Facklan (1996-1997 Umea, Sweden)
(Editors note: Facklan is a Swedish language publication that we bring to you due to its historical significance. Umea, Sweden produced one of the most remarkable animal liberation communities of the 1990s. Their influence was so strong that politicians in Sweden stated in national media that they feared animal rightists may collapse the countries infrastructure, both through sabotage and the conversion of the nations youth to veganism. Facklan was produced during the infancy of this tiny, but formidable uprising. One of our readers from Sweden has offered the summary that follows.)
Facklan (The Torch) was a Swedish magazine supporting the A.L.F. and
other radical groups fighting for the animals. It was released in four
issues in 1996-1997, during the biggest peak of A.L.F. activity in the
1990:ies in Sweden. The magazine was based in the northern city Umea,
which was well known for it’s number of vegans and animal rights
activists, militant (all fur shops closed in Umea as a result of the
A.L.F.) as well as non militant (almost 50 percent of the students at
some schools were vegetarians). Umea was often referred to as the
“Vegan Mecca”, and was also well known for bands promoting the animal
rights message, such as Refused.
The first issue contained translated interviews etc from mainly UK and
US sources, and also had copied text from the Swedish militant
activist/anarchist manual Lila Svarta. Of course there was also a
diary of actions and addresses to imprisoned animal rights activists.
Two spreads were also dedicated to show mainstream media articles from
the time, also serving as a sign of the impact of the A.L.F. activity.
During the later issues, more of the content was produced by Swedish
authors. In the second issue, there were a lot of more news from
Sweden and Finland, letters to the editor, communiques from the newly
started group The Wild Minks, a report from the riot against the fur
auction in Skara, a piece on the repression of Umea acitivists,
reviews of records under the headline “Activist Core”, and now also a
diary of actions focusing on Sweden. Content from abroad was still
used though, this time information from The Final Nail and on Barry
Horne. On the last page, a summary in English was also published for
the foreign readers.
The third issue contained an exclusive interview with The Wild Minks,
the group that got most feared among the fur farmers, for liberating
minks and setting fire to properties of the fur industry. An address
list to all Swedish fur farms was published together with slogans such
as “What are you waiting for?”. There were critical articles directed
to hardcore posers, as well as articles about how animals that had
been liberated were doing in their new homes.
The fourth and the last issue contained more articles like “How the
Raid was Done” – often raids that the police had said were so
professional it had to have been carried out by professionals from
abroad… One person urges for a Swedish A.L.F. Supporters Group, and
a spokesperson who could defend the actions openly. Til now, this had
only been done my anonymous activists in balaclavas, or by Emelie
E:son, an anonymous A.L.F. activist from the 1980:ies. Focus was also
targeted on groups trying to attack Peter Singer (who was at a visit
in Sweden during this period), there was a big report from the animal
rights campaigning and activity against the vivisection at the Umea
University, as well as more information directly from The Wild Minks.
After the last issue, a Swedish A.L.F. Supporters Group was founded,
doing both work towards the media as towards prisoners and the animal
rights movement in general. They also released their own magazine,
later named Befriaren (The Liberator).
Arkangel #4,5,7 (1990-1991. London, England)
Our posting of the complete Arkangel continues into the 90s with issues 4, 5, and 7. The omission of issue 6 is not an oversight- it was never printed. Arkangel was founded by Ronnie Lee, who was serving a 10 year sentence during the magazines early years, and edited by Vivien Smith, who found herself in a jail cell by the time issue #6 was scheduled for release. Sensing the possibility of shutting down this crucial publication, law enforcement in England ransacked the Arkangel office just before the layout of issue #6. It was lost to the ages, and with Vivien facing serious charges a new team of interim editors anonymously produced Arkangel #7, causing a slight decline in the publication’s overall quality.
