Report from National A
R C Meeting . January 23rd 2005
1) The meeting was hosted by Veggies at
the Sumac Centre in Nottingham. About 70 activists attended. At the beginning
of the meeting there was an Introductory Go-Round where each person said who
they were and where they were from, these included activists from Nottingham,
Derby, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Peterborough, Northampton, Coventry,
Redditch, Leamington, London, Bournemouth, Taunton, Wolverhampton, Bristol
2) Campaigns Section: The first half of the
meeting was for grass-roots campaigns updates. This was supposed to be in
reverse alphabetical order, but this wasn’t strictly followed as the agenda was
changed around up to the last minute.
Veggies. Veggies runs the Animal
Rights Calendar (see http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc.php), the
most important and authoritative diary in the movement. The past few months
have been spent totally redesigning the Calendar. In effect this means that
each event listed has its own web page. Eventually registered users, eg local
group contacts, will be able to add or modify events themselves from their own
computers. Veggies was also hosting the event, and pointed out that all the
food was vegan, as were all the drinks at the bar, both alcoholic and
non-alcoholic. Veggies also welcome offers of help both at their Nottingham
base, as well as at festivals, demos etc. http://www.veggies.org.uk . 0845 458 9595.
SWAT (Stop Wickham Animal
Testing), campaigning against Wickham animal labs in Hampshire. The SWAT people
had travelled all the way from near Bournemouth, over 300 miles. They reported
that the campaign was very intense with regular demos and home visits. At one
place the owners had nailed up the letter box because of the constant use of
the megaphone. Recently 3 people held a roof top protest, and over 40 riot
police were sent to deal with them. Two local activists are currently on bail
facing charges of burglary in connection with a raid at the labs. Targets
included Reliance Security, White Rose (incinerators) and TNT delivery
services. http://www.swatonline.co.uk . 02392 588516.
SPEAK Campaign, working to prevent a new
animal lab being built by Oxford University. The University has announced that
work will re-start in February and that they are in negotiations with a new
contractor to finish the labs. A major national demo was planned for the coming
Saturday, and it was important to have a show of strength for the benefit of
the university and any potential builders and suppliers. The demo will start
with a rally and speeches, and then a march round the city with a short stop
outside the labs. Protesters were asked to wear builder-style overalls with
slogans on the back, or yellow sleeveless jackets to imitate the people who
serve injunctions.
The campaign had a new newsletter available at the
meeting. Oxford University is very influential, and basically runs the city of
Oxford. The court case was still proceeding over the injunction brought by the
university to curb the campaign, but a temporary injunction was still in place,
which limits demos at the site to once a week with a maximum of 30 people. The
original application would have banned protests within 100 metres of university
property, and it was worked out that this would effectively have covered most
of Oxford. It would also have limited demos to once a month, and not on a
weekend or Bank Holiday.
The recent case was highlighted where a lab
inspector reported that a monkey, which had undergone experimentation at the
university, was suffering so much it should be euthanased, but the vivisector
refused because the animal was an “asset”. Eventually the monkey was killed, and
the vivisector was investigated for cruelty, but no action was taken. Later a project licence application from the
same university vivisector was leaked to the campaign, which described the
gruesome and pointless nature of the proposed monkey experiments.
The campaign was also targeting Oxford’s funding by
persuading rich backers to withhold donations. For example a Saudi businessman
recently donated £1.5. It was also important to support email action alerts.
Speak had also contacted all major construction companies to inform them about
the nature of the building in case they are approached by the university. A new
company had been set up by the university specifically to deal with getting a
contract to restart work on the site. http://www.speakcampaigns.org.uk .
07985 330 7985.
SNGP (Save the Newchurch Guinea
Pigs). Once again the first issue to be discussed was an injunction. In the
case of Newchurch, the original application was for an exclusion zone of 210
square kilometres (the largest ever in the UK), with one protest allowed per
month limited to 8 people, with advance notice to the police, and this not on a
weekend or bank holiday. This was said to be unworkable. At the court hearing
the judge wanted to know more and would decide later. Even so the temporary
injunction in place limited demos to one day a week on Sundays, 12pm to 3pm, no
more than 25 protesters. If more turn up, then it has to be done in
shifts.
