In October 2019, a mink farm was set alight in Sweden. Almost half of the farm was destroyed, causing almost 100K USD worth of damage. A report sent anonymously read:
“There is now one less mink farm in Sweden. It was burned down in the heart of the Swedish mink industry: Sölvesborg, a small town of inbred animal abusers and extreme racists.
The farm was empty, but now future abuse is prevented. No animals were hurt. Unfortunately, no mink farmer was killed in the fire.
To all fur farmers in Scandinavia. You might be next!
Close down before it is too late.
Djurrättsmilisen – The Swedish Animal Rights Militia
in Memory of Barry Horne (RIP)”
This came as no surprise. Sweden has a track record for animal liberation direct action, and many reports are signed as Djurrätsmilisen. But it was everything but ordinary.
Sometime after the happening, leaked media showed two teenagers setting the farm on fire. It was a video with a fascist-metal soundtrack published in a fascist channel owned by The Base.
The Base is a Neo-nazi group that believes in accelerationism. They believe that society needs a “push” (meaning, creating instability in society through acts of sabotage, bombs and assassinations), to start a new civil war. They believe in a “White Europe” and claim that all wrongs in society are caused by the Jewish people.
Whilst it was odd to put a report that condemned “extreme racists” and dedicated the action to the memory of Barry Horne with a fascist Neo-nazi group, it wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. Many Base members have taken eco-fascist action to cause chaos in their fantasy world of accelerationist revolution.
Soon after, two people were arrested. One of them would spend nine months in custody awaiting trial.
A couple of weeks back, they were sentenced. The trial exposed their involvement in fascist groups, with photos dressed in Nazi uniforms, writing manuals about how to create explosives, and even detailing their intent to kill a judge and bombing an abortion clinic in Stockholm. It also shed light on the action itself. They were planning to release the mink, but as they had not reccied the place beforehand, they did not know the farm was empty. They then decided to pass to plan B, setting the place alight, and they tried and failed to burn two different building until they used the sawdust used in the farm to burn the mink sheds.
The report was probably a poor attempt to throw the cops off the scent, which was not very effective as both boasted about the action in their telegram chat rooms.
The sentence was unsurprisingly lenient for the nazis. They were asked to pay a fine and given suspended sentence after being found guilty of arson.
This is one of many examples we should be remembering to understand why the animal liberation movement is political. Not only because the abuse of animals is systematic, but also because nazis and fascists should never feel welcome in any environment. Whilst the pair were not involved in any Swedish animal liberation groups, as a community, we should ensure nazis are not welcome either within groups, or online. We cannot “leave politics behind” to “focus on the animals” because nazis and fascists are always a danger to our communities.
Let’s make things clear from the beginning; animal sanctuaries do an immense, thankless and relentless job and are deserving of as much funding as we possibly can provide. They not only offer a place of rest, healing and happiness to animals who previously were used and abused by anthropocentrism, but they also offer a space where folks can get politicised, can learn about speciesism or can simply take a break. They are necessary and no one should be less than grateful that people give up their life to create safe spaces like that.
But this is not about animal sanctuaries. This is about the animal liberation movement, and about keeping afloat in the ride that is capitalist society. The past few years, the vegan movement sucked up a great deal of resources, mostly directed towards so-called “saviours” but also some other organisations focused on vegan outreach. This was not just about small donations from individuals, but also about venture capitalists with tens of thousands to spare that could see a potential growth to their fortune by “investing” in figureheads that would teach activists how to convince folks on the streets to buy the products those venture capitalists have stocks in. The funnel was obvious, and it was exponential. The more money venture capitalists put towards the “vegan saviours”, the more notice (partially thanks to publicists and videographers contracted with those funds) the grassroots movement would take towards them, redirecting partially or totally their funds towards that same goal. The “saviours” were created as a marketing strategy.
Fast forward three or four years, and folks start feeling that things are not like they thought they were. You start hearing voices of discontent about how figureheads are spending their money or receiving huge wages, and slow and steady the philosophy of “donate to sanctuaries, not saviours”, extends in a fringe of the vegan movement and in a big part of the animal liberation movement. Improvement, right? right.
Let us redirect you to our first paragraph once again for folks to not misinterpret our words. Sanctuaries are worthy of as much (economic or otherwise) support as we possibly can muster. But where is the nuance on “support sanctuaries, not saviours”? Over the past couple of years, this dichotomy has created a bilateral concept of where money should go. And if you choose one, it is wrong, and if you choose the other one, it is right.
