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One-off publications
A Cat In Hell’s Chance
04.14.12 | Permalink

A Cat In Hell’s Chance (2002, London, England.)

In the annals of animal rights history there are but a handful of legendary campaigns still talked about by activists of all ages. The story of Hill Grove cat farm is one such fabled war, and with good reason. Hill Grove was a watershed moment for the movement and eventually led to the founding of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign. The battles that raged there included the beating and intentional poisoning of protesters, attacks by company employees, systematic police brutality, a security bill that ran into the millions of British pounds, and eventual victory for the cats being imprisoned in farmer Chris Brown’s compound.

A Cat in Hell’s Chance attempts to document this significant stage in our movement’s development. While the book is in need of a better editor, and is at times disjointed, it does cover all of the major events involved. Including all the way back to the first protests and raids against Hill Grove in the 1980s. Lovers of animal rights history, and young warriors curious about the successful tactics developed by earlier generations, would do well to read this long out of print book.

UPDATE: If you would like a physical copy of this book, it is available through the New Zealand Anti-Vivisection Society and can be found HERE.

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Most Popular, One-off publications
Got the Hollowpoints for the Snitches
03.13.12 | Permalink

Got the Hollowpoints for the Snitches (2005, United States)

The greatest weapon in the government’s repressive arsenal is the snitch. These sorry examples of humanity provide big brother with an insider’s view of communities of resistance, spread fear and distrust in revolutionary circles, and gift law enforcement with profiling tools to find likely dissenters in the future. Dealing with this problem is one of the most difficult challenges of a militant movement.

While the title of this zine (Taken from Dr. Dre’s Let Me Ride) may seem like unnecessary posturing, the contents contain an intelligent examination of the historical role of snitches, how other movements have dealt with them, and a rogues gallery complete with contact information for dozens of traitors. Written during the early days of the Green Scare, it offers a look into the mindset of frontline activists during a time when snitching was epidemic.

(NOTE: If you have arrived at this page from one of Corey Wrenn’s blogs please be aware that this document was not produced by or for the Animal Liberation Front as she often claims. Furthermore, be aware that, for better or worse, no one listed inside has been subjected to violence as a result of their listing.)

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Periodicals
Spirit of Freedom: The Newsletter of the North American Earth Liberation Prisoner Support Network
01.19.12 | Permalink

Spirit of Freedom: The Newsletter of the North American Earth Liberation Prisoner Support Network (Dec 2000 through Spring 2002, Eugene, OR)

As the boom of environmentally motivated arson and sabotage accelerated at the turn of the century it quickly became clear that the government, on behalf of their corporate sponsors, had a crackdown in the works. Unable to catch those responsible, the heat was turned up on support networks, spokespeople, and peripheral figures in the anarchist and radical wilderness defense communities. Grand jury subpoenas, congressional hearings, and new legislative efforts at repression seemed constant. British activists, having long dealt with similar threats, began urging radicals in the US to start a support network for the inevitable arrests and imprisonment of eco-warriors.

Working closely with Noel Molland (AKA Rabbix, publisher of R@T and Eco-Vegan) a young anarchist and former member of ADL New York named Daniel McGowan helped found The North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network. Their publication, Spirit of Freedom, soon became one of many excellent prisoner support zines coming out of the Northwest. Covering all aspects of the movement and lending solidarity to a wide variety of struggles, Spirit of Freedom was a consistent source of revolutionary news and crucial support for our jailed comrades.

As the decade progressed Daniel found himself needing the very type of support offered by the NAELPSN. Arrested during the “Green Scare” (Ironically, a term Daniel coined on an early cover of Spirit of Freedom) Daniel is now serving a 7 year sentence in a Communications Management Unit in Indiana. Please visit his support site at www.http://www.supportdaniel.org/ for more information.

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One-off publications
Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences
11.08.11 | Permalink

Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences (2000, Gualala, CA.)

There are some debates that will rage forever without a conclusion: dogs vs. cats, West Coast vs. East Coast, tastes great vs. less filling… At the end of the day the answer to these questions means very little to the way that we live our lives and forge new, more just societies. There are, of course, angry divisions which, although equally unresolvable, play a major role in the world that we live in and hope to create. Most notable is the chasm between those who advocate strict Non-Violence and those who see the need for other tools to be used. This argument has been taking place for a very long time and will continue to be a weapon in the hands of our oppressors. It guarantees that they will see much of our energy wasted on horizontal conflict, and that our actions will be slowed by the constant need to justify every move we make in the struggle against global capitalism, industrialism, and anthropocentrism.

