. "Shortly
after arriving, the 17 year old activist was greeted with verbal abuse by
members of the circus" says Laura Broxson, spokesperson of N.A.R.A. "A
man from the circus then came out and grabbed his arm, held it behind his back,
and proceeded to shove him onto the road" "The activist was then told
that they would 'kill him if he ever came back' This circus has been
investigated by both CAPS (www.irishcircuses.org)
and PETA (for info on previous cruelty convictions and abuse see: http://www.circuses.com/fact-great.asp). The
RSPCA & Dogs’ Trust are withdrawing from Crufts dog
show amid concerns about the health of pedigree animals. The RSPCA is to scrap
its regular welfare stand at the contest next March. The charity says
"morally unjustifiable" breeding practices lead to disability,
deformity and disease among show dogs. RSPCA chief veterinary adviser Mark Evans
has called for a shift in emphasis away from the looks of dogs and towards their
health, welfare and temperament. He said judging criteria used by shows such as
Crufts encouraged inbreeding and the rearing of deformed dogs, as demonstrated
by BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed. In the past the charity, which is also
pulling out of the Discover Dogs show in November, has staffed a stand at Crufts
to promote general animal welfare. The
Kennel Club has lodged a complaint with the BBC accusing them of selective
editing but the BBC stand by their broadcast. A
review of breeding standards
for every pedigree dog species in Britain is now under way by the Kennel Club in
an attempt to introduce kinder rearing for pets and showdogs. Incestuous
inbreeding of dogs – sons with their mothers and half siblings with each other
– is also to be tackled. New rules, covering 209 breeds, are to be in place by
the end of the year and will be used to judge dogs competing in next year’s
Crufts, the biggest dog show in the world, which is organised by the Kennel
Club.
STOP THE BLOODY FUR TRADE
Fur
demo About
400 anti-fur campaigners marched in protest against some of the UK's
highest-profile stores. The London march started in Belgrave Square, Last
year, Giorgio Armani told Time magazine,
"I spoke with the people from PETA, and they showed me some materials that
convinced me not to use fur". Armani was then added to our list of fur-free
designers, which includes Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Kenneth Cole and Stella
McCartney, just to name a few. Armani has gone back on his word. His latest
collections include fur-trimmed jackets, fur-hemmed skirts, floral-print fur
coats and even fur-trimmed snowsuits for babies. Armani has an odd obsession
with rabbit fur, and several weeks ago, he refused to meet with PETA US Senior
Vice President Dan Mathews in Milan to view disturbing undercover video footage
of rabbit fur farms. You can send a message to Armani via the PETA website.
"If
the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four
years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more
plants, no more animals, no more man," Albert
Einstein If
humans disappeared off the face of the planet it would do it a favour
Dog
& Cat Fur
- An EU-wide ban on the trade in cat and dog fur will come into effect on 31
December 2008. There
are 4 circuses touring Britain with wild animals.
Advocates
for Animals is
calling for Scotland to lead the way with a ban on the use of animals in
travelling circuses, following the Report of the Chairman of the UK
Government’s Circus Working Group released today.
The Report concluded, “science, on this occasion, provides no relevant
guidance” and the matter is “an entirely political decision”. Chimps
beat students in memory tests Chimpanzees
have an extraordinary photographic memory that is far superior to ours, research
suggests. Young chimps outperformed university students in memory tests devised
by Japanese scientists. The tasks involved remembering the location of numbers
on a screen, and correctly recalling the sequence. The findings, published in
Current Biology, suggest we may have under-estimated the intelligence of our
closest living relatives. Until now, it had always been assumed that chimps
could not match humans in memory and other mental skills. "There are still
many people, including many biologists, who believe that humans are superior to
chimpanzees in all cognitive functions," said lead researcher Tetsuro
Matsuzawa of Kyoto University. "No one can imagine that chimpanzees - young
chimpanzees at the age of 5 - have a better performance in a memory task than
humans. Chimps performed much better than university students in speed and
accuracy when the numbers appeared only briefly on screen. The shortest time
duration, 210 milliseconds, did not leave enough time for the subjects to
explore the screen by eye movement - something we do all the time when we read.
This is evidence, the researchers believe, that young chimps have a photographic
memory which allows them to memorise a complex scene or pattern at a glance.
This is sometimes present in human children but declines with age, they say. Netcu WatchThe
website dedicated to keeping an eye on the New Labour built National Extremism
Tactical Coordination Unit was extensively updated on 7th Nov. In
this update NW reports on the widening scope of NETCU which is now going well
beyond just harassing peaceful animal rights campaigners and moving into the
realms of harassing those that are solely dedicated to saving us all from
extinction. Also re-prints of many recent mainstream media articles which have
documented the massive attack on our civil liberties by psychotic madman Blair
and his new Labour party as well as the usual NW reports of severe abuse of
police power when dealing with dissent in the UK and much more. Be sure to
bookmark or link to http://www.vivisection.info/netcu_watch 'Music United For Animals'
'Music
United For Animals' is a CD of animal welfare/animal rights songs.
The track list includes 'Your meat is our Murder' a
song to expose the misery of the factory farming trade. Here is the
song link - http://www.maria-daines.com/music-32.html
Other songs on the album
highlight the issue of stray dogs in Romania, vivisection, fur trade, bear bile
farming, the use of animals in the circus, puppy mill breeding factories, horse
slaughter and the annual killing of seal pups. All songs and info can be found
here - http://www.maria-daines.com/bio.html
The journey to make a collection
of songs as a voice for animals in distress has been emotional,
exciting, hard work, rewarding, and a real eye-opener. We are available to
promote this album in the coming weeks, please contact us if you would like a
copy of the cd or an interview. All proceeds of the album will benefit
grass roots rescue organisations and animal shelters. Thank you, best wishes,
from Maria Daines & Paul Killington. Our
website - http://www.maria-daines.com
http://www.myspace.com/musicunitedforanimals
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The Shoreham Protester, 7 Stoneham Road, Hove, BN3 5HJ, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 (0)1273 885750. Email: shoreham.protester@ntlworld.com Last Updated 19 October 2008 |
