Animal Rights Militia
Founded | 1982 |
---|---|
Founder | Unknown |
Focus | Animal rights |
Location |
|
Origins | England |
Method | Direct action |
The Animal Rights Militia (ARM) is a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action utilizing a diversity of tactics that ignores the Animal Liberation Front's policy of taking all necessary precautions to avoid harm to human life.[1]
Background
History
When the Animal Rights Militia first emerged in the United Kingdom their focus was on illegal direct action. Utilizing tactics such as the destruction of property, intimidation, and including the use of violence, the ARM have sent letter bombs, placed incendiary devices under cars and in buildings, contaminated food products, sent death threats, and desecrated a grave.[2][3]
The name was not heard of for eight years after a series of actions in England from 1982 to 1986. Philosopher
Structure
The ARM formed the same leaderless-resistance model as the Animal Liberation Front.
Philosophy
Philosopher
Actions
History
The Animal Rights Militia is believed to be a splinter group of the Animal Liberation Front. The reason ARM was created is that the ALF has a strict no-violence policy towards any living being, whereas this newfound group can use all means necessary to free animals from places of abuse and torture. Since they have been set up, the ARM has caused millions of pounds (and dollars) worth of damage to animal labs, universities and slaughterhouses. Also, ARM have cost companies such as Mars and Lucozade millions of pounds because of false contamination claims, as described later.[14]
Some ministers claim ARM does not actually exist, and is actually a part of the ALF, used to distract the police and intelligence services from itself.
1980s
- 1982
The first action became known on November 30 when five letter bombs were sent to Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister,[4] the Home Office minister responsible for animal legislation, as well as the leaders of Britain's three main opposition parties, signed by the Animal Rights Militia.[15][16] The office manager to Thatcher suffered superficial burns on his hands and face when opening the package that burst into flames.[17] It was later reported that the 8-by-4 inch package filled with gunpowder that exploded evaded Post Office scanners, causing a tightening in mail security at 10 Downing Street. Scotland Yard led the investigation stating, "We are now connecting all five letter-bombs with the same organisation."[15]
- 1983
In February, four months after the attack against politicians, five more letter bombs were sent to different addresses in London, England, claimed again by the ARM.
- 1985
In September,
- 1986
Three months later in January, ARM claimed responsibility for placing incendiary devices under cars of four individuals involved in
- 1987
On 1 September, at San Jose Valley Veal & Beef, Santa Clara, California, the ARM claims responsibility for an arson which cost $10,000 in damages.[22]
1990s
- 1992
On 4 January 1992, the Edmonton Journal reported of an ARM action claimed by a letter and sent to the journal, as well as the Canadian Press. The cell said they injected 87 of the month-old food bar, the Canadian Cold Buster, with liquid oven cleaner, resulting in the product being pulled from shelves in Alberta, Canada. The ARM claimed in the letter, along with two bars,
- 1994
On 6 July, it was reported widely that the Cambridge store of
ARM then set fire to shops on the Isle of Wight two week later, causing £3 million worth of damage.
