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Site news & updates

Site news & updates
Check out Leaflets of the Animal Rights Movement!
09.25.17 | Permalink | Comment?

I know that the hiatus over here at TALON has gotten ridiculous- it’s a long story!- BUT in the meantime other folks have been carrying on with some spectacular projects. One that we really love is LARM, Leaflets of the Animal Rights Movement!

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Site news & updates
Reinventing Animal Liberation: Towards a Popular Militancy for Non-Humans.
09.24.15 | Permalink | Comment?

While TALON co-founder Josh Harper has been in Europe finding publications for the site, he has also been speaking to audiences about his analysis of our movement’s history and future. His speech in Malmö was filmed and seems to be resonating with animal rights activists around the world. Give it a watch!

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Site news & updates
TALON co-founder Josh Harper’s Collective Liberation 2015 speech.
04.10.15 | Permalink | Comment?

Josh recently spoke at California State University Long Beach, and delivered this speech that contained a few mentions of historical tidbits on this very website. Give it a view!

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Site news & updates
TALON Conspirator #4: Rocky Mountain Animal Defense Alliance
05.28.14 | Permalink | Comment?

Editors note: Since this site’s inception, the volunteers at TALON have felt that our purpose is not to catalog the past, but to inform the present. We do not exist as activist nostalgia, but to guide new generations by sharing information about the errors and victories of those who came before them. Our hope was always that modern campaigns would be built with these lessons, and that we could share their own errors and victories as a long term effort to refine our movement’s tactics and strategies.

The TALON Conspirator posts will highlight our favorite organizations and the facets of our shared history that inspire them. Our fourth post in this series is written by volunteers from Rocky Mountain Animal Defense Alliance.

Rocky Mountain Animal Defense Alliance (RMADA) is a Denver based organization fighting for animal and human liberation. Our primary campaign is targeted at Delta Airlines for their close relationship with Air France. Air France is one of the few remaining airlines continuing to ship primates and other animals to labs for cruel experimentation. We also aim to host prisoner letter writing nights and other events. We seek to bridge the gap between the animal liberation movement and the broader left by engaging in cooperative efforts with other organizations with a number of focuses.

Our goal is to aid in the creation of a mass movement against all forms of exploitation and oppression. We are a decidedly revolutionary organization that is actively and openly anti-speciesist, anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-capitalist. RMADA can be contacted via our Facebook page or at rockymountainada (at) gmx.com

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Site news & updates
Creating the visual mythology of TALON!
04.20.13 | Permalink | Comment?

Before anyone working on the TALON site spent their lives hunting down rare earth and animal lib zines, our time was spent collecting comic books. From the superheros of our youth to the underground treasures discovered in our early 20s, comics have been an influence on our lives and projects.

When we started this site we wanted the visual aspect to reflect this love for graphic literature. With an eye towards mocking the FBI’s portrayal of animal liberation radicals, we wanted images of an animal masked paramilitary organization conspiring to change the world through direct action and digital zine distribution. In this way we figured we could set ourselves apart from other archive sites and have a little fun. The problem? We can’t draw!

Luckily, some very talented artists out there are helping us create the characters that populate TALON’s world. Our first contribution comes from Anthony Sorge, author and artist for the amazing Crust Dog comics. His rendition of the RABBIT COMMANDOES is, hopefully, just the beginning of our collection of characters for this site.

Got some artistic talent? Want to help us fulfill our comic nerd aspirations while we grow the archive? Please contact us HERE to apply.

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Site news & updates
TALON is the new Conflict Gypsy
03.04.13 | Permalink | Comment?

Welcome to the new of home of the CG archiving project, The TALON Conspiracy. In an effort to focus more on our mission of preserving militant earth and animal liberation publications and reporting news relevant to those struggles, we have changed our name. The controversy over our old URL effected us on many levels, not the least of which was our genuine remorse at offending members of our community.

