If I had to create a list of my favorite years in animal and earth liberation history, 1999 would be in the top 5. As the movement looked towards the new millennium there seemed to be an intense urgency in the air, perhaps people felt the need to close the 20th century with a bang or leave their mark before the world ended in a technological melt down on Y2K! Whatever the reasons, direct action reached a fever pitch. Lab raids returned to the United States, the Earth Liberation Front continued it’s ascendancy, Hillgrove farm was shut forever, and everyone seemed to be preparing for the World Trade Organization ministerial in Seattle. Across the globe there was a sense that people were not going to take it anymore, and whether you were struggling against bio-technology or prisons or speciesism, chances are good that you were employing some form of illegal tactic.

No Compromise may not have covered everything going on in the global struggle, but if it was animal lib related then chances are it was covered in these three issues. From the death of Alex Slack to end of the annual Hegins pigeon massacre, you’d be hard pressed to find a more complete overview of these twelve action packed months.

Back when the United States still had a strong grassroots animal liberation infrastructure, activists would regularly travel from all across the country to attend national demonstrations. Hundreds, or even thousands, of people would descend on various targets, and for a few days at least, bring the killers a little taste of the hell that they regularly created for non-humans.

Inside / Out is the story of Brenda Shoss’ experience at one such demonstration which took place in Little Rock between October 27th and 29th in 2001. Brenda, a devoted animal rescuer and mother, represented the broad diversity of the campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences during it’s early years. Hailing from St. Louis, she hardly fit the image of “the usual suspects” in militant campaigning. Happily marching alongside pierced punks and anarchists, Brenda’s mild mannered and patriotic politics did not clash with those held by her comrades: instead her presence signaled a movement able to break through to a wider audience. Throughout her account of the demonstrations she evokes the anger and outrage that prompted thousands to band together, despite their differences, to fight to shut down HLS.

Following her personal reflections on the demonstration and overall campaign are excerpts from Michelle Rokke’s “Diaries of Despair,” an insider’s account of the horrors that happen behind the locked doors of Huntingdon, a company that continues to kill hundreds of animals a day in unnecessary and vicious experiments.

All over the world dedicated people fight the tide of omnicide. From the Bishnoi tribe in India, to members of Spear of the Tiger in South Africa, these warriors risk their lives and freedom for a more just world. In many cases the only documents of their actions are written in languages other than English, and sadly that fact has caused an omission of a tremendous amount of historically significant events in our archives.

We want to fix this situation, and in order to do so we are hoping to find new volunteers to assist with translating a wealth of texts from multiple languages. Our first project involves several German publications, including some which we have taken the images from to share below. We are looking for a translator fluent in German and English, to apply please send an e-mail to conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

“The sun shines brightly in the yard, the sky is clear, the air fresh and bracing. Now the last gate will be thrown open, and I shall be out of site of the guard, beyond the bars, – alone! How I have hungered for this hour, how often in the past years have I dreamed of this rapturous moment – to be alone, out in the open, away from the insolent eyes of my keepers! I’ll rush away from these walls and kneel on the warm sod, and kiss the soil, and embrace the trees, and with a song of joy give thanks to Nature for the blessings of sunshine and air.” Alexander Berkman, Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist.

Upon my own release from prison I traveled to Seattle from Sheridan, Oregon to turn myself in to a halfway house. I too was an anarchist in the hands of the enemy, and while my incarceration was not as long or harsh as Berkman’s, his memoir contains long portions – sometimes entire pages – that feel so familiar it seems as though I wrote them myself. Several times in the final chapter he mentions a longing for wilderness, an urge to run from the dead cities of the northeast into the forests. On that ride from one lockup to another I knew why. Civilization is inherently confining, and even outside of the greybar hotel most of our lives consist of moving from one box to another in a continuous and agonizing march that we have little power to control. Looking out the windows of my friends car I wanted the passing sprawl to be sucked into the soil and replaced with life, beauty, and liberty.

The nature of incarceration can certainly make a person think about the incarceration of nature, but even those anarchists who have been lucky or smart enough to stay out of state custody often get it. If you are opposed to the artificial hierarchies of class, why support the equally arbitrary hierarchies based on species? If you think that forests have less worth than humans than I say you haven’t met enough cops! There isn’t one authority figure on earth I wouldn’t trade for a tree, and anyone who would argue the opposite is a moron. But forgive my rambling, I have written all the above because this wonderful DIY zine has sparked my sense of rebellion and wildness!

The end of the 90s and the early 2000s was a busy time for forest defenders, and across the globe direct action campaigns for wilderness were abundant and inspiring. There are many famous examples, and while Warner Creek and the anti-roads campaigns of England may have stolen the spotlight, one rugged crew in British Columbia carried on an overlooked battle that every activist should know about. If you like raging warrior grannies, sabotage, unlikely coalitions, and open revolt against corporations and their governmental subsidiaries, then you ought to read up on the history of actions in the Elaho, Squamish, and Simms valleys. This zine, written by members of the Elaho Valley Anarchist Horde as both a primer for new activists coming to the Elaho and a means of publicizing the campaign, is an excellent introduction.

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.

On the 5th of November of 1947 a baby lowland gorilla, stolen from his home and family in West Africa, arrived at the London Zoo. As it was Guy Fawkes day, this newest prisoner was named in his honor. Guy the Gorilla went on to become one of the biggest money makers for his captors, and thousands of visitors would gawk at him, occasionally throwing him sweets to eat. Eventually the candies rotted his teeth, and during a surgery to repair them, he had a heart attack. The budding animal liberation movement in the UK took notice, and a group of people began producing buttons with Guy’s face on them. As the buttons grew in popularity, this small group decided to make a newspaper, and soon The Beast became an insert in International Times. After two such inserts the editors struck out on their own, and soon this beautiful publication was on newsstand racks in England and abroad. It was produced for two short years, and remains one of the best animal liberation (and anti-nuke!) publications of all time.

The Beast began it’s run during a time of global social and political decay. As the voters of the west fell under the spell of charismatic and brutal conservatives, a broad coalition of anti-nuke, anti-fascist, union, conservationist, environmentalist, and animal lib activists entrenched themselves to fight back. As things “hotted up” in the streets, the staff of the magazine followed the action and ideas of an astonishing number of people and groups. The tone in the early issues is optimistic, brave, and intelligent, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the psyche of activists during the era.

The history covered is equally incredible. Articles offer the story of the first animal liberation raid in the United States, the origins of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, and the early days of the Animal Liberation Front. Lost figures, like OG U.S. Hunt Sab and eco-prisoner John Walker, come back to life in these old pages. Important thinkers, such as Henry Spira, Peter Singer, Richard Adams, and Paul Watson were regular contributors. Then, there are the images! Between the full color, glossy covers are amazing pictures of early raids, movement legends, and epic moments on our movement’s timeline. One such photograph, taken in 1980 and shown in issue #10, captures a small group of Animal Liberation League activists standing with banners in a field, bandannas covering their faces, fists in the air. More than 30 years later young people still show that same spark of rebellion and hope, and with our archiving of this magazine, perhaps they will now better understand the revolutionaries who came before them.

When we started Conflict Gypsy one of our dreams was to obtain a complete set of The Beast. After just one year of existence, we have met this goal. As our birthday gift to you we offer the Complete Newsstand Collection of The Beast, perhaps our most important single posting so far…

In 1995 Channel 4′s Warcries news program aired Angels Of Mercy?, a 30 minute investigation into the Animal Liberation Front. The show focused primarily on Keith Mann, an ALF volunteer who was then serving England’s longest sentence for animal rights motivated arson. While most commercially funded news has a clear bias in favor of the status quo (and the channels sponsors,) Warcries was known for fairer journalism. The result in this case was a surprisingly sympathetic look at what pushes a young person to commit criminal acts on behalf of non-humans. Given developments since it first aired, it also serves as a remarkable lesson about public credibility and how difficult it is to regain once lost.

In the 1990s our movement had a variety of articulate, savvy spokespeople, and the release of Angels of Mercy? quickly made Keith Mann foremost among them. His voice-overs from a prison phone are heard over shocking footage of animal abuse, and interviews with his family and supporters act to assure the audience that he is a rational, and passionate activist to working to stop what can only be described as horrific cruelty. When Keith was later released from prison he was highly sought after as a speaker and a source for reporters. I always felt reassured when I saw his face in the news since I knew it meant that at least one positive quote would make it’s way to the public.

Sadly, in the last few years Keith has become a devotee of British new-age guru David Icke, a man who believes that a race of reptilian shape-shifters secretly controls the world, that cancer is a fungus, that some humans are actually half-dead, inter-dimensional beings, and a host of other pseudo-scientific nonsense. After being literally laughed off of television in 1991 when he wrongly predicted the end of the world, he has resurfaced in recent years as a lecturer and author with a depressing number of followers.

Since his conversion to odd-ball conspiracy theorist Keith Mann has lost much of his credibility both inside and outside the movement. Most recently he has become a holocaust denier, thereby severing his ties with many of us who still held some hope that he would come to his senses. It’s a shame, because as I watch Angels of Mercy? I am reminded of the rare power he once had to make everyday people understand direct action and animal liberation, a power whose benefit is now lost to the animal nations. It is my hope that by posting this video others will consider how desperately the animals need trustworthy advocates, and how easy it is to damage that trust.

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.

“Why Property Damage? ALF action goes beyond acts of protest. Animals will always be rescued where possible, but the main purpose of the action is often economic sabotage. Property and “things” hold no sacred value-the opposite, in fact, if they are used to cause pain and death. To STOP the very real violence of torture and killing, inanimate objects must be rendered unusable. When equipment is broken, work cannot go on as usual with a new batch of victims, insurance rates go up and so do security costs, making the enterprise less profitable.” PeTA News, Volume 2 #1

“When questioned on Irish television about an action against a butcher shop, Morrissey, an avid vegetarian, was asked “What about the safety of the butchers?” Responded Morrissey, “When you think of the horror experienced by millions of animals in slaughterhouses each year, what’s a few butchers?” His song Meat Is Murder topped the charts in 1985.” PeTA News Volume 3 #1

Imagine for a moment that a young animal rights activist with very little knowledge of the movement’s history finds a time machine and heads back into the early 1980s. Upon arrival they decide to get involved with a militant group and begin asking who they should join. At every turn they are told that PETA is the most militant group in the United States. This seems absurd to our young activist! “All PETA does is embarrass the movement with offensive ad campaigns and nudity! They are celebrity driven and devoid of substance, they kill healthy feral cats and don’t even have a rights based philosophy! They even demoted an employee for publicly supporting politically motivated arson!” Angered, our imaginary friend stomps into the DC area offices of the group to re-write history, and is shocked with what they find…

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals experienced a meteoric rise in membership and notoriety in the early 1980′s as a direct result of their support for (and participation in) illegal direct action. Their relationship with the Animal Liberation Front was symbiotic: PETA provided the ALF with whistlebower information, credible spokespeople, and sympathetic coverage of raids. In return, PETA was placed in the media spotlight and received undercover footage and documents from the ALF that were often parlayed into high profile (and lucrative) campaigns. The atmosphere of popular militancy was exciting, and after years of slow progress people felt that supporting PETA meant backing a faster, more direct path to rights for non-humans.

PETA sold ALF support merchandise in their newsletters, ran a legal defense fund for people accused of unlawful activism, and helped popularize the concept of mischief in defense of animals. For example, PETA News sold squirt bottles of red permanent fabric ink alongside the warning that since the damage done to furs would be permanent, you should only spray the ink on your own furs! Articles talked about a likely apocryphal 15 year old who got grounded for passing out “Throw a Brick Through McDonald’s Day” pamphlets, and later chuckled as he got caught with paint bombs under his bed. Incidentally, the same article described how young “Kevin” made the paint bombs. These examples only just barely scratch the surface of the early militancy of Alex Pacheco and Ingrid Newkirk’s fledgling organization.

The story of animal rights in the United States can not be told without a thorough examination of the early days of PETA, an era sure to shock newcomers. In the coming months we will begin a more in depth analysis of their early days, but in the meantime jump into the Conflict Gypsy time machine and prepare to have your mind blown by these early issues of PeTA News.

Hail, vegan warriors! For too long our people have suffered the indignity of wearing hippie-as-fuck merchandise just because we want to support good, not-for-profit projects. NO LONGER! For eons we have waited for a garment that says, “I will fight for the lives of animals and the death of false metal.” We must wait no more!

The metal gods have reached down from their mountain and presented Conflict Gypsy with this all organic, non-sweatshop, totally hesh shirt. Woven from black wind, fire, and steel (Yet remarkably soft!) this Matt Gauck designed, 3 color beauty can scare your parents for $30, postage included! ($40 for Canadian orders, please.) All proceeds benefit the growth of our archive!

To purchase, choose your size- (Unisex small, medium, large, or x-large, or women’s small, medium, or large) and then Paypal $30 ppd for US orders, $40 ppd Canadian, to conflictgypsy@gmail.com – Be certain to include a verified shipping address!

Special thanks to Rebecca and Holly for proving that this shirt will make you TOUGH. Check out their vegan cooking show, Vegan Shortcake. To check out the full design look here.

Consumer culture is rampant in its appropriation and assimilation of radical ideas, taking things that were once revolutionary (including the word “revolutionary” itself!) and turning them into products to be purchased or new forms of advertising. DIY Skater culture became a vehicle for hocking Mountain Dew, Tylenol, and Nike shoes, hardcore music influenced the crappy, commercial “now I’m singing, now I’m yelling” garbage heard on the radio today, and in a world where sorority girls have knuckle tattoos and think Discharge is a clothing brand, can punk still be a threat? These subcultures may have never truly threatened the system, but at one time they provided a safe space from it, and in that space some truly liberatory ideas flourished.

If you have grown up in a world where vegan cookies are sold at supermarkets and every animal free product imaginable can be bought on the internet, veganism might just seem to be one more compartment in the consumerist toolbox. But there was a time when this wasn’t so. In the early days of veganism you had to be seditious to even consider such a thing. It was unheard of, and given cultural resistance to the changing of food choices, it was also rebellious. While many health oriented and religious groups had advocated an animal free diet, animal rights oriented veganism was uncharted territory. (And at times unwelcome in the animal rights community! Many New Zealand anti-vivisection societies ran newsletter articles in the late 70′s and early 80′s warning of possible “infiltration” efforts by vegans!) On it’s path to mainstream acceptance, the first pioneering steps were taken by very often by punks, hardcore kids, and others existing on the fringes.

Because being a vegan was such a new concept at the time, people simply did not know how to do it. Recipes and helpful hints began spreading through album liner notes, self published cook-zines, and the network of all ages venues that began springing up in the late 1970s. Making veganism accessible to the young and poor brought animal rights into communities that were already resistant to cultural norms, and soon animal liberation joined the roster of causes tattooed on the hearts of misfits everywhere. Diets were changed, but more importantly, action was taken. For proof we present Raggedy Anarchy, an amazing cook-zine that was hugely influential on the likes of Isa Moskowitz and others, written by a young punk and hunt saboteur from California.

Raggedy Anarchy will help you make delicious cakes, but it will also spark your desire to subvert the omnicidal paradigm! Sometimes funny, sometimes introspective, and always inspiring, we post this classic in the hopes of making Snacktivism a threat again and convincing our readers to “bake for themselves what tomorrow never brings!”

