Liberation!
9-11th June 2017
bristolliberationgathering.wordpress.com
A gathering aimed at rebuilding and progressing the animal liberation movement. It will be coming from an anarchist perspective and will be especially looking at animal exploitation as a result of capitalism and domestication and how best to challenge it in this context.
Liberation!
9-11th June 2017
bristolliberationgathering.wordpress.com
A gathering aimed at rebuilding and progressing the animal liberation movement. It will be coming from an anarchist perspective and will be especially looking at animal exploitation as a result of capitalism and domestication and how best to challenge it in this context.
We would like to avoid getting distracted with discussions around the pros and cons of reformism, vegan outreach or other liberal, animal rights concerns. While we think it is useful for these conversations to take place we want this weekend to be about coming up with an action plan, between us, to move things forward.
If this is something you are interested in being part of we would love to hear from you. We are really hoping that this gathering will be a collective project and if anyone wants to be part of organising beforehand or during the weekend that would be amazing.
We are keen for the gathering not to be purely theoretical and want definite plans to come out of it. We hope for there to be a mix of practical, theoretical and strategic workshops and discussions, all of which will be as participatory as possible. If you have a workshop or discussion that you would like to see happen or that you can offer, let us know.
We look forward to hearing from you
Liberation! collective
Bristol
UK
liberation.gathering@riseup.net
In blizzard conditions (well a little light snow anyway) we went to the Pevensey Marsh Beagles, who hunt hares, this week. It didn’t take too long for them to realise they had no chance of hunting with us around. They went back to the meet and hung around looking grumpy while we practiced cracking whips and cracked open the brandy coffee.
In blizzard conditions (well a little light snow anyway) we went to the Pevensey Marsh Beagles, who hunt hares, this week. It didn’t take too long for them to realise they had no chance of hunting with us around. They went back to the meet and hung around looking grumpy while we practiced cracking whips and cracked open the brandy coffee.
On the way to the hunt we took a diversion to East Sussex WRAS with an injured pheasant we found.
Our friends at South Coast Hunt Sabs had their Landrover stolen this week, so if you can spare a few quid to help them get another, then head to the Go Fund Me page below. In the meantime, they are still getting out – we even let some of them into our treasured Landy!
https://www.gofundme.com/new-sabbing-vehicle-for-scoast-sabs
Just now we’ve sent out the PDF versions of our recent releases, for downloading and printing (for past issues, see 325).
https://en-contrainfo.espiv.net/2016/06/05/uk-4-new-releases-from-green-anarchist-zine-return-fire-pdfs/ for links to the PDFs
Just now we’ve sent out the PDF versions of our recent releases, for downloading and printing (for past issues, see 325). To summarise, there’s the full length edition of Return Fire vol.3 (Winter 2015-2016), full of news, theory, poetry and antagonism (download in low-res here); a companion piece consisting of our ‘glossary’ entry for the issue, on Colonisation; an imposed and print-ready version of ‘Smarter Prison?’ as a supplement to vol.3, which we received from ‘Radical Interference’ and released for December of 2015; and lastly, we’ve uploaded one of the feature texts from vol.3, ‘The Veil Drops’, to theanarchistlibrary.org as a separate file for reading and reproduction. Also, there is both colour and black-and-white versions of the cover included, in case some comrades want to do their own printing.
Return Fire vol.3
A continuation of our project to bring incisive anarchic content from around to world to an anglophone readership. New editorial content, reprints of things we’ve found useful, artwork, action listings, foraging information, the usual.
There’s a few previously-untranslated articles in this issue. For example, one is an extract from the latest cover story of Italy’s eco-insurrectionary periodical Terra Selvaggia, on ‘The Advance of Urbanisation’ and, simultaneously, cracks opening in the concrete which we could utilise… Annie Archet meanwhile tells a life-story of evading identity, in Portrait of the Invisible Woman in Front of Her Mirror. To name some out of the texts we’ve assembled from selections of pre-existing ones, David King looks at the reductionist and patriarchal implications of modern reproductive technologies in ‘Into Her Inner Chambers’, and Nicola Gai speaks to acting within ‘The Maximum That Our Abilities Allow’ (from his contribution to the founding issue of the Croce Nera Anarchica).
