Craig Rosebraugh Urges Violent Action to Stop War Against Iraq

Former Animal Liberation Front spokesman Craig Rosebraugh seems to have turned his support of violence to a new cause — stopping the impending war against Iraq. Not surprisingly, Rosebraugh has little use for the activists holding peaceful demonstrations, an instead calls for large scale riots and other acts of violence designed to force the United States to put police and even military units in American cities.

In a post on Philadelphia Independent Media Center, Rosebraugh offers the following seven steps that those opposed to the war should take,

1) Attack the financial centers of the country. Using covert or black block techniques, depending on the situation, physically shut down financial centers which regulate and assist the functioning of U.S. economy. This can be done in a variety of ways from massive property destruction, to online sabotage, to physical occupation of buildings. However the latter I would shy away from, especially the open civil disobedience type of activities which purposely involve arrests. This movement needs all the assistance it can get and absolutely NO good will come from going to jail. Allowing yourself to be purposely arrested demonstrates that an individual has at least some faith in the U.S. legal system. This is completely foolish. One primary objective is to engage in serious unrest and disruption and NOT to get caught. Not getting caught means you are able to continue the struggle the next day.

2) Large scale urban rioting. With massive unrest and even state of emergencies declared in major cities across the country, the U.S. government will be forced to send U.S. troops into the domestic arena thereby taking resources and political focus away from the war. Unstable conditions in much of the country also serve as a political embarrassment for the Administration and could assist in forcing them to stop the war to deal with domestic concerns. Rioting should be focused on governmental agencies and corporations -? especially those that are profiting from the war or destruction of life.

3) Attack the media centers of the country. It is the corporate media who has and continues to influence and control the minds of the mass body of people in the United States. These new media outlets cannot be utilized by the movement as they are owned by the very corporations one should be opposing. Using any means necessary, shut down the national networks of NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc. Not just occupations but actually engage in strategies and tactics which knock the networks off the air.

4) Spread the battle to the individuals responsible for the war and destruction of life -? the very heads of government and U.S. corporations. No longer should these people be able to hide behind their occupations, living their lives in peace while they simultaneously slaughter countless people. Hit them in their personal lives, visit their homes, and make them feel personally responsible for committing massive atrocities.

5) Make it known publicly that this movement DOES NOT support U.S. troops as long as they are serving an unjust and horrifying political regime. Create an atmosphere lacking of support to assist U.S. troops at home and abroad in losing their morale and will to fight. If you are supporting the troops you are supporting this war and the very U.S. government that is the primary terrorist regime in the international arena.

6) Actively target U.S. military establishments within the United States. Again, following the above stated goal of NOT getting caught, use any means necessary to slow down the functioning of the murdering body.

7) When engaging in the above six activities, strike hard and fast and retreat in anonymity. Select another location, strike again hard and fast and quickly retreat in anonymity. Engage only in actions where you will be victorious. Do not be concerned with alienating the mainstream sectors of the movement -? that mainstream has NEVER stopped a U.S. military activity or war. Do not get caught. DO NOT GET CAUGHT. Do not get sent to jail. Stay alert, keep active, and keep fighting. Remember, an action is only good (especially at this juncture in U.S. society) if it will serve to severely disrupt the political system of the country, its economy, and the corporate interests that drive this society.

Source:

Craig Rosebraugh on the Anti-War Struggle. Craig Rosebraugh, March 17, 2003.

PETA Planning to Target March of Dimes in April and May

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent out a letter in early February seeking to find activists willing to participate in a walk to protest the March of Dimes WalkAmerica. According to its press release,

We need you to help us convince the March of Dimes to stop funding cruel, worthless experiments on animals. . .

. . .

The March of Dimes relies on donations from individuals who are unaware that their contributions are being used to torture animals instead of helping babies. Their single largest fundraiser is WalkAmerica, walk-a-thons held in major U.S. city throughout April and May.

Your presence at the WalkAmerica event in your area is vital to educating the March of Dimes supporters about the charity’s choices when it comes to what to fund. It is critical that caring activists encourage WalkAmerica participants to designate their contributions to be used for only the best tests, i.e. for non-animal projects, like a Birth Defects Registry that could save countless babies’ lives.

I hate to break it to PETA, but a birth defects registry is not a “test.” All states currently have birth defect registries, though some of them are substandard and the March of Dimes has done excellent legislative work on improving the quality of the data they produce.

The PETA letter, by the way, was posted to AR-NEWS by Friends of Animals activist Phyllis Bedford who is organizing a protest March for Centennial Park. Bedford is recruiting for people because, “Some of us can’t go to Centennial Park due to a past CD.”

Source:

Letter. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, February 2003.

Mouse Research Yields Gene Therapy Hope for Huntington's

The BBC recently reported on a successful effort in mice to treat Huntington’s with gene therapy. Huntington’s is a genetic disease that is incurable and results in the degeneration of the brain and eventual death among sufferers.

Researchers at the University of Iowa used gene therapy to shut off the affected gene entirely in mice. Shutting off the gene entirely in human beings is not an option, but there is another possibility. Human beings have two copies of this gene, and in most Huntington’s sufferers only one of the genes is defective. If researchers could turn off the defective gene, they could at least slow the progress of the disease.

So far, though, such gene therapy has shown limited success in slowing a similar disease human cells in laboratory conditions, but is still a long way from testing a gene therapy cure in human beings.