Supporters toured the local villages covered by the
proposed exclusion zone, collecting signatures and gauging support. Around a
hundred actually supported the campaign, but significantly, most said they
didn't care either way and had no opinion on the subject, which gave lie to the
claims of Newchurch’s lawyers. Two more staff had recently resigned, including
one who was recently on TV saying he would never give in. The SNGP speaker
couldn’t name the workers for fear of breaking the injunction. There were only
two workers left at the farm now, and it must be near impossible to run a
business with such a small staff. http://www.liberation-now.org/ . 01902 564734.
SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal
Cruelty). SHAC spokesperson quoted the saying that ‘as a movement, first they
ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they attack you and then you win’. The
movement has reached the stage of being attacked, and it is a sign we are being
effective. The stronger the attack, the more effective it shows we are. Even
after all the recent new laws, the government is now proposing even more with a
law to outlaw “economic sabotage”. They are desperate because 104 suppliers cut
ties with HLS last year, including some very big companies such as BOC. The
fact that BOC had an injunction shows that injunctions are not the end of the
world for a campaign.
In 2005 SHAC is becoming a truly global campaign,
stepping up action in places such as Canada, South America and Holland. The aim
is to dismantle the infrastructure supporting the labs, targeting the logistics
such as delivery, hence the current campaign against UPS. Many companies now
have a corporate policy not to do business with HLS and some have extended this
to all animal-testing labs. This is the reason they are bringing in new laws.
But if they stifle legal campaigning in this way, then activists will only turn
to illegal direct action ALF style, so it’s up to those in power how they want
to play it. It’s important to stay resolved in the face of this oppression. It
took hundreds of years to get rid of slavery - the animal rights movement is
really only 30 years old.
Another speaker added that people shouldn’t worry
too much about being arrested on demos as nothing serious comes of it normally.
New activists could ask other people for advice if they are unsure what to do.
Also on demos organisers should make sure people are being effective, explain
to new people what to do. Often there are too many people standing around
chatting and socialising instead of holding placards and banners or handing out
leaflets.
As we were in Nottingham, it was announced that UPS
demos take place every other Friday in Nottingham at Castle Boulevard from
2.30pm to 5pm approx. http://www.shac.net
. 0845 458 0630.
Realfoods vegan campaign is
organising the massive Heart of England Vegan Festival in Birmingham on 18th
June. It will be the biggest ever event of its type, with around 80 stalls and
standing room for over 2,000 people at any one time. The event will take place
at the Carling Academy in Birmingham, near the Bullring, from 9.30am to 5pm.
This is a prime venue, and has been made possible because we have got it half
price as the manager is himself vegan and sympathetic, although even half price
is £4,000. Although the event is aimed at attracting non-vegans, it is good to
have a lot of vegans there too to help to talk to and explain veganism to
interested people and to be living adverts for vegansism.
At the recent Manchester Vegan Festival 60% of the
visitors were meat eaters, and there was a upsurge in interest with many
request for help from the Vegan Buddies programme, which Realfoods also runs.
Advertising for the Heart of England event is going excellently. The venue
itself has large posters, and these are seen by thousands of people at regular
gigs there. Also local radio stations have been useful. An activist now has an
almost regular monthly 20 minute slot on BBC WM 95.6FM, which covers the whole
West Midlands region. As well as veganism and the festival the interviews cover
animal rights issues generally. The interviews have been very popular. The
office manager did question whether it was a good idea, but was then shown the
listening figures which showed that when the activist was on viewing figures
shot up.
Advertising for the event has been so successful,
that even some non veggie companies have asked for stalls and have had to be
turned away. There is a vegan festival website www.veganfestivals.org.uk and
there is also a Realfoods newsletter, email to news@realfood.org.uk
to subscribe. There are also plans for a paper version of the newsletter. www.realfood.org.uk
Jill's Day. This was the last ARC
meeting before Jill’s Day on February 5th. There was a bit of
background to how Jill was killed 10 years ago whilst trying to stop calves
being taken for export at Coventry Airport. Christopher Barret-Jolly was the
man whose company was responsible for the calf exports, and a couple of years
ago he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to fly in heroin
using his freight company. Some have surmised that during the live export
protests he was using his company to smuggle drugs, the irony being that the
goods were accompanied by a massive police escort.