The content we have harvested whole includes The Intensification of Independence in Wallmapu, John Severino’s poignant reflections on a project within an indigenous Mapuche community; The ‘Wild’ as Will and Representation, about commodified and alienated approaches in the urgent need for land reconnection, simply signed M.; and Sean Dunohoe’s harrowing (if limited) polemic against the Close Supervision Centres within the British prison system. (We note that this year the organising collective for the June 11 project of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners has called for a focus on such units wherever they are in the world; hence we’d like to dedicate this version in that direction.)
As for our usual columns… We take a retrospective look at some Global Flash-Points of insurgent activity in the months following our last volume. Rebels Behinds Bars covers the State’s aggressions against our comrades, and the latter’s thoughts on topics from surviving incarceration or repression to (anti-)organisation for the attack on authority. ‘To Create & Maintain Their Wealth’ and ‘Sensuality, Magic & Anarchist Violence’ address gendered and speciesist domination through reviews of Silvia Federici, Arthur Evans and Jason Hribal.
The Poems for Love, Loss & War are from Rydra Cosmo, Henry Zegarrundo, Natasha Alvarez and other appreciators of all things feral. For our Memory as a Weapon segment, we’ve used Unsettling America’s spellbinding telling of civilisation’s spread through Europe from the south and beyond, and subsequent trajectory, in The Witch’s Child.
And of course, much more! (All prisoner addresses and also some court-case news is now up to date in the PDF version.)
Colonisation
This time, we ended up printing the ‘glossary’ separately to the main body of the zine. This sizeable essay could be a stand-alone on the subject (one which we feel to be both key and misunderstood by anarchists in much of the world) and distributed as such, but is also relevant to several items in contents of vol.3.
‘Smarter Prison?’
Newly laid out in A5 imposed format, this exploration of the ‘Internet of Things’ and the technological ideology which it advances was first submitted to us during the Black December mobilisation. (We’re happy that since then, Silvia, Billy and Costa, who are referenced in ‘Smarter Prison?’, have been told they will not face trial again for their thwarted attack on the IBM facility.) The struggle against the nano-world continues…
‘The Veil Drops’
This is a reader on counter-insurgency through the lens of ‘crisis’, the social and de-civilising. It’s the longest editorial piece from vol.3, and up on The Anarchist Library for wider accessibility.
Until next time,
R.F.
September 11th, 2015
TOFINO, B.C. — Members of a Vancouver Island First Nation are vowing to risk arrest rather than allow an international fish farming company to anchor an open-net salmon farm north of Tofino.
Members of the Ahousaht First Nation say they set up a boat blockade Wednesday at the site of the new farm, owned by Norwegian-based Cermaq.
The Ahousaht say the company holds 17 salmon farm tenures in Clayoquot Sound and applied for two new tenures in the same area last year.
The First Nation believes the applications signal a new round of fish farm expansion on the West Coast, with the Ahousaht Fish Farm Committee predicting a four-fold increase in the industry over the next 15 years.
Protesters oppose any new fish farms in the area.
They fear possible diseases bred in fish within the open nets could be passed to clam beds or wild salmon travelling to and from nearby spawning grounds.
This is a media release from UBCIC.
Members of Ahousaht First Nations are currently blockading the attempts of Cermaq to install a new open-net salmon farm at Yaakswiis, north of Tofino BC.
On Wednesday Ahousaht members took boats out to the site and prevented Cermaq from anchoring the controversial new farm, which was assembled off-site and towed to Yaakswiis.
“Wild salmon are in decline everywhere salmon feedlots are in operation around the world. We will stop any future activity at this location”, said Tom Paul, an Ahousaht member. “We will stay out there until we are moved—we will be arrested if need be” he added.
The Ahousaht Fish Farm Committee strongly opposed any fish farms at the Yaakswiis location, due to concerns about proximity to rich seafood resources such as clam beds and wild salmon rivers.
Cermaq is a Norwegian-based corporation recently acquired by Mitsubishi. They currently hold 17 salmon farm tenures in Clayoquot Sound, which was the site of major logging confrontations in 1993.
Cermaq applied in 2014 for two new tenures in Ahousaht First Nations territories. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans approved one application in late July this year, and one was refused.
