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• BUAV Liberator, Most Popular

  BUAV Liberator 1986

  10.15.14 | Permalink

  BUAV Liberator (1986. London, England)

  “Although the BUAV as a limited company can only organize legal activity, we aim to complement and support direct action whenever possible.” BUAV editorial, April-May 1986

  Frequent readers of the site will be aware that TALON’s volunteers are big fans of the BUAV Liberator. Not only do its old pulp pages bleed with animal lib history, but the politics represented by BUAV at that time were among the most progressive (and occasionally radical) of any major national non-profit working for non-humans.

  During this era the British Union to Abolish Vivisection supported any direct action which did not include pre-meditated violence towards a human, and proudly advocated a broad array of strategies and tactics. From letter writing to sabotage, legislation to arson, the BUAV gave coverage to nearly all of the activism in England at the time- and that is only a small part of what makes these papers so great.

  Year after year, each volume of the Liberator gives us clues as to the mood within the movement. In 1986 for example, we see a somber tone set over the movement as the Liberation League’s began to fold, the government passed legislation expanding vivisection, and dozens of activists began prison sentences over lab raids. This blow to activist morale in 1986 was perhaps most visible in the actions of Robert Blackman, a young man who entered the Colchester cattle market and self immolated to protest the sell of living beings. His mother later said that “He gave his life because he thought the cruelty would never stop.”

  Interestingly, 1986 was also a year filled with inspiring actions for animals. Issue after issue details labs shut down, vivisectors ending their careers, a dramatic rise in veganism and vegetarianism among the general public, and non-humans having their first taste of freedom. It is only within the context of the meteoric rise of animal rights in the earlier part of the 1980s could this year be seen as any kind of a failure. Indeed, if the level of activism in these issues were to occur today morale would sky rocket and great breakthroughs could be made- and all of us should take that as a challenge!

   

     

   

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• Books, Most Popular

  Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide

  11.24.11 | Permalink

  Animal Liberation: A Graphic Guide (1987, London, England.)

  Published twelve years after Singer’s groundbreaking book, Animal Liberation, this graphic guide is lesser known but still influential. Part of the reason why it is lesser known is that this book is not known for the commentary provided by Prof Singer, or even Prof. Gruen, but instead it’s influence can almost solely be charted to the breath taking artwork done by David Hine.

  Although the images in this book have been reprinted countless times, in publications all over the world, little attention in animal liberation circles has ever been paid to Hine the illustrator. Hine was commissioned to do the guide in 1987, alongside another publication critical of the “Space Wars” (Space Wars: A Graphic Guide). The career that Hine would go on to have after 1987 is interesting to say the least. Hine is now considered an iconic British comic artist – with an impressive thirty year independent publication career alongside drawing and/or writing for household name comic series such as; Transformers, X-Men, Spiderman, Spawn and Batman and Robin. Recently, Hine has also made waves in the comic book industry by introducing an Algerian Muslim super hero figure, Nightrunner, in his Dark Knight series that was set in France.

  Hine’s impressive career explains the comic-book esque structure of the guide as well as the absolutely amazing skills on display. Twenty four years later and there is simply no comprehensive visual rival to the work of this guide. Conflict Gypsy is beyond excited to host this publication here, to trace and celebrate it’s influence, and to hopefully inspire all of those illustrators/designers/drawists out there currently fighting for animal liberation.

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disclaimer

The Talon Conspiracy is an online archive preserving the history of protest movements for animal rights and environmentalism. Its owners, contributors, and designers are not responsible for actions taken by third parties which may be harmful or unlawful to the individuals or entities named in archived publications. This web site is provided for the purpose of historical research and analysis, and is not intended to incite, encourage, or condone any criminal action on the part of its readers. Finally, The Talon Conspiracy does not necessarily agree with any of the views expressed in the publications in our archive, but aims to provide a thorough collection of the history of eco direct action. All opinions expressed in our archives are those of their original authors only.