A few years ago when SHAC 7 defendant Jake Conroy was being released from prison he was trying to set up a job in the outside world, not always an easy thing for a felon to accomplish. Luckily, some old friends knew the folks at In Defense of Animals, once one of the largest animal rights groups in the country. They were initially interested in hiring Jake, but after one staff member, Hope Purplehorse, heard about his possible employment soon a campaign was started within the office focused around rhetoric of “violence” and “terrorism” that almost could have come from an animal abuse industry handbook. The job offer was rescinded and Jake, a dedicated and brilliant activist with more than 15 years of experience, had to find work elsewhere.

If you are new to the animal liberation movement this won’t surprise you. National organizations almost seem to trip over their own feet these days to prove to our opposition and an apathetic public how reasonable and “mainstream” they are. This wasn’t always the case though. In Defense of Animals, for example, was founded after it’s president, a veterinarian by the name of Elliot Katz, sat down to dinner with Jonathan Paul and Cres Velluci, both of whom have served time for animal liberation activity. They recommended that he start an organization along the lines of Last Chance for Animals in Los Angeles, and Katz agreed. In the early days of IDA the group participated heavily in civil disobedience actions and organized mass demonstrations where disruptions and building takeovers were often par for the course. Later into the 90s they gave money to groups that utilized aggressive pressure tactics, such as Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition and Coalition to Free the Langur Monkeys, and also sponsored media stunts like the banner hangs at UC Berkeley carried out by Josh Trenter and Mike Kennedy.

The early energy of the group strengthened the movement, increased excitement among In Defense of Animals membership, and produced excellent results for non-humans. IDA was far from unique- in their early years PETA, Fund for Animals, Trans-Species Unlimited, Last Chance for Animals, and many others shared a similar radicalism, some even going so far as to openly support lab break ins and property damage. Unfortunately, as some underground groups carried out actions that were altogether unsupportable, and industry groups got more savvy, a wedge was driven between direct action oriented individuals and national organizations.

Conflict Gypsy would like to explore the history and process of national organizations withdrawing their support from radicalism and it’s consequences for the movement and the animals. We are seeking early issues of PeTA’s Animal Times, In Defense of Animals newletters, and similar publications for an upcoming series of posts. If you have these publications please contact us at conflictgypsy(at)gmail(dot)com

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 Conflict Gypsy 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 Conflict Gypsy makes such material available to begin with, others have asked that we remove it. For the record, Conflict Gypsy 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 Conflict Gypsy 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.

An early and wonderful example of DIY video production and anonymous distribution, Animal Liberation: The Movie was brought to the US by Freeman Wicklund in the early 90s. Often sold on the same tape as the moving Kieth Mann documentary “Angels of Mercy,” it quickly became a must have in the video collection of activists everywhere.

Documenting the high-water mark of daylight raids, department store arson, hunt sabotage, and undercover investigations in England, this sub-rosa video remains one of the best catalogs of direct action in the 80s and early 90s.

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.

The genesis of Conflict Gypsy came from our founder’s desire to collect and preserve a complete set of Do or Die, the classic British Earth First! publication. While we still have not found copies of issues 1-4, our posting of these book sized epics continues with issue #7.

Do or Die was always reasonably free of the acritical cheer leading of it’s many American counterparts, and this issue manages an honest examination of the limitations and capabilities of direct action campaigns from Poland to Brazil to Mexico. As always, there is a bittersweet mixture of inspiration and despair while reading about the clashes between the oppressed and the powers of the state and industry, but there are enough victories contained in this volume that elation prevails! You will cheer as the black bloc escapes arrests in Derbyshire by switching into hippie clothing and shouting “no violence” as the police roll in (An activist in England nearly pissed themselves telling me that story one night!) and as wild boars recruit domesticated pigs for non-human resistance to domestication. The power of villagers in India to stop dams lessens the pain of reading about the paramilitary massacres of people in Acteal, and other articles will have you thinking deeply about our movements DIY media efforts, prison support, and coalitions with labor groups. All in all, another must read from one of the most exciting periods of resistance in the 20th century.

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.

Since it’s very inception the United States has fought hard to take away, or manage into pointlessness, the rights “guaranteed” in the constitution and bill of rights. For proof one needs look no further than the first amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” A thinking person could instantly rattle off any number of laws (and extra-legal government activity) that make nonsense of these words, particularly as they apply to free speech, the press, and the right of people to peaceably assemble!

Take for example 18 U.S.C. 842(p), the federal law concerning the distribution of texts involving explosives. Advocacy of armed action and violent revolution, even when intended to incite (but not likely to do so) is allegedly protected by the first amendment, but this law makes certain texts and websites illegal if the material therein is provided with knowledge or intent that the information will be used to commit a federal crime. Sounds reasonable right? Well, first one must consider the idea of intent, how it is proven, and how a person’s politics might be used to prejudice a jury against them. Second, one must consider that the Patriot Act provides considerable sentencing modifiers to any activity the government deems to be terrorism- even speech. The threat of twenty or more years behind bars could sway someone to self-censor (or plea to a lesser charge, even when they are innocent) when their “intent” could easily be misrepresented by a prosecutor.

Conflict Gypsy exists to archive rare and relevant publications of interest to militant animal and earth liberationists. Controversy is integral to the texts and images that we preserve and discuss, and in an ideal world we would be able to share all of the materials available to us. But, as it stands, we do have to worry about the dozens and dozens of state and federal laws that restrict free expression and sharing of ideas. Here is a small sampling of some of the covers of various publications that have at one time or another been distributed in radical non-human protection movements. We wish that we could share them in full and apologize to our readers that we do not live in a country where such liberty is afforded us.

Our posting of the complete Arkangel continues into the 90s with issues 4, 5, and 7. The omission of issue 6 is not an oversight- it was never printed. Arkangel was founded by Ronnie Lee, who was serving a 10 year sentence during the magazines early years, and edited by Vivien Smith, who found herself in a jail cell by the time issue #6 was scheduled for release. Sensing the possibility of shutting down this crucial publication, law enforcement in England ransacked the Arkangel office just before the layout of issue #6. It was lost to the ages, and with Vivien facing serious charges a new team of interim editors anonymously produced Arkangel #7, causing a slight decline in the publication’s overall quality.

The history covered by these three issues is tremendous. The death of Mike Hill, Animal Aid’s disastrous labeling of direct action as “terrorism,” and the return of the ALF Press Office are all reported upon, along with updates from groups around the world. Amidst the columns reporting on the actual work of activists though is a disturbing amount of debate, much of it centered on whether animal rights groups should allow participation by racists, nationalists, and separatists. The back and forth articles from one issue to the next mostly fail to recognize the most offensive nature of the argument – that there should even be an argument! It boggles the mind that anyone could see a benefit to taking on the baggage of these far right lunatics and their disgusting politics. During a decade where skinhead violence claimed the lives and dignity of so many it is particularly disheartening that some in our movement saw fit to offer these thugs a place at our table.

Several months ago we posted Underground #16 along with the all caps tagline, “THE RARE FINAL ISSUE!” Boy, is our face red. The final issue of Underground is actually issue 17.

Much of what was said in our post about issue 16 is also true of 17- the news was late, the supporters groups was constantly dealing with the problems of rotating volunteers, and as print media was being challenged by the internet, Underground also seemed to be declining in quality. The final issue did contain some important bits of forgotten history though, like the joint resignation letter from ELF press officers Craig Rosebraugh and Leslie James Pickering, or the tiny article about Belgian animal liberation super-arsonist Geert Waegemans additional charges. There is also a wonderful transcription of Mirha-Soleil Ross’ radio interview with Rod Coronado, former ALF Press Officer (and current snitch apologist) David Barbarash’s 2001 Year End Direct Action Report, and a reprinting of the ever popular “Staying Free By Shutting the Fuck Up!”

The second and final episode of Breaking Free has some glaring faults: jokes that are not funny, computer animation that is antiquated and was already embarrassing upon it’s release, and no shortage of bad titling choices. It also contains footage of some of the most important and influential campaigns of the era it was produced, especially the Consort Kennels and Hillgrove protests which eventually led to the international fight against Huntingdon Life Sciences. Many long forgotten ALF raids are also shown, along with the final major civil disobedience actions at the end of the voluntary arrest era of the 1990s.

Transcript of Joshua Harper’s Live ARZone Guest Chat – Animal Rights Zone

We are now taking pre-orders for our first t-shirt! Gorgeously illustrated by Matt Gauck, this 3 color design is printed on a very METAL, non-sweatshop organic black shirt. It is the perfect accent to your wardrobe and can be worn while reading zines, smashing the state, on first dates, or pissing off your parents. Buy extras for grandma and the mailman! All sales benefit the archive and our efforts to preserve radical environmental and animal rights history.

So, what is it going to cost you and how do you get one? First, choose your size- (Unisex small, medium, large, or x-large) and then Paypal $35 ppd for US orders, $40 ppd Canadian, to conflictgypsy@gmail.com – Shirts should begin shipping in just a few short weeks! (SHIPPING AND HANDLING ARE INCLUDED IN THE PRICES ABOVE!)

During the advent of underground direct action in the United States the FBI had very little in the way of actionable intelligence on those responsible for the sabotage taking place from coast to coast. That all changed when a mentally ill-former activist with a history of violence and stalking began speaking with the Bureau. His name was Bill Ferguson, and while he is best known as the activist who shot Last Chance for Animals founder Chris DeRose in the back, his legacy as the first North American super snitch is far more obscure. Once he began cooperating grand juries sprung up all over the country, homes were raided, and the dirty tricks experienced by other movements began entering the militant vegan arena. In response many grassroots animal organizations began to distribute Brian Glick’s excellent booklet, War At Home.

Clocking in at under 100 pages, War at Home covers all of the most important moments in the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence program, (Better known as COINTELPRO) including the events which occurred after COINTELPRO was supposedly shut down. In plain language and with surprising detail Glick discusses the means and aims of the FBI’s attempts at ending domestic dissent. More than a must read on past abuses, War At Home is also an invaluable handbook on security culture and support for those targeted by law enforcement harassment campaigns. The current wave of crackdowns on the Occupy movement make the free distribution of this booklet more important than ever- please share it with your friends.

The system as we know it did not magically appear one day, nor did it evolve to its current state without having to contend with resistance. Shaping the minds of the people to accept what they otherwise would rebel against is therefore very important to those at the top. After all, if you can stop a fight before it even begins you can get down to the business of despoiling the earth at maximum profit! This is why cartoon figures smile out at us from the billboards of extraction industries, why cute jingles accompany the commercials of companies who sell us back what they never should have been allowed to take to begin with. If they can convince us at a young age that they are our friends it can keep things from getting messy later on…

This is why subverting the iconography of our opponents is so important. They develop their logos and mascots to imbue their brands with specific traits: strength, respectability, or good ol’ ‘Merican chummery depending on their goals. But their branding is not safe, it can be kidnapped and utilized for our own ends!

The US Forest Service is a government agency that many people mistakenly believe exists to protect and “manage” the eco-systems under its care. Nothing could be further from the truth. The US Forest service is essentially a wing of the logging industry that auctions off public land for private profit at a net loss to tax payers. (Yes, the land is sold for less than what taxpayers spend for its upkeep!) How does an organization behave so badly for so long without anyone noticing? The USFS has as part of it’s solution a cartoon bear.

Radical environmentalists subvertised the heck out of Smokey in the 80′s and 90′s to great effect. The free Smokey comic books given out at ranger stations were replaced with Stumpy comics, and timber towns across the northwest saw wheat pasted posters showing the real Smokey going up on vertical surfaces with regularity. Given the current anti-corporate climate in America, these early examples of spokes-bear Ju-Jitsu ought to inspire a few folks to do some subvertising of their own…

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.

After the shakeup caused by Freeman Wicklund’s departure, one might have expected No Compromise to slow it’s publishing schedule while it re-grouped. Instead, they had one of their most productive years, reporting on everything from the first daylight raid in the US, to the murder of Earth First! activist David “Gypsy” Chain. The volume of important articles in these issues is too great to summarize in a tiny blog post, so instead we would just like to encourage you to read each edition thoroughly. Truly, this is one of our favorite posts on Conflict Gypsy so far as it highlights so many significant events in the movement at the end of the 1990s.

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.

When I was a kid the world didn’t have the sort of instant gratification now expected for all transactions, and thank goodness. You can really appreciate the value of something more once you’ve clipped five proof of purchases, put them into an envelope, mailed them away, and waited 6 to 8 weeks for your Zartan action figure to arrive. Distribution for the Black Cat Sabotage book worked the same way – you clipped an ad out of a zine and mailed it in along with concealed cash. A few months later a copy showed up in a nondescript envelope. I still remember when mine was delivered…

My first copy of Black Cat left me feeling like I was involved in some sort of conspiracy just turning the pages. Sure, most of it was reprints that I had already seen before, but the layout, the graphics, and the text all seemed to carry the message that action was urgent and that the enemy was watching. (Of course, we were all sending envelopes with our return addresses to the same damn PO Box in Eugene, so if anyone was watching they already knew who we were!) At the time I didn’t know who was publishing or distributing it, but rumors eventually surfaced in the mid 2000′s that the book was compiled by Bill Rogers, an accused Earth Liberation Front member who took his own life behind bars in 2005. In his suicide note he said that his death was a “Jail break,” and as he slowly suffocated himself with a plastic bag he gripped one hand into a fist, and with the other, extended his middle finger.

I only met Bill one or two times and did not get to know him well, but since his death I have heard many complicated things about him. From what I gather he was at times heroic, but had some serious, perhaps unforgivable flaws that should not be ignored. In that respect he is like the book that he was rumored to have clipped together and sent out anonymously. The Black Cat Sabotage Handbook contains some good bits of information, some serious inspiration, and some decent arguments for the use of sabotage and even violence. Likewise, it also contains some foolhardy nonsense that could get someone jailed or killed for little positive gain. The cover shouts, “BEWARE!” and smart readers will heed that advice.

In closing, here is to Bill. He was a man I can best respect by keeping off a pedestal. I can not deny that many of the stories about him are disconcerting, but I also can not deny the beauty of his attempts to spark a revolution against industrialism. As his friends sat shivering and complaining in a car, it was Bill who trekked alone through snow, uphill and burdened with the weight of gallons of fuel to set a fire that would announce to millions the existence of the Earth Liberation Front. That speaks volumes about his fighting spirit, and his wild drive to right the wrongs our species has perpetrated. His death saddens me, but something tells me that someone so intent on freeing others would not have done well spending decades behind bars- perhaps in that sense his “jail break” really was a form of escape. He will be remembered as a warrior.

Back in 1997 I was kicked out of the Liberation Collective house in Portland and moved back to my home town of Eugene. Portland was a great place for activism in those days, but Eugene didn’t have much going on… yet. So, me and an old friend decided to start an Animal Defense League chapter. Right from the start we had a tough time getting people in the streets, but we had another idea…

I grew up skateboarding, and one of the most fascinating things about that art form is how coverage of skateboarding ultimately progresses the art of skateboarding. Every time a new skate video came out kids all over the world would see new possibilities, would feel the fire lit beneath them to try new tricks, and would find courage to do so because they had just seen other people do it right in front of them. They would film their tricks, and then the whole process would happen again and again, with each new video being more impressive than the one that preceded it. My buddy had just bought a top of the line video editing setup- A pentium II with a 9 gig drive, an SVS deck, and a copy of Premiere 3.2 with a $3,000 analog video capture card. Maybe we could do for activism what skate videos did for skateboarding.