The salmon farming industry is poised to increase four-fold on the BC coast by 2030. These new applications are the first round of this major expansion.
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/first-nations-blockade-clayoquot-sound-salmon-farm
September 19th, 2014
September 19th, 2014
Three volunteer members of Sea Shepherd’s pilot whale and small cetacean defense campaign Operation GrindStop 2014 were arrested today just outside the Faroese capital of Torshavn for protecting a large pod of hundreds of Atlantic white-sided dolphins, preventing them from approaching the dangerous killing shores of the Faroe Islands.
The Danish Navy chased, boarded and seized Sea Shepherd’s UK-registered boat, the Spitfire, and arrested its three crewmembers — Jessie Treverton of the UK and Celine Le Diouron and Marion Selighini, both from France.
Though it is against Faroese law to interfere with the mass cetacean slaughter known as the “grindadrap” or “grind,” no grind had been called when Sea Shepherd prevented the dolphins from reaching shore. Moreover, white-sided dolphins are a protected species and are not to be killed. The Danish Police, however, have charged the Sea Shepherd volunteers with failure to report the dolphin sightings to the grind master and police and, ironically, with “harassing dolphins.”
Sea Shepherd Founder Captain Paul Watson responded, “Apparently in the Faroe Islands it is perfectly legal to kill a protected species, but it is illegal to push them back out to sea in order to keep them from harm’s way because that is considered ‘harassment.’ So these three Sea Shepherd women can proudly say that they successfully ‘harassed’ the dolphins for the purpose of saving their lives.”
“The good news is, however, that a pod of hundreds of white-sided dolphins were successfully ‘harassed’ away from the vicious knives of the whalers. Last year, in August 2013, 450 white-sided dolphins fell to the cruel knives of these cetacean-slaughtering thugs. Fortunately the hundreds spotted today remain safe at sea,” added Captain Watson.
Sea Shepherd currently has an attorney involved. The crew and the Spitfire were released late this evening in the Faroes. They were escorted to the Spitfire and permitted to leave. The crew is to appear in court tomorrow at 2 pm Faroes time. However, the volunteers face deportation from the Faroe Islands by Denmark, and if deported, would not be allowed to return to the Faroes for at least one year.
Despite being an anti-whaling member nation of the European Union, subject to laws prohibiting the slaughter of cetaceans, Denmark continues to show its support and even collaboration with the Faroese whalers to kill small cetaceans.
The Spitfire is the fourth vessel seized by the Danish Navy in the Faroe Islands during Operation GrindStop 2014, as Sea Shepherd’s three small boats — the Loki, the Mike Galesi and the B.S. Sheen (sponsored by actor Charlie Sheen) were seized on August 30th. They are being held as evidence awaiting the trial of eight Sea Shepherd crew from those boats. Along with the small boat crew, 6 members of Sea Shepherd’s onshore team were also arrested for attempting to prevent the brutal slaughter of a pod of 33 pilot whales on August 30.
“Though three volunteers have been arrested and the Danish Navy has once again acted in defense of the brutal grind by seizing one of our boats, Sea Shepherd considers this a victory. Hundreds of dolphins are still swimming safely as a family because of our brave volunteers, and Sea Shepherd will continue to act in defense of its clients,” said Lamya Essemlali, President of Sea Shepherd France and GrindStop 2014 Offshore Leader.
There are two Sea Shepherd vessels currently operating in the Faroes — the Spitfire, and the Clementine, from France. Thor had to be removed from the water earlier today, as foreign vessels can only be in Faroese waters for a maximum of three months.
Sea Shepherd has led the opposition to the mass slaughter of cetaceans in the Faroe Islands since the 1980s. Operation GrindStop 2014 is Sea Shepherd’s largest Faroese campaign to date, and a multi-national team of Sea Shepherd volunteers has been patrolling land and sea in the islands since mid-June. Sea Shepherd will remain in the Faroes until the beginning of October. The campaign spans the typically bloodiest months of the grindadrap hunt season, in an effort to save as many lives as possible.
