Not everyone is going to agree with what I'm about to say but you know what...Fuck it - not like that's stopped me before.
I wanted to talk about an "organization" that I have a lot of respect for.
The Animal Liberation Front.
I use the word organization loosely as A.L.F is one of the least organized groups there is. In fact there is no command structure, no leader, no figurehead, no headquarters, no anything. ALF is itself the leader and the figurehead. ALF is anyone that practices civil disobedience (as well as harsher acts) to protect and defend the rights of animals. In the past people have committed acts on behalf of ALF ranging from rescuing animals from labs, destroying said labs, vandalizing and destroying fur farms, and puppy mills and even setting fire to fur shops. "Members" of ALF have been responsible for exposing some of the worse cases of animal abuse in labs as well as puppy mills and factory farms. The videos and photographs of these cases are usually dropped off or sent to PETA for them to make public.
The US Govt. has classified ALF as a domestic terrorist organization and has made it and it's sister group , Earth Liberation Front (ELF), and it's members a major focus of the FBI. Since the group is elusive and has no main structure it has proven impossible to do any damage whatsoever. In fact only one person has ever been arrested that claims to be a member of the group and that resulted in barely any success for law enforcement. :)
No one has ever been killed or injured by ALF or ELF, however tens of millions of dollars of damage has been done to govt., private and corporate property and equipment. It's against the basic tenant of ALF to kill anything , human or animal, and they go out their way to make sure that doesn't happen. Of course there are no guarantees and the possibility of someone getting hurt is always there. The way I look at it though is if you are hurt during one of their raids then that means you are more than likely an employee of the lab, fur farm, or factory farm and as far as I'm concerned...that's what you get! The unbelievable suffering, pain and anguish that animals go through is appalling and if a person that is partly responsible for that gets hurt or worse then so be it.
Many people feel that ALF does more damage to the movement than good but I disagree. I know their antics alienate many people both inside and outside the animal rights movement, but since they're not here to get more people to join them or try to change laws, it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks. They are direct action. They go to places where the time for talking, and protesting and letter writing has came and gone along time ago. They go to places where animals are in immediate danger and anguish and rescue them from that. If PETA or the ASPCA wants to go to court to try and change the laws that's fine. However, ALF realizes that there are millions of animals dying every day that cant wait for the law to come and help them because it never will. That's why I support them.
I've done things that some people would consider bad or extreme. I've gone into make-shift "kennels" (in most cases in someones backyard) that would make your stomach turn and rescued the dogs and then destroyed the kennels. I've sprayed paint and ketchup on fur coats in department stores and once when I was camping I pulled into a gas station / restaurant where there was a truck that had a freshly killed deer strapped to the top. The assholes that killed it were inside at the restaurant eating while the carcass rotted away outside. It was so disgusting. I always wished I would've stuck around to see their faces when they came out of the restaurant and saw that their 2 back tires had been slashed. I'm sure they weren't happy. Too bad. The irony was that it was done with a hunting knife. Imagine that. I never felt bad or felt remorse for any of it and I still don't. Granted, it's been awhile since I've done anything so bold (old age will do that to you), but I cant guarantee I'll never do them again. And please, let's be real, nothing I did was ever close to being on the level of the actual ALF. But they did inspire me to create my own little rebellion.
My point is that when it comes to the lives of animals I really don't care about your coat, or shoes, or lab, or farm , or what ever. All I care about is trying to help as many animals as possible. For some people that means protesting. For some that means letter writing and even others that may mean just wearing a pin or putting a bumper sticker on your car. I think these are all great, but for me I guess I'll have to quote Malcolm X...
"By any means necessary!".
Alright people. Let me have it. But before you do watch this video. It shows footage of actual ALF raids. I think it will help you to better understand what drives some people to such extremes. I hate the music but the images are great. Nothing bloody or shocking just showing what they do. Check it out at 9:45. See how happy the dogs are to see them. They know they are rescued. I've rescued dogs before. I know what that looks like.
Luap :)
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