The problem is, sanctuaries are not the only worthy cause to support. From anti hunt groups who spend their time searching for traps or standing between the wild and the hunter, to direct action groups doing whatever they need to do to make the animal industry tumble, many worthy causes are lost in the lack of nuance. Those organising effective campaigning need support to take their campaign to the next level. Those who spend night after night coding the encrypted applications you use to organise, or the browser to search your information, for free, need support. Those creating anti media, like us, or like Biteback, or Crimethinc, or 325, need help to upkeep web servers and technology to keep bringing that media to you. The folks who organise Food not Bombs and feed as many folks as possible on the street? You guessed it. How about the folks who access farms and breeding centres to provide the wider audience with the photos and videos we all use during outreach? And the folks in prison who cannot eat vegan unless they buy from commissary? And those who were arrested during a civil disobedience action and need to cover a fine? There are many, many avenues within our movement that need all the support we can give.
But at the end of the day, capitalism bleeds all of us dry. We only have so much, and we can only give so much to those who need it. There is no doubt that we shouldn’t put ourselves in a situation where we cannot provide for ourselves to support worthy causes. But what is also certain is that we need to be more nuanced than the “either or” dichotomy we have created within the movement.
Unoffensive has been running for the most part of four years. In that time, we have been privileged enough to regularly support multiple prisoners, to have enough in the reserve to cover fines for people who had trouble with the law, to fund groups that needed a bunch of radios, or a pair of boots, or building material for a treehouse in an occupation. We have also spent quite some money to keep our platforms accessible to all of you, without censorship, when governments have tried to shut us down. In the past couple of months, we managed to cover most of the fines that Djurfront were facing, for demos against a fur farm that will very soon be closed, whilst also sending enough funds to three different prisoners and helping an anti hunt group get their vehicle fixed. All that work is because people have been generous enough to donate to us, and the collective donations have helped many folks keep fighting the fight.
We have also turned down requests. Many more than we would like to say, and many more than we have fulfilled. The only reason is that we do not have enough funds to help everybody.
So this huge write up is just an attempt to make people think about how we have allowed a false dichotomy to determine how we behave in relation to funding and donations. And whilst money is an uncomfortable topic, we still believe it to be an important topic to cover. Money is trash, yet we still need money to navigate capitalism. If you can afford it, donate to whoever you feel is making good use of that money. Get informed, support whoever needs it, or simply use that money to create something better in the world.
So what do you think? What is the best way of managing money within the movement to help as much as possible? We would like to hear your thoughts in the comments.
If you can afford it, we have a Patreon. Folks can support us with as very little a months or with a lot a month. That’s your choice to make. Or you can just donate to other funds if that feels better to you. We are not here to make money off other folks and have zero interest in personal gain.
“The target – a broiler farm in the north of the UK. We’d already checked out the satellite maps, done our recy and found good homes for up to 8 birds, so tonight we were ready to break them out.
We arrived at the target and masked up, we crossed two snowy fields and through a ditch to find 3 massive barns. All 3 barn doors were locked, but our handy crowbar had no problem popping one of the doors open. So, following biosecurity precautions, we went in.
The first thing we saw were dead bodies rotting on the shit covered floor. There were thousands of chickens packed into that stinking barn but we only had homes for 8. We quickly scooped them up into bags. Our lookout alerted us to lights turning on in the farmhouse nearby, so we left, sharpish.
Today those birds are free, safe and nobody is going to eat them.
But what about those birds left behind? We live in a society where those murdering scum with blood on their hands, who terrorise for money and pleasure, are protected by law. Anyone who feels the urgent moral obligation to act against this cruelty and injustice has to work outside of the law…..
There’s a farm near you full of slaves that just want YOU to get them out of there. They don’t have the privilege to wait until the world changes for the better, they want their autonomy and freedom now, and they need you to give it to them. “
Assemblea Antispecista and an array of other groups have been putting a lot of effort in fighting Casteller. For anyone who doesn’t know, Casteller is a concrete prison in Italy where multiple bears deemed dangerous have been locked up under strict measures and for life. Currently, three bears are kept in concrete rooms and exiled from the wild because the authorities decided they are a risk to the humans in the area. The same authorities that participated in the project of bear reintroduction in the wild. Those authorities have been combating the information that bears do not deserve to be locked up and insisted that right now, the bears are hibernating.
Anonymous activists from Assemblea Antispecista accessed the prison to film the conditions of the bears. In the video, you can clearly see the size of the rooms where the bears spend their life, and as if by some weird magic, that the bears are not hibernating. Surely the authorities will be able to justify it one way or another, but the reality is that forcing wild animals into a cage will negatively impact their normal functions.
