Defend Direct Action
24th July, Colorado Springs USA.
via: Animal Liberation Press Office.
“According to a news report, activists have sabotaged Ranch Foods Direct, a butcher in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A vehicle was destroyed by arson, and a copper cooling pipe cut resulting in loss of refrigerated goods. The butcher states he will shut the facility if the vandalism continues. Challenge accepted!”
July, UK.
Received anonymously via email:
“We took action in the middle of the night to save as many lives as we could carry. Scummy egg farmers confine tens of thousands of hens into sheds filled with faeces and rotting dead birds and they get away with it. We targeted a free-range farm that was no better standards than any other indoor farms we’ve seen footage of.
We walked stealthily under the moonlight, concealing what we would carry these 20 hens to their safety in. After looking out to make sure that the farmer was tucked away in bed, we moved in. We crawled into the shed. The floor was laden with shit, feathers and smashed eggs. This is all these birds have ever known. Overwhelming noises and smells. Never being given bedding material.
We gently lifted the hens one by one knowing that we could only carry so many. 20 beautiful hens were saved but we had to leave behind tens of thousands to rot in an industry that doesn’t give a shit about their well-being or rights.
What next? If you are reading this, get out there and take action! Go liberate animals from being imprisoned. Go smash what you can and tear down anything that will fuck with this oppressive system.
This liberation is in solidarity with all animals who are being exploited whilst we live in this speciesist world.
GO SMASH SHIT UP AND SAVE LIVES!”
Delayed report, winter 2023, Nottingham UK.
Received anonymously via email:
“Just as the new year started we heard rumours of a scumbag shooting birds at the edge of a nature reserve. We decided to go check it out and we found one of the most grotesque scenes we could’ve ever imagined. All around the nature reserve, signs of trapping and shooting were littered around the hedges. When we found the hunter’s base, decorated with a very weird mannequin dressed in an all red Santa costume we already knew we were dealing with some deranged individual, but it became all too apparent when we found a decoy magpie inside a Larsen trap, in January, with snow all over the floor. The bird had no shelter, the water tray was completely frozen and the only perch that allowed the magpie to rest sat on top of a pile of half rotten, fully frozen bodies -presumably what the hunter was expecting the magpie to eat – that was then covered on the birds shit.
The disregard for the bird was tangible, so we decided to take them with us and destroy the trap. The magpie was taken to a rehab centre where they grew their fly feathers back before being released again. Fly free friend.
ALF”
18th July, Eslöv, Sweden.
received anonymously via email:
“On the night of 18 July a butcher shop in Eslöv, Sweden. That has previously been targeted received one nice new Alf logo and a repainted entrance to make some trouble for the animal abusing scum. And if it weren’t for a private security car, the whole building would have been repainted!
/ ALF”
July, Northamptonshire UK
Received anonymously via email:
“On a leisure walk around the Northamptonshire countryside we discovered a little cabin next to a pheasant pen. The gamekeeper had secured it properly, with a hefty padlock keeping it shut. Luckily, they had also left a sledgehammer propped against the wall, so knowing we would be finding trinkets we popped the padlock open with a single blow.
Inside, all kinds of treasure was found. From bags of rat poison to fen traps, ten snares, mole traps and small mammal traps, there was a lot to play with! The sledgehammer came in handy to bash every trap possible, and whilst at it we ensured all pheasant drinkers and feeders that were not in use would not be used again either. We cut the bags of grain and smashed the metal containers that kept the rats away from their dinner and threw a few blows to the walls of the cabin, just to make sure the gamekeeper starts the remodelling as soon as possible.
After having destroyed a whole arsenal of murder machines, we walked out, opened the pheasant pen, cut the electricity line and stole both the leisure battery and the electric fence machine. They’ll come in handy for sure!
We hope the gamekeeper had a really bad afternoon when they found the effects of a whirlwind of anger and destruction.
Fuck traps and fuck cops at pride.
Gays Against Traps.”
2nd July, New Orleans USA
via: Scenes From the Atlanta Forest
“In the wee hours of July 2, with the near-full moon shining, we sabotaged the Bayou Oaks golf course in City Park, New Orleans. We filled holes with concrete, dug into the greens, destroyed golf course property, and left messages of rebellion. We intend this action as direct solidarity with forest defenders in Weelaunee. All power to the forest defenders! Stop Cop City! Stop Cop City everywhere!
The redevelopment of the Bayou Oaks golf course in the aftermath of Katrina was unpopular for many reasons, chief among them the callous destruction of fallow park area, a last vestige for native animals already squeezed by aggressive citywide development. A decade of rewilding since the storm offered a glimpse of a world that has continued to exist in spite of 300 years of apocalypse. We honor the forest defenders who mobilized back in 2015. Although the struggle to defend this wild area inevitably was defeated, we have not forgotten. Like the owls, coyotes and alligators, the cypress, palmettos and oaks, we are part of that world, we are nature defending itself.
Golf courses are abominations against nature, and symbolize our current predicament well: frat bros guzzle cold beers on manufactured turf while our unhoused neighbors stroke out under bridges from ever-intensifying heat waves. To anyone considering similar actions, we will say this: a simple jumped fence was all that stood in our way, and the whole course was ours for the taking. Check your local targets for cameras and find good in/out routes, and that’s it! It was cathartic to be out among the possums and cats, the birds, and the impenetrable swamp waters. We fight for a world that embraces the wild. Fuck the police! Smash fortress USA! From NOLA to ATL, Stop Cop City!”
3rd July, USA.
via: Scenes From the Atlanta Forest.