The world of non-human liberation movements was fast paced and loaded with action back then. I knew that someone needed to document everything going on, but I couldn’t afford to travel and film it all. Most AR groups had a cheap camera though, so I put out the word that we wanted to get everyone’s footage for a video, and slowly the tapes started to trickle in. We learned how to edit through trial and error, and after several months of frustration in front of the computer, Breaking Free #1 was available.

The video is not perfect in any way, and there is a lot about it that embarrasses me. Still, there was nothing else quite like it at the time. Sales were high, it was translated into German and Spanish, bootleg copies were everywhere, and even mainstream publications like Animals Agenda were praising us. While I cringe at the mispronunciation of “Nietzsche,” the bad joke of an opening, and yes, the techno music, (Sorry, Mr. K!) I feel pride that we created such an accurate picture of the state of the movement, and insured that so many acts of anger, disobedience, and compassion were not forgotten. Please watch it with critical, but forgiving eyes.

On November 16th 1997, nine years prior to the day that I turned myself in to federal prison in the SHAC 7 case, I was arrested in Anaheim, California. Activists from around the country had descended upon the home of Disneyland to protest the American Association of Laboratory Animal Scientists and we soon found ourselves facing a small army of law enforcement officers. They had miniature tanks, riot suits, pepper spray, batons, counter sniper units on rooftops, and a willingness to use all of the above to maintain the right of vivisectors to keep cutting open living animals. The demonstrations that day set in motion a chain of events that would change the face of grassroots animal rights in America. What does any of this have to do with No Compromise #8 and it’s insert? Allow me to explain.

Freeman Wicklund was a vibrant, young activist from Minnesota. After animal rights militancy had been severely hampered in the late 80′s by grand juries, arrests, and the presence of informants, Freeman was one of the activists who had helped pick up the pieces. His organizing with Student Organization for Animal Rights had made Minneapolis a sort of mecca for direct action oriented vegans, and his projects in the early 90s included traveling to England to bring back literature, documentaries, and interviews about the strengths and weaknesses of the movement abroad. These materials proved to be very influential, and after a short period of contributing to publications such as Out of the Cages, Freeman started No Compromise magazine with a few friends. No Comp, as we called it back then, was the spark that lit a prairie fire. After its publication actions against animal abusers hit a fever pitch.

The 1990s were a complicated time. On the one hand a lot of dedicated, sincere people were taking tremendous risks and making large sacrifices to liberate animals from harm. On the other hand, thrill seekers and status hunters wanted to make a name for themselves while having a little adventure. The epicenter of the latter phenomenon was Salt Lake City. The straight edge scene in Utah was notoriously violent and cultish, and it adherents had attached veganism to their gang-like mentality. Direct actions were on the rise in the area, but many of them were being performed by people who could care less about the politics. When Freeman visited the state in 1997 to help train young people to deal with grand juries, he found a movement based on bragging and scene points. Animals were secondary to climbing the straight edge social ladder, and snitching and self incrimination were epidemic. Disgusted with what he saw there, Freeman began reading the works of pacifist Gene Sharp, and slowly he began to have personal doubts about the role of sabotage and aggressive protest.

Those private conflicts became very public in Anaheim. The AALAS protest drew hundreds of people from multiple states and ended in 8 arrests. While Wicklund was being arrested he began to shout that he was opposed to the ALF at a nearby camera which he mistakenly believed belonged to news media. (The camera was being operated by the police to gather evidence against the protestors.) While we were being detained in the Orange County Jail he told the other arrestees that he was a pacifist now, and upon his release he announced via e-mail lists that he would be quitting his job as editor at No Compromise. When issue #8 was released it contained an editorial announcing his departure, along with a 16 page insert that detailed the focal points of his new strategy.

The supposed “violence vs pacifism” debate is unlikely to ever be resolved, but the contentious battles between the two sides of that argument can sure tear apart a movement. Freeman, for his part, was not content to simply let his views be known. His actions now provide us with a clear road map of what not to do with tactical dogmatism; he began traveling the country denouncing direct action at conferences, he sent out press releases denouncing ALF actions, he even went so far as to visit and disrupt meetings of pro-direct action organizations, including Student Organization for Animal Rights, the group he once worked for.

Many people who had been inspired by Freeman now could not decide where they stood and slowly drifted away. Actions slowed to a standstill as infighting raged and many activists just decided to flee the internal drama. By the start of 1998 the number of grassroots groups were declining and regional networks were falling into disarray.

As time went on Freeman faded into obscurity. His activism became a hodgepodge of confusing moves like running for a school board position in Minnesota, giving equal time to the meat industry when he would table, and requiring that members of his group sign a pledge acknowledging that he was their leader. When his court date in the Anaheim case came around he skipped it to give a lecture about the failings of the Animal Liberation Front. I did show up for my court date, and was sentenced to 45 days in one of the most violent county jails in the United States. There, while on hunger strike, I rejected my own pacifist tendencies, and started down the path that would ultimately lead to my participation in the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign.

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.

In our continuing efforts to make the history of radical animal and earth liberation accessible to everyone we are introducing a new reader technology to the site. Our hope is that this will fix the issues that many people were having with browser plug ins and Adobe reader compatibility. We think that the new reader is also much more attractive and makes it easier to skim publications and find what you are looking for. By clicking on the image the link will take you to the pop reader in your browser. The arrow button at the top right hand corner will expand the reader to full screen, while the toolbar at the bottom of the publication will allow you to print the publication, share the publication and also bring up a page to download the .PDF of the publication.

Thank you for your continuing support of our site. Just a reminder: old publications sitting on a shelf don’t benefit anyone! Be sure to check your collections for the items missing from our site and get in touch if you can help us grow.

Thanks,
The Conflict Gypsies.

Conflict Gypsy’s Canadian section grows substantially with these two issues of Frontline. Predating Combat and Underground, Frontline offers a peak into the development of the Canadian Animal Liberation Front Support Group and also into the early histories and first hand accounts of the Canadian ALF.

The difference between #3 and #4 illustrate the growth and spread of the Canadian ALFSG; #4 more than doubles the size of #3 and you see a definite interest in design as the publication grows.

For someone who currently organizes in this exact same area, this post is bittersweet. Activists left from this era are extremely rare and very few know this history (although it is important to note that ARK-II is still active!).

We are dedicated to searching out and preserving this history in order to help bridge that gap. If you can help us find other issues of Frontline, Combat or any other Canadian publication of interest, please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

For the last several months we have been pursuing some of our favorite activists and friends to write blogs introducing classics from our archives. As it turns out, our friends and favorite activists are lazy and regularly delinquent in transmitting promised writings. We still love them, even ol’ Ginger Rage, AKA Will Potter. He wrote the first of these guest editorials, and it was well worth the wait.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is widely credited with igniting the modern environmental movement, which is true, but less well known is how quickly the movement radicalized.

By the first Earth Day in 1970, anonymous individuals were making headlines by targeting polluters. Illinois’s “The Fox” and Florida’s “Eco-Commando Force” developed a cult following. They were environmental vigilantes taking on the big, bad corporations, and people loved them.

By 1971, Environmental Action held a national contest soliciting tips on “ecotage.” The tips were compiled in a book and featured in national media.

The tone and honesty of Ecotage is refreshing and a bit surprising when read in the context of the current political climate. Reader-submitted ideas for tactics included re-painting billboards, pulling survey stakes, subscribing CEOs to hundreds of magazines, waging phone blockades, and sabotaging pollution-spewing pipes.

As described in the introduction: “…if ecotage is condemned, the condemnation is of a system which demands ecotage, a system which is so unresponsive to the needs and dreams of its constituents that it forces them underground to effect change.”

During the 1970s and 80s, this mainstreaming of animal and environmental concerns, combined with tiers of lawful and unlawful groups, was undeniably a threat to the corporations targeted. They needed to displace activists from their moral high ground.

A key development in orchestrating this fall from grace was the decision to wield the power of language. For those who break the law in the name of animal rights or the environment, industry groups would change the language from “ecotage” to “eco-terrorism.”

Ecotage should serve as a reminder that there is nothing inevitable about this. The FBI labels “eco-terrorism” the “number one domestic terrorism threat,” but public support is not, and has never been, with the corporations destroying the environment; it’s with those trying to stop them.

“There have been many rational arguments about the usefulness of this action to the campaign, but to anyone who watched the route being transformed from beautiful countryside to churned mud and charred stumps, there is at least a sense of natural justice to the sight of the last tree on route silhouetted by the flames of burning machinery.” -Anon. From the article “Newbury, an adrenaline junkies idea of heaven.”

By the time 1997 rolled around Britons could not help but be aware that something major was afoot in their country. Dock workers were uniting with anti-car anarchists, squatters were preventing the demolition of entire communities by occupying building slated to be torn down, there seemed to be a punk or a hippie in every tree in the whole damned country, and when police got in the way they faced riots as a result. Amidst this flurry of activity though, those on the inside knew that their movement was in terrible danger from forces both internal and external. With time short and resources low they began to discuss how to prevent catastrophe. In the end they failed, but they left behind a wonderful warning of what happens when we analyze our tactics, morale, and outreach too late.

This is not to say that Do Or Die #6 is a doom and gloom journal of a dying movement. Much to the contrary, this issue foresaw the collapse but was written when activity was still peaking. Amongst the analysis of their campaigns and politics, Earth First in the UK and Europe as a whole found plenty of time to get down to the joyous work of resisting industry and capital. There is no way that one can not read some of the stories inside without feeling a boost of adrenaline. From the theft of bulldozers to destroy a construction site to the rampaging of drunken elephants against military bases, to the building of a free state on american soil, all variety of species get down to the usual business of ruining business as usual. Inspiration abounds!

This Is The A.L.F. is a brief snapshot of the radical animal liberation movement in New Zealand pre-1990. In 90′s newspaper clipping style and coming in at a whopping 8 pages, the information inside is by no means crucial. Most tactical advice inside is either now irrelevant or admittedly “common sense.” As a historical record however, the short booklet is an important part of New Zealand history and the Diary of Actions is impressive for a country of this size. Firebombings in Christchurch in 1985, Lab Raids and Fake Bombs in Auckland in 1986, a string of Arsons in Wellington in 1986 and a much more.

This Is The A.L.F. is a must have for New Zealanders and a crucial record for those trying to track the full reach of radical animal liberation in the 1980′s.

We are hoping to track down more publications from New Zealand and if anyone has tips on This Is The A.L.F. #2, Liberate!, Animal Info, or any other radical animal or earth liberation publications from New Zealand, please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

Despite his denouncement of most forms of illegal direct action, Peter Singer has played an interesting and unintended role in the history of the underground in his native Australia. After the success of his seminal utilitarian philosophy book, Animal Liberation, he founded a group by the same name in the land down under. This left some activists with an interesting question: should they continue using the name “Animal Liberation Front?” Many cells decided to forgo the confusion of a nearly identical moniker and instead acted under the banner of Action for Animals and Direct Action for Animal Rights.

Australia was one of the first countries outside of England to see resistance movements dedicated to non-humans. As raids and economic sabotage became more frequent, above ground supporters started small press publications to publicize the tactics and activities of these Aussie warriors. Later, as arrests began to mount, these publications also served to raise defense funds and promote acts of solidarity with animal rights prisoners.

Conflict Gypsy is hoping to track down complete sets of all the magazines featured in this post. If you can help us find them, please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

The second year of No Compromise was packed with inspiring coverage of the growth of the militant grassroots, including some of the most important events of the 90s: Tony Wong’s hunger strike, the mass arrests and police riot at the Yerkes primate center, and the World Week for Animals in Laboratories arrests at the UC Davis primate center.

Tony Wong was only 16 years old when he was convicted for a civil disobedience action at the Lazurus department store. He immediately began a hungerstrike in prison, and after a month of not eating the staff at the juvenile facility where he was being held began force feeding him animal products through a tube forcefully inserted through his nose. The brutality faced by Tony acted as a lightning rod, and soon large demonstrations and acts of sabotage rippled across the country. The most important thing that Tony did though was to set an example of dedication that others could admire and aspire to in their own lives. Sadly, Tony eventually embraced a deeply speciesist political transformation and began consuming animals again after sacrificing so much to save them.

World Week in 1997 saw miniature police riots in Georgia and California. The protests themselves were not as important as the resulting boost to the movement created by the heavy handedness of the cops. As van loads of activists traveled to these demonstrations and found themselves sharing jail cells with like minded comrades, they soon formed tighter networks which led to greater revolutionary potential. The west coast and east coast both saw an upswing in regional actions after these arrests.

No Compromise was plagued by it’s usual production and distribution delays this year. It only got two issues finished, and they didn’t make it into people’s hands on the advertised cover dates, but both of these issues are wonderful documents of their era.

No Compromise #1-5 can be found here.

One of the most important things we do at Conflict Gypsy is to preserve the telling of our movement’s story by it’s participants. In the case of South East Liberator, we are almost preserving the story or our movement as told by the mainstream media and then copied and pasted by it’s participants. Confused? Well, South East Liberator was largely written and edited by one person who would include press clippings for major actions around the area she was active in- actions for which she was often responsible! She later ended up doing time for planting incendiary devices, which put this popular DIY publication out of business.

South East Liberator was angry, over-the-top, and compiled by front-line activists giving their all for animal liberation. We are very proud to have the complete collection hosted on our site, along with this new introduction by the editor:

“The Liberator was produced in the ‘90’s by a small group of determined animal rights activists to publicize how much could be achieved by working quietly within a close knit group, and to encourage like minded people to carry out similar actions.

Economic sabotage will always be one of the most effective ways of hitting the abusers where it hurts them most and we, along with other similar groups throughout the country, were proving this time and again.

Liberations, bombings, arson attacks, massive damage to property and vehicles and general sabotage were carried out week after week, with the cops going round in circles!

Thousands of lives were eventually saved through liberations and hellholes closing. Many many hundred of thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused along the way.

Inevitably there were arrests and imprisonment but nobody who was totally involved then, for the right reasons, would say that they had any regrets for any of their actions. Many of us are still involved in the fight for animal liberation and always will be.

Personally the only regret I have is that I’ve never done enough to save enough lives. Oh, and getting caught of course!!”

-Anon

Following years of increasing direct actions in England, the British government began a full scale crackdown complete with round ups of people publishing pro-ALF literature. The SG Newsletter, once a radical mouthpiece for the underground, was targeted so often that it became mostly a prisoner support newsletter, at which point the government continued to attack it anyhow. Luckily, the ALF had clearly seen the Star Wars trilogy, because once the empire struck back it was time for the return of the vegan jedi!

Small incendiary devices, housed in cigarette boxes, were being used around the country to great effect in the fight against fur. The devices were not meant to cause actual fires, instead they were created to produce smoke which would set off department store fire sprinklers, thereby damaging merchandise with cascades of water. Some stores had faulty sprinkler systems, and a few burned completely to the ground. These attacks, though extreme and unpopular with the general public, basically spelled the end of fur in England. Not only did all major department store chains cease their trade in fur coats, they also stopped advertising it, which lowered overall demand. The arson campaign was a success, but with the SG out of commission, how would activists spread the methodology behind building these devices?