Still, there are times when people on both sides of this debate make errors that must be confronted. Recently a media and electronics group within Occupy Denver worked to discover the identities of people who had thrown water bottles at cops during an Occupy event. They claim that they are doing this to fight “violence,” and somehow they have magically ignored the much greater violence that sparked the throwing of plastic bottles to begin with- the Denver PD pepper spraying and firing pepper balls at protestors whose only crime was setting up tents in a public square.

Back in the 1990’s pacifism and it’s sister dogma, “Non-Violence,” had paralyzed the once thriving Earth First! movement. It was argued that cooperation with the authorities was somehow not violent (Despite those same authorities carrying weapons and working for a state with a nuclear arsenal) but sabotaging machinery made one akin to a mass murderer. Tackling and attempting to citizens arrest people breaking the windows of Nike town was not violent, but harming the property of people who own slave-run factories abroad was “just as bad” as owning those factories yourself. Many books and pamphlets were written at the time to counter this nonsensical, non-strategic, non-resistance movement, most famously Ward Churchill’s Pacifism as Pathology. Still, for it’s conciseness and applicability to wilderness defense (and offense!) movements, nothing beats William Meyers “Nonviolence and Its Violent Consequences.” Given the current rhetoric of many in the Occupy movement who see sabotage as violence, while working within the system as somehow not violent, this booklet has suddenly become a must read once more.

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Bite Back, Periodicals
Bite Back #6-10
08.04.11 | Permalink

Bite Back #6-10 (2004 – 2006. West Palm Beach, Florida.)

Our continuing posting of Bite Back Magazine carries on with this new introduction by Bite Back editor Nick Atwood:

“Issues 6-10 of Bite Back magazine were published between July 2004 and February 2006. It was a busy couple of years, for the animal rights movement and for the magazine.

Issue #8 was the first of Bite Back’s expanded format. The magazine jumped from 16 to 36 pages, and added full-color covers. Also beginning with #8, the magazine was no longer mailed out free-of-charge. The growth of the mailing list forced Bite Back to begin charging for the magazine.

In issue #7, Bite Back marked the return of the lab raid to the USA, when 401 animals were liberated from the University of Iowa. #8 features a “How It Was Done” story of the rescue of a dog from a laboratory in Tokyo, the first and so-far only such action in Japan. Issue #10 celebrated the closure of the infamous Newchurch guinea pig farm.

There’s other good stuff in these issues: interviews with Keith Mann and Mel Broughton, Bite Back’s “Top Ten List” of ALF arsons (issue #7), and popular features such as “When Animals Bite Back,” which was a collection of news reports of hunting accidents, bulls goring matadors, farmers eaten by pigs, etc. — examples of “violence” that all activists could get on board with!

But it was not all fun and liberations. Issues 6-10 include the prison addresses of some 20 different activists around the world, and the five issues were bookends to the SHAC7 criminal case– from indictment in May 2004 to conviction in March 2006.”

We hope you enjoy the magazines. (Hard copies of issues 7 and 8 are still available from Bite Back for $2 each.)

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One-off publications
FAQ About the Earth Liberation Front
04.26.11 | Permalink

Frequently Asked Questions about the Earth Liberation Front (2001, Portland, OR. USA)

This was a widely circulated pamphlet produced by the North American ELF Press Office that served more as an FAQ about the politics of the two press officers, Craig Rosebraugh and Leslie James Pickering. Because the saboteurs of the ELF were underground, they relied heavily upon their above ground counterparts to challenge false media reports, publicize their actions, and explain their ideas. A brief look at the ideologies of those later convicted for ELF actions shows that many of them were in the anti-civilization and anarchist camps, whereas the press officers representing them were more traditionally radical-left anti-capitalists influenced by animal rights and environmentalism.

While there may have been small divides in the politics of those carrying out the actions and those speaking to the media, no one can doubt that the NAELFPO fought hard, and suffered greatly, to show their support for the Earth Liberation Front. The two press officers experienced multiple grand jury subpoenas, police brutality, raids on their homes where all of their possessions were destroyed, and even attempts on their lives. Craig Rosebraugh, for example, once found the brakes of his car cut. Instead of taking him out of the fight, the repression and violence seemed to steel his resolve, and him and Leslie James both have continued to be vocal activists. This FAQ is still one of their most read publications, and we are happy to host it here at Conflict Gypsy.

