With animal rights activist in Great Britain and the United States actively targeting any bank with even the most tangential of financial relationships with Huntingdon Life Sciences for harassment, the British government recently stepped in and said it would provide banking facilities at the Bank of England (similar to the U.S. Federal Reserve) for the company. In announcing the move, science minister Lord Sainsbury had harsh words for banks who were abandoning the company on the heels of animal rights protests.
“This is very foolish on their part because it sends a signal to other groups which says if you don’t like a particular action taken by a company why not try a campaign in which you target the financial supporters of that company,” Sainsbury said. “We don’t think the medical research this company is involved in should be jeopardized and if it ceased trading that would make it very difficult for the research to be done.”
While certainly Sainsbury is correct that the banks gave in far too quickly and easily, lets not forget that they did so only after it was obvious that the British government was unwilling and/or unable to stop the massive wave of harassment directed at HLS. By the time the government woke up to the reality of the intense harassment and acts of terrorism, HLS was already on the verge of going out of business.
Had the Labor government responded from the beginning of the anti-HLS harassment with a consistent message that acts of terrorism and violence would not be tolerated, the anti-HLS campaign likely wouldn’t have reached the fever pitch that it did. Instead, Until late last year, the government response was tepid at best, and only served to underscore the view among activists that they could break the law without serious consequence.
Asking banks to stand up and be counted when their own government seemed to be lying down on the job is asking a lot. The government desperately needs to show the various companies and individuals that it will defend them against animal rights attacks. As a Daily Telegraph editorial put it,
The Government must now press home its advantage against the terrorists. It must lift the threat of terror from the market in HLS shares. Above all, it must encourage the forces of law to bring the terrorists themselves to justice.
And it must do so sooner rather than later if Lord Sainsbury and others are serious about protecting vital medical research.
Source:
Banks are ‘foolish’ in bowing to threats. Francesco Guerrera and Robert Shrimsley, The Financial Times (London), July 3, 2001.
Counter-terrorism. The Daily Telegraph (London), July 3, 2001.