The answer was a network of grassroots, pro-direct action animal rights groups and their PO boxes. According to Kieth Mann, Interviews with Animal Liberation Front Activists had an initial print run of around 1,500 copies which were mailed to to the postal boxes of supportive groups. Inside were detailed instructions (which we have edited out due to federal laws pertaining to the dissemination of information to build destructive devices) on a number of fire bombs, as well as press clippings and interviews with the people behind much of the resistance taking place in England.

Careful readers will notice pages missing from our .PDF of “Interviews.” The reason for these missing pages is that after many years of photocopying the publication the final several pages, which contained addresses of laboratories, had become obsolete. In fact, many of them were out of date at the time of publication as they had been taken from documents issued by the Home Office in 1981, 5 years prior to the printing of this issue. As time went on these pages were omitted more and more frequently. We are looking for a complete copy of Interviews with Animal Liberation Front Activists, preferably one with sharper images and the old lab addresses. Please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com if you can provide us with one.

Eco-Vegan was a short and sweet free publication passed around at demos just prior to the popular use of the internet. It kept people aware of the worldwide movement for earth and animal liberation, published prisoner addresses, and embraced a broad range of movements outside it’s own niche. Produced by Noel Molland, EV came after his previous publication, The Rabbixian Anarchist Times, better known as R.@.T.

Molland was also an editor at Green Anarchist, which was a frequent target of police harassment. After a series of raids known as “Operation Washington,” he was arrested and charged in the infamous GAndALF trial, which will be the subject of an upcoming Conflict Gypsy special. The arrest eventually resulted in the end of Eco-Vegan, but Noel continued to work on behalf of earth and animal prisoners and is still active today.

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.)

As the militant environmental movement entered the mid 90′s it was mired in internal conflict about tactics, the relevance of other causes to wilderness defense, and whether or not violence was justifiable in solidarity with wild creatures and ecosystems. Despite this infighting groups like Earth First! managed to win some sizable campaigns using blockading and civil disobedience techniques.

As word spread about new tactics developing in the forests of Oregon and northern California, there was a sudden clamor from other activist groups to build their own lockboxes, barrels, tripods, and “black bears.” The DAM Collective answered this demand by printing the Earth First! Direct Action manual, a nicely illustrated and bound book containing how-to instructions on scouting, security, dealing with police, and setting up voluntary arrest scenarios utilizing “lock downs.”

But the Direct Action manual was more than that. It also contained short articles about Critical Mass, The Animal Liberation Front, varying theories on non-violence as an ethic vs. a tactical choice, and plenty of discussion of practical security measures for activists. It not only put the power of blockades into the hands of the masses, it also put minds into motion to consider the best ways forward for the radical environmental movement.

Conflict Gypsy has obtained a copy of the first edition of the Direct Action Manual (Commonly referred to at the time as the D.A.M.) for posting on the site, but would love to also post a copy of the second edition. Please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com if you can loan us one for scanning!

It is not usually our habit to put up a single issue of a serialized publication as we prefer to post an entire year, or run of magazines, in a single post. However, we must make an exception for the ALF SG Newsletter #17, which contains a fantastic investigation of the Band of Mercy and comes complete with an image of their first press statement from November of 1973. The significance of that image, the very first communique from an underground group fighting on behalf of other species, can not be understated.

When one considers how entrenched animal exploitation is in our culture, the idea that a tiny band of revolutionaries could push back against that social tide by burning down an animal laboratory under construction is a watershed moment. The arson attacks and raids carried out by the Band of Mercy were pivotal in the creation of the animal rights movement.

This issue has much more in store for readers. The second communique from the Animal Rights Militia is presented in it’s entirety, and although it provides a myopic examination of the role of liberatory violence it is none the less a fascinating read for lovers of animal rights history. The story of the famous Ecclesfield Beagle raid is presented by one of it’s participants, Roger Yates has a long letter explaining his feelings on the uselessness of national groups, and funny pseudonyms abound! If you thought Earth First!ers had funny names, wait till you get a load of Captain Kirk, Martial Rose, and Black Vixen!

If you look carefully you may notice that this issue is missing some pages. We do not know if this is because they were removed by their original owner, or if this is one of the issues of the SG rumored to have been “edited” by the British government as it left post offices on it’s way to subscribers. If you have a more complete copy of this publication, or any issues of the SG which might help us complete our collection, please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

After 6 years of operation in Toronto, a lull in activity caused the ALF Supporters Group Canada to shut down. Other volunteers picked up the slack and soon the SG was moved to Alberta. At this time the ALF was fairly active in the great white north, and soon their night time activities were being covered in a new magazine known as Combat. Considered by many to be the predecessor of Underground, Combat closely followed the template for supporters group publications set by The SG in England with one important difference: They had awesome cover art!

Combat is amongst the most rare militant animal rights publications produced in North America, and when we received this first issue for scanning we were delighted to find, a long, and thoughtful prison letter from Ronnie Lee, updates on the arrests of Jonathan Paul, Bill Keogh, and Cres Velluci, and a short listing of international action reports. There was also a hastily added pamphlet stuffed inside with an update on the jailing of Henry Hutto, an early movement hero who was amongst the first members of both PETA and Earth First! Very little information is available about Henry, who passed away in 2003, but he is a minor legend in some circles and the pictures of a rally held in his honor made holding this magazine that much sweeter.

We are hoping to complete our collection of Combat with the inclusion of Combat #2. Please get in touch if you have a copy by e-mailing us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

We have a small selection of new stickers from all over the world in the merch museum, check them out! Remember, our history isn’t just text, it is the imagery that we use to put our message out into the world. Please send scans or well lit photos of your old stickers, pin back buttons, t-shirts, and other items to conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

As the animal rights movement kicked into full swing in the early 80s it became instantly clear that the companies who owned major media outlets were not going to play fair when it came to news coverage. Police and industry press releases were treated as gospel and repeated verbatim without investigation, while evidence produced by liberators was referred to as “allegations,” or, “claims made by the terrorists.” Clearly something had to be done, and as luck would have it a solution was just becoming available. A cheap alternative to film known as the Video Home System, or VHS, was becoming ubiquitous. It allowed masked raiders, protestors, and investigators to document their actions and evidence and distribute it with relative ease to others.

Just as our history was told on fragile paper media, it was also told on the dead technology of analog cassettes. In the coming months Conflict Gypsy is endeavoring to raise the funds to expand into video archiving, and we need your help! Many of you have old campaign videos, protest footage, news coverage, and other tapes that haven’t seen the inside of a VCR in decades! Instead of letting them slowly rot in your basement, why not send them to us? To donate tapes, please contact us at conflictgypsy {(at)} gmail {(dot.com)} Please also consider advertising with us, purchasing items from our merchandise section, clicking on our donation button, or even hosting a benefit for us in your area!

Lengthy and replete with victimization, which includes comparing vivisectors to Jews in Nazi Germany, the book is a vital resource for two reasons; it signals the beginning of a new industry, the animal enterprise security industry, and also provides a starting point in charting the rhetoric of “terrorism” to explain animal rights activism.

The animal enterprise security industry, and it’s growth, comes as a fairly predictable response to campaigns, investigations, releases and sabotage. The industry has raised security costs for animal enterprise, however, fails to provide much in the way of relevance. Current publications, like Extremist Watch in the United States, do little more than assauge the conscience of the industry and Targeted can be read in this vein. As a psychological study, the book is written more as a rationalization of vivisection, and the victimization of vivisectors themselves, than a real manual. Unsurprisingly, vivisectors could learn more from content on this site than they ever would within industry manuals, and even still, that knowledge would not be sufficient to prepare them. In terms of efficiency, one has to question if these manuals and the security industry has the desired effect. 


The most troubling message to chart in the book is the framing of animal rights activists as “terrorists.” Written in the same year as the Animal Enterprise Protection Act was passed, the manual would be foreshadowing that the industry was not about to stop short of this language. It is frustrating to see the amount of organization and lobbying that has happened since the book was published, as the authors main strategic point is that the industry itself must be united and it must develop it’s political network and backing. That strategic line can be traced back to publications like this and explains the current situation wherein the vivisection industry is allowing small public relations reform that drains animal advocacy resources (releasing animals for adoption instead of euthanizing them, usually done within a time frame and without aid from the institution) alongside education campaigns (namely billboards) while solidifying their political power by uniting with other animal enterprise industries with designer bills like AETA, AG Gag Bills, etc.

This manual is a must read for those interested in charting the vital work of people like Will Potter, who, with his book Green is the New Red, has chronicled industry response and Government repression. Also, for those interested in the psychology of vivisectors and the vivisection industry, in between the lines this manual reads like a diary and is full of useful information.

The story of Earth First! in the United States is well documented and frequently repeated, and someday it will certainly make it’s way to digital distribution here on Conflict Gypsy. (Scanning those hundreds of copies of EF! Journal is going to put our volunteers into early graves if we are not careful, so don’t expect to see a full set anytime soon!) Until that time it is our pleasure to delve into the history of Earth First! elsewhere in the world, starting in England and the other places still under colonial rule known as the “United Kingdom.”

Beginning in 1991 there was an explosion in activism across the pond. Wilderness, urban environmental, anti-road, alternative transportation, animal liberation, anarchist, squatters rights, and other specialized, single issue activist realms began to coalesce into an exciting new mass. The origins of this widespread movement had broad roots. Some trace its beginnings to the poll tax riots, others say it was government crack downs on raves, squats, and social centers. Where ever it came from, it grew within a few short years into a spectacular and inspiring mess for the status quo!

From encampments protecting wild areas, to sabotage, to street protests that took over whole city centers, the UK suddenly seemed alive with resistance. While never reaching a size that threatened the powers that be, these outbursts of love and aggression were never the less refreshing to those of us in the United States longing for a similar explosion in revolutionary zeal. Suddenly, Do Or Die became the must read publication that no-one could quite seem to get their hands on!

Professionally bound and book sized, each issue of DoD contained news, research and analysis about the exploits of radical activists worldwide. Conflict Gypsy will be posting a full set of these journal format prizes as they become available to us. The earliest issue in our collection, #5, contains lengthy articles on the live export protests that eventually ended with the death of Jill Phipps, the NO M65 campaign, and virtually everything else worth noticing in Europe in 1995. If you have earlier editions of DoD, please contact us at conflictgypsy (at) gmail (dot) com

After participating in a series of high profile actions, including the famous “smoking beagles” liberation, early animal rights activist Mike Huskisson went on to pioneer the field of investigations into abuse and torture. Outfoxed was the product of that first investigation. It remains an important documentation of the early days of our movement and the type of undercover work that makes groups such as Mercy for Animals so prominent today. Conflict Gypsy is proud to share this classic, complete with a new introduction from the author.

My book Outfoxed is primarily an account of my undercover work for the League Against Cruel Sports to expose the cruelty inherent in the bloodsports of fox hunting, stag hunting, hare hunting, mink hunting and hare coursing in England over a two year period from April 1981 to May 1983. Outfoxed was written immediately after the investigation ended and published before the end of that year. At the time it was quite a novel idea to join the world of hunting, a pastime that the author wholly opposed, simply in order to film, photograph and report the cruelty that occurred so as to bring that cruelty to the attention of the outside world.

This was all in a different age. It was before video cameras and hidden cameras. The movie film that was taken during this investigation was taken with a Super-8 mm cine camera. This meant the sequences were limited to just a few minutes each before the film had to be turned over. All filming had to be done in good light. The highest quality of lens was chosen in preference to having sound.

The film cameras were exactly that – 35mm Nikon film cameras. Unlike modern digital cameras you took 36 images on a single film and then had to change your film. There was no opportunity to immediately preview your images to check the quality. You chose your film and the ASA setting for it and that was that for the whole film; there was no opportunity, as there is with modern cameras, to change the film speed settings from image to image. There was also no built in flash.

Finally, this investigation was carried out before the day of the mobile phone and the hand-held GPS device. When I was in the field with the hunting fraternity I was on my own. There was no opportunity to nip behind a hedge and make a secret call for back-up, or send a text message. If my opponents worked out who I really was and sought to take me to task I would have to talk my way out of it or else! If I needed to call for help I had to find a phone box. To know exactly where I was I had to be map-aware.

Before I carried out the investigation and wrote the book I had on several occasions been in trouble with the law for animal rights activity and had been imprisoned. The investigation and subsequent book was a plea to colleagues to see that animal rights could be advanced effectively entirely lawfully. I did not want then and do not want now to see kind compassionate people imprisoned. We can beat the animal abusers and bullies by using brains rather than brawn and by acting always within the law. It is the animal abusers who should be imprisoned not those who seek to protect life.

By showing the world what our opponents get up to, the barbaric way in which they use and abuse animals when they think they are out of sight, we really can generate the public anger that can force an end to these cruelties.

Knowing that Outfoxed was about to be published the hunting fraternity made all manner of threats that they would take libel action against the author and publisher. In the event to this day I have not received so much as a single letter of complaint as to the truth of anything that I wrote. After publication and following extracts being printed in the News of the World I did receive a letter from a young girl saying that when she was photographed at one of the hunts she had been raised by her parents to enjoy hunting but with growing older she had distanced herself from the pastime and was actually now working to improve animal welfare. Curiously in subsequent years some of the hunting people that I had befriended and infiltrated also told me, strictly off the record of course, that my account was a very factual record of hunting and one Hunt Master even asked me for a copy of my book!

Some of the pictures that I took during the investigation that were published in Outfoxed were widely published by the media at large including the likes of Stern magazine and the National Geographic Magazine.

All the bloodsports that I exposed in the course of my investigation were subsequently banned in England by Parliament through the Hunting Act 2004.

I now run my own campaigning animal welfare group: the Animal Cruelty Investigation Group. This was set up in June 1989 to fund the expenses of investigation work. You can find our web site at: www.acigawis.co.uk

Mike Huskisson,

Suffolk, England February 25th 2011

e-mail: acig@btinternet.com

Radical animal and wilderness liberation magazines have a long history or tumultuous publishing schedules, fleeing editorial staff, and good ol’ fashioned behind the scenes chaos. No Compromise had its conflict between Cres Velluci and Freeman Wicklund, and then between Freeman and the rest of the staff, and eventually between the members on the steering committee who supported arson as a tactic and those who did not. Earth First! Journal has seen it’s share of fractures, in one case having some of its funds used without proper permission to launch Live Wild or Die. Militant Vegan ended when some of its editors decided to head to Chiapas and support the Zapatista uprising. I could fill pages with all the various splits, dramas, and simple life changes that led to the alteration or discontinuation of numerous publications, but perhaps it is best if I just get to the point…

Conflict Gypsy is sad to announce the resignation of our founder, Sabrina. Months ago she had the idea to launch this site, and since that time her work ethic, intelligence, wit, and design sense have largely carried the project. She is moving on to other things, and we wish her the best. In the short term her departure will be very difficult to overcome. That being said, we are already putting into motion a plan which we hope will ultimately allow the site to expand while continuing the level of quality set by Sabrina.

Please bare with us in the coming few weeks as we restructure and get new members up to speed on the operation of the site. Updates might be slow at first, but our old pace should resume by the end of July. We also have some surprises in store that we think you will love.

