[editor’s note: This writing is an extract from AFN, find all the info on www.animalfreedom.org.uk and on @animalfreedomuk on socials.]
Last year, the Animal Freedom Network (AFN) was launched to unite, inspire, and grow the UK grassroots animal freedom movement. Powered by local communities and groups, the network has created a space where street-level activists can share ideas, work together, and build a mass movement for liberation.
This month has seen a flurry of action across the UK. In Scotland, actions against the horrific Guga Hunt on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland have continued to intensify. Every year, 2,000 gannet chicks are clubbed to death in a practice illegal everywhere else in the UK. With a petition of over 100,000 signatures due to be debated in the next parliament, two campaigners scaled the roof of NatureScot, which licences the hunt, wearing gannet costumes and chaining themselves to chimney stacks. They remained up there for three days before being removed by the police. Last month, NatureScot had its windows smashed and walls painted.
At the other end of the country, two suspiciously human-shaped penguins climbed onto the roof of Bournemouth Oceanarium during one of their regular protests as 20 activists staged a vibrant protest below them. The action was part of an ongoing campaign by Dorset Animal Action to close the Ocenarium The campaign against MBR Acres, a factory farm in Cambridgeshire that breeds 2,000 dogs a year for research, continues to demonstrate the power of pressure campaigning.
In March, MBR lost more than one supplier per week, including their insurance provider HSB. The insurance firm (and its parent company) chose to distance itself from MBR after three protestors took to the eighth floor of its Manchester offices to demand a meeting with senior management. The MBR Suppliers campaign aims to remove every supplier MBR needs to operate, thereby closing them down. So far, 65 companies have joined the boycott.
Despite the government attempting to stifle protests by classifying ‘life sciences’ as Key National Infrastructure, the campaign shows no sign of slowing. In Leeds, the campaign’s mascot, a human-sized beagle called ‘Frankie’, was wheeled on an office chair from the top floor of BT’s Leeds offices all the way to the entrance. But not before every employee on-site knew where their money comes from. BT are currently in crisis talks about its connection to MBR Acres.
There have also been run-ins and disruptions at fur shops across the UK, particularly those connected to Louis Vuitton, as part of an international campaign by CAFT.
As well as the direct action against NatureScot, grassroots activists have also painted billboards advertising a zoo in Southampton, painted walls and glued locks at companies involved in creating gas chambers for pigs and supplying the egg industry. Dozens of chickens have also been liberated from a farm in Northern England.
World Day for Animals in Laboratories will be taking place in London on April 25th. The meeting point is Trafalgar Square at 11 am. Let’s make this protest as big, bold, and powerful as possible! There is also a Northern World Day event on Wednesday, 22nd April, near the War Memorial in St Peter’s Square, Manchester, at 12 pm for a mobile protest against several MBR Suppliers.
By building solid local groups and communities, the grassroots animal freedom movement is proving itself a force to be reckoned with.
