As Darkness Falls (1995, USA.)
I remember thinking this was a pretty mediocre publication when I first saw it in the 90s, and it only took 3 sentences into my latest reading to remember why: If you are writing a primer and you think that Ed Abbey was the author of Eco-Defense, you’re likely not going to have much credibility with your intended audience. It doesn’t get a whole lot better as the zine progresses, and my impression is that this direct-action-how-to-for-beginners was, in fact, written by people with very little experience themselves carrying out actions. The advice is mostly taken from other sources, and what little original material is contained herein seems amateurish or even dangerous. For example, why would someone ever consider breaking windows with a pellet gun? They aren’t particularly effective, and you’ll also be committing a crime while carrying something that looks very much like a real firearm! As Darkness Falls is sprinkled with bad ideas and regurgitated information from other primers. It is presented here for the sake of the completeness of our archive as it is our goal to carry all widely distributed movement literature.
Tags: 1990s, Animal Liberation Front, Primer/How-To