Thank you for your support,
The Conflict Gypsies

Although the cover claims that this issue was released in Spring of 2000, in actuality, the final issue of Underground was so delayed that subscribers received it in the fall of 2001. By this time, the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty campaign was in full swing, the world was seeing regular, large scale riots and street protests at political and industry events, and the Earth Liberation Front was moving the forefront of direct action in the United States. Underground had a number of redeeming features, not the least of which was its comprehensive, worldwide diary of actions, but its publication schedule, the release of Bite Back and the new SHAC newsletter, and the popularity of the internet as a source for news was chipping away at its relevance. It used its final issue to re-publish the Nighttime Gardener, cover the harassment of the ELF press office, and discuss news that was in many cases no longer new.

The magazine had quite a journey from its earlier incarnation as Combat and is clearly one of the most essential documents of the upswing in activity our movement witnessed in the 1990s. Bite Back magazine continues to fill the hole left by Underground’s disappearance, but us old timers will always remember these newsprint treasures with the kind of fondness that only comes from “being there.” It may sound funny, but I sometimes think of these old zines as fallen comrades. In that spirit, let me just say that death has a funny way of being impermanent in the world of activism. Here is to a new generation born from the ashes of those who Underground represented and reported on. Underground is dead, but the Underground lives on.

Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 4-6 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 10-13 and Underground 14-15.

The turn of the century was an odd time in the world of radical politics. The remnants of the mid-90s militants grassroots were fading away, and those still loyal began to look to England for signs of hope. In Eugene, an odd coalition of old school forest activists, crusties, anarchists, and even some members of the old left were rapidly embracing a philosophy critical of civilization, leftism, and pacifism. People all over the globe were beginning to talk about the specter of global trade agreements, and everyone began planning for the World Trade Organization meetings in the northwest, where arsons, lab raids, and whale hunt sabotages were already rampant. Everywhere there was a sense that the old politics were dying, and that something new was right around the corner.

Underground reflected some of this feeling, but production delays, staff turnover, and the rapid loss of its old writers meant that only 2 short issues were produced this year. Some great history was documented in these pages, but sadly much was left uncovered. These two issues should be thought of as an incomplete sampling of just some of what ’99 brought the world.

Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 4-6 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 10-13 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.

Our Underground collection continues its way into 1998, a somewhat bittersweet year for the movement. After a period of steady growth in both illegal direct action and militant grassroots activity, No Compromise editor and well known activist Freeman Wicklund denounced the ALF (and most forms of protest) at a large demonstration in southern California. His “new” perspective was merely a recycled, pro-animal form of pacifist strategy taken from Gene Sharpe, and he demanded that people take sides. Freeman was charismatic and many young people had first began their involvement after hearing him speak. They were now torn by his change of heart. Many people dropped out, and above ground pressure campaigns largely ground to a halt.

’98 also saw a continuation of the previous years snitching epidemic, but, as always, some positive developments buoyed our spirits and resolve. In Oregon, protestors jumped the fences at a farm which bred rabbits for vivisection, and soon the United States had it’s first daylight raid underway. Katie Fedor, an organizer with Minnesota’s Student Organization for Animal Rights, became the United States’ first ALF Press Officer in more than a decade, and soon she was speaking out in favor of sabotage and liberations in major media outlets on a regular basis. The conviction of the “GandALF 3” was suddenly overturned on grounds that they had not, in fact, conspired with person unknown to carry out unknown actions at unknown locations! Finally, good people with dedication and resolve rained hell down on animal abusers all year long, resulting in thousands of lives lived outside of cages. It’s hard to keep a good movement down.

Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 4-6 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.

Before the age of “re-tweeting,” “re-blogging,” and “sharing” other people’s postings on the internet, zinester culture had its own form of helping spread information further afield from its initial distribution. DIY publishers would extract and reprint entire articles in their own zines which they had read first in other publications. In the case of this publication, activists in the Netherlands took some of the best articles from early issues of No Compromise and compiled them into this short, informative, and inspiring little booklet. Ideas which had previously been shared in the United States thus became available abroad, and the old information grapevine which relied on print was expanded just a little further. This is a good read with a mouthful of a title!

Based upon a television show of the same name, Animal Warfare was one of the first books written about the rise of animal liberation militancy. Its author, David Henshaw, is decidedly anti-animal rights, and at times his coverage is so unfair and deceitful that it’s tempting to write this publication off as mere tabloid journalism. That would be a mistake. While clearly written from the perspective of a person intent on smearing activists, this paperback also provides us with a look at our history less slanted by movement propagandizing and cheerleading. At times that picture is not pretty.

Authored during the rise of what some English activists called “the cult of militancy,” Animal Warfare takes the fodder provided by the most extreme actions of the early 80s and spins an ugly tale of car-bombs, poisoning hoaxes, graveyard desecration, and alliances with racist organizations such as the National Front. While there are plenty of grotesque distortions of facts, there are also valuable lessons to be learned about how the best tactical decisions consider our movement’s ability to survive backlash while building mass.

At a time when many modern activists seem intent on repeating the mistakes of the past, (or at least blogging as if they intend on repeating those mistakes), Animal Warfare contributes to our ability to learn about media falsification, the dangers of militaristic posturing, and the events which led to the weakening of England’s mass militant movement for animal liberation.

The third year of publication saw Underground expanding its international coverage as illegal direct action for animals took off all over the world. In another interesting development, the Earth Liberation Front began to increase activity in the US, and many early communiques, as well as interviews with British ELF activists, are included in these three issues.

1997 also marked the beginning of a sad trend in the movement that plagues us still: Snitching. Although there had been occasional instances of animal liberationists informing on each other in the past, arrests (and subsequent grassing) began to multiply as mink farm raids skyrocketed. Many of those arrested became witnesses for the state, thus turning their backs on their fellow ALF volunteers and the animals they had set out to save. Some informants even went so far as to give information about their own family members.

While some of our friends proved themselves cowards, others showed their dignity and resolve to the end. Steve Simmons, a former ALF spokesperson, died of AIDS on January 12th. Before his death he had been an outspoken opponent of using non-humans in AIDS and HIV experiments, famously standing up against counter protestors in Washington DC and declaring that his suffering would not be alleviated by enslaving and torturing others. 1997 also saw the passing of Earth First! activist Judi Bari, who died at age 47 of cancer. Bari had been the victim of an FBI frame-up attempt after her car was bombed. Absurdly, she was arrested for possession of the bomb which was planted in an attempt to kill her and fellow environmentalist Daryl Cherney. After her death her family won it’s lawsuit against the FBI and local police. The people who attempted to murder her have still not been found. Finally, this same year saw the end of Barry Horne’s first hungerstrike, an important event in our history that received some coverage in Underground and sparked many liberations in England and elsewhere.

Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 4-6 and Underground 10-13 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.

The People’s Agenda was the official newsletter of Putting People First, an industry front group that pretended to represent good ol’ fashioned American animal abuse. In actuality, they were heavily funded by the industries they defended, from fur farmers to meat packers. Their PR angle involved the typical lies about caring for animal welfare, placing human rights above those of plants and animals, and conflating animal liberation philosophy alternately as a new age religion or an extension of Marxism. At times the articles contained herein make for hilarious examples of dirty journalism, and other times they provide us with lessons about how our actions can be spun and used against us. Interestingly, there are also underground actions reported in the People’s Agenda that are either hoaxes, or real actions gone wrong that never received coverage in AR publications.

Putting People First was one of many anti-animal rights organizations that prospered during the 80s and 90s. While many of these groups are still around, most notably the Center for Consumer Freedom, their heyday seems to have passed. It would be a mistake to believe that decline occurred because these groups lost the support of a large segment of our society. Actions taken in opposition to human supremacist politics are still widely opposed by those who enjoy the position of power that they hold over non-humans. The real reason that these groups are no longer as plentiful is that our movement isn’t the threat that it once was. As we come out of the chilling effect created by the SHAC 7 conviction, you can bet that publications like this will become popular once more. Combating their press and political strategy will be crucial to our progress, and familiarizing ourselves with their past actions will go a long way towards defeating them in the future.

As Underground magazine continued its run into 1996, the movement was once again in a state of internal dispute. The wave of FBI investigations and grand jury harassment earlier in the decade had put Rod Coronado behind bars. Sadly, an embarrassing moment in our history occurred when a small group of activists, including Rod’s long time friend and former housemate Jonathan Paul, called for support to be pulled from Rod. Their reasons were many, but largely centered around Rod’s desire to make the choices that effected his own defense. Jonathan and Rod later patched up their differences, but for many years those two great practitioners of direct action warred back and forth in the pages of this and other publications, which proved a waste of effort, time, and newsprint.

Luckily for nonhumans, 1996 was also a year that saw a tremendous upswing in resistance on their behalf. Notably, fur farm raids became common occurrences throughout the world. This was the year that saw the release of the infamous first edition of The Final Nail, a publication that gave addresses of fur farms and explained how to raid them. Excerpts appeared in Underground, and subscribers received free copies. Every issue throughout this period detailed the pressure being exerted on the fur farming industry, and proved that Rod’s imprisonment and the ensuing movement drama didn’t put the struggle for fur bearing animals in an early grave.

Underground also contained plenty of letters, news clippings, and short articles. Self criticism, analysis of movement building, targeting, press relations, and other strategic improvements are, sadly, largely absent. Still, the magazine provides one of the best glimpses into the way the ALF worked in North America in the 90s, which is why we will be posting every issue online, for free, by the middle of this month. Animal liberation history is for people, not profit!

Also see Underground 1-3 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 10-13 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.

“The direct action campaign against road building in Britain is the most successful revolutionary movement in Western Europe in the Second half of the 20th Century. Never before in this period have such radical aims been so comprehensively achieved in so short a time. Never before has a central component of government policy, to which billions of pounds had already been committed reversed, without the need of a change of government, by citizen politics. The humble, impoverished people who fought and won this war have plenty to be proud of.” -George Monbiot, from the introduction.

Sometimes a social ill can become so prevalent that it is sewn into the fabric of our society, normal in all senses, and so common that invisibility is reached. So it is with the car. Whether fueled by gasoline or electricity, bio-diesel or hydrogen, the automobile is one of the most destructive things on earth. Cars emit more than half the world’s air pollution, and kill more animals every year than the fur and vivisection industries combined. But that is only the beginning of the problem. You see, cars require roads, and they travel on them at deadly speeds. What this means is that the streets– a commons where people once gathered– are no longer a place to live and interact, but a place to pass through. The automobile has completely altered our social structure and harmed the ability of normal people to meet and share their discontent with the existing order. Roads now take up more than 1/3rd of most cities, and when parking, garages, gas stations, and other things necessary to feed and house cars are taken into consideration, more than half of our urban space is dedicated to traveling metal boxes. This is an ecological and social catastrophe that goes largely ignored even amongst those who care about human community, wilderness, and non-human animals.

But, it wasn’t always this way. Less than 20 years ago thousands of people fought against the building of new roads in England and elsewhere, and the actions which they undertook are greatly inspiring. From complex villages of tree sits and blockading devices to mass daylight arsons, the anti-roads movement was tremendously successful in preventing the furtherance of car culture and its corollary social and environmental impact.

There were many attempts at documenting this exciting people’s struggle, but none of them were quite as fun as Kate Evans’ Copse. Comprised of interviews, photographs, essays, and plenty of comics, Copse distilled the spirit of the protests onto each page. Part history lesson, part graphic novel, this book is a great starting place to understanding an important piece of the recent history of mass direct action.

Though it may now seem impossible, there was a time in our recent history when armed revolutionary groups operated inside North America with the intention of ending US imperialism. While many people may be aware of the Weather Underground and their symbolic bombings, fewer know of The George Jackson Brigade, the New World Liberation Front, the Armed Action Unit, Direct Action, the Black Liberation Army, or the United Freedom Front. These groups all occupied that chimerical realm known as “the underground.” On The Road described how these groups could somehow exist in plain sight while maintaining anonymity. While many of the tactics described herein are now obsolete, this short pamphlet provides us with a valuable peek at the creativity and discipline used to provide cover for hundreds of people at war with the United States and Canada.

It is also telling that there was a time when this pamphlet was widely distributed to animal rights and environmental militants. Starting at the end of the 1980s and continuing well into the present day, FBI surveillance and harassment of above ground activists reached levels intense enough to make many people consider whether or not they would be safer resisting omnicide from a more shadowy place.

Holocaust was published and edited by Kris Qua, who, during his time as a high school student in upstate New York, founded the first chapter of the Animal Defense League. His magazine was as influential as his group, and in the Syracuse area it helped spark the participation of a number of young activists. Its politics were not perfect, and I am sure that many of our readers will be disappointed with the anti-abortion rhetoric at this end of this issue written by former Hardline adherent Dave Agranoff. Most issues contained similar articles. Still, Holocaust was an important publication from a key region during an era of growth and change in the movement.

It is also exceedingly rare! We post this issue in the hopes that our readers will check their collections for the rest of the series as we would very much like to have a complete set. Contact us at conflictgypsy ((at)) gmail ((dot)) com if you can help us finish our collection of this historically significant east coast zine.

Check it out here.

“In two buildings you have a number of dogs, and these dogs are being cruelly treated by humans. Another team of humans sledge hammer the doors down, go in, rescue the dogs, and take them to safety. In the first instance it is an old house and it’s an illegal dogfight and the team who sledge hammered the door are members of the RSPCA special investigation department and the local police…

In the second scenario, it’s a research laboratory and the dogs are beagles, and the humans who sledge hammered the door down are ALF activists….

Now I or someone else can argue until doomsday the rights and wrongs of legislation, but what it boils down to is until someone can explain the difference in the law to the dogs themselves, either both actions are morally right or both actions are morally wrong.”

-Robin Webb

Before Freeman Wicklund denounced tactics declared off limits by the state, he produced this fantastic little zine containing three highly influential interviews with Robin Webb, Ronnie Lee, and Robin Lane. Upon its release in 1996 copies of Keep Fighting were everywhere, and there was a noticeable increase in the quality of discourse on illegal direct action.

The arguments made in this booklet are convincing, and easily comprehensible but not simplistic. Your average, caring person without a masters degree or years of familiarity with activist verbiage can readily take the ideas discussed and share them with others, and many people did. We are happy that the face of underground resistance presented in Keep Fighting- intelligence, compassion, and a willingness to take risks for the benefit of others- is now accessible again for a new generation to read and share.

Out of the Cages is a wonderful magazine that filled an important niche in the pre-internet, pre-No Compromise 90s. As the main west coast publication of its time, it had a link to the 80s glory days that ran deep in the area it was printed. Santa Cruz had been the home of early US hunt saboteurs and the earliest cooperation between animal rights activists and Earth First! took place there. Rod Coronado, Jonathan Paul, and other early AR radicals called it home. This proximity to history gave the magazine a much different tone than Holocaust, or Dressed in Black, and unlike Militant Vegan, the group publishing OOTC were above ground liberationists, accessible for correspondence and submissions. This meant that the zine was always filled with fresh perspectives, letters, and debate, and that eventually groups from across the country got in touch to share ideas and announce their campaigns.