The history covered by these three issues is tremendous. The death of Mike Hill, Animal Aid’s disastrous labeling of direct action as “terrorism,” and the return of the ALF Press Office are all reported upon, along with updates from groups around the world. Amidst the columns reporting on the actual work of activists though is a disturbing amount of debate, much of it centered on whether animal rights groups should allow participation by racists, nationalists, and separatists. The back and forth articles from one issue to the next mostly fail to recognize the most offensive nature of the argument – that there should even be an argument! It boggles the mind that anyone could see a benefit to taking on the baggage of these far right lunatics and their disgusting politics. During a decade where skinhead violence claimed the lives and dignity of so many it is particularly disheartening that some in our movement saw fit to offer these thugs a place at our table.
South East Liberator (1992 – 1996. West Sussex, England)
Editors note: When we originally posted South East Liberator in 2011 we had an agreement with its primary author to keep her identity a secret until after her death. We are sad to report that Gillian Peachey, a long time animal liberationist and former ALF prisoner, has passed away this week. Now that she is no longer with us we can reveal that she was the anonymous figure behind this publication. Rest in peace, Gilly.
One of the most important things we do at TALON is to preserve the telling of our movement’s story by it’s participants. In the case of South East Liberator, we are almost preserving the story of our movement as told by the mainstream media and then copied and pasted by it’s participants. Confused? Well, South East Liberator was largely written and edited by one person who would include press clippings for major actions around the area she was active in- actions for which she was often responsible! She later ended up doing time for planting incendiary devices, which put this popular DIY publication out of business.
South East Liberator was angry, over-the-top, and compiled by front-line activists giving their all for animal liberation. We are very proud to have the complete collection hosted on our site, along with this new introduction by the editor:
“The Liberator was produced in the ‘90’s by a small group of determined animal rights activists to publicize how much could be achieved by working quietly within a close knit group, and to encourage like minded people to carry out similar actions.
Economic sabotage will always be one of the most effective ways of hitting the abusers where it hurts them most and we, along with other similar groups throughout the country, were proving this time and again.
Liberations, bombings, arson attacks, massive damage to property and vehicles and general sabotage were carried out week after week, with the cops going round in circles!
Thousands of lives were eventually saved through liberations and hellholes closing. Many many hundred of thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused along the way.
Inevitably there were arrests and imprisonment but nobody who was totally involved then, for the right reasons, would say that they had any regrets for any of their actions. Many of us are still involved in the fight for animal liberation and always will be.
Personally the only regret I have is that I’ve never done enough to save enough lives. Oh, and getting caught of course!!”
-Anon
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Interviews with ALF Activists (1986, England)
Following years of increasing direct actions in England, the British government began a full scale crackdown complete with round ups of people publishing pro-ALF literature. The SG Newsletter, once a radical mouthpiece for the underground, was targeted so often that it became mostly a prisoner support newsletter, at which point the government continued to attack it anyhow. Luckily, the ALF had clearly seen the Star Wars trilogy, because once the empire struck back it was time for the return of the vegan jedi!
Small incendiary devices, housed in cigarette boxes, were being used around the country to great effect in the fight against fur. The devices were not meant to cause actual fires, instead they were created to produce smoke which would set off department store fire sprinklers, thereby damaging merchandise with cascades of water. Some stores had faulty sprinkler systems, and a few burned completely to the ground. These attacks, though extreme and unpopular with the general public, basically spelled the end of fur in England. Not only did all major department store chains cease their trade in fur coats, they also stopped advertising it, which lowered overall demand. The arson campaign was a success, but with the SG out of commission, how would activists spread the methodology behind building these devices?
The answer was a network of grassroots, pro-direct action animal rights groups and their PO boxes. According to Kieth Mann, Interviews with Animal Liberation Front Activists had an initial print run of around 1,500 copies which were mailed to to the postal boxes of supportive groups. Inside were detailed instructions (which we have edited out due to federal laws pertaining to the dissemination of information to build destructive devices) on a number of fire bombs, as well as press clippings and interviews with the people behind much of the resistance taking place in England.
Careful readers will notice pages missing from our .PDF of “Interviews.” The reason for these missing pages is that after many years of photocopying the publication the final several pages, which contained addresses of laboratories, had become obsolete. In fact, many of them were out of date at the time of publication as they had been taken from documents issued by the Home Office in 1981, 5 years prior to the printing of this issue. As time went on these pages were omitted more and more frequently. We are looking for a complete copy of Interviews with Animal Liberation Front Activists, preferably one with sharper images and the old lab addresses. Please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com if you can provide us with one.