Throughout the rest of the year extensive damage continued to occur elsewhere, most notably in the other end of the country in
On Christmas Day, the ARM then claimed in writing to two of Vancouver's biggest chains, Save-On Foods and Canada Safeway, that they had injected rat poison into turkeys in supermarkets.[26] Evidence of contamination was not found.[23][27]
- 1998
ARM further came to widespread public attention in the UK in December, during one of Horne's hunger strikes, which lasted 68 days. It was carried out in protest at the British government's refusal to order a commission of inquiry into animal testing, and ARM threatened to assassinate a number of individuals involved in vivisection should Horne die. Those threatened were
2004-2007
- 2004
ARM claimed responsibility for removing, in October, from a grave the body of Gladys Hammond, the mother-in-law of Christopher Hall, part-owner of
- 2005
Following the announced in August that the Hall family were no longer breeding guinea pigs for medical research, the ARM sent letters to the homes of 17 company directors associated with HLS. Most of the companies targeted were building contractors based in Peterborough, Huntingdon, and Harrogate. A letter from the ARM activists said:
The company you work for is working with Huntingdon Life Sciences. This is a disgusting and cowardly act. You have a choice. You can walk away from those sick monsters or you can personally face the consequences of your decision. Not only you but your family is a target. Sever your links with HLS within two weeks or get ready for your life and the lives of those you love to become a living hell.[31]
Two weeks after the letters were sent in late September, nine companies, more than half, severed their ties with HLS.[32]
- 2006
Four people were convicted on 11 May for their involvement in what The Guardian called "a six-year hate campaign" that included letter bombs, vandalism and grave robbing. The judge described the group's actions as "subjecting wholly innocent citizens to a campaign of terror." The campaign included hate mail signed Animal Rights Militia (ARM) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Those convicted were Jon Ablewhite, John Smith and Kerry Whitburn each of whom who were given twelve year sentences and Josephine Mayo who was sentenced to four years.[33]
On 14 December, the ARM said they had poisoned bottles of POM juice drinks:[34]
In a well coordinated action, 487 bottles of POM wonderful juices were tampered with along the Eastern seaboard in stores like
Food Emporiums. Those who drink the contaminated juice won't die like the animals in pom labs, but the diarrhea, vomiting and headaches will hopefully send a strong message that people will no longer allow innocent defenseless animals to be tormented and killed for a health juice and to line the pockets of profiteers who don't have feelings for those weaker than they are. At POM one-week-old baby mice are deprived of oxygen and then their brains cut open and rabbits have their arteries severed so they get erectile dysfunction so that pom wonderful can make money off the pain and suffering inflicted on animals inside the pom wonderful labs.
A spokesperson for POM replied: "If it is a hoax, it is a form of blackmail. If actual contamination has taken place, with the intention of injuring innocent people, it is an act of terrorism. Either way, the Animal Rights Militia is trying to scare and intimidate innocent people. That is criminal behaviour." It also said that the company conducted a vast amount of research involving human studies and that only a small number of tests were animal based, which did not
In October 2007 the ARM again claimed to have contaminated tubes of Savlon with
- 2007
On 30 August, ARM claimed to have deliberately contaminated 250 tubes of
We don't want to kill living beings like Novartis but the side effects and the inevitable hospital stay will give people an idea of what Novartis pays for inside Huntingdon Life Sciences. The message is clear and uncompromising Vasella, you must stop killing animals inside Huntingdon Life Sciences or this will only be the beginning of our campaign.
2010-2012
The ARM has claimed attacks in Sweden, in what was described in media as a modern wave of crimes against mainly vivisection personnel and fur farm owners. The actions involved the firebombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Gothenburg 2011, bomb threats, letter bombs and vandalism against fur companies and vivisection personnel. There was a wave of ARM-claimed attacks in Sweden during 2011-2012 after the arrest of a young animal rights activist who was sentenced to prison in 2012 for many of the attacks.[40]
Convictions
- 1988
Paul Scare was sentenced to one year in prison for sending razor blades to the people who he had targeted.[25]
- 1994
Barry Horne was subsequently jailed for eighteen years for the arson attacks. The prosecution successfully argued that the devices used in Bristol and the Isle of Wight were so similar that Horne should be regarded as responsible for both, despite only pleading guilty to an attempted arson in Bristol.[41] Robin Webb, who runs the Animal Liberation Press Office in the UK, narrowly avoided being charged with conspiracy.[21]
- 1995
Niel Hanson was sentenced to three years for sending the hoax device to
See also
- Leaderless resistance
- Animal rights
- Green Scare
- Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade (RCALB)
Notes
- ^ "Staying on Target and Going the Distance: An Interview with U.K. A.L.F. Press Officer Robin Webb". No Compromise (22). Archived from the original on 23 June 2006. Retrieved 23 May 2006.
- ^ "BBC News | UK | Animal rights, terror tactics". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Ecoterrorism: Extremism in the Animal Rights and Environmentalist Movements". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ a b Singer, Peter. "The Animal Liberation Movement: Its philosophy, its achievements and its future". Archived from the original on 6 November 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ a b c Mann, Keith. From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement. Puppy Pincher Press, 2007, p. 499.
- ^ "Bite Back". The Talon Conspiracy. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ a b Food bar pulled from shelves, Edmonton Journal, January 4th 1992.