Conflict Gypsy would very much like a complete set of Out of the Cages. If you have any please contact us at conflictgypsy {{at}} gmail ((dot)) com

I remember thinking this was a pretty mediocre publication when I first saw it in the 90s, and it only took 3 sentences into my latest reading to remember why: If you are writing a primer and you think that Ed Abbey was the author of Eco-Defense, you’re likely not going to have much credibility with your intended audience. It doesn’t get a whole lot better as the zine progresses, and my impression is that this direct-action-how-to-for-beginners was, in fact, written by people with very little experience themselves carrying out actions. The advice is mostly taken from other sources, and what little original material is contained herein seems amateurish or even dangerous. For example, why would someone ever consider breaking windows with a pellet gun? They aren’t particularly effective, and you’ll also be committing a crime while carrying something that looks very much like a real firearm! As Darkness Falls is sprinkled with bad ideas and regurgitated information from other primers. It is presented here for the sake of the completeness of our archive as it is our goal to carry all widely distributed movement literature.

As stated previously on our site, the early 90s saw an effort to spread the use of underground tactics via the distribution of cheap, zine format how-tos. One such attempt, The Power is Ours, was basically a reprinting of the British Into the 90s with the ALF.

The only real difference was a new lay-out and an introduction stating that the manual was somehow meant to bring together activists working on either side of the law. How this was to be accomplished is unclear. The publication contains almost no information on how those who utilize illegal means can advance the campaigns of traditional, legal protestors, or vice-versa.

While The Power is Ours fails in that goal, it does contain good excerpts from other primers, including a small piece about a raid carried out against the Oxford University vivisection program where 64 cats were rescued, and instructions (which, due to federal law, we have omitted) on building the pocket sized incendiary device that destroyed England’s fur trade in the 80s and 90s. Despite its limitations, this zine provides an interesting look into the way that illegal tactics are developed and spread.

I’ve been pestering Josh to write a book for ages. And now, if he can get the funding, he’s finally going to do it! Help Josh pay for research assistants to make this a truly awesome and fact-filled book that will contain stories and statistics you’ve not seen elsewhere.

The scuttling of ships used to harm the ocean has a long and proud tradition in our movement. Classically, large boats were sunk with limpet mines attached magnetically to their hulls, but another method became popular in 1986 when David Howitt and Rod Coronado sank two boats in harbor in Iceland by opening the sea water intake valves and allowing the ocean to claim these destructive vessels. Their method, originally published as an epilogue in later editions of Dave Foreman and Bill Haywood’s Ecodefense, was later excerpted for publication in this little zine format gem.

Edited by rotating teams of anarchists and espousing an anti-civilization perspective a decade before the rise of Eugene’s primitivists, Live Wild or Die was the most radical environmental journal of its time, and perhaps, of all time. Featuring articles with names like “The Eco-Fucker hit list,” which “wise use” guru Ron Arnold later erroneously claimed to have inspired Ted Kaczynski’s choice of targets, LWOD presented an uncompromising vision of a future without industrialism and domestication brought about by train hopping tree spikers, nomadic punk hunt saboteurs, and feral warriors. It was exciting, naive, inspiring, and sometimes a little bit stupid. Still, flipping through it’s over-sized, busily decorated pages you can not help but feel the optimistic spirit of that era. Earth First!ers and animal liberators, monkey wrenchers and black clad messengers run wild across the pulp, heralding a revolution to free the world of exploitation, drudgery, brutality and boredom. Cries for the destruction of corporate property vie for attention alongside snarky comic strips, screeds against new age pseudo resistance, and now un-distributable diagrams for building incendiary devices. The authors believed in their hearts that something better was on the horizon if they could fight hard enough to get there. That deep and passionate longing for utopia is all but dead nowadays, washed away by delusions of “Hope” and “Change” at the ballot box and a green consumerism that only takes us deeper into the pit of shallow lives and dying eco-systems. But somewhere out there I am betting that there are a few young people who pine for a planet that is joyous and just, and I hope they smile, conspiratorially, when they see what the generation who made LWOD was planning.

“Animals have rights, interests, desires, and needs equal, within the context of their lives, to those of humans, and we have an obligation to recognize this, and act accordingly. Animal Rights is a philosophical orientation, and a practical necessity if creatures are to be spared the systematic cruelty to which they are currently subjected. But perhaps most importantly, the designation of and agitation for animal rights is part of a revolutionary process aimed at restructuring the major institutions of our society. Indeed, in struggling to change the way humans treat animals, and one another, we work towards nothing less than the transformation of the world.”

- Richard Morgan, from the introduction.

For the last several years, I have been trying to understand why the animal rights movement rode a wave of success in the early 80s, only to fall so sharply by the end of the decade. This inquiry has led me to read old books and magazines, to interview participants from that time period, and even to reading the history of other causes in an attempt to find parallels in their peaks and troughs. I still have not arrived at a conclusive answer to the question, and it appears that many factors played a part in our recession. What is more clear, though, is that one figure played a major role in our rise, only to be quickly forgotten. His name is Richard Morgan, and after working towards civil rights and an end to the war in Vietnam, he took up the cause of animal rights in the late 1970s.

Early figures in the movement speak of Morgan as a pioneer, and his group, Mobilization for Animals, planned some of the largest and most visible demonstrations of the time, drawing thousands of people to multiple locations across the United States. He introduced his organizing model in 1979 with the the first edition of Love and Anger, a book which many people in the fledgling animal rights community cited as their inspiration to start a local group.

Written in a style that blends 70s leftism with 80s self-help jargon, Love and Anger can, at times, be a frustrating read. Morgan certainly has a touch of the arrogant liberalism that repulsed the generation of activists that followed his into the 90s. Scattered throughout the book are unsupportable claims, like American pacifists ending the war in Vietnam with sit ins, and new-agey feel good calls for demonstrations to provide “spiritual nourishment.” Some of the book’s advice is remarkably egalitarian, including calls for work within a group to rotate and for everyone, even supposed leaders, to do “shit work.” But some of the book is strangely authoritarian, with calls for “marshals” at demonstrations to squelch the spontaneous actions of others present. If a reader can get past these snags this book also contains a lot of wisdom.

Written at a time when there was almost no movement to speak of in the United States, the author set out to make a handbook to teach people who had never held a sign before to grow a resistance from scratch. He was concerned about the personal and political development of each new member of this tiny cause, and wanted them to think big. Four years before the first civil disobedience action for animal rights (which took place in New York at the Macy’s Fur Department, not in Sacramento as widely reported elsewhere), Richard Morgan wrote about developing personal courage to face law enforcement and overcome private doubts about organizing ability. He gave practical advice on bringing out large numbers to demonstrations, making literature, contacting media and writing press releases, and other basics that helped make animal rights the breakout issue of the 1980s.

Richard Morgan disappeared from activism in the mid 80s. Attempts to track him down have been fruitless, and even his old friends don’t seem to know what happened to him. But, before he walked out of view, he left us with some powerful advice. I hope young activists will read this book with a critical eye, and consider how these words helped lay the foundation for the movement they participate in today.

(first edition)

(second edition)

In the 1970s, a small group of activists in England decided that animal abuse was so intrinsic to their society, and so protected by the courts and law enforcement, that anonymous, illegal activity was the only surefire way to directly prevent the horrors taking place in slaughterhouses, labs, and killing fields. They began to take the personal initiative to raid and sabotage places where the victimization of animals occurred, but how could they spread their message and tactics? With mainstream media treating them either as misguided nutcases or vicious criminals, and with national animal organizations disavowing their actions, they needed a mechanism to defend their tactics and share their views. The answer was the Animal Liberation Supporters Group, more commonly known as “The SG.” The SG soon took on the responsibility of printing newsletters, conducting press interviews, and raising funds and support for imprisoned activists. Soon, other supporters groups blossomed internationally, and eventually one took off in a small town in Southern California.

The Liberator was a publication of the Animal Liberation Front Support Group of America, an organization with a storied history that included FBI harassment, raids, and internal conflict. This inaugural issue was largely produced by Rod Coronado and Todd Meszaros, and the aesthetics of the issue reflect a bit of the punk influence that the two of them embraced. The design is busy, but also packed with information, press clipping, letters, debates, a timeline of US actions, and historically important letters from figures such as ALF co-founder Ronnie Lee. The centerfold is gorgeous, and it, and many of the other images contained inside were heavily borrowed and reprinted by other magazines.

The mission of the ALF SG of America was to vocally support and defend the ALF, to unify supporters of underground animal activism, to educate the public as to need and rationale of direct action, to encourage implementation of clandestine tactics, to provide a legal defense fund for imprisoned or arrested ALF activists, and to raise funds for all of the above. They did this at a time when dozens of labs across the country were being raided, thousands of people were protesting for animal rights, and the US seemed to be on the cusp of a mass movement for non-humans. The Liberator documented these efforts and is a classic piece of animal liberation history.

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.

It’s A Man’s Game is a short zine written after an anarchist men’s weekend, outlining what they perceived as sexism in the UK’s Hunt Saboteur Association.  The authors argue that all men involved in hunt sabbing engage in behaviors that oppress women, and that women and animals are alike because women are “enslaved as wives” and “used for entertainment, cheap labour, and sex.”

For a zine claimed to be inspired by women’s strength, it is notably absent of evidence of women actually voicing their own concerns with the sabbing scene.  Instead, women are portrayed as yet another helpless and oppressed creature that needs protecting by enlightened men – mirroring the paternalistic dynamic of how many animal rights activists view animals.  (One has to be pretty obtuse to consider oneself a voice for the “voiceless” – animals are indeed very noisy when being injured or mistreated, and have a long history of responding by maiming or killing their attackers.)

The solutions to sexism proposed by the zine are to disassociate with the HSA, have structured meetings to prevent any one person from talking more than another, and to spend time doing blindfolded trust exercises as a group to build respect for women.

Groups operating outside the confines of the law, especially those who utilize a leaderless resistance model, often resort to self published manuals to spread ideology and practical advice on tactics. For the Animal Liberation Front, the Animal Liberation Primer series was the equivalent of the Irish Republican Army’s volunteer handbook. Spread far and wide by sympathetic activists, touring punk bands, and ALF supporters groups, this tiny guide put the power of direct action into the hands of thousands of people.

The Primer focused on security culture, direct action philosophy, tactical decision making between animal rescues and economic sabotage, and more direct how-to directions. Many of the instructions contained in this edition had to be redacted from our archive in order to comply with federal laws on distributing information detailing how to commit arson. Other than standard warnings against lighting fires which might harm animals, including humans, little attention was paid to the long term implications of burning down buildings, including the additional resources available to law enforcement to slow a burgeoning movement for animal liberation. While not ignoring the issue of consequences completely, it was a failure of the authors to not dedicate more space to examining the long term effects of a direct action campaign on public support, repression, and momentum. That being said, one would expect a greater degree of heavy handed, ideologically rigid language from a zine such as this. Fortunately the tone remains determined and confident without titling towards cultish.

Conflict Gypsy is desperately attempting to obtain a complete set of The Beast, an English magazine that covered animal liberation, ecological, and anti nuclear struggles! If you have any information that could lead us to finding more of these please contact us at conflictgypsy((at))gmail((dot))com

The issue that we are presenting here is perhaps our favorite find of the project so far. It beautifully documents a direct action movement that was in ascension, and the professionally written articles on early NALL raids, whale hunts sabs, and ALF actions are optimistic, intelligent, and lacking the false, macho militancy of later publications. This is a real gem, please help us track down more issues!

UPDATE: We found them all! You can see our complete set of The Beast #1-#10 here

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.

The early part of the 1990s saw a number of small booklets written anonymously by participants in illegal direct action and distributed widely to sympathizers “above ground.” These booklets varied in quality and ranged from interviews with people who had undertook small scale sabotage, to more theoretical works that dealt with the direction the authors felt the movement should go. Going Underground follows that latter formula, and offers thoughts on the meaning of animal liberation, the value of direct action, and the security measures one should practice before undertaking that path. The contents of this small zine were largely applicable to a specific time period and geographical place, but relevant ideas are sprinkled here and there inside its pages.

No Compromise, which billed itself as “The militant, direct action newsmagazine of grassroots animal liberationists and their supporters,” was the most important animal rights publication of the 1990s. Despite its many problems, frequent delays, and constant changes in editorial staff, the magazine energized the movement in a way that is difficult to explain to a generation that never witnessed pre-internet activism.

In the mid 90s there were a few, isolated groups around the country who were participating in civil disobedience actions and staging loud protests against local labs and fur stores. These groups were largely unaware of each others’ existence and without a gathering like Earth First!’s Round River Rendezvous, unable to share tactical advice or co-ordinate targets.

In 1996 there was a national meeting of animal rights activists in Washington DC dubbed World Animal Awareness Week and March for the Animals. The event was considered a failure as only 3,000 of the estimated 100,000 participants materialized. But staff from No Compromise were present passing out the first issue and asking grassroots organizations for their contact information. Suddenly groups like the Animal Rights Direct Actions Coalition were aware of Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, the Animal Defense Leagues, and the Student Organization for Animal Rights.

As the grassroots grew increasingly aware of the efforts of other organizations, regional demonstrations began being planned. The first such demonstration after the March for Animals took place at the Seattle Fur Exchange, where activists used bike locks to attach themselves to each other and block the drive way of the fur auction. All of the action got reported on in No Compromise, and suddenly bike locks gave way to lock boxes, which gave way to super boxes and barrels and tripods as civil disobedience tactics spread across the country wherever the magazine was distributed. There was an explosion not just in voluntary arrest scenarios, but also in underground direct action. The print runs of No Compromise kept climbing and it became the must read publication for animal rights militants.

Conflict Gypsy will be posting No Compromise year by year with an analysis of the direction of the movement at that time. Year one represents the return of the militant grassroots after they had been destroyed by grand juries, arrests, and movement paranoia in the late 80s and early 90s. The tone of the magazine at this time was hopeful, and each issue was packed with increasingly daring protests and direct actions.

In the late 1980s, there was briefly an Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group office located in Southern California. As a funding effort they produced short runs of a wide array of merchandise such as t-shirts, buttons, stickers, coffee mugs, and Christmas cards. These items were popular at the time, but as the Supporters Group disintegrated they became impossible to find. Time marched on and these treasures were forgotten by many people, but not the staff of ConflictGypsy.com! We’ve been hard at work tracking down rarities, and recently unearthed a few small boxes of lost ALF SG gear!

These items are originals from 1988 or prior, unused, and not reproductions. The prices reflect their obscurity and once these are gone no more will remain for sale.

Click here to see our store >>

In the late 90s, there was a small but vocal section of the animal rights movement that wanted to see greater “intersectionality” between the struggle for non-humans and broader social justice issues. That cry manifested in many ways, from the founding of groups like Liberation Collective and Vegan Resistance for Liberation, to the publications of magazines such as One Struggle.

Launched in 1997, One Struggle was meant to be a more multi-issue alternative to the very popular No Compromise magazine, and it’s editorial board and funding originally included early No Comp participants like Cres Velluci. Sadly, it also included a person who later became a government informant: Jen Kolar, one of the primary sources of (often untrue) information that led to the convictions of defendants in the Green Scare cases.

With a mission to “fight the overall power structure,” the magazine produced only one issue which greatly failed in that task. It was almost exclusively authored by animal liberationists discussing the movement they most identified with, and many of the articles about other struggles were likewise written by single issue participants in those movements and lifted directly from their publications. This doesn’t mean that One Struggle was not a worthwhile read. Many articles documented important events occurring at that time point, and while it was not the best written publication of its era it did manage to avoid the tabloidish, macho posturing of many grassroots periodicals. The international coverage exceeded what was available in any other US AR zine at the time, and the classic “Non-violence is ass kissing” op ed still produces some hearty chuckles.