In October last year, a mass action was organised, where a group of people locked on in front of the main entrance whilst a different group toppled down a big part of the perimeter fence surrounding the prison. Meanwhile, multiple organisations have been lobbying and campaigning politically to stop Casteller from imprisoning wild bears. With the video of the precarious situation of bears surfacing online, Assamblea Antispecista has called for another mass day of action in Trento, Italy, and is calling for international support.
20th March, Trento, Italy.
For more information, organisation and timetable, contact Assemblea Antispecista here: assembleaantispecista(at)gmail(dot)com
If you are not able to go, you should probably let other folks know. Share, contact your local collectives and other mass action groups in Europe. Are you unable to do so due to being in a different continent or not being able to travel? Generate press. Create videos, write about it, contact mainstream media or organise solidarity actions. Choose what you’re good at and join this campaign!
The wild is not to be caged. We are all responsible for this fight. We are all responsible for the freedom of those bears. We should all fight until we win.
Ladislav Kuc is serving a twelve year sentence in Slovakia charged with the detonation of an explosive at a McDonalds. The police also tried to charge him with other incendiary attacks against shooting towers and threatening letters to veterinarians and vivisectors. For a long time, he suffered from abuse in prison, disregarding his mental health and forcing him into inhumane conditions. Because of his debt due to fines, he was not allowed to access a doctor for multiple years.
His situation has changed slightly as he has been transferred to a different prison. He reports that the conditions are slightly better, but he is still in need of support. Ladislav has mental health issues that have never been taken into consideration during his sentencing or his time in prison. The fact that he isn’t allowed to access a doctor because of his debt with the state is a breach of his human rights. The silence from the animal rights community and from the wider anarchist and prison abolitionist community is unacceptable, and we must change it once and for all.
After quite some time, we have managed to find a bank account where we are able to send him money to help with the fines and his needs in prison. He still owes almost 8000 EUR, and whilst his family sends some money every month, he only received 50% of it as the government takes the rest. We have kept a float of 1000 GBP aside purposely to send to Ladislav as soon as we found a way to do so and we will be sending that money next week. Until then, if you are able to, donations to Unoffensive’s PayPal will be redirected to that fund.
Ladislav likes metal and goth metal music, has a nephew who was just three months old when he was taken to prison and who he has barely managed to see over Skype in the past few months. His level of English is low, but he is completely able to communicate via letter, and you should most certainly write to him!
This is what you can do to help:
1- If you can afford it, pop a donation over PayPal with a “Ladislav” on the notes. We will be sending money next week. 2- Get together with your animal rights group, tab group, protest camp, anarchist black cross, literally anyone, and organise solidarity fundraisers and letter writing days. 3- Write a letter yourself, this evening, and get it sent! 4- Share and spread the word. Ladislav has gone unnoticed for a long time. We should change it 5- Ideally from Slovakia, Ladislav needs a supporters group. A website, people in contact with the barrister and the family, news fro prison coming out and most importantly, emotional support. If you think you can help organise that support crew, please get in touch. We have some information to share, and we truly believe this is vital in order to help Ladislav whilst incarcerated.
This is his address:
Ladislav Kuc Uutos Gucmanova 19/670 Priečinoik 7 Leopoldov 92041 Slovakia
And if you are able to afford a donation, you can send it over PayPal to: unoffensive_animal (at) tutanota (dot) com
Share this, let people know, help in any way you can.
According to media reports, 600 mink were freed from cages at a fur farm in Tingsryd during the night of January 22. The same farm was raided by activists in 2019. We have not received a statement in relation to the action, but you can read the report that was released after the action in 2019:
anonymous report:
“In the early hours of September 3, 2019, all of the prisoners on a small mink farm in Hölkemåla, Blekinge, Sweden, escaped from the cages. In total about 1500 persons managed to get free. We gave a helping hand by disassembling the fence of the farm and then opening all the cage doors. We removed parts of the fence using a wrench to ensure a way out. The fur farm was situated right next to a lake where we hope that as many as possible now get to live. In a world where freedom exists only in moments of rebellion and insurrection, we still think that the possibility of a life in the forest and lake is quite the opposite of that in a cage. We do recognize that the already destroyed eco-systems and colonised nature is nothing like a dream, but since it is all that we have it is where we will go from our imprisoned existences. A passion for freedom is what drove us to this hidden killing facility to increase the freedom for all of us. Our desire to share this moment of freedom with the minks is rooted in solidarity and love as well as anger and hatred towards those who dominate us and try to steal our lives. We strongly believe that there is no limit to the things we can do, all we need is to make up our minds and pick a target. We send our love to Eric King, Matthias in Switzerland and all other prisoners around the world!”