- ^ Lee, Ronnie. Controversial Actions Archived 2008-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, No Compromise (magazine), issue #23.
- ^ a b Best, Steven. "Gaps in Logic, Lapses in Politics: Rights and Abolitionism in Joan Dunayer's Speciesism" Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, drstevebest.org.
- ^ Best, Steven. "Who's Afraid of Jerry Vlasak?" Archived 2008-04-21 at the Wayback Machine, Animal Liberation Press Office.
- ISBN 978-1137471116.
If physical force is needed to save an animal from attack, then that force is a legitimate form of what I call "extensional self defense." This principle mirrors US penal code statutes known as the "necessity defense," which can be invoked when a defendant believed that an illegal act was necessary to avoid great and imminent harm. One only needs to expand this concept slightly to cover actions that are increasingly desperate and necessary to protect animals from the total war against them.
- ISBN 978-1137471116.
- ^ "Another (Barely) Veiled Threat of Murder by a Notable Animal Rights Radical". National Review. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Animal activists sent 'bomb'". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ a b Britain plans to tighten mail security, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2 December 1982.
- ^ a b c Mann, Keith. From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement. Puppy Pincher Press, 2007, p. 497.
- ^ "Animal group says it sent bomb to PM | Special reports | guardian.co.uk". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Bombs linked to seal hunt protest". Wayback Machine. Miami Herald. 16 February 1983. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ ARM Militia, Animal Liberation Front Website.
- ^ ARM Militia, Animal Liberation website.
- Animal rights group 'has contaminated Savlon', The Guardian, 30 August 2007.
- ^ a b c
ISBN 1-59056-054-X.
- ^ "SPLCenter.org: Eco-Violence: The Record". 19 October 2003. Archived from the original on 19 October 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ a b c "CBC News Indepth: Biological Weapons". 13 October 2004. Archived from the original on 13 October 2004. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ 'Cold Buster' Chocolate Bars Pulled After Tainting Threat, The Palm Beach Post, January 4th 1992.
- ^ a b c d Mann, Keith. From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement. Puppy Pincher Press, 2007, p. 498.
- ^ "Beacon Journal: Search Results". 17 October 2012. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Vancouver Supermarkets Pull Turkeys After Poisoning Threat". Associated Press. 24 December 1994. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Death-threat vivisector calls for industry support", BBC News, 8 December 1998.
- Pallister, David. Embattled breeding farm closes, The Guardian, 14 August 1999.
- ^ "Jail for animal rights extremists who stole body of elderly woman from her grave". The Guardian. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
- ^ "Hammond police discover remains". BBC News. 3 May 2006. Archived from the original on 9 October 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ Animal rights extremists force firms to cut all links with lab, The Independent, 2 October 2005.
- ^ "Animal rights extremists force firms to cut all links with lab". The Independent. 6 July 2013. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ Morris, Steven; Ward, David; Butt, Riazat (12 May 2006). "Jail for animal rights extremists who stole body of elderly woman from her grave". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ Communiqué from the Animal Rights Militia Archived February 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Animal Liberation Press Office, 14 December 2006.
- ^ POM hoax not so wonderful,[dead link] Functional Ingredients, January 2007. [dead link]
- ^ "Protesters force juice maker to end testing on animals.(News & Analysis)(POM Wonderful)". Wayback Machine. 8 June 2009. Archived from the original on 8 June 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
- ^ Novartis product contamination - UK Archived June 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Bite Back, October 2007.
- anonymous communique, Bite Back, 8 October 2007.
- ^ "Animal rights scare sparks recall". BBC News. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
- ^ Animal Rights Militia Claim Tampering of Novartis Products, Bite Back, 28 August 2007.
- ^ Radio, Sveriges (3 May 2015). "Swedish fur industry a target for animal rights activists - Radio Sweden". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
- ^ Mann, Keith. From Dusk 'til Dawn: An insider's view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement. Puppy Pincher Press, 2007, p. 542.
External links
ARM Communiqués
- HLS Associates Targeted, Bite Back Magazine, September 2005
- POM Juice Contamination, North American Animal Liberation Press Office, December 2006
- Novartis Products Contamination, Bite Back Magazine, August 2007