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The Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group Newsletter #17 (1985, London, England.)
(Editors note: The complete set of SG newsletters is now available HERE.)
It is not usually our habit to put up a single issue of a serialized publication as we prefer to post an entire year, or run of magazines, in a single post. However, we must make an exception for the ALF SG Newsletter #17, which contains a fantastic investigation of the Band of Mercy and comes complete with an image of their first press statement from November of 1973. The significance of that image, the very first communique from an underground group fighting on behalf of other species, can not be understated.
When one considers how entrenched animal exploitation is in our culture, the idea that a tiny band of revolutionaries could push back against that social tide by burning down an animal laboratory under construction is a watershed moment. The arson attacks and raids carried out by the Band of Mercy were pivotal in the creation of the animal rights movement.
This issue has much more in store for readers. The second communique from the Animal Rights Militia is presented in it’s entirety, and although it provides a myopic examination of the role of liberatory violence it is none the less a fascinating read for lovers of animal rights history. The story of the famous Ecclesfield Beagle raid is presented by one of it’s participants, Roger Yates has a long letter explaining his feelings on the uselessness of national groups, and funny pseudonyms abound! If you thought Earth First!ers had funny names, wait till you get a load of Captain Kirk, Martial Rose, and Black Vixen!
If you look carefully you may notice that this issue is missing some pages. We do not know if this is because they were removed by their original owner, or if this is one of the issues of the SG rumored to have been “edited” by the British government as it left post offices on it’s way to subscribers.
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Underground 10-13 (1998 Ontario, Canada)
Our Underground collection continues its way into 1998, a somewhat bittersweet year for the movement. After a period of steady growth in both illegal direct action and militant grassroots activity, No Compromise editor and well known activist Freeman Wicklund denounced the ALF (and most forms of protest) at a large demonstration in southern California. His “new” perspective was merely a recycled, pro-animal form of pacifist strategy taken from Gene Sharpe, and he demanded that people take sides. Freeman was charismatic and many young people had first began their involvement after hearing him speak. They were now torn by his change of heart. Many people dropped out, and above ground pressure campaigns largely ground to a halt.
’98 also saw a continuation of the previous years snitching epidemic, but, as always, some positive developments buoyed our spirits and resolve. In Oregon, protestors jumped the fences at a farm which bred rabbits for vivisection, and soon the United States had it’s first daylight raid underway. Katie Fedor, an organizer with Minnesota’s Student Organization for Animal Rights, became the United States’ first ALF Press Officer in more than a decade, and soon she was speaking out in favor of sabotage and liberations in major media outlets on a regular basis. The conviction of the “GandALF 3” was suddenly overturned on grounds that they had not, in fact, conspired with person unknown to carry out unknown actions at unknown locations! Finally, good people with dedication and resolve rained hell down on animal abusers all year long, resulting in thousands of lives lived outside of cages. It’s hard to keep a good movement down.
Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 4-6 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.
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Underground 4-6 (1996, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.)
As Underground magazine continued its run into 1996, the movement was once again in a state of internal dispute. The wave of FBI investigations and grand jury harassment earlier in the decade had put Rod Coronado behind bars. Sadly, an embarrassing moment in our history occurred when a small group of activists, including Rod’s long time friend and former housemate Jonathan Paul, called for support to be pulled from Rod. Their reasons were many, but largely centered around Rod’s desire to make the choices that effected his own defense. Jonathan and Rod later patched up their differences, but for many years those two great practitioners of direct action warred back and forth in the pages of this and other publications, which proved a waste of effort, time, and newsprint.
Luckily for nonhumans, 1996 was also a year that saw a tremendous upswing in resistance on their behalf. Notably, fur farm raids became common occurrences throughout the world. This was the year that saw the release of the infamous first edition of The Final Nail, a publication that gave addresses of fur farms and explained how to raid them. Excerpts appeared in Underground, and subscribers received free copies. Every issue throughout this period detailed the pressure being exerted on the fur farming industry, and proved that Rod’s imprisonment and the ensuing movement drama didn’t put the struggle for fur bearing animals in an early grave.
