Defend Direct Action
17th March, Poznań, Poland.
Received anonymously via email:
“Animal right activists has glued multiple rat poison traps in the city park using mounting foam. This rendered them completely unusable. A single tube was enough to sabotage 7 traps.”
6th March, southern Sweden.
Received anonymously via email:
“On the night of 6th march a castle in southern Sweden that organizes hunts & is owned by hunters was spraypainted.
Expect us!
/ animal liberation front”
When? 26th April. 12pm
Where? MBR ACRES, Cambridgeshire, UK.
What? National demo against vivisection.
Received anonymously:
“On April 26th, 2025, the animal freedom movement and the wider public are coming together to remember the countless animals killed inside laboratories in the UK and across the world.
World Day for Animals in Laboratories has been held every year since 1979, and this year we will stand united outside the notorious puppy factory MBR Acres.
This will be the largest event outside of MBR in recent memory; not just a protest against their violence, but a celebration of our movement and our power. With speakers from the MBR Suppliers campaign, Animal Rising, who liberated 22 dogs from MBR, and a video address from Chris Packham, on April 26th we stand shoulder to shoulder outside of MBR and show the animal testing industry the scale of our power when our movement pulls together.
The protest starts at 12pm @ MBR Acres, Huntingdon PE28 2DT”
5th March, Stuttgart Germany.
Received anonymously via email:
“Last night we went on a mission to destroy some despicable poisonous rat traps in Stuttgart City.
The rectangular boxes filled with rat poison are screwed to the ground and side walls of the buildings, so these innocent little creatures come there for a snack and die a slow and painful death.
We managed to break off 17 traps from the floor with a crow bar and a side cutter. Because there is Karneval in Germany, we‘ve had unexpectedly full streets with drunk people and cab drivers crossing our way every few seconds.
An ACAB police car crossed our way three times and still they were too stupid to detect what we were up to.
Some fully masked people with a crow bar and big trashpacks full of rat traps are definitely nothing to worry about, so keep driving and fuck off stupid bastards, or would you like to have a little snack out of the rat traps yourself?
Since you guys are connaisseurs of violence and protectors of injustice, you might like the taste of it.
We intend to return for some more traps since they are located in areas we couldn‘t do much due to the traffic.
Fuck this speciesistic system and let’s liberate all animals!
P.S. Destroying rat traps isn‘t difficult, all you need is a crow bar, some trash bags, face cover and a calm night.
We saw some traps that had blocked entrances with rolled up newspapers, so this might be better than nothing if you see a trap and can‘t do more in this specific moment.
Every saved life counts.”
10th March, Australia.
Received anonymously via email:
“Greetings and salutations with love from the A.L.F. in so-called Australia
Todays action involved some sabotage of a resting death truck trailer. Sitting in plain sight, unattended, how could we not?
The recipe for this economic sabotage involved:
The classic, trusted red spray paint
Cutting of all wires and hoses
Damage to connection ports and lights
Drilling holes in 20 tyres
Sabotage of dog muzzles
This trailer will not be transporting any animals to their deaths any time soon.
For any comrades inspired by this action, a “step-up” drill bit comes with our stamp of approval 😉
Fuck speciesism and the animal industrial complex!
Until every slaughterhouse is burned to the ground, every death truck is sabotaged and every cage is empty.
We acknowledge that this action was taken on land never ceded. We acknowledge the First Nations peoples of this land, and stand in solidarity with their continuing struggle and fight against dispossession and oppression. Always was and always fucking will be First Nations land!
PS: Free Palestine, Congo, Sudan and all other lands fighting against colonisation.”
Last week we where glad to inform you about that Sindre, a animal right activist from so called Sweden, has been released from the closed psychiatric ward.
Since last week we had the opportunity to talk to Sindre, where he among other things spoke about his time incarcerated, what he thinks can help prisoners, and what he wants do to in the future.
”Thanks, on the 25th February I got the final notice that I’ve been transferred to the open psychiatric care.”
”I am good and very happy to have gotten rid off the closed psychiatric wards.”
”Its been better & better since I’ve gotten more and more time to stay at home with my family and my animal companions. I’ve read a lot of books and taken a lot of long walks with my best dog friend when I’ve been at home.”
”I have been allowed to stay more and more at home until the recent months where I finally has been able to only visit the hospital for a few hours a week to pick up medication with the doctors approval.”
”My time incarcerated has been hard. But compared to other inmates I’ve had it easier since I where released after little more than one year while many others have been locked up for much longer before getting free.”