However there was bad news to do with the organising
of Jill’s Day. After 6 months of careful planning, everything was going
smoothly and in place for the day when things started to unravel. The Central
Methodist Hall, which was the venue for the main exhibition, wrote to say the
event couldn’t take place there, citing the recent grave desecration near
Newchurch. There was no apology and they wouldn’t listen to reason, even when
Jill’s mum contacted them. It turns out that the woman behind the decision has
a history of reactionary and unreasonable behaviour, including banning a yoga
class because it was considered satanic. A local college was approached to
provide a venue instead. The man was very sympathetic and said there would be
no problem saying they would charge a nominal fee of 10p. However a short time
later they said they’d had complaints and the offer was withdrawn. There is
speculation that the authorities are deliberately trying to scupper the event.
Whether or not this is true the police are now becoming worried at the prospect
of hundreds of activists turning up with nowhere to go, and are trying to get
the venues to change their mind.
A lot of people are expected, especially locally as
Jill and the Phipps family are very well known, Jill was even voted Woman of
the Year in the local paper. Without a venue we are looking into hiring a
marquee. There will still be a march, which will begin silently and gather at
the cathedral where Jill’s funeral took place, before ending with more upbeat
end led by a samba band to celebrate Jill’s life. People are asked to wear
purple and black on the day, and each group is asked to adopt a theme around a
certain area of animal abuse. A recent benefit in Wolverhampton raised £550
towards the day. (Two days after the ARC meeting, the evening social event,
which was planned for the local West Indian Club, was also cancelled. The owners
claimed that because of the threat of violence from activists they would have
to hire security at a cost of £900). www.jillsday2005.co.uk
. 07771 953465
HSA (Hunt Saboteurs Association).
There were various reports from around the country that hunts were becoming
more violent as the date of the Hunt Ban gets closer. For those not going to
the Speak Demo on 29th Jan, there was a Mike Hill day of action
against the Cheshire. The Waterloo Cup event has been brought forward to
February 14th to 16th to avoid the possible Hunt Ban on
February 18th. There will be
demo as last year on the first day, Monday 14th February. Whether or not the ban comes into force on
18th February depends on a court case in High Court in the coming
week when the Countryside Alliance is attempting to have the ban overturned.
Although they are likely to fail, it is thought there may be a temporary
injunction delaying the ban until the court case has run its course. 0845 450
0727 http://www.huntsabs.org.uk
Gateway to
Hell. This
is a new campaign, which aims to stop the import of animals for
experimentation, and is being supported by all the grassroots vivisection
campaigns. There is a bottleneck in the importation of lab animals, with few
channels being used. The main entry points are Heathrow and Manchester Airports
as well as Dover. If ports and airports were persuaded to stop, it would be the
end of the trade in imports. Among other things this would mean that there
would be no primates to experiment on. While the focus will be on primates, the
aim will be an end to all imports.
Airports are paranoid as it is in the present
climate so there is plenty of scope for activity. Manchester Airport has its
own building to hold dogs for vivisection and imports 40 dogs per week.
Manchester had been caught lying to SNGP in the past. BAA (British Airports
Authority) owns and operates Heathrow and the other London airports, but
Manchester is owned by a separate company.
Eventually the campaign intends to focus on
countries that provide animals, initially focussing on wild-caught primates.
The first such target will be Mauritius, which has announced a big expansion in
its monkey exports for vivisection to Europe where laboratories have a shortage
of primates. If the supply of animals is stopped the institutions such as
universities will be forced to look into alternatives. According to a document
leaked to SPEAK a single macaque cost £16,000. In some instances vivisectors
have been forced to finish their studies abroad due to the lack of primates.
As part of World Week for Animals in Laboratories
this year there will be a Gateway to Hell demo at Dover on Saturday 16th
April. Meantime groups and individuals are encouraged to find their local
targets which are all over the country, contact the campaign for details. There
are regular protests, at least once a month at Manchester airport. Various
tactics were discussed.
During a recent demo at Heathrow activists entered
the terminal in small groups and at a pre-arranged time took out banners,
leaflets and megaphones and held a really noisy demo causing chaos. The demo
lasted quite a while before security escorted them out. Even then they
continued to hold up the banners and give out leaflets as they left the
building. Another tactic is to leaflet the car parks if possible, there are
sometimes thousands of vehicles in the car parks. http://www.gatewaytohell.net . 0845 458 3528
CAPS (Captive Animals Protection
Society). There are now just 8 travelling animal circuses, the lowest number ever. The draft Animal Welfare
Bill ignored the circus issue, but the Select Committee has recommended banning
wild animal acts in circuses. Also there are local council licensing laws to
consider, so it's important to hold target animal circuses this year. Most
areas only get one animal circus for one week each year. CAPS has leaflets and
posters available, as well as videos on circuses and zoos. They also have an
email list to inform local campaigners when a circus is due in that area.