Underground also contained plenty of letters, news clippings, and short articles. Self criticism, analysis of movement building, targeting, press relations, and other strategic improvements are, sadly, largely absent. Still, the magazine provides one of the best glimpses into the way the ALF worked in North America in the 90s, which is why we will be posting every issue online, for free, by the middle of this month. Animal liberation history is for people, not profit!
Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 10-13 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.
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Out of the Cages #6 – 9 (1993-1994. Santa Cruz, CA. USA)
Out of the Cages is a wonderful magazine that filled an important niche in the pre-internet, pre-No Compromise 90s. As the main west coast publication of its time, it had a link to the 80s glory days that ran deep in the area it was printed. Santa Cruz had been the home of early US hunt saboteurs and the earliest cooperation between animal rights activists and Earth First! took place there. Rod Coronado, Jonathan Paul, and other early AR radicals called it home. This proximity to history gave the magazine a much different tone than Holocaust, or Dressed in Black, and unlike Militant Vegan, the group publishing OOTC were above ground liberationists, accessible for correspondence and submissions. This meant that the zine was always filled with fresh perspectives, letters, and debate, and that eventually groups from across the country got in touch to share ideas and announce their campaigns.
Conflict Gypsy would very much like a complete set of Out of the Cages. If you have any please contact us at conflictgypsy {{at}} gmail ((dot)) com
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The Power is Ours (Early 1990s, North America)
As stated previously on our site, the early 90s saw an effort to spread the use of underground tactics via the distribution of cheap, zine format how-tos. One such attempt, The Power is Ours, was basically a reprinting of the British Into the 90s with the ALF.
The only real difference was a new lay-out and an introduction stating that the manual was somehow meant to bring together activists working on either side of the law. How this was to be accomplished is unclear. The publication contains almost no information on how those who utilize illegal means can advance the campaigns of traditional, legal protestors, or vice-versa.
While The Power is Ours fails in that goal, it does contain good excerpts from other primers, including a small piece about a raid carried out against the Oxford University vivisection program where 64 cats were rescued, and instructions (which, due to federal law, we have omitted) on building the pocket sized incendiary device that destroyed England’s fur trade in the 80s and 90s. Despite its limitations, this zine provides an interesting look into the way that illegal tactics are developed and spread.
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Live Wild or Die # 1-3 (Published in various locations along the west coast of the United States, 1989-1990s?)
Edited by rotating teams of anarchists and espousing an anti-civilization perspective a decade before the rise of Eugene’s primitivists, Live Wild or Die was the most radical environmental journal of its time, and perhaps, of all time. Featuring articles with names like “The Eco-Fucker hit list,” which “wise use” guru Ron Arnold later erroneously claimed to have inspired Ted Kaczynski’s choice of targets, LWOD presented an uncompromising vision of a future without industrialism and domestication brought about by train hopping tree spikers, nomadic punk hunt saboteurs, and feral warriors. It was exciting, naive, inspiring, and sometimes a little bit stupid. Still, flipping through it’s over-sized, busily decorated pages you can not help but feel the optimistic spirit of that era. Earth First!ers and animal liberators, monkey wrenchers and black clad messengers run wild across the pulp, heralding a revolution to free the world of exploitation, drudgery, brutality and boredom. Cries for the destruction of corporate property vie for attention alongside snarky comic strips, screeds against new age pseudo resistance, and now un-distributable diagrams for building incendiary devices. The authors believed in their hearts that something better was on the horizon if they could fight hard enough to get there. That deep and passionate longing for utopia is all but dead nowadays, washed away by delusions of “Hope” and “Change” at the ballot box and a green consumerism that only takes us deeper into the pit of shallow lives and dying eco-systems. But somewhere out there I am betting that there are a few young people who pine for a planet that is joyous and just, and I hope they smile, conspiratorially, when they see what the generation who made LWOD was planning.
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