Month: August 2023

CAFT USA continues to increase the pressure on Marc Jacobs, who in June paraded fox fur hats at their show at New York Public Library, and against Max Mara and LVMH who still sell fur clothing.

CAFT is still calling for activists to make their voices heard by protesting in as many Max Mara and LVMH stores as possible, and by disrupting all of Marc Jacobs fashion events until it drops fur. There is also information on the caft_usa socials for how to contact these companies online to demand that they go fur-free.

The group has also put out some really useful information about security culture for animal activism after six of their activists were arrested. This can be found on their Instagram.

There were several positives this month in the broader campaign against fur. In Wisconsin, 3000 mink are now free from their cages after being released from a fur farm. And two companies went fur-free: Paul Stewart and Windsor!

Stay safe!

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the descriptions might be graphic to readers. Mentions of torture, death, misscarriage and more.]

Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, almost 6 million refugees have fled the country. After outpours of grassroots solidarity with displaced Ukrainians, European governments were forced to stop dragging their heels and allow these people into their country. This stands in stark contrast to the racist violence of Fortress Europe, whose deliberate negligence regularly allows people from across the Global South to die at its borders.

Two years ago, the Polish state declared a state of emergency, creating an exclusion zone that journalists and activists could not access. With the support of the EU and the UK, the Polish state built a 180km fence along its border with Belarus.  This was in response to Belarus openly encouraging migrants to come to Belarus on the promise that from there
they could easily enter the EU – using them as a geopolitical tool to put pressure on the eastern states of the EU.

While the exclusion zone is now gone, every day scores of migrants still cross the border only to be met with the unaccountable violence of the Polish border force, armed with guns, pepper spray and dogs. Similar stories are playing out on the borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and the militarisation of the border has only worsened with the invasion of
Ukraine.

Both the Polish and Belarusian governments cannot escape the logic of states – they dehumanise the migrants, seeing them not as people but as threats to their security and control. While Belarus seeks to use migrants as a weapon, the EU sees them as an existential threat.

Migrants are lured to Belarus and coerced into paying thousands of US dollars before being detained in camps and subject to brutal repression including rape, being bitten by dogs, and having food and water withheld. The Belarusian police then push these migrants to the border fence and force them across, sometimes through the freezing rivers that make up part of the border, or deep in the Bialowieza Forest.

Migrants have drowned or frozen to death, pregnant women have miscarried, and countless people have sustained injuries at the hands of the Belarusian police, crossing the wall, or in the forest. However, they find no safe haven in Poland. Border guards indiscriminately torture migrants with beatings and pepper spray, including stripping migrants and using it on their genitals. Migrants are robbed of their belongings and pushed back through the fence to Belarus, in contravention of the much-touted EU laws on refugees.

This process then repeats in a cycle of violence as migrants who are trapped in a no-man’s land are forced to repeat this crossing until they can successfully evade Polish police or are finally detained for years in one of Poland’s detention camps to await deportation.

While states can only pretend they can wash their hands of the responsibility for migrants’ safety, anarchists from across Poland come to the eastern region and conspire with locals to provide practical solidarity with people on the move. Teams travel into the forest to give migrants food, water and clothes and provide badly needed medical aid that, if the migrants were to seek at hospital, would only lead to their deportation.

Borders are the invention of the state. The sanctity and integrity of the state is reliant on these borders being militarised and impermeable. Borders exist not only at the frontiers of our countries, but exist as institutions in our workplaces, healthcare and education system.
Undocumented migrants face the full force of the violence of the state, often with no recourse to justice. The only solidarity they can rely on is grassroots solidarity. And if we are to abolish the state, we need to abolish borders, wherever they lie.

[Image credit: @nottinghamhuntsabs]

The start of the month saw the Dove Valley Mink Hounds sent home two Saturdays in a row after they were court in the act by saboteurs from Nottingham, Staffordshire, West Midlands and Mendip. It was noted that the mink hunts that have been stopped this season have had low numbers of supporters and as these hunts make extra efforts to be elusive, they are potentially excluding new followers. This is detrimental to their survival as this is part of their income stream and, if this pressure continues over a period of time, can force them to disband. Later in the month, saboteurs from East and West Yorkshire and Sheffield, successfully prevents the Northern Counties Minkhounds from hunting, despite their efforts to evade them.

Following the failure to replace multiple members of staff, including huntsman Gary Thorpe, the notorious East Essex Hunt have been forced to divide their hounds between five neighbouring hunts, and a hunt in Ireland, who will each take turns in hunting meets once held by East Essex Hunt. Though some may see this as the hunt securing some sort of future, it is a desperate one at best and is effectively still them disbanding. In theory, the hunt could bounce back over time but saboteurs are mindful to keep the pressure on so this doesn’t happen.

Another example of how staffing problems can cause a hunt to break down is with the recent disbanding of County Down Staghounds in Northern Ireland as a result of being unable to replace their hunt master. This position often comes with providing financial security to a hunt, which is essential for them to function. According to a committee member of the hunt, this led the hunt into disarray and proves that, even a century old hunt is vulnerable. Saboteurs from Northern Ireland stated they now have “one less hunt for us to contend with”.

Due to an amalgamation of hunts in Kent, the county will be left with only one fox hunt. This comes as a result of many years of pressure from hunt saboteurs against the notoriously violent East Sussex and Romney Marsh hunt. West Kent Hunt Saboteurs confirmed that, along with South Coast Hunt Saboteurs, they are “committed to becoming the first county in England without a registered fox hunt”. With no real support structure in the county, this remaining hunt is an ideal candidate for a dedicated pressure campaign. The pressure is on!

One method that contributes to this is through outreach and protesting. A ‘hunt ball’ organised by the Cottesmore hunt was protested by Hunt saboteurs from Hertfordshire and Northants as well as Locals Against the Cottesmore Hunt group planned to protest a ‘hunt ball’ hosted by the Cottesmore Hunt but heard rumours that it was cancelled. They turned up regardless to “make sure” that was true and later protested at a fun-ride, informing participants that they are supporting the murder of wildlife; a reality that some may not have been aware of.

England’s largest corporate landowner, north-west based water company United Utilities, has announced that they will no longer licence grouse shooting on its moorland. Though important conversations surrounding private ownership need to continue and campaigns for earth liberation be fought, the decision can arguably still be seen as positive as it is hugely detrimental to the shooting industry. Not only will this stop countless grouse from being killed, it will also result in less trapping, poisoning and snaring of wildlife. How the company will use the land for “nature, climate and people” is yet to be seen but no doubt, this is another huge blow to the shooting industry.

Preparations for the intensive badger cull are well underway with groups and individuals surveying and gathering data. Action against supplementary zones, which began in June, also continue by groups such as Devon County Hunt Sabs whose county is almost completely made up of supplementary zones. As explained by the group, though these areas have been intensely culled for 10 years, setts continue to show signs of healthy activity. Badgers themselves are incredibly resilient but have had a better chance of survival thanks to the actions taken by saboteurs and activists since the cull began. Funds are crucial for groups to continue to operate so please consider making a donation. Underground Badger Syndicate, who has been busy dealing with mole traps and high-seats, is one group asking for such support.

NO LIFE LIKE THE WILD