“Good Morning Keith Johnson,
How did you sleep last night? Did you rest well knowing you are responsible for destroying a beautiful, life-giving forest forest in order to build a death-bringing facility? Brasfield & Gorrie, the company for which you are the Eastern Regional President (bosses burn in hell), has already torn apart one of the last lines of defense against climate catastrophe and the largest green space in a Black neighborhood of Southeast Atlanta. You’ve decided to build a cop city that will produce brutal state violence. You’ve occupied sacred Mvskoke land and are working with the killers of Tortuguita in order to enable their repressive and murderous regime. B&G claims to live by the Golden Rule, and if we’re truly following this moral framework, what fate do you deserve?
I imagine you woke up early this morning and made a cup of coffee. As you looked out the window, something unusual caught your eye. You opened the back door to investigate and the stench of rotten fish and dirty motor oil hit your nose. To your dismay, blood-red paint has been cast around the pool, dripping into the water and mixing with the oil concoction, destroying your fancy little filter. There is blood on your hands (and you won’t be able to wash it off with that nasty pool water). At this point, I imagine feelings of anger and fear began to rise, which grew overwhelming when you saw the words, “COP CITY WILL NEVER BE BUILT,” “DROP THE CONTRACT,” and “YOU CAN’T HIDE,” emblazoned across your property. But you didn’t need the words to know what this is about and these feelings are surely nothing new. We know things haven’t been feeling great in the office– you’re losing money, subcontractors are upset, there are fractures everywhere the cop city project, and all that weight and precarity is on your fragile shoulders. Each time you think of us or see the reminders we left you, remember this is your own doing. You can make all this stop by dropping the Cop City contract.
There are a couple more surprises in store for you, but we don’t want to spoil them. Maybe it will be your daughter who sees the damage first instead, but we won’t feel bad. Mary Grace Johnson works for the same awful company that you do. Seems like rancid vibes run in the family.
See you next time!
P.S. To our beloved comrades– the fight is not lost. While we have not yet taken back Weelaunee People’s Park, the forest is with us. For every cowardly security detail shining their lights into the night, there are ten trees providing us with revolutionary darkness. Take to the shadows, no matter your experience. There’s a stinky prank hiding in the back of your mind and you just have to start sniffing 😉
Xoxo
(Not pictured: the useless security guards pointing their headlights at said driveway where painting occured)”
4th July, Atlanta USA.
via: Scenes From the Atlanta Forest
[photo: brent scarborough promoting ‘maintainer’]
“Dear Brent Scarbrough,
Happy Fourth of July! Today we decided to celebrate our independence from your destruction of the land for Cop City by torching two of your machines, a steam roller and a front end loader, in broad daylight across from the federal prison in Atlanta (the same site that was hit three months ago). We noticed that you only have overnight security there, and we just wanted to let you know that you and your machines will never be safe, night or day. If you thought it was chill to clearcut 80+ acres, you were wrong and you will fucking pay. You may have thought you were done with us, but we will never be done with you.
For all the trees you’ve killed, for all the owls, snakes, frogs, squirrels, snails, slugs, birds, fish, deer, and coyote you’ve displaced, for all the unmarked graves you’ve disturbed, and for our fallen comrade who was murdered while you were contracted to clear-cut the forest, we will wage a campaign of violence and destruction on any and all contractors who participate in cutting down the forest or building Cop City.
We wonder how you and Tina sleep at night (at 182 Woods Rd, Brooks, GA 30205)?
We are vengeful wingnuts with nothing left to lose.
Fuck around and find out.”
4th July, Michigan USA.
via: Scenes From the Atlanta Forest.
[photo: unrelated to the action]
“here in so-called southeast Michigan, it was too freakin hot on the night of the 4th so we decided to take to the streets for mischief, and what did we find but a Chase Bank with plenty of good-sized windows and atms!
we decided to redecorate. we glued the ATMs shut and spray-painted the windows, and used acid-etch paint to write messages of resistance like DROP COP CITY and VIVA TORTUGUITA!
we think that your stupid bank looks MUCH better now. down with beige minimalism! up with the spirit of resistance!
it was the best fourth of july we’ve ever spent.
chase, if you don’t drop the Cop City project, we will rain down more destruction upon you and your buildings.
death to america!
death to banks everywhere!
STOP COP CITY!”
1st July, Atlanta USA.
via: https://scenes.noblogs.org
“one week ago there were two coordinated attacks on atlanta police department infrastructure
-current apd training facility: 8 motorcycles destroyed
-apd cruisers on memorial drive: 3 cruisers smashed
both actions had equipment issues. check your materials.
we took action because the police see everyone associated with the movement to defend the atlanta forest as an enemy combatant whether or not they participate in brave decisive actions like that at the cop city site on march 5.
we took action after non combative demonstrations at cadence bank and home depot. the police attacked those demonstrations with no cause, as they do wherever or however the movement gathers. there can be no separation of time and space for tactics when the police have turned society into a warzone. despite this, we dispersed our activity as much as possible across their area of control.
to address the referendum. we encourage thsoe who are pursuing a strategy of referendum to continue supporting all methods to stop cop city. while signatures are collected, the forest is being destroyed, the police are still killing. we cannot wait. if the referendum fails, actions like ours, and bolder, will be the only means available.
to these ends, we announce the march 5 movement (m5m). we are inspired by the brave actions of forest defenders on march 5, and reflect on the shortcomings of the march 5 action. we see that mass daylight actions are not possible for now, but the struggle must advance and escalate.
we encourage anyone who agrees to pick up these methods and claim actions in the name of m5m if they seek to disrupt the logistics of those who destroy the earth and dignified life on it.
we have shed enough tears and acted soley in revenge for too long. we encourage a revolutionary guerilla movement as a path forward.
save weelaunee
save the world
-m5m”