September 14th, 2014 A £15 million wooden chemistry laboratory will continue to burn for a further 24 hours, firefighters confirmed today. The Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry at Nottingham University was destroyed after it several fires broke out inside the state-of-the-art building on Friday night. The laboratory, which was part-funded by a £12 million grant from pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline was due to open for the first time next year. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the scene at 8.30pm after residents spotted the blaze… …The building was designed to reach carbon neutral status in 25 years to make up the energy expended during its construction. ‘The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry is a landmark building which is the embodiment of the University’s commitment to sustainability in all its forms, particularly in the area of green chemistry and we will be working closely with our partners at GSK, and the contractors Morgan Sindall, to develop a positive plan of action for rebuilding.’ It is not yet known what caused the blaze and a spokesperson for NFRS said work to establish the cause of the blaze can only begin fully once the fire is entirely out. source: the daily heil No-one was injured and no other buildings were affected images from many sources, national & local media scum: 9.9.14 9.9.14 Volunteers from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s pilot whale defense campaign Operation GrindStop 2014 appeared before a court in the Faroe Islands on Monday following their recent arrest in conjunction with trying to prevent the murder of pilot whales. These volunteer crewmembers – many of whom are European citizens – have been found guilty of defending the whales, while Denmark has acted in blatant defiance of European Union regulations by defending the slaughter of whales. Sea Shepherd has issued a statement pertaining to the verdicts and supporter and actor Martin Sheen is speaking out. The six members of Sea Shepherd’s onshore team were among a total of 14 volunteers arrested on August 30 on the Faroese island of Sandoy for attempting to protect 33 pilot whales from the brutal mass slaughter known as “grindadrap” or the “grind.” The onshore crewmembers entered the water, banging poles, in an attempt to lead the pilot whales back out to sea and out of danger, but as the pod was driven in quickly from close to shore, there was little time to prevent the slaughter. The Royal Danish Navy arrested Sea Shepherd’s offshore crew and seized three of their small boats – the Loki, the Mike Galesi, and the B.S. Sheen (sponsored by actor Charlie Sheen). Despite being an anti-whaling EU member nation, Denmark acted in collaboration with the whalers, enabling 33 whales to be killed. The onshore crewmembers face small fines as well as possible deportation from the Faroes by Denmark. The court date for the eight members of the offshore crew has been scheduled for September 25, and Sea Shepherd’s three small boats will be held “as evidence” until that time. Anonymous report from GreenAction.cz Anonymous report from GreenAction.cz „We visited two fur farms in the last two weeks. At first were released approximately 50 minks from cages on the farm in Dolní Cerekev (farm is currently almost empty). During the second visit were damaged two cars and tractor, also with using pyrotechnic mixture – thermite. On the other farm in Velký Ratmírov were damaged truck, excavator and next things for managing the farm. ARM, 20.6.2014″ Emergency services were too slow to catch the responsible as the empty street was brightened from end to end as by torches. In a few words, the selected vans and cars were active components of the life they represent and also enforce. Virgin Media supply television and also internet, and a national fibre optic cable network. To keep us enmeshed in the modern information economy and the spectacle of celebrities, video games and advertising is their business. Destroy what domesticates and stupefies us! A car as fancy as a Quattro is an extra spit in the face for the property-less as well as the earth. In wealthy areas or parts undergoing gentrification they're commonplace, in England as in Argentina, Sydney as in Berlin, and there to be picked off at our leisure. BWS's security vehicle in ashes is one less to aid their task across the UK of keeping the haves from the have-nots by threat or force and of expanding the matrix of surveillance cameras we pass under hundreds of times in a day. Minions of the established order have chosen their side! Insurrectional action against the constructs of authority above us, around us, within us. Either an active fox hunter or a supporter and promoter of killing wild animals solely for entertainment — either way, owner of a heavy-duty 4×4 bearing pro-hunt stickers — got their incendiary gift too. Some call bloodsport uncivilised, but it's really perfectly reflective of the disdain for the nonhuman, upper class entitlement and also cross-class collaboration which is the basis and content of civilisation. Let's make the rich and their terrier-boys the hunted, let's harass them in city or countryside. This deed coincided with the call for collective action in support of our caged brother G. Pombo da Silva (Spain), who's resisting his forced transfer to a maximum security module. Hopefully our flaming regards will also make it through the prison bars to the wandering she-wolves A. Trudeau and F. Rouiller along with compa C. 