So, why the TALON name? A while ago a small group of us thought it would be funny to throw the FBI’s portrayal of radicals back at them. Thinking of cartoonish paramilitary organizations like GI Joe’s COBRA or Sgt. Fury’s HYDRA, we incorporated a group called TALON and gave its officers macho, militaristic names like HIPPO COMMANDER. We just thought that it was hilarious that some agent out there would have to investigate the identity of the ELEPHANT HEAD or JACKAL MINION. The joke had a pretty short shelf life, we forgot about it almost as soon as TALON was invented. When it was time to change the name of our archive though, well, we pulled it back out of the box and ran with it. Some of our pages will contain crazed, comic book villain style ramblings, but we assure you that it is all just in good fun.

We hope that you will enjoy some of the new features of the site! You can subscribe to posts via e-mail using the form in the left hand tool bar, navigate our most popular titles and categories in the drop down bar, and soon we will have new items available in an improved store.

Thank you all for your support over the last few years. Feel free to send us feedback about the new site HERE, and also let us know about any glitches which may have occurred during our move.

In closing, TAAAAAALOOOON!!!

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Site news & updates
Why You Gotta Bring Up Old Shit?
02.12.12 | Permalink | Comments Off on Why You Gotta Bring Up Old Shit?

Why You Gotta Bring Up Old Shit?

Yesterday Humane Watch, an industry AstroTurf front monitoring HSUS, posted a piece linking to our archive of Do Not Consider Yourself Free. In their typically comical fashion the group attempts to tie Pat Kwan, the Humane Society’s New York director, to “terrorism” based on his work with Animal Defense League New York and an old arrest in Massachusetts. Not mentioned in the article is the fact that Kwan was not convicted in the Mass case, that his activism with ADL NYC took place in his early teenage years, or that the change of heart he had with his later activism was criticized by the very radicals that Humane Watch attempts to tie him to. Similar obfuscations are peppered throughout the blog, but such behavior can be expected of people who publicly defend un-anesthetized castration, intensive confinement, debeaking, and other acts of brutality against non-humans.

Because this article made the rounds on social media and stirred up a fair amount of commentary the staff of TALON would like to respond to some of the points raised by our friends in the movement.

First, some readers of the article were upset that TALON makes such material available to begin with, others have asked that we remove it. For the record, TALON will never omit a piece of our movement’s history from it’s archives. The changing path taken by some activists is an important part of our struggle, and it can inform current and future tactical choices. While a person may not remain forever proud of the politics of their youth you cannot remake the past by simply erasing old articles. A better path would be to explain the reasons you altered your course, and if anything the Humane Watch article gives apologetic ex-militants the perfect opportunity to do so. Our opponents will call those explanations insincere, but they will call you whatever they are paid to regardless of the truth.

Second, a few people mocked what they saw as the “selling out” of 90s era grassroots radicals who now work for groups like PETA and HSUS. Those of us who have been around for a while have seen the departure of hundreds and hundreds of once staunchly aggressive activists who now do nothing at all for non-humans. That is selling out. Our friends who carry on the fight, even when we don’t see eye to eye on tactics, should be admired for their longevity instead of harangued for thinking differently. The staff of TALON believe that there is a need for underground, illegal strategies in furtherance of animal liberation, but we are not a cult. Our strength lies in a diversity of thought, action and scale, not in the lockstep marching of cloned henchmen. We find it regrettable that some good activists now disapprove of groups like the Animal Liberation Front, but we love our comrades regardless and recognize them as dedicated allies in this struggle.

Our cause is already weakened by deep factionalism, to let groups like Humane Watch drive further wedges between us is counter productive to the goal that we all share regardless of group affiliation or tactical preference: an end to domination of all life on earth by a single species. Reaching that goal will require a broadening of our coalitions and a minimizing of internal conflict.

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In Memory of Jill Phipps
02.01.12 | Permalink | Comments Off on In Memory of Jill Phipps

In memory of Jill Phipps.

On February 1st of 1995 our movement lost one of it’s shining lights to the tires of a truck transporting baby cows to slaughter. Jill Phipps, a former member of the Eastern Animal Liberation League, was trying to block the road to prevent the murder of those young calves when the driver chose to run her over.