“After a tip off by a student, we learnt about a pet breeder doing deals with vivisectors. According to a receipt, they had sold mice, amphibians and birds to a university laboratory some time ago.
Having found out about their existence and after studying their movements we went into to the farm. Thanks to previous reccy work we knew that most of the animals, including rabbits, mice and guinea pigs, were out of reach without working out the alarm systems, but that for overwintering purposes we would be able to access tubs filled with fire salamanders.
As we approached the building, a light hit us. Someone was driving towards us! We were lucky, hid quickly and managed to not be seen. We crept to a safe distance and considered our options. Not wanting to abandon the salamanders to a torturous future at a testing facility we decided to stay and see if we would get an opportunity. Hidden and cold we sat watching a lone worker load up a van. After a long tense hour, concerned that the next shift was quickly approaching, we were relieved to see the person jump back in the van and finally drive away. It was our time and we did not waste it.
Opening the tubs it was clear the disregard for the salamanders. Mould growing on the substrate, bark rotting at the bottom of the tubs, and in multiple enclosures, frozen plastic containers were some had died in the ice. It was grim but we were hopeful, and we worked fast and systematically clearing tub after tub after tub.
It was loud work and five minutes later, whilst still working on emptying more tubs of salamanders, another car approached. Our window of opportunity was closing, we could either get away with the majority of them or all get caught. We did not have the time to empty all the tubs. Three of them remained unopened.
We walked away with over 80 fire salamanders that could’ve ended up either sold as a pet, or experimented on in a lab to test their poisons potential to heal dermatitis. It was a good first step, but it certainly won’t be the last.
This deeply rooted speciesist system begs for the direct action of each and every one of us. There is no other choice but to take action unapologetically, to think strategically and to ensure that abusers are unable to make profit by harming animals.
In solidarity with Marius, still behind bars for fighting for a better world. We hope this news reaches you in the form of a late birthday present.
For a world without patriarchy or fascism.
For a world where capitalism is an ugly nightmare of the past.
All of them found safe homes where they are no longer sentenced to life in imprisonment, reduced to an egg machine, piece of flesh or a testing subject. It wouldn’t be possible without people willing to offer them a safe place to live. The more there are, the more animals we can liberate in future.”
“You can be found on many a street corner. Luckily, so can we! The Ginger Pig have eight stores across London UK.
Early this morning, another one found itself on the wrong side of someones hammer.
In solidarity with everyone whose bodies have been carried out of here in neatly packaged little parcels.
Everyone whose commodified remains sit on the other side of this shattered glass.
Fuck it, lets make this a sort of call to action. Blunt, heavy objects are all around us. Get creative. Get competitive. Make this a hellish time to be a butcher.”
“This is the story of fur farm animal liberation that took place in the Pacific Northwest just over a year ago. In the wake of this year’s winter pelting season, and the mass culling of millions of mink on European farms as a result of Covid-19—a disease no doubt caused by animal exploitation—we figured it was time to share this previously untold story. This communique is in solidarity with all wildlife prisoners, and the private industry exploitation of their would-be wild homes.
In June, a lone animal liberation activist sat behind a large fallen tree outside the perimeter fence of an Oregon fur farm. This was one of several farms visited to determine which Northwestern farms were operational, and which had shut down over the last few years. The hard rain bouncing off the metal roofs of the long narrow sheds drowned out sounds of mink clawing at their wire cages. Using a tree limb that sat above the the fence topped with electric wire, the lone activist pulled themself up and dropped into the fur farm compound and ducked inside the nearest shed. On other farms, they had seen piles of skinned mink and fox carcasses decomposing and mink bouncing neurotically off wire walls in filthy conditions. Nothing could have prepared them for the haunting image that waited inside the first shed. A female mink, curled around her newborn kits. So young they were unable to open their eyes. She had a calm about her previously unseen in other fur farmed mink. Her body still, her eyes intentional and focused. She just wanted her children safe.
In that moment, the lone activist made a promise to return for the imprisoned wildlife at this farm. We were still months away from the time of year where all mink on the farm were mature enough to stand a chance at survival if released. The decision was made to temporarily abandon surveying Northwestern farms and spend the next couple months planning a raid at this facility. The promise to return would mean crossing the threshold into illegal direct action, risking encounters with possibly armed fur farmers and the threat of prison. Still, the promise to return would not be broken.