Source:

Gene therapy hope for Huntington’s. The BBC, March 13, 2003.

SHAC Plans to Target Japanese Customers of HLS

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty claims that it has received an extensive list of Huntingdon Life Sciences customers and contracts from a sympathizers within the company.

Among other things, SHAC plans to use the list to target Japanese companies who are customers of HLS. The Financial Times reports that some of Japan’s large chemical companies including Sumitomo, Daiichi, Mitsui, Eisai, and Fujisawa are on SHAC’s list of customers and are likely to be targets of SHAC’s variety of animal rights extremism.

Convicted SHAC criminal Greg Avery told The Financial Times,

Our supporters in Japan are very keen but very inexperienced. We will send 10 or 15 people from the UK and five to 10 from Europe to supplement them.

According to the Financial Times, SHAC claims to have raised 20,000 pounds to support its Japanese campaign.

Meanwhile, SHAC is also extending its campaign to target Covance as well.

Source:

Animal activists expand campaign against HLS. David Firn and Patrick Jenkins, The Financial Times, March 14, 2003.

The Fund for Animals Poll on Neiman Marcus

The Fund for Animals issued a press release in February about its ongoing campaign against Neiman Marcus. On February 22 it was to hold a protest at a San Francisco Neiman Marcus. The Fund’s Pierre Grzybowski said in the press release,

We are holding this vigil to draw attention to the millions of animals who suffer each year for the unnecessary fur trade. There are plenty of warm and elegant alternatives that don’t involve animal cruelty. Causing animals to suffer will never be back in fashion.

But it was this paragraph at the end of the release that caught my attention,

Last fall, a Decision Research poll of high-income shoppers, conducted in four metropolitan areas where Neiman Marcus has stores, revealed that a majority of consumers consider selling fur to be socially irresponsible.

This poll was actually conducted by Decision Research in September 2001 rather than last Fall as The Fund claimed. But more importantly, there is very little on The Fund’s web site about exactly what this poll asked individuals.

The Fund reported at the time that the poll found 54 percent of the 400 high-income shoppers interviewed for the poll said that stores selling fur were socially irresponsible. It also claimed that consumers overwhelmingly favored shopping at stores that did not carry fur.

But the actual poll questions and breakdown of answers is not available anywhere at The Fund’s web site nor at Decision Research’s web site.

The suspicion that this was likely a push poll is reinforced by Decision Research’s blatant statement on its web site that it is not simply an objective polling organization, but considers itself to be actively trying to improve animal welfare. According to Decision Research,

Since the early 1990’s Decision Research has been an active participant in efforts to use the ballot box to further animal welfare. Working closely with the Humane Society of the United States and other animal welfare organizations, Decision Research has conducted focus groups and surveys on issues ranging from limits on factory farming to bans on hunting mountain lions to eliminating inhumane methods of trapping and hunting, and banning cockfighting outright. Our research has been critical to the success of a dozen ballot measures by helping determine the ballot language, and best arguments to use during the campaign.

Fine, but don’t expect anyone to consider your polls about animal issue to be objective.

Sources:

Fund for Animals holds massive candlelight vigil to protest sale of fur at “Neiman Carcass”. Press Release, The Fund for Animals, February 20, 2003.

Public Policy Clients — Animal Welfare. Decision Research web page, Accessed: March 14, 2003.

Poll Reveals Upscale Shoppers Strongly Prefer Fur-Free Department Stores. Press Release, The Fund for Animals, October 24, 2001.

Are Firefighters Lousy Parents?

A Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in January that a firefighter could not be granted joint custody of his children because his job requires him to work often odd hours.

In June 2000, Lt. Gerald E. Burton, a divorced firefighter employed by the District of Columbia, won joint custody of his son and daughter after a judge ruled that “both parties were fit and proper to have care and custody” of the children. The judge insisted, however, that Burton change his job hours to accommodate a five-day a week, 40 hour schedule.

Burton told the judge that he would soon be receiving a transfer to an administrative position, but when that had still not happened after a month, the judge revoked the joint custody decree. Burton appealed the decision, but the Maryland Court of Special Appeals reaffirmed the verdict. The Washington Times quoted the appellate court’s decision at length,

In making the ruling, the court determined that there was already a potential for disruption in the children’s social and school lives because they do not have ‘one place where they do everything. The court found that this disruption would be amplified if Mr. Burton were to work a 24/72 shift. The court further found that a 24/72 shift schedule would be a demand of employment that would interfere with the ability of the parties to jointly parent their children.

Burton and Lt. Ray Sneed, president of the D.C. Firefighters Association, both said that firefighters routinely swap shifts to deal with these sorts of situations, but the court ruled that was not an adequate solution. Sneed added that the ruling might make it difficult to recruit firefighters and could have a serious impact on single parents already working in the D.C. Fire Department,

This is ridiculous. This is going to affect every shift worker — not just firefighters. . . .You could say they’re [other single parent firefighters] not good parents based on this decision.

Those single parent firefighters include about 60 women according to Lt. Sneed. It seems a bit bizarre to say that, as a society, we want Lt. Burton to risk his life on a regular basis to protect people from fires, but that at the same time the odd schedule firefighters must often works makes him ineligible for joint custody of his children.

Source:

Fireman’s appeal for custody rejected. Matthew Cella, The Washington Times, January 9, 2003.