Each year CAPS organises a Zoo Awareness Day, on
Easter Bank Holiday Monday (which this year is 28th March) which is regarded as
the first day of the Zoo season. Last year 16 zoos were covered throughout the
UK, some of which got excellent news coverage. There is a smaller day of action
on August Bank Holiday, seen as the end of the Zoo season. The Bank Holiday is
awkward because not many press are around, but as there isn't much news either
there is usually scope for good coverage. Again CAPS has material for demos.
This is a long-term campaign to raise awareness of zoos, which is showing some
results.
A neglected area is that of the expanding aquarium
industry, and CAPS is currently engaged in a campaign to highlight this. The
major report called ‘Suffering Deep
Down - An investigation into public Aquaria in the UK’, was available at
the meeting, or from CAPS and available on the CAPS website. See http://www.captiveanimals.org/aquarium/suffering.htm.
Recently CAPS has been targeting diving shows some of which have featured
aquariums. CAPS leafleted a huge diving exhibition at Birmingham's NEC and the
organisers invited them to set up a stall inside the exhibition. There was much
support, and because of the publicity the next big exhibition in London has
banned live fish, and has instead invited a company which specialises in
computer-generated virtual fish screens.
A major worry at the minute is the prospect of what
will be the largest aquarium or zoo in the world, which is being planned by the
company NIRAH. Should it go ahead it would be 4 times the size of the Eden
Project in Cornwall, and hopes to attract 2 million visitors a year. It would
also house an animal research complex to carry out experiments, and several
drug companies are likely to be involved in the project. Although several sites
are being considered, NIRAH has now entered into exclusive negotiations with
local councils in Bedford, all of which are supporting the scheme as an
opportunity for local investment. The location is thought to be ideal because
of the closeness of the three research universities in the triangle of Oxford,
Cambridge and London. Initially they hope to fund the project from entrance
fees, but in time it is thought the drug companies would pay for it. NIRAH is
trying to play down the animal research angle. As part of their propaganda
drive they have set up a committee of Four Professors to sell the idea to MPs.
They claim the procedures will be non-invasive, such as taking swabs from
animals such as poison dart frogs, and
milking venom from snakes and stingrays to test for pharmaceutical value. CAPS
is currently working with Animal Aid on this campaign.
http://www.captiveanimals.org . 0845 330 3911
There was an announcement Nottingham demos against
the Japanese Water Gardens, which is this year’s opening venue for the Great
British Circus, the only circus touring with big cats. See http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=86
for demo details. Last year the first stop for this circus was Coventry, but
they lost this venue following a successful campaign there. Unfortunately the
Coventry people present said this had more to do with the fact that the stadium
was being converted to hold greyhound racing, so it was a case of swapping one
form of animal abuse for another.
CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the
Fur Trade). Main focus of fur campaign is still Selfridges. There will be a
Week of Action against Selfridges at the end of February. Details to be
announced, see the CAFT website or http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=76. There is also a CAFT email
list, email caft@caft.org.uk for details. Another recent
campaign is against Snow and Rock, a national chain of skiing and climbing
shops which this year is selling several fur items including parkas with fox
fur hoods and rabbit fur boots. There have been two national days of action
already. At the Manchester store they no longer have fur and say they have no
plans for more, but this has not been confirmed by head office.
There was a question about whether Marks &
Spencer had started selling fur, but none was ever found in their stores, and
the company say that the person from head office had made a mistake when they
said that a certain garment did contain rabbit fur. This led to a general
discussion about the distinction between fur and leather/sheepskin. Most people
felt it was important to keep campaigning against fur, especially as the fur
trade was also trying to muddy the waters by claiming rabbit fur was a
by-product of the meat industry. http://www.caft.org.uk . 0845 330 7955
CBAG (Coalition of Badger Action
Groups). This year the government badger cull starts in May. They are
slaughtering badgers in an attempt to prove a link between between badgers and
bovine TB. The traps are left unset, and pre-baited with peanuts for a week to
attract badgers. After a week the traps are set and badgers are usually caught in
the early evening and then shot in the morning. There are 10 killing areas,
each of 100 square kilometres, and only a handful of activists taking action to
stop the slaughter, so more volunteers are needed.