”The biggest part was definitely the support from my family and comrades. Both the ones I know and all the kind people which I don’t know that sent me letters, drawings and postcards while incarcerated. Also the fact that I knew taking action against animal abusers is the right thing to do helped in getting me through this period. The best way of helping incarcerated people in my opinion is to let them know that they never are alone, to support them with contact because prisons & institutions are often very isolating and they try to tell you that you’re the one who done wrong while in reality the system is in the wrong.”
”Now I want to continue fighting for animal liberation in every way I can since my commitment to it remains the same. I also want to enjoy spending lots of time with my animal friends, family & comrades.”
”No i think it’s good.”
IN SOLIDARITY
Received anonymously via email:
“It is common to hear folks eager to take action but not knowing how to start. It can be daunting to take the step into direct action when you do not have people around you to train you. Yet, direct action has always been rooted into DIY culture, and because of security concerns, people taking direct action don’t normally tend to open up to newcomers. With this short series I want to propose steps to empower yourself into taking action by utilising the concept of anarchist calisthenics, even if it doesn’t necessarily fit the description!
So what is Anarchist Calisthenics? A term coined by James C. Scott explaining that small acts of resistance build the muscles for bigger acts of disobedience. Whilst James proposes a future where we will be forced to fight back, I would say that we are already there, and the need to fight back against oppression is already heavily felt by many. The jaws of the machine are strong, and sometimes it is difficult to feel empowered enough to push back against things that feel extremely oppressive, so anarchist calisthenics proposes a playful training ground where daily acts of insubordination to the status quo gets us more comfortable with the idea of throwing blows back!
Anarchist calisthenics might perhaps not completely fit into how to empower oneself to take direct action for animal liberation, but it gives us a good guideline: start small, with innocuous actions, and build a spirit of continuos resistance through the mundane, so that in the future when you see the big monster of speciesism you are already prepared to punch back, knowing that you can indeed fight with might!
In future parts of the series we will discuss ideas for small acts of resistance against speciesism, but I would like to pose the question to all of you. Without claiming responsibility and incriminating yourself, what small actions can people do to get comfortable with taking action?
Fight back, until we win!”
February, Athens Greece.
via: Greek indymedia.
ENGLISH (translation):
“Taking responsibility for intervention-sabotage at the Varvakeio market on Ash Wednesday
CONSUMING ANIMALS IS NOT ENTERTAINMENT. FUCK TRADITIONS AND MEAT-EATING.
EATING ANIMALS IS NOT ENTERTAINMENT
SHIT ON TRADITIONS AND MEAT-EATING
Tradition, customs and traditions are an informal framework of values that are still observed in modern culture. In Greek tradition in particular, the killing and mass consumption of non-human animals according to the Christian calendar is deeply rooted. One of these days is Tsiknopesthuy, on which countless animals are tortured and murdered on the altar of human profit and entertainment. While it has been translated as a day of celebration, it is nothing less than the human species’ tendency to dominate, dominate and torture other species. Ash Wednesday is yet another point in the capitalist system in which man, industry and corporations enrich themselves at the expense of non-human animals in the most cannibalistic way. On that day and beyond, millions of animals are taken to slaughterhouses because of demand. Massively people tend to uncontrolled consumption of carcasses because of tradition.
The Varvakeios market of Athens, apart from the central meat market, was for many years a slaughterhouse, where hundreds of animals, mainly chickens, were killed every day. People from all the suburbs flocked there with their live animals to turn them into pieces of meat. In recent years, the operation of the Barbican had shrunk mainly due to the massive expansion of super markets in the neighborhoods and price competition. But one thing hasn’t changed, the dismembered animal carcasses inside its windows. In the time of the economic crisis, the surrounding area was deserted and today it is a “fillet” in the hands of the respective investors. With the rapid touristization of recent years, an attempt is being made to gentrify the area, followed by a fashion of “embracing” – exploiting – traditions, creating a nostalgic atmosphere around the “traditional” professions. In complete harmony with the tourist guides of other European cities, in Athens too, tourists are invited to take a stroll through the Kenyan market and shop for traditional products against a backdrop of skinned carcasses hanging from the tongs. In this way the butcher’s stalls become a background for a photo shoot.
In full agreement with this grotesque situation comes the opening of a pop-up night club in the third arcade of Varvakeion. Suddenly some nights, dazzling spotlights, luxury cars, doormen, railings pop up. The whole scene of nocturnal Athens is transported between the showcases that in the morning were adorned with dead animals, people of all ages dancing wildly on the floor that in the morning will drip with the blood of the beasts. Commodity, money, alienation. No one thinks at that moment about the dead animal, the one being dismembered, the one being sold, the one being roasted next to them – just for effect. In this process, the marketplace acquires a new meaning and content, purifying its true commercial function.