'Chivo' López (Mexico) — they all face charges over Molotov attacks against State and Capitalism. We're also thinking of the unnamed animal liberation fighter who prosecutors have tried to link to the anarchist paper UpprorsBladet (Sweden) and the co-convicted who also had the sense to stay silent before the cops. While A. Cospito and N. Gai, G. Iacovacci and A. Antonacci will all be tried next on July 4th, we take aim to light up their jail cells with the warmth of our solidarity. Prisoners to the streets, running wild and free! ABOUT THE ACCUSED IN BRISTOL After the resounding silence so far from the local anarchist movement, the first thing we want to state is that — although none of ourselves, our wider network or fleeting affinities know who this person is or anything about their sympathies or complicities — the repressive move by the State aims to discourage similar actions and we will not stand complacent. Either police made an unconnected arrest in efforts to shed some of the criticism they've come under in the regional and national media for failing to stem the flow of anarchist attacks in their area, in which case it was a fruitless provocation as action continues, or that individual really did set out to somehow fight the system that night — singularly, in the context of decentralised informal groups open to anyone such as FAI or ELF, or anonymous — in which case they're a potential comrade and we would defend them as such. It seems for now that police have little interest in the arrested individual as according to the scum-press they're out on bail after questioning, but we call on anyone with more information to release it if they see fit. Meanwhile, solidarity with the live wires and whoever shares their motivations to do the same! Informal anarchist federation/Earth liberation front 24th June received anonymously: 24th June received anonymously: "Over the weekend, a mobile slaughter unit operated by Shoe's Mobile This method of sabotage was chosen because it is silent, effective, and This action is dedicated to the memory of Clément Méric, a vegan and 'Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living.'"
from
from In the Belly of the Beast
Verdict Handed Down for Six Sea Shepherd Volunteers on Faroe Islands
Minks released from cages, vehicles demaged at two fur farms in Czech Republic
anarchists claim string of fires in east bristol
Just before sunrise this morning we launched a targeted arson spree along Glebe Road — which meets the main east Bristol thoroughfare of Church Road — and burned out corporate, luxury, private security and hunt-scum vehicles.
Just before sunrise this morning we launched a targeted arson spree along Glebe Road — which meets the main east Bristol thoroughfare of Church Road — and burned out corporate, luxury, private security and hunt-scum vehicles. Wildfire in the arteries of the city-prison! To break the lie of social peace and intensify the hostilities!
We learned from the scum-press newspapers that early on June 12th an individual was stopped in their vehicle by police in the Bradley Stoke area and suspected of going equipped to commit a crime, then arrested on suspicion of four counts of arson. This was in the context of four coordinated sabotages in the days before which took down many phone signals and also radio services — all of which had already been claimed by Live Wires, FAI/ELF, as reported in the scum-press and carried by anarchist counter-information pages (although hidden once again by the moderators of Bristol Indymedia).
Rogue fire brigade.MOBILE SLAUGHTER UNIT SABOTAGED
Slaughter and Processing (14515 Coon Hollow Rd, Sublimity, OR) was
decommissioned by having a gallon of bleach poured into its fuel tank.
When the liquid bleach comes into contact with the diesel in the tank it
will create a chemical reaction that will cause rapid corrosion to the
unit's fuel system–forcing it to seize up. For the time being this
slaughter unit will be unable to be used to spill the blood of another
animal.
easily reproducible. Symbolic protest and consumer boycotts in and of
themselves are not sufficient in addressing the immediate violence that is
being carried out against non-human animals every second of everyday.
Direct intervention is necessary to free imprisoned non-humans and to
destroy the machines that facilitate their exploitation.
anti-fascist who was beaten to death by neo-nazis in Paris a little over a
year ago. Just as we struggle against those who abuse and exploit
non-human animals; we also take an uncompromising stance against the
far-right's attempts to not only infiltrate the animal liberation and
environmental movements, but also against their attempts to assert
themselves in society in general. Let Clément's tragic death be a
reminder of the necessity for the movement to maintain a strong anti-fascist ethic and to oppose the fascist scum at every turn.