After recruiting help of another activist, the two visited the farm again to further familiarize themselves with the layout, decide which fences would need to be cut, and check for any security devices or patrols. Apart from the high voltage electric wire and the house that sat at close proximity, there seemed to be no security in place. It is widely known that mass releases of farmed mink have a crippling economic impact on farmers and the industry, even if all or most of the animals are recaptured. It has been written that on average only 30% of released mink actually escape into the surrounding environment. Still heart broken by the eyes of the mother mink and emboldened by the obvious lack of security, they decided to take an extra step with the raid. Not only would they attempt to cut fences and empty as many sheds as possible, they also planned to relocate 8 healthy mink to a carefully chosen site deep in the forest. They were determined to do as much to save individual lives as possible.
The chosen window for the action was approaching fast and topographical maps were studied and potential release sites were researched to be sure no endangered animals would be negatively impacted by releasing the 8 mink. After researching and visiting several potential release sites, a large creek was found that connected to a network of streams and rivers which were visibly abundant with small fish for the newly released predators. The site sat at the edge of a large wilderness area, free from roads, where the mink could explore and begin their new lives free from human presence. The mink’s intolerance of each other, and their ability to roam upwards of 7 miles in a day, would ensure low population density and the wide dispersal into their rightful wilderness home. All that was left was to wait until the animals were full grown and choose the night for action.
On the night of the raid, two camouflage clad liberators jogged down the road that ran behind the farm before picking up the two handmade mink carriers which were stashed behind a tree. The two made their way across a field all the while keeping an eye on the back porch of the house that neighbored the farm, and snipping barbed wire fences along the way to allow for a quick escape. While the thick metal wire of the farm’s perimeter fence was being cut, the whole farm lit up with a bright light. After a few long seconds, they realized it was a passing freight train. The rumble of the train served as a noise cover, and the loud work of cutting the perimeter fence went on. The liberators wasted no time and went about removing nest boxes from cages. Row by row, hundreds of cages were opened of cages were opened and the mink began scurrying around, exploring and shrieking. Before long the mink begun making too much noise and the activists were forced to stop opening cages and moved on to the next phase. An estimated 750 animals had been released.
While one activist went to retrieve the stashed carriers, several animals could be seen crossing the cut fence towards their new life. The 8 chosen mink—males and females—were loaded into the carriers and the group of 8 mink and 2 humans made their escape moving quickly and quietly. One waited with the animals while the other jogged the road to the vehicle. Some time later, they were sitting in the at the predetermined release site in the predawn darkness. As soon as the forest began to brighten into a new day, and a new life, the mink were carried to down a barely existing trail to the river.
Probably at the same time the raid was being discovered, the mink were released one at a time on the banks of the river. The animals were released over the course of an hour, and each one responded different. Some explored the shore while others climbed up logs. Some ran into the cover of thick ferns. One tested the water carefully with their paw before submerging their whole face and shaking off the water. For the first time they all felt the earth under their feet and water in their fur. More than one mink payed close attention to the small fish swimming, giving the liberators confidence that these freed animals stood a solid chance at survival and a full wild life.
The fight against the fur industry is about much more than exacting revenge on an industry that forces animals to languish in tiny cages before being executed and turned to outdated status symbol garments. It is a fight against domestication as the fur industry has tried with little success to reduce wild species to a product. It is about decolonization as the fur industry—especially in the Pacific Northwest—was integral to colonizing and destroying native peoples and their land base. At the start of the 19th century, indigenous communities in the Rogue Valley sold furs to white settlers before white trappers began their own trapping operations without permission on native land. French fur traders ironically called the Tak-elam people the “Rogue River.” It is also a fight against ecocidal practices, for instance one fur farmer was fined for dumping mink manure in an already threatened salmon run in northern Washington.
It should be noted that the mink industry in Denmark—one of the worlds leading producers of fur pelts—is now disappeared as a result of government mandated culling to stop spread and mutation of Covid-19. Seventeen million animals were gassed and buried due to rapid spreading of the virus on Danish mink farms. Farmed mink are the first known instance of non-human animals contracting the virus from humans. This has also been documented on Utah fur farms, and it is likely the American mink industry is also at a turning point. While we wait to see what happens in the mink industry world wide due to culling and virus spread, activists wanting to empty cages and sheds should weigh the risks of introducing Covid 19 to the wild. If one wild animal is imprisoned, economic sabotage against that industry or place is justified. But simple release should be avoided until we know exactly what we are dealing with. The action described in this story took place before the virus hit human populations.
Not only did the 8 mink find a new beginning on the banks of the river, but so did the activists. Up until this point, and flame of ideas surrounding illegal direct action was doused with the thoughts of repercussions. As that last mink dispersed into the forest, it became clear the fight for earth, animal, and human liberation is worth every risk. Every sacrifice. This internal shift brought forth a self liberation from the fears of repression. We know the risks, still we continue fighting because the war against domestication and wildlife imprisonment is a hot one.”
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