Across the world people were outraged, and even mainstream publications in England ran articles with headlines proclaiming Jill a martyr- but to think of her in that light is an over simplification. Jill was the smiling face at street stalls who introduced many people to the concept of animals rights, a second generation militant in a family of deeply committed liberationists, a participant in raids that caused economic damage to those who harmed non-humans, and a mother who stood trial for ALF activity while she was still pregnant. By all accounts she was a sincere, friendly, and inspiring person whose willingness to sacrifice for the oppressed knew no bounds. If we are ever to bring about Jill’s dream of a world free from speciesism we must all aspire to emulate her level of commitment, passion, and caring.

Every year on the first day of February animal rights activists all over the world remember Jill, but remembering is not enough. A faithful tribute to our fallen comrade requires action, and we ask that our readers dedicate their activism and resistance this month to Jill Phipps.

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Site news & updates
The WTO, the Occupy Movement, and Animal Liberation
10.15.11 | Permalink | Comments Off on The WTO, the Occupy Movement, and Animal Liberation

Activists the world over know the story of N30, the name given to the 30th day of November 1999, when the World Trade Organization held it’s third ministerial conference in Seattle, Washington. Tens of thousands of protestors came out in opposition to the policies of the WTO, a group of unelected officials who make decisions which effect the lives of millions of people, entire eco-systems, and yes, billions of animals.

The story of the WTO protests have become the stuff of legend, even spawning a terrible Hollywood portrayal in 2007. The large scale participation, the police response, and the so-called rioting still generate discussion and contentious debate, with some details being dissected constantly since they initially occurred. Amidst all of this talk there is one piece of information that is often overlooked: The role animal liberationists played.

For months prior to the WTO protests animal activists traveled from town to town, encouraging anarchists, socialists, environmentalists, feminists, and others to come to Seattle. From hardcore bands speaking at shows, to Ben White gathering his army of people dressed as sea turtles, everywhere that vegans roamed they were told to make the journey to this historic protest. And they did, by the hundreds.

Despite claims to the contrary, animal rights folks are a diverse grouping and this was readily apparent at the WTO. Feminists roamed the downtown corridor with pro-animal slogans written on their bodies, Northwest Animal Rights Network members passed out leaflets in the streets, three people climbed atop a bus at a busy intersection and unfurled a banner reading “Vegan Revolution.” Not to be left out, those who were more direct action oriented made a large showing as well. It was an animal activist who broke the first window, setting off two days of economic sabotage against corporate property. That window belonged to McDonalds, one of many animal exploiters who suffered small scale vandalism during the resistance to the World Trade Organization.

The participation of anti-speciesists was not just about the place of non-humans in our world, it was also about showing solidarity with the rest of the oppressed worldwide. Far from being a single issue attempt at hijacking a larger protest, this was the animal liberation movement at it’s finest, demonstrating the depth of our politics and our unwillingness to stand by while the powerful run roughshod over the masses.

Those protests were just one tiny battle in a much larger struggle against myriad forms of exploitation and brutality. Since that time the state has become more savvy in controlling mass gatherings and also in targeting individuals who utilize non-mass forms of counter-aggression. Still, people from many backgrounds and causes have persisted, and in recent weeks an outpouring of frustration has led to the Occupy Wall Street movement, and its sister movement, Occupy Together. Unlike the WTO protests, few animal liberationists have been participating, and that speaks poorly of us. Non-human animals are very much victims of corporate greed and dominance. At the top of any chain in the world of systemic animal torture lay the banks, the brokerages, and those who speculate on the value of dead pigs, cow secretions, and other goods that come from animal slavery. Who lobbies congress for tougher sentencing of animal activists, and who holds stock in the labs, the breeders, the pharmaceutical companies? The very same people being protested by the Occupy movement.

Just as we saw at the WTO, it is time for animal liberationists to join and strengthen a broader movement, to give our support to all of the world’s underclass, and to make certain that the billions of non-humans in cages are understood to be part of the 99% howling for freedom from corporate governance. Vegans, to the barricades, to the streets, TO VICTORY! This fight is our fight and it’s well past time that we start swinging.

Window at McDonalds Restaurant. First window to be smashed at the Seattle WTO Nov 1999.

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