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Periodicals
Resistance
04.10.11 | Permalink

Resistance Volume 1 #1-4, Volume 2 #1 (1999-2001. Portland, OR. USA)

Before Portland became famous for its eccentricities and vegan mini-malls, it used to be known as one of the west coast’s most active centers for direct action oriented environmental, animal, and human rights activism. Famously referred to as “little Beirut,” by the George H.W. Bush administration, Portland was the home of peace-punk bands, eco-saboteurs, and anti-government riots. Then, strangely enough, it became a hotbed of pacifism in the mid-90s thanks to the efforts of… wait for it… Craig Rosebraugh.

Craig eventually became known internationally for his support of political violence and ecotage, but for a few years he was an advocate of Gandhian nonviolence. After participating in several voluntary arrest actions, he co-founded the group Liberation Collective in 1996 as a blanket organization meant to tackle a wide variety of social ills. The group was a springboard for many well known activists, and planned a number of media spectacles across the United States, from Buy Nothing Day car smash-em-ups in busy downtown streets to the cross country Primate Freedom Tour. (The PFT was credited in large part to a group called Coalition to End Primate Experiments, but the greater part of the organizing was done by LibCo members.)

After the failure of attempts such as One Struggle to document a broad movement for ecological sanity and justice for all life, Liberation Collective took up the torch and released the first issue of Resistance. The inaugural issue was unlike any other in the series though. The main forces behind the publication, Craig and Leslie James Pickering, had politics that were no longer meshing well with the rest of the group. Liberation Collective was falling apart due to a number of factors, and ultimately LJ and Craig struck out on their own, founding the North American Earth Liberation Front Press Office and continuing the Resistance project as a newsletter of their new organization.

The third issue of Resistance launched what was to become the best source of information for a rapidly expanding underground movement. The Earth Liberation Front was becoming active across the United States, but supportive coverage could be difficult to find. Even the Earth First! Journal wasn’t always willing to support the large scale arson attacks of the ELF, and when they did they lost membership. (Famously, Julia Butterfly left Earth First! after the Journal gave positive coverage to the Vail arson.) Resistance, however, published nearly every ELF communique unedited, and covered the multiple federal investigations into the groups actions. Activists seeking a better knowledge of the events leading to the green scare and “Operation Backfire” arrests would do well to start by reading the early volumes of Resistance.

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One-off publications
My First Little Book of GM Crop Decontamination
03.25.11 | Permalink

My First Little Book of GM Crop Decontamination (2002? United Kingdom)

Essentially a more complete, British version of The Nighttime Gardener with complete illustrated instructions on locating and destroying genetically modified crops.

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One-off publications
Nighttime Gardener
03.25.11 | Permalink

Nighttime Gardener: A Guide for the Shy Gardener in North America (2000, United States.)

Originally released to coincide with the WTO protests, Nighttime Gardener quickly became the standard primer on anti-bioengineering crop pulls. These actions, which were once popular all across the world, were aimed at preventing GM cross contamination with other agriculture, and also at causing delays in research of “Frankenfoods.”

There has been an unfortunate slow down in sabotage of genetically-manipulated crops in the last decade. This may be due in part to the overwhelming public sentiment against such technologies as “terminator seeds,” or it may be another sad byproduct of the Green Scare. Regardless, the hey day of then anti-GM movement was well documented, and we will do out best to keep it archived here at TALON.

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One-off publications
Cascadia Forest Alliance Disorientation Manual
03.23.11 | Permalink

Cascadia Forest Alliance Disorientation Manual. (2003, Oregon, USA.)

From the 1980s until present environmentalist have done a number of high profile campaigns to protect wilderness areas in the Northwest of the United States. I have a special affinity for these actions. Having grown up in Eugene, OR in the 80s, I remember seeing college kids from the University with their Earth First! patches, going to coffee shops where groups of crusties, hippies, and career activists hunkered down in dark corners planning blockades, and going to mailing parties at the Journal house. The wild areas of what is known around those parts as Cascadia are amongst the most beautiful and important on earth, and I consider them home.

Militancy in defense of the planet is an artform, and this publication from the Cascadia Forest Alliance aimed to bring the basics to the masses who showed up at camps in the woods, eager to get active. It explains the basics of anti-oppression policies, direct action, and security culture. Sadly, it also contains a section on consensus decision making. The staff of Conflict Gypsy would like to go on record as being opposed to consensus decision making in groups. The idea of consensus allows a single obstructionist to essentially become a dictator who blocks the will of the rest of the organization. The person who least agrees with the goals and tactics of the group can slow progress, and the earth doesn’t have the time to accommodate their concerns. We have seen consensus groups regularly push out the most talented activists and organizers because a tyranny of the minority is created by a system meant to empower everyone.

Despite what we see as a flaw in their logic, CFA did wonderful work, and this packet sets the standard for what forest activism primers should be.

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