We thus decided, on the evening of Ash Wednesday 20 February 2025, to intervene in this capitalist fiesta with ampoules of stink, causing a small proportional economic sabotage of the businesses that profit on the torture, slaughter and exploitation of animals. On a symbolic level, we hope it served as a reminder to patrons of what space they are in by simulating the stench of the ampoule to that of slaughterhouses and butcher shops. This little intervention lasted only a few minutes, but it was enough for everyone to run away and empty the space. A place where since the morning of Ash Wednesday, with the help of the Municipality of Athens, the bodies of many sentient animals were roasted.
The discomfort of the night users of the Barbican strongly reminded us of the discomfort we feel as we walk outside in the mornings, smelling the death of slaughtered flesh.
FREEDOM FOR ANIMALS HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN
NOT TO GET USED TO DEATH FEASTS”
GREEK (original):
“Ανάληψη ευθύνης για παρέμβαση-σαμποτάζ στη Βαρβάκειο αγορά την Τσικνοπέμπτη
Η ΚΑΤΑΝΑΛΩΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΖΩΩΝ ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΨΥΧΑΓΩΓΙΑ ΣΚΑΤΑ ΣΤΙΣ ΠΑΡΑΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΚΡΕΟΦΑΓΙΑ ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΑ ΖΩΑ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΣΥΝΗΘΙΣΟΥΜΕ ΤΙΣ ΓΙΟΡΤΕΣ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ
Η ΚΑΤΑΝΑΛΩΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΖΩΩΝ ΔΕΝ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΨΥΧΑΓΩΓΙΑ
ΣΚΑΤΑ ΣΤΙΣ ΠΑΡΑΔΟΣΕΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΚΡΕΟΦΑΓΙΑ
Η παράδοση, τα ήθη και τα έθιμα αποτελούν ένα άτυπο πλαίσιο αξιών που τηρούνται ακόμα και στον σύγχρονο πολιτισμό. Στην ελληνική παράδοση συγκεκριμένα είναι βαθιά ριζωμένη η θανάτωση και η μαζική κατανάλωση μη ανθρώπινων ζώων κατά το χριστιανικό ημερολόγιο. Μία από αυτές τις ημέρες είναι και η Τσικνοπέμπτη, κατά την οποία βασανίζονται και δολοφονούνται αμέτρητα ζώα στο βωμό του κέρδους και της διασκέδασης του ανθρώπου. Ενώ έχει μεταφραστεί ως μέρα γιορτής, δεν αποτελεί τίποτα λιγότερο από την τάση του ανθρώπινου είδους να εξουσιάζει, κυριαρχεί και βασανίζει άλλα είδη. Η Τσικνοπέμπτη αποτελεί ακόμη ένα σημείο στο καπιταλιστικό σύστημα κατά το οποίο ο άνθρωπος, οι βιομηχανίες και οι εταιρείες πλουτίζουν εις βάρος των μη ανθρώπινων ζώων με τον πιο κανιβαλιστικό τρόπο. Εκείνη την ημέρα, και όχι μόνο, οδηγούνται σε σφαγεία εκατομμύρια ζώα λόγω της ζήτησης. Μαζικά τείνουν οι άνθρωποι στην ανεξέλεγκτη κατανάλωση πτωμάτων λόγω της παράδοσης.
Η Βαρβάκειος αγορά της Αθηνας, πέρα από την κεντρική κρεαταγορά αποτελούσε για πολλά χρόνια και σφαγείο, όπου εκατοντάδες ζώα, κυρίως κοτόπουλα, δολοφονούνταν κάθε μερα. Άνθρωποι από όλα τα προάστια συνέρρεαν εκεί με τα ζωντανά ζώα τους για να τα μετατρέψουν σε κομμάτια κρέατος. Τα τελευταία χρόνια η λειτουργία της Βαρβακείου είχε συρρικνωθεί κυρίως λόγω της μαζικής επέκτασης των super market στις γειτονιές και του ανταγωνισμού των τιμών. Ένα πράγμα όμως δεν άλλαξε, τα διαμελισμένα πτώματα των ζώων μέσα στις βιτρίνες της. Την εποχή της οικονομικής κρίσης, η γύρω περιοχή ερήμωσε και σήμερα αποτελεί “φιλέτο” στα χέρια των εκάστοτε επενδυτών. Με την ραγδαία τουριστικοποίηση των τελευταίων χρόνων γίνεται μια προσπάθεια εξευγενισμού της ευρύτερης περιοχής συνακολουθούμενη με μια μόδα “αγκαλιάσματος” – εκμετάλλευσης – των παραδόσεων δημιουργώντας μια νοσταλγική ατμόσφαιρα γύρω από τα “παραδοσιακά” επαγγέλματα. Σε μια πλήρη σύμπνοια με τους τουριστικούς οδηγούς των άλλων ευρωπαϊκών πόλεων, έτσι και στην Αθήνα οι τουρίστες καλούνται να περάσουν μια βόλτα από την κεντική αγορά και να ψωνίσουν παραδοσιακά προϊόντα με φόντο τα γδαρμένα κουφάρια κρεμασμένα από τα τσιγκέλια. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο οι πάγκοι του χασάπη μετατρέπονται σε φόντο φωτογράφισης.