Even though it was short lived, One Struggle remains one of the most noted movement papers of the 1990s, and we are happy to have it archived here at conflictgypsy.com

If there was ever a zine series that I wish I could provide Cliff’s Notes for, it would be State of the Movement. SOTM wielded political cartooning the most way other people wield blades, and its editors stabbed at what they saw as hypocrisy and weakness in the movement’s personalities and philosophies. Many of the references made in these cartoons will be lost on younger activists, but we offer the following brief explanation.

The 1980s was a time of explosive popularity in the animal rights movement, and initially, that boom brought together some very unlikely people. Celebrities like Bob Barker held meetings where Rod Coronado would be seated next to the heads of welfare groups. Mass marches took place in cities all across the United States, with tens of thousands of people participating in demonstration on major days such as World Day for Animals in Laboratories and Fur Free Friday. But amidst all this activity, the con artists and career builders were lurking. The tremendous potential for fund raising also meant a corollary potential for salaries, and after a while, the mainstream groups had well-paid executives who wanted to do anything they could to avoid offending their donor base. The philosophy of the movement was weakened as calls for the abolition of vivisection became calls to stop using “pound seized pets” in experiments. Activists who had once loudly supported direct action began whispering supportive words to militants in one breath and then denouncing them to the media in another. Compromise spread like melted soy margarine and soon the whole movement was covered in the oily goo of half-assery!

Amidst this rush to mediocrity, State of the Movement mercilessly mocked those who were selling the animals futures down the drain. The events of the 1980s impact this movement still. We can not provide a comic by comic explanation, but we do hope that people will research this bygone period and learn from the mistakes of the failed movement “leadership” at that time.

We’d like to state right from the beginning of this post: this book is poorly written and argued and we do not agree with its primary premise. Throughout the book, it is claimed that the majority of humans will never voluntarily embrace animal liberation, and thus terrorism utilized by a vegan minority will scare the masses into not enslaving other creatures. This belief is farcical on its face and abandons billions of animals to desperate lives of confinement, abuse and slaughter. No militant movement without a large base of support has ever succeeded in overthrowing the dominant order of society. A movement made up of the “liberators” mentioned in this book would be quickly suppressed and the following repression would hinder, maybe permanently, other hopeful forms of saving animals.

However, when Declaration was initially published in the 1990s, it caused quite a stir in a movement that was already tripping over itself to prove how moderate it could be after the radicalism of the eighties. Advertisements for the book were pulled from publications like Animals Voice, and terse editorials were directed at the publishers. Many campaigners at the time rejected the message, but seemed to delight in how it upset the struggle’s status quo.

For some reason, this book has survived with a large cult following on the internet despite never having been taken seriously by even the most radicalized liberationists. Perhaps its appeal lays in its ability to give voice to a fantasy of retribution. Many of us have raged at the harm done to non-humans by our species and dreamed, however briefly, of harming those responsible. The vicarious release given to people by reading this book may then be its only redeeming quality.

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



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 Conflict Gypsy.

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.

Memories of Freedom (1997? Tucson, AZ. USA)

This was the most inspiring publication I read in the early days of my activism, and remains a gorgeously written account of a small number of young people fighting from underground to make a change. The stories contained herein have become legend, and that sadly is the worst thing about this otherwise classic text.

Originally credited as being written by anonymous members of the “Western Wildlife Unit,” Rod Coronado later admitted being the author. The story was told from his perspective, and while he passionately believed his version of events, there were facts that he was unaware of during the time that the book was written. His recollections are also through a lens of spirituality which bears mention here. Religious fervor tends to skew memory so that events reflect belief rather than reality.

Since the publication of Memories of Freedom, a more journalistic study of the events described in the book has been completed. Ultimately, that study became the book Operation Bite Back by Dean Kuipers. After extensive research and interviews, it became clear that some of the events described in Memories were less spectacular than originally perceived by the author. For example, one raid at the USU Predator Research Facility is portrayed as a heart-warming victory wherein the raiders speak to the coyotes and are assisted in entering the building by the noise raised by the animal they came to save. In reality, the coyotes were highly domesticated and territorial. After being released many of them attacked each other, and required veterinary attention. One was shot, and another killed in the fighting. All survivors were recaptured, and the damage done to the research was minimal.

Memories of Freedom remains the best insider picture of the Animal Liberation Front, but it, like all propaganda, should be read with a critical and skeptical eye. While the stories are beautiful and told from the honest memories of Rod Coronado, they are incomplete in the way that all auto-biographies are. We can only learn from our errors when we are honest about them, and I hope that young activists will look further when they research these and other old publications.

I was a young anarchist living in Portland at the time, and obsessed with the writings of Alexander Berkman. Most notably, I was intrigued with his secretly produced prison publication known as Prison Blossoms. Written on various scraps of paper and clandestinely distributed to both prisoners and the outside world, there were no known copies available. One day, while discussing what treasures might have been held on those random bits of smuggled pulp, someone told me about Strong Hearts. I picked up a copy of the first issue at Reading Frenzy and felt like this time around I hadn’t missed out.

Rod’s writing was passionate and avoided much of the juvenile machismo that was endemic to the militant animal rights movement at the time. He bristled at single issue politics, and the magazine covered a spectrum of analysis, news, and tactics in the struggles for wilderness, wild life, women, and indigenous peoples. He was a prisoner, but the cluttered pages of Strong Hearts shined with the cheerful beauty of his intelligence and attitude. As each new issue came out those of us on the outside got a clearer picture of the author. We knew he was a warrior in the best sense of the word, and life behind bars had not yet taken his spirit of resistance.

Time has marched on, and whereas most of the old AR zines from this era seem dated, Strong Hearts largely holds up. The first hand accounts of the sinking of whaling ships, liberations of captive animals, and other direct actions are timeless, and when I fault much of anything about the rest of the writings, it is foremost their legibility. Most issues and articles managed to be inspiring without being fanatical, educational without being preachy, and accessible without being simplistic. Typically I would spend more time analyzing a zine like this, but Strong Hearts speaks for itself. I hope it brings as much to your life as it brought to mine.

Underground was published by the North American Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group and was essentially a continuation of the old Canada ALFSG publication, Combat. Because the NAALFSG went through constant staff changes, police raids, and office burglaries, the magazine often went long stretches between installments, but the first year managed to produce three long, enjoyable issues .

The early editions of this magazine were the most essential, as the quality lagged by the end of its run. Articles with practical advice on everything from handling grand jury subpoenas to sabotaging steel jaw leg hold traps appeared during this era, and the tone of the magazine was measured and reasonable. Commentary on how targeting of actions should account for political repercussions and avoid unintended racist and classist undertones showed a maturity seldom seen in other movement papers at the time.

Of historical importance is the coverage of grand juries in the 90s, early attempts at organizing AR activists on the internet, the frequent and ignored violence against animals activists, and the death of Jill Phipps during the campaign against live exports. Young activists would do well to read these issues, as the time period covered spans the gap between the end of Out of the Cages, Militant Vegan, Dressed in Black, and the start of No Compromise.

On a final, sad note, much of the best content for Underground was written by, or about, Canadian activist Darren Thurston. Darren was an inspiration to the movement, and participated in a number of high profile actions that earned him jail time and constant surveillance. After years of fighting bravely for animal liberation, Darren unexpectedly became a government informant and stopped being vegan during his last sentence in federal prison. The staff of Conflict Gypsy would like to assert that publication of his old articles is for archival purposes and should not be seen as forgiveness or support for his treacherous actions.

Also see Underground 4-6 and Underground 7-9 and Underground 10-13 and Underground 14-15 and the final rare issue, Underground 16.

Militant Vegan was an anonymously produced zine that ran for 8 issues between 1993 and 1995. The final issue was never printed by the team who produced the magazine, instead the files were distributed online. Due to the poor quality of modems and low usage of the internet at the time the issue was mostly lost to history. Other things contributed to the mag’s obscurity as well. For example- there was no address to order the magazine from. Instead, originals were distributed to some animal rights groups and it was requested that they make copies, and that the readers of those copies make further copies to distribute to activists. Since the publication already relied on much cutting and pasting this method of circulation resulted in heavy generation loss of images, and obtaining readable copies wasn’t always easy. Even activists who were heavily involved in the movement at that time never saw every issue. Conflict Gypsy was luckily able to track down a complete set, including the rare eighth and final dispatch.

Printed in starkly contrasted black and white, and dressed in over-the-top, macho imagery, Militant Vegan’s primary purpose was to publicize actions and news ignored by mainstream movement publications. Otherwise, the philosophy of the magazine was vague. It was pleasant to read a brief denunciation of the sexism and homophobia advocated by the “Hardline movement” in MV’s early issues, but elsewhere there was less clarity. For example, ALF guidelines prohibiting violence appeared alongside statements celebrating the poisoning of animal products left on store shelves. (These actions turned out to be hoaxes, and no one was actually poisoned.) Frequent reminders that the publishers didn’t wish to encourage illegal activity appeared alongside instructions on how to do exactly that. And despite the angry condemnation of speciesism, cops are still referred to as pigs in a page reprinted from Defiance #1. The rhetoric could be ugly and was generally unlikely to convince people that direct action was an ethical tactic that provided the movement a way forward.

Despite all of this there was nothing quite like Militant Vegan at the time that it was published, and it documented the rise of a new era of grassroots activism in the United States prior to the publication of No Compromise. For the lucky few who could obtain copies, MV brought news of groups like Student Environmental Action League, Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade, and Animal Defense League into their homes when glossy magazines like Animal’s Agenda did not. After a sharp dip in the number of underground actions in the earlier part of the 90s, Militant Vegan was a good source of information on the new trend towards smaller scale economic sabotage. Occasionally a well written original article appeared, and seeing press clippings from former radical (and current HSUS honcho) JP Goodwin’s convictions for sabotage remains amusing. Finally, the letters from prisoners were at times inspiring, and the coverage of Rod Coronado’s case from arrest to conviction is essential reading.

In total, Militant Vegan was a product of its time, written by amateurs who saw a niche and decided to fill it. It remains one of the only insider perspectives from that period of underground and radical grassroots animal liberation activism.

Ronnie Lee was kind enough to write an introduction for their re-release on Conflict Gypsy. We accidentally bumped into him online while emailing the UK ALF Supporters Group asking for back issues of newsletters, and were heartened to see that one of the grandfathers of the direct action movement is still involved with activism and outreach.

“The idea for Arkangel came to me in 1989 while I was serving a 10 year prison sentence for involvement with the Animal Liberation Front. I thought it was important for there to be a magazine which provided news coverage of all aspects of the animal protection movement (public education, political campaigning, direct action etc.) from a radical perspective and which also provided a forum for rational debate/discussion.

Vivien Smith, whom I had previously worked with in publishing the ALF Supporters Group newsletter, had recently been released from prison and we teamed up again to produce the first issue of Arkangel, with me doing most of the writing and Viv typing it out and putting it together with artwork to create the magazine.

The second issue was produced in a similar fashion but, after that, everything had to change, as the prison stopped me from sending out articles, following complaints from the vivisection industry, and Viv was put in prison again for ALF actions.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Larry Law authored a series of booklets analyzing various issues from a situationist perspective. Consisting of various statements by Law, cut and paste articles taken from newspapers at the time, and a little bit of humor, the Animals issue of Spectacular Times reminds of us the deep connections between animal liberation and situationist thought. (A connection so deep that Ronnie Lee now claims that the founding of the ALF was influenced by his appreciation for the Angry Brigade, a British armed revolutionary group whose politics some, Lee included, mark as situationist.)

One article inside concerns the ambivalence and even animosity directed at the animal rights movement from the British left. “Despite all this activity the animal liberation groups are largely ignored by other political groups. Perhaps the politicos are ashamed. In the past five years the animal liberation activists have undertaken more direct action and caused more physical and financial damage to their enemies than the entire British revolutionary left put together. (Including those groups who claim to hold ‘direct action’ as a basic tenet of their philosophy.)” The booklet continues in much the same vain and makes for a great, albeit short read.

“Bite Back was formed in 2002 to give voice to activists who choose to break the law to help animals, and to feed an animal rights movement hungry for news about non-violent direct action. Our goal was to produce a magazine that was professional looking, creative and exciting.

In the years since our first issue, we’ve shipped the magazine to activists around the world, posted close to 4,000 reports of actions on our website, fought back lawsuits by some of the largest corporations in the world, and raised thousands of dollars to support animal rights prisoners of conscience.

Bite Back reports news often not found anywhere else. We hope our work is both inspirational to those who seek a more humane world, and unnerving to those who seek profit through exploitation and terror.

Bite Back is an all-volunteer organization.”

By the late 90s, it was becoming apparent that despite the commitment and energy of the militant grassroots, little in the way of progress was being accomplished for non-humans. A lack of focus on a single target or issue and little regional or national coordination had left the movement with few gains, frustrated organizers, and many participants drifting away. One early attempt at correcting the problem was a drive by members of the Animal Defense Leagues and CAFT to start unifying their efforts by publishing a joint newsletter called Counter Friction.

Counter Friction was well intentioned, but upon its release it had little impact. First and foremost, if anything the magazine served to highlight the overly diverse targets and lack of framework within the groups. Some groups were focused on fur, some on fundraising, some on vegan outreach, and despite JP Goodwin’s call for unified action, everywhere else in the magazine there was a sense of not knowing what to do next. Second, the publication came out during a time period of intense turmoil and lower participation caused by the internecine conflict between supporters of Freeman Wicklund’s ill fated strategic non-violence plan, and more traditional grassroots militants who supported underground activity. Third, the articles were written by organizers who might be proficient at putting together a protest but miserable at composing a few paragraphs about it. With few exceptions the content was poorly written. Finally, there was an unintentional conflict in the mission for the newsletter: On the one hand it was meant to start creating a centralized clearinghouse for CAFT and ADL, but the other purpose was to drive people towards local chapters.  Subscribers were told to contact local groups for subscriptions, to send submissions to the central group, to contact CAFT for merchandise, to contact ADL for literature, and in the end confusion abounded.

By the time managing editor Rachael Astachan requested that chapters send in articles and updates for the second issue the steam had run out for many of the ADL’s and CAFT affiliates. In a frustrated e-mail to the ADL group e-mail list she left the project, and it was never revived.

With the modern media focus on groups like WikiLeaks, it is often forgotten just how proficient the animal rights movement has been at obtaining documents that our opposition never intended for us to see. One significant example of this was when the North American ALF Supporters Group obtained the American Medical Association’s plan to counter the animal rights movement in the United States. This plot, which became popularly known in the movement as the “AMA White Paper,” was quickly disseminated to the movement through old fashioned postal mail and excerpts in sympathetic periodicals.

The plan itself was pretty basic and involved elements still in use by corporate PR and security firms to this day. Essentially, a wedge was to be driven between the militant aspects of the movement and the national organizations, the public was to be told that animal rights activists are anti-science and stood in the way of “choices” which the average person may wish to make, and that congress should be heavily lobbied to increase penalties for people breaking the law to save animals. These tactics are still used against the movement today, and this publication remains a vital read for those fighting animal slavery.