Last year pre-baiting started in the last week of
April, so that killing started on 1st May, so that is likely to be
the case again this year. The ten areas covered are
Gloucestershire/Herefordshire Borders, North Devon/North Cornwall Borders, East
Cornwall, East Herefordshire, North Wiltshire, West Cornwall,
Staffordshire/Derbyshire (South Peaks), North Devon/North Somerset (Exmoor),
South Gloucestershire, Mid Devon. http://www.badger-killers.co.uk .
07817 858 166
APA (Animal Protection Agency). Following their great success in
stopping the giant bird fair at the NEC, the APA has hit financial problems
following a mail-out before Christmas, which cost £700. Because of the tsunami
disaster they only received £200 back, so lost £500. The organisers have sold
their house to Brighton to fund the campaign against the pet trade. They are
doing much work on the Animal Welfare Bill currently being debated in
Parliament. There was a discussion about the link between the pet trade and
other areas of animal abuse, such as zoos, vivisection and meat. The APA is
working very hard, and couldn’t make the meeting today. A collection was
organised at the meeting for donations towards the campaign. http://apa.org.uk/ . 01273 674253
AR2005
Gathering.
This year’s international gathering is in the UK again this year, from Friday
15th to Monday 18th July. Last year’s event was a great
success. This year there will be more workshops on the Friday so it is worth
turning up then. A number of workshops have already been planned, but ideas for
new ones are welcome. This year the event will have a more global focus as last
year it was a bit UK centred. There will also be more practical skills
workshops. The website is almost ready and there were flyers/leaflets to
advertise the event available at the meeting. http://ar2005.info/
. 0845 456 9496
Not
all the groups present decided to talk about their activities but a few
did. Of those who did, some gave a full
account but some gave only a small example. This was probably due to people not
feeling the meeting wanted to hear all the details. This is something we need
to discuss before the next meeting.
SARC (Southern Animal Rights Coalition).
Fur-Free South campaign has had some successes against shops selling fur in
Bournemouth and Poole area. Following demos and shop occupations, several shops
have withdrawn fur. SARC is also aiming to attract younger people into the
movement, they have set up a youth website with chat-rooms so that young people
can discuss the issues among themselves. A lot of their questions have been
about the law. Students have been carrying on the discussions at schools and
colleges, which is spreading the information and interest even further. A lot
of them have expressed an interest in “joining the ALF”.
There have been some exposes about battery hen
farming, which have attracted local TV coverage on Meridian News. A veal farm
was discovered which contravened the law banning veal crates, and activists
successfully had it closed down.
SARC is not just a local group, it helps to
coordinate various groups in the region. SARC refuses to distance itself from
illegal direct action, instead it seeks to use its legal position to explain
why such actions are carried out. A recent example was the release of lobsters
and other sea creatures from sea traps, which led to media coverage and debates
with fish seller. There was an interesting court cased recently where activists
were accused of rescuing hens during a daylight raid from the pits underneath
the battery cages at a farm. Even though they didn’t deny taking the hens, they
were found not guilty after the jury saw a video of the conditions at the farm.
Activists have been trying a new tactic to avoid
police harassment on demos. They have been holding demos and then leaving the
area before the police turn up, and then holding another demo, sometimes up to
10 demos a day, staying one step ahead of the police who eventually get fed up.
They were also working with the APA to stop a bird fair, which was taking place
at a community centre the following week, which is probably illegal and which
is advertising for people to bring their birds to sell. http://www.sarconline.co.uk
. 0845 458 4673
Covance
Campaign.
Covance is a contract testing company with a huge complex in Harrogate. The
focus of the campaign at the minute is the construction of two big new
buildings on site, which will contain new labs for vivisection, possibly for
primates. A demo has been organised for the 19th March to highlight
the new buildings, meet 11.30am at Victoria Park, opposite Harrogate rail
station, for a rally and a march to the labs. The campaign has a list of
contractors working on the site, including Hacks, who have been trying to
stabilise the soil following problems with subsidence. There are plans for an
underground car park, and it is feared this may also be an underground research
lab. http://www.covancecampaign.com
. 07961 944016
East Midlands
Animal Action
were organising demos at Manchester Airport as part of the Gateway to Hell
campaign.
Peterborough/Cambridgeshire. Every Wednesday there is a
protest at the gates of HLS main site at Alconbury, from 3pm on 6pm, the only
demos allowed now due to the injunction.(See http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=55). A lot of traffic is still
seen going through the gates. There is also a battery turkey farm being planned
and campaigners have been leafleting villagers to try to oppose it.
