RE: Local groups

[Guest guest]

Bags of greetings and gratitude to K.B.!

Oh wow - am I ever glad I asked! Here was me feeling rather provincial and

pointless and now I feel like I could stop animal cruelty single-handed! (I

wish).

> ALL movements start locally!

Now I never thought of that, but of course it has by definition to be true -

no AR group ever sprang fully-formed as a national, someone somewhere had to

start each one from their living room. That's what I like so much about

this list - it makes me think!

> I have been planning for so long to get involved in the same type

> of activities you are doing. Life's complications have prevented

> me, of course, with my permission, but I have recently been

> feeling that burning urge inside to get my butt to the street and

> help the animals and educate the people.

I think if you can find/start a local group it is a lot easier in many ways.

Also more effective, I would think. I base this opinion on what I've seen

in my own town. A single person trying to make a public point tends to be

viewed as " not quite right in the head " - unfortunate but, I think, true,

whereas a small group - even 2 or 3, is regarded in a different light

altogether. There is a man in my town who is obviously deeply religious and

wants to share and propagate his beliefs. He stands in the middle of the

pedestrian precinct holding up little religious pamphlets, trying to give

them to people, and either shouts a sermon or sings hymns. I have taken his

pamphlets because it breaks my heart to see how this earnest man is ignored

and giggled at. But when there was a small group of people handing out free

" Millennium Gospels " , nobody laughed at them. Their message was the same,

but their numbers lent credence to their message. Besides, it takes a lot

of courage to stand alone and speak your truth and you'll probably need that

courage just to stay aware of the unspeakable horrors which send us out into

the streets in the first place!

> I salute you and

> your activities, try anything you can, though, to get the others in

> your group to DO SOMETHING! This can also be FUN, it's

> not a burden unless people make it one, and I'm hoping the others

> will realize this and help you out!

Yeah! Sadly there always seem to be people who like to think of themselves

as animal lovers but who aren't actually prepared to inconvenience

themselves at all to prevent animal suffering. They are happy to pay the £5

per year membership subscription because it gives them a warm glow (and I'm

not arguing with that, we've just bought our local hunt saboteurs a new CB

radio with those £5s), but then they just carry on as if nothing need

change. For instance, it was before my time in the group but at the last

Christmas meal our Chairwoman tells me that she was speechless when several

people attending ordered prawn cocktails to start and then, believe it or

not, STEAKS as their main course! How the **** can you care about animals

and then eat them for a celebration? I'm hoping, though, to inspire more

people to become involved by making the newsletter as upbeat as possible,

with reports on the closure of Shamrock Farm, HIPPO (a brilliant charity

based in Wales, which is helping people in Africa to produce TVP and other

soya products so that they can become vegan and save their land from being

ravaged by goats and cattle), FRIEND, a semi-local sanctuary which has saved

many " farm " animals from their usual fate and which seeks to make people

think twice about eating meat - how can you cuddle a pig and then eat a

sausage roll?, and really positive reports about the group's activities. If

I can make them sound fun (without trivialising the cause) then maybe people

will become involved because they think they're missing out. I have high

hopes now that I've had such encouragement!

 

> Keep writing those

> letters to corporations, keep signing petititions, keep donating

> to the big (and small) animal rights organizations, but ALSO keep

> doing what you're doing in your city/town.

You're right - I need not choose, I can do both if I just get a bit more

organised! I'll have an office at home from October onwards so that should

help a lot. Only having access to a computer during weekdays does hamper me

rather.

> (Also, what's up with

> the lack of police protection of protestors? Get on your local cops

> to do their job and protect the people exercising their right to

> protest and assembly!)

Ahem! I'll suggest that to the pregnant woman treated for concussion and

the older gentleman who needed a hip replacement after the penultimate

Shamrock Farm demo (which turned very nasty).

Whenever you speak to these policemen they always claim neutrality - they

take no sides, they simply keep the peace. Unfortunately the police are

human and they get very wound up, which leads to violence. I attended a lot

of Shamrock demos and never once saw anything worse than littering by any

protester. But I did see an awful lot of riot police suited up and ready to

charge. I was lucky, I wasn't there when the real trouble happened, but

from what I've seen I would say it is likely that the police started the

violence with their heavy-handedness. You see, the simple fact is, we're

winning. We have closed Consort (beagle-breeders) three years ago,

Hillgrove (cat-breeding scumbags who should rot....pardon me) last August

and now Shamrock (monkey importers) in March. The technique is wonderful -

the movement has some very strong leaders who decide what the prime target

is to be, and almost the whole movement concentrates on that one

establishment. (This is not strictly true - there are usually two or three

going on at a time, but usually one of these is the prime target and the

others are kept " simmering " ). With the entire might of the AR movement

concentrated on one small area, the outcome is really only a matter of time.

We never, never go away. That's the way it works. And the establishment do

not like that at all. They call it mob rule and other unflattering labels.

I'm talking here about demos, letter-writing, naming and shaming, pickets

EVERY DAY, morning and evening so that the workers have to drive past people

with banners who hate them, and the other hugely important part is, the more

often there's a protester presence, the higher the policing bill becomes.

That, I think, is why it turns violent. For some reason AR protesters are

regarded as violent - I've not seen any evidence myself, but that's how we

are perceived. So if we are there, the police must be there, with vans and

bikes and dogs and helicopters and this all costs huge amounts. The

authorities are desperate to stop this huge waste of money and that's when

the riot police start being shipped in - they think they can frighten us

into not demonstrating - WRONG! We have had a number of deaths in recent

years - protesters, not animal abusers or police, where people have been

crushed by animal transporters and other unacceptable deaths, and yet we are

the ones labelled as terrorists. The authorities do have a new card up

their sleeve though, the new anti-terrorism bill which is going quietly

through parliament at the moment. This could seriously threaten people's

right to demonstrate peacably, but there's little that can be done to stop

it. They can't find parliamentary time to stop a handful of hunt scum

slaughtering our wildlife (even though the Prime Minister has publicly

promised to), but they can sure as hell get this anti-personal-freedom bill

straight through. Never trust a politician!

 

> There is still so much ignorance

> and complacency out there, which you, by virtue of your group,

> street collections, newsletters, and who knows what else, are

> helping to rid. Keep up the good work, you inspire me!

Thank you so much! God, we need each other, don't we? Self-doubt creeps in

so quickly, but all the time we can prop each other up then I don't think we

can be beaten by anyone! Sorry this has been such a long rant, but I feel

loads better. I will now take pride in my local activities and will never

again regard them as small-time and inconsequential.

Thank you again.

Cathy