Dressed in Black was a short lived zine produced and distributed by members of the Syracuse Animal Defense League. It ran for 3 issues in the span of just over a year and then died out right around the same time as Syracuse’s other animal liberation publication, Holocaust. DiB’s infancy followed the pattern set by Militant Vegan in that it relied heavily on articles reprinted from other sources, but that strangely ended up being its primary strength.

To be aware of magazines such as Frontlines, Out of the Cages, or Liberator you almost had to be a part of the movement. To obtain a copy in those days you had to mail a request along with hidden cash and sometimes even a return envelope. People who were not already committed to the cause were unlikely to do that, but Dressed in Black, at least in its first issue, acted as an aggregator for articles from those publications and got into the hands of non-activists by being distributed at hardcore shows.

Syracuse was one of many cities in the US that experienced a surge of youth led AR activism in the early 90s, but unlike Memphis or Minneapolis, Syracuse had a special ingredient that helped spread awareness of grassroots groups and local zines – the band Earth Crisis. After releasing their All Out War EP in 1992, the band’s popularity boomed. They often had chapters of the Animal Defense League tabling at their shows, and as Conflict Gypsy sought out copies of Dressed in Black many people told us that their introduction to the zine came at Earth Crisis shows in various places across the country.

By the third issue, Dressed in Black contained original writings and cleaned up its layout. It was surprisingly non-dogmatic for its era, and depicted ADL activists “going naked,” contained information from national organizations, and managed to avoid the pseudo-religious insanity of “Hardline.” Due to its wide circulation, DiB eventually became one of the zines that others copied articles out of, an interesting full circle for this small publication that died before reaching maturity.

A final interesting side note: I have long wondered about the origin of the cover graphic on issue #2. Is that Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Home Improvement?! If anyone knows the artist, please have them contact us.

Given the number of prominent openly gay, lesbian, and transgendered activists in the animal rights movement, you would think that we would have seen a greater number of zines representing a queer perspective on veganism. Thus far we have not found many, but the influence of this small, almost pamphlet sized zine from Sacramento is visible throughout other publications from the early 90s.

Homo Milk was a brief declaration of queer-vegan militancy. It put straight and gay folks alike on notice that there was an intersectionality between gay and animal activism. Produced by two radical activists and zinesters, Tom Scut and Todd Pollution Circus, it aimed to spread veganism in one community and the embrace of difference in another. No one was let off the hook. “Who would steal milk from a baby? Someone like me, a few years ago, ignorant and blinded by years of nutritional brainwashing. People who, from habit or greed enslave, exploit, and oppress other species to consume the milk intended for their offspring (already off to confinement in veal crates or being prepared to replace their mothers as slaves and milk machines). Who else? Dykes eating Haagen Daas ice cream while lamenting sexism? Queers who find their own oppression intolerable but are blind to the suffering of others? Vegetarians cramming the coagulated stolen milk into their self righteous bellies? And all the rest, humans, not kind, but blind, not seeing, not caring as the rape and theft goes on. Who supports this perversion of the most primal bond, that of mother and infant? Maybe YOU. Why?”

Tom recalled those times in a recent e-mail: “Josh, you have to picture Todd and I, riding our bikes around and putting up anti-leather fliers at queer bars. We had some interesting confrontations. I remember screaming ‘They (cows) are your sisters!’ at a leather dyke during one such incident in Sacramento. She was so befuddled!”

Writings and graphics from Homo Milk made their way into many other zines at the time, from punk zines, to Dressed in Black and Underground. The Cows Bash Back graphic was also reprinted as a poster and wheat pasted heavily in Eugene, OR and likely other cities. We hope the influence of Homo Milk will continue now that it is being re-introduced by Conflict Gypsy.

The late 90s in England saw a series of hard hitting, successful campaigns against companies that bred animals for vivisection labs. The first, and perhaps best known of these campaigns, was against a beagle breeding farm known as Consort. At one point the farm had surrounded its premises with a brick wall in order to protect the grounds from invasion by protestors. Famously, the wall got torn down brick by brick during one national demonstration. After 10 months of nonstop action, the farm closed and the beagles were released to activists for re-homing.

The momentum achieved at Consort spilled over into the next big breeder campaign, a cat farm owned by the infamous Christopher Brown. The protests which occurred against his establishment were epic, and involved everything from encampments on the surrounding property to the cattery areas being raided. Legend has it that so many rocks were thrown at his house that the roof collapsed from the weight. The British government and local police had vowed to keep the Brown’s in the cat killing business, but the tenacity of campaigners proved to be too powerful. Hillgrove closed, and this publication was how the campaign celebrated and told people to be on the lookout for their next target. Within months of the publication of this final dispatch that target was made public: Huntingdon Life Sciences.

By the late 1990s, it had become clear that many people were using the imagery of Crimethinc to appear tough while simultaneously using the selfishness-as-virtue doctrine of the group to justify doing nothing. Fed up with that trend, and all the young shoplifting hipsters in Carharrts who slept on my couch falling of the vegan wagon, I began my own group: The Crimethunk Ex-Posers Collective. This poster is all that remains of the controversial imagery I made attacking Crimethinc’s self indulgence masquerading as politics. The most controversial of those images was a sticker now lost to history which read, “The opposite of Evasion is confrontation.”

Although this was not a stand alone issue of the SG newsletter, we wanted to print it separately in order to highlight the contributions of Barry Horne to the liberation of animals.

Prior to his death while on hunger strike, Barry had participated in many famous actions in the UK. From attempting to liberate dolphins, to raids on Park Farm, Interfauna, and Boots, and ultimately a campaign of arson attacks that resulted in his arrest, he never failed to risk his own freedom as he fought to bring it to others. This edition tells many of the stories of his time in the trenches, and the self sacrifice that led to his demise. It is essential reading for militant activists of all stripes and generations.

US: We are two friends who run a website archiving animal rights and environmental publications. Him: A rabid hoarder of rarities. Her: Amused by the meshing of conservative politics and veganism. You: A little odd but a fun third to our party. Come to us and find out all the magic we have to offer. Feel free to bring along your boy X Shawn Youngblood X. Smooooch.

(In other words, we’d really like to track down more issues of this publication. Please contact us at conflictgypsy ((at)) gmail ((dot)) com if you can help us obtain this treasure!)

The Hunt Saboteurs Association is one of the most important organizations in the history of animal rights. Starting in 1963, it was one of the first protest organizations for animals in the modern era. More importantly, its means were always direct action oriented, and the atmosphere of local HSA meet ups encouraged humans to examine how to best interact with animals.

Years prior to the publication of Animal Liberation (a book which the media falsely credits with launching the animal rights movement), “sabs” were out in the fields of England laying false scents, blowing horns to confuse hunting dogs, and even sometimes sabotaging the vehicles of hunt supporters. It was this type of activity which led to some members of the HSA to begin considering how else they could contribute to the movement. It is common knowledge that a small group of HSA members formed the Band of Mercy, an underground organization that eventually morphed into the Animal Liberation Front. What is less known is the role that the organization played developing the people who would go on to shape our ideas and tactics.

Conflict Gypsy will be presenting a wide variety of hunt saboteur literature on the site in the coming months. In the meantime, this starter pack is a good primer on the philosophies and tactics of the HSA.

Do Not Consider Yourself Free was the official newsletter of the New York City Animal Defense League chapter. Contributors included many prominent 90s activists, such as Sarahjane Blum, Patrick Kwan, Kim Berardi, Ryan Shapiro, Lance Morosini, Brian Smith, Melanie Bartlett, Darius Fulmer, Justin Taylor, Christine Matyasovsky, and Lauren Gazzola. The publication primarily covered the ADL’s spectacularly planned acts of civil disobedience against the fur trade and many arrests of its members, but also included interviews with figures such as JP Goodwin, and original articles covering issues such as squashing infighting or building support for direct action. It remains one of the most well known and fondly remembered newsletters of its era.

Conflict Gypsy is proud to present the complete set here along with this new introduction by Ryan Shapiro.

“The late 1990s was a different world, and the NYC Animal Defense League rocked that world. Working closely with the Long Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Syracuse chapters of the ADL, as well as with the NYU animal rights organization SEAL, the NYC-based Wetlands Animal Rights Action Team, and DC-based Compassion Over Killing, NYC ADL warred against animal exploitation and abuse in New York City.

NYC ADL sought to combine the aggressive militancy that characterized the grassroots animal rights movement of the late 1990s with a parallel focus on strategic and tactical planning. Our goal was to be both radical and smart. Efficacy was our watchword. As such, NYC ADL members could be found in camos while recruiting at Earth Crisis shows and in suits and dresses while occupying the President’s office at NYU (even if we still had Firestorm playing on the President’s stereo).

We placed particular emphasis on our civil disobedience actions. In the heady days before 9-11 and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, NYC ADL organized seemingly ceaseless opportunities to challenge animal exploitation by locking ourselves to things. Through boldness of vision, obsessive attention to detail, and the courage of our membership, NYC ADL sought to perfect the art of the urban blockade. Whether it was learning the science of concrete solidification or busting out the algebra to determine the optimal participant distribution for a lockdown, NYC ADL devoted ourselves to coordinating spectacular acts of civil disobedience that served as models for other groups around the country. Among our proudest accomplishments was to repeatedly shut down the world’s largest store, Macy’s Herald Square, in protest of Macy’s continued sale of fur.

Due primarily to the departure from NYC of many of ADL’s leading coordinators, the group began to falter in 2000. Even in its demise, however, NYC ADL served as a feeder for some of the most significant grassroots animal rights campaigns of the new millennium. After leaving NY, veterans of NYC ADL served as key participants in, amongst others, the SHAC campaign, the campaign to shut down Makah whaling, and the campaign to expose factory farming through “open rescue.”

Over a decade later, NYC ADL seems both like yesterday and a lifetime ago. In either form of memory, however, I remain deeply humbled to have served alongside activists so passionate and dedicated. It is truly one of the great honors of my life to have been a part of NYC ADL. Thank you to everyone who fought for animals alongside us, and to everyone who continues the fight today. NYC ADL is gone, but the message lives on: As long as others are held captive, do not consider yourself free.”

In many ways, the 1980s was the high water mark of the Animal Liberation movement. In 1984, thousands of people in England participated in direct action against vivisection, staging large scale raids against six labs. Multitudes of people would overwhelm security in broad daylight and remove the oppressed creatures inside, often causing minor damage along the way and taking out valuable footage which was used to grow the movement. Many dozens of arrests followed these raids, but it is arguable that police response was not the cause of death of this mass militant movement taking shape in the UK.

Around this same time we saw the emergence of groups such as the Hunt Retribution Squad and Animal Rights Militia. Rather than rejecting the idea that animal rights activists were fanatics, HRS and ARM embraced that term and seemingly reveled in the negative imagery presented by the media. The Hunt Retribution Squad even went so far as to release images of masked activists wielding clubs, chainsaws, and even pavement cutters. The front pages of newspapers widely reported on threats made by HRS to harm hunters if they attacked human opponents of hunting. In the end these counter-assaults never took place, but the damage was done. This type of macho posturing was repellant to many in the movement, and it provided great fodder for the police, courts, and conservative PR teams to use in the war against direct action. Certainly, the few acts of violence taken by the Animal Rights Militia could not outweigh the value of the mass raids and rising public consciousness taking place in England at the time and largely contributed to the recession of a growing struggle for non-human emancipation.

Written in accessible language and unafraid of nuance, its tactical analysis and historical documentation remain valuable to this day.  Against All Odds is essential reading for the modern animal liberationist.

Although the mid to late 1990s brought a resurgence of participation to the animal rights movement, the new generation of liberationists also had an unfortunate tendency towards posturing, machismo, and puritanical language that bordered on the cultish. These newcomers plagued AR culture with a plethora of new groups dubbed with cartoonish militant names such as JIHAD (Justice through Insurrection by Humans for Animal Defense), CLAW (Committed  Liberation Activists of the West), ARMY (Animal Rights Militant Youth), Vegan Frontline, and the Vegan Militia Movement. It was the latter that brought us two issues of the eclectic, and at times frustrating, Contention Builder.

Many of the members of the Vegan Militia Movement went on to do excellent activism. Their early attempts at publishing, however, were somewhat rough. Packaged between artistic, eye grabbing covers, the interior pages of contention builder were filled with reprints, PETA fact sheets, vegan recipes, and the occasionally an original article attacking the credibility of bands like Earth Crisis. Worst of all were the heavy handed, religiously argued admonitions at the back of each issue for people to embrace the “Hardline movement,” a bizarre spin off of Straight Edge that rejected drugs, homosexuality, sex without procreation, abortion, and later incorporated aspects of Taosim and Islam. Hardliners threatened to use violence against people who abused animals, but these statements were never acted upon and now appear to be the juvenile venting of angry young men.

Issue #1 of Contention Builder came packaged with a so-poorly-written-you-can’t-help-but-laugh tract advertising the mission statement of the Vegan Militia Movement. Chuckle along with these earnest but silly run-on sentences: “WE BELIEVE IN ONE ETHIC- THAT ALL LIFE HAS THE VIRTUE TO LIVE OUT LIFE FROM BIRTH TO NATURAL DEATH – FREE FROM ALL UNETHICAL VALUES. WE MUST STRIFE [sic] AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE DESTROYING THIS WORLD WITH IMPURE AND WARPED VALUES BY VOICING OURSELVES AND TAKING ACTION AGAINST THEM.” Ah, yes, the good old days when hardcore lyrics replaced political hyperbole and the caps lock was permanently depressed.

But CB is worthy of notice not so much because of its content, but its regional importance to the movement in Southern California. For all the oddball rhetoric and over-reliance on reprints, the magazine still inspired young people to get active and attend protests throughout San Diego and Orange County. Space was given to examining issues ignored elsewhere in the animal rights movement, and violence against women, repression of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and US Imperialism all received coverage. In the end, the sincerity of many members of this group was proven outside of the pages of the zine. All these years later many of them are still active and contributing to animal rights. Perhaps that is the best legacy of their old publication.

Before the term snacktivist became derogatory, several amazing publications such as Soy Not Oi and Raggedy Anarchy promoted veganism and protest alongside recipes for tasty food. One much more obscure publication, EAT ME, was written by best selling vegan cookbook author Isa Moskowitz. Although the content doesn’t match the focus of most of our site, there is certainly a fun archival nerd collector value to seeing one of the most prominent faces of veganism during her radical youth. And yes, each issue contains a recipe. We are happy to have a new introduction to these newsletters from Isa herself.

“I made these as newsletters for the Anarchist Women’s Potlucks in 1997/1998. It was weird timing, because people had email and stuff but it was still a real privilege to have internet at home, so everything was done word of mouth. If you read a few issues, you can see that we used voicemail to let people know when they next one will be. So we were kind of cutting edge technology for the 90s, if only we had a beeper! I wrote them on a word processor, then cut and paste and just filled in some of the art with pictures of lips or whatever. I would love to try some of the recipes now, I was a pretty shitty recipe writer back then. So many awesome things came out of those potlucks, including Bluestockings Books which is still standing today. It was really the end of an era! Pre-internet activism, where you kinda had to know everyone face to face. There is definitely something valuable in that. I love seeing these because they seem so innocent, even though I felt jaded back then.”