Σε πλήρη συμφωνία με αυτήν την τραγελαφική κατάσταση έρχεται να κουμπώσει το άνοιγμα ενός νυχτερινού pop-up club μέσα στην τρίτη στοά της Βαρβακείου. Ξαφνικά κάποια βράδια, ξεπροβάλλουν εκτυφλωτικοί προβολείς, αυτοκίνητα πολυτελείας, πορτιέρηδες, κιγκλιδώματα. Όλο το σκηνικό της νυχτερινής Αθήνας μεταφέρεται ανάμεσα στις προθήκες που το πρωί κοσμούσαν νεκρά ζώα, άνθρωποι όλων των ηλικιών χορεύουν ξέφρενα στο πάτωμα που το πρωί θα στάζει το αίμα των κτηνών. Εμπόρευμα, χρήμα, αλλοτρίωση. Κανείς δεν σκέφτεται εκείνη την στιγμή το νεκρό ζώο, αυτό που τεμαχίζεται, αυτό που πουλήθηκε, αυτό που ψήνεται δίπλα τους – μόνο και μόνο για το εφέ. Μέσα σε αυτή τη διαδικασία ο χώρος της αγοράς αποκτά νέο νοήμα και περιεχόμενο, εξαγνίζοντας την πραγματική εμπορική του λειτουργία.
Αποφασίσαμε έτσι, το βράδυ της Τσικνοπέμπτης 20 Φλεβάρη 2025 να παρέμβουμε στην καπιταλιστική αυτή φιέστα με αμπούλες βρώμας, προκαλώντας ένα μικρό αναλογικά οικονομικό σαμποτάζ στις επιχειρήσεις που κερδοσκοπούν πάνω στο βασανισμό, τη σφαγή και την εκμετάλλευση των ζώων. Σε συμβολικό επίπεδο ελπίζουμε να λειτούργησε ως υπενθύμιση στους θαμώνες σε ποιο χώρο βρίσκονται προσομοιάζοντας την μπόχα της αμπούλας με αυτήν των σφαγείων και των κρεοπωλείων. Η μικρή αυτή παρέμβαση διήρκησε μόλις μερικά λεπτά, ήταν όμως αρκετά για να φύγουν όλοι τρέχοντας και να αδειάσει ο χώρος. Ένας χώρος όπου από το πρωί της Τσικνοπέμπτης με την αρωγή του Δήμου Αθηναίων ψήθηκαν τα κορμιά πολλών αισθανόμενων ζώων.
Η δυσφορία των νυχτερινών χρηστών της Βαρβακείου μας θύμισε έντονα την δυσφορία που νιώθουμε εμείς καθώς περνάμε απ’ έξω τα πρωινά, μυρίζοντας τον θάνατο από σφαγμένες σάρκες.
ΛΕΥΤΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΑ ΖΩΑ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΙΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΗ
ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΣΥΝΗΘΙΣΟΥΜΕ ΤΙΣ ΓΙΟΡΤΕΣ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ”
22nd February, Copenhagen Denmark.
Received anonymously via email:
“Fur vandalised by gum on 22 February in Copenhagen”
February, Finland.
Received anonymously via email:
“The last five months in Finland have been an emotional time for many hunters. During this period, a total of 50 hunting towers in southern Finland have been targeted by ALF activists. Towers have been sawed down, destroyed or toppled, and in addition to this, hunters’ equipment, such as trail cameras and other gear, has been stolen. In addition a hunting store has been subjected to sabotage, including broken windows. The hunting tower attacks have been continuously highlighted in various local news outlets, and hunters have portrayed themselves as the victims of these incidents, even though the real victims are the persecuted and hunted animals, who have no means of escape from humans’ twisted lust for murder. We intend to continue our actions against the oppressors of animals for as long as necessary. The murdering will not continue without resistance.”