They are also teaming up with Stevenage Animal Rights (http://www.sar.me.uk) to oppose the revival
of Bury Green Puppy Farm, which used to supply Glaxo animal labs. The site
looks deserted and overgrown, and there is a notice saying it is a police dog
training area, but this is probably a deception. A company called Romehold is
listed as owning the site, but this has been traced to an empty building in
London. Local houses nearby have been leafleted but unfortunately this didn’t
stir up much opposition.
London Animal
Action
announced that the group’s bank account has been frozen by the High Court, in
connection with the HLS injunction. As a result the group is going to have to
disband as individual members may become liable for costs in future. All being
well this won’t effect campaigning, and individuals are continuing as before.
There are still regular fur demos most weekends, mostly against Selfridges and
Snow and Rock (See caft section). There were also coaches booked to the
upcoming demos, Speak in Oxford and Jill’s Day in Coventry (see above). There
is a Free Vegan Food Fayre on 15th February at Pogo Vegan Café in
Hackney, the third one the group has organised. Zippos Circus will be back in
London in February too, and demos are planned, and there will also be a demo at
London Zoo on March 28th as part of Zoo Awareness Day.
Manchester
Animal Protection. MAP recently organised a very successful anti-vivisection evening with
speakers from groups such as EFMA Europeans for Medical Advancement) and DLRM
(Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine). The meeting was open to the
public and was intended to dispel the myth of the necessity of vivisection,
Manchester University was invited but refused to turn up. There was also a
vegan buffet so there was the bonus of promoting veganism at the same time. www.mapsoc.org.uk
. 0845 456 2492
Nottingham
Animal Rights.
Organising a campaign against Gala Casino and Bingo Halls, who are promoting
the British Heart Foundation. A recent study showed that 70% of heart disease
is avoidable. A demo was planned for 11th February at the Gala HQ in
Nottingham. There are Gala Bingo Halls all over the country, a list is
available via http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=142, BHF leaflets are available
from PETA (www.peta.org.uk).
http://www.veggies.org.uk/nar
. 0845 458 9595 / 0115 974 6814
West Yorkshire, activists talked about their action to
highlight Bradford’s Lord Mayor's Appeal which is raising funds for Arthritis
Research, which funds animal experiments. These appeals take place all over the
country, check council websites for details. Encourage them to promote
non-animal research charities by giving them the facts. Someone from Liverpool said when she had complained in their local TSB bank,
which was raising funds for cancer research, she had been thrown out. She asked
other activists to check their local branches. She was told the staff had
agreed which charity to support, but she felt they should be given more of the
facts to make an informed choice. One idea was to put leaflets or notes in the
tins.
Coventry
Animal Alliance. CAA is the longest running local group thanks largely to Nancy and the
Phipps family. Main campaign recently is against the new greyhound stadium at
Brandon. There are demos every Saturday. Some weeks the punters just ignore the
protest, other times they get aggressive with v-signs etc. Also the group has
been very busy with organising Jill’s Day (see above). On the Jill’s Day
website there is a history of CAA. coventry_animal_alliance@yahoo.co.uk
. 02476 631842
SSAT (Stop Sequani Animal
Testing) was also mentioned, which campaigns against Sequani animal labs in
Ledbury, Worcestershire. Recently 12 suppliers have pulled out following
protests. http://www.vivisection.info/ssat
3) Discussion; Injunctions
and the new anti animal rights laws.
By popular demand there was a general discussion on
these topics as the issues had cropped up throughout the meeting. The
discussion widened to cover other issues as well, such as the media propaganda
and the recent grave desecration. It’s safe to say that views ranged across the
spectrum, and was indicative of the wide range of views within the movement
4) Feedback
Agenda. For this meeting we had the agenda on a big
whiteboard, but it was agreed this made it more difficult to follow proceedings,
so next time we will revert to a printed agenda.
The idea of making the ARC meeting a weekend event
was popular, with actions the day before and social event in the evening. It
would be good to encourage more people to take part in the actions next time.
The next ARC meeting/weekend will be on the weekend
of Sunday 3rd April. The idea is to move the meeting around the
country to encourage more participation, so the meeting will take place in the
south-west somewhere, details will at http://www.veggies.org.uk/arc/event.php?ref=155 soon.