WHAT IS FOOD JUSTICE?

First of all, let’s define what Food Justice is. Food Justice has three main aspects:
Access to healthy, locally grown, fresh food
Living wages for all of those involved in the food system
Community control of the food supply

The Food Justice movement is in opposition to the racial and class influence on people’s ability to acquire healthy, fresh foods. It also brings light to issues facing farmers, food workers (we’ve all heard about the media talking about how fresh food will be left rotting in the fields due to having no migrant workers to pick them, but have you ever thought about why it is that large agricultural groups target migrants and others of lower socio-economic status to pick their food?).

Some of you may have heard the term “food desert”, usually in conversations where people who are not living in one use their existence to justify why they can’t go vegan. A “food desert” is defined as “an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.”, this usually means that for the population within the area there are no places in which to buy sufficient fresh, healthy food, or that such places are inaccessible for the population there. The term food desert tends to ignore other factors other than proximity, such as racism, cost of living, people being time and cash poor, and due to this has largely been replaced by the terms “food apartheid” or “food oppression”.

Places living under food apartheid often have an overabundance of cheap, processed foods (think fast food chains and petrol station food), which while they may be cheaper in the short term, usually end up being much more expensive in the long term due to ill health caused by poor diet. Communities of colour, as well as low-income areas, are most at risk of food apartheid due to the system we live under. 

One method of challenging this system of food apartheid is community food gardens, which enables the community to reclaim control over the production of food. This enables communities to grow healthy, vegan food without having to rely on big businesses and the agricultural industries to decide whether or not their communities are deserving of healthy foods. This ties into the Anarchist idea of mutual aid, relying on building strong communities instead of the State. This also allows the community itself to decide where certain resources can be best allocated, and allows stronger communal bonds to be formed as everyone has a share of the work, and a share of the produce at the end.

For more information regarding food justice, and how food apartheid can be combatted, check out:

The Food Empowerment Project
https://foodispower.org/

And if you can afford to buy it (or find a pdf online), definitely check out “Food Justice: A Primer”  https://sanctuarypublishers.com/food-justice%3A-a-primer

FIVE TURKEYS LIBERATED FROM FREE RANGE FARM.

16th November, South West UK.

Received anonymously via email:

“In a brief respite from the driving rain, we headed across the fields into the back of one of the multiple barns in a large farming complex. The vast sheds were crammed full of turkeys, each an individual, but with no space to hide or escape their hundreds of kin. Many had bald patches from being pecked by others. Proof of what a total shite lie “free range” is, they had no means to access their designated outside space, which was blocked off and completely overgrown with waist-high nettles. Clearly no non-human or human had been there for a long time.

Automated feeders whirred overhead as we swiftly but carefully grabbed five comrades and carried them on the first steps of their journey to freedom. Now they are safely rehomed, with comfy straw beds and the freedom to roam outside whenever they please. Life will be sweet for them now, but we remember with great sadness all who remain in those barns and in others across the country. It does not matter what is “free range”, no-one should be kept locked away and have their liberty removed, their entire lives a waiting game until they are brutally slaughtered. 

15 million turkeys are killed every year in the UK alone, mostly for Christmas dinners. If ever there was an urgent time to take action, it is now. 

NEALF, we hear you! Let’s spark a wave of action to end this year with a bang. We’ve seen some banging reports out of Italy recently – we nominate our Italian comrades, what have you got for us?

For total liberation worldwide!

SWALF”

KILL TOWERS DESTROYED.

Early November, Belgium.

Received via encrypted email: 

“[Early November, Belgium] Several Kill Towers DESTROYED!!

So long as the scum of the earth hunts, they will be hunted.

Until all are free.”

RABBITS FREED FROM A FUR FARM.

 13th November, North East UK. 

Received anonymously via encrypted email: 

“After seeing a report about a business that breeds rabbits for meat and fur in the UK we decided to find where they are based. T&S Rabbits is very close to home, so we’ve been visiting constantly to learn how they are running operations.

They have multiple pens with ten rabbits each, who run in circles on grass (so much for free-range). They have boxes with mothers and newborns that are very difficult to approach as they are loud and very close to the house of the farmer. They have a single room slaughterhouse with a freezer, a knife and a few hooks. They also have the breeding boxes, where different breed males and females are kept in single boxes and mixed when the farmer wants more pregnant females. 

After a few visits, we decided not to wait any longer and take action. 

 We targeted the breeding infrastructure because we believe it to be the most expensive. The farmer only has one male of each breed in the breeding loop, which we guess means they have selected specifically for their genetic background. 

After bagging up very heavy rabbits who do not appreciate being grabbed, we jumped the electric fence and walked by the farmer’s house. Not all the breeding rabbits are gone, but we hope each one of them is a headache to replace by the farmer. As individuals, we’ve had enough time to meet them and they are fantastic, inquisitive and very strong rabbits, we hope their life now is much much happier than before. 

 Each one of those rabbits would’ve been skinned. Their meat would’ve been sold in high-end restaurants. Their fur would’ve been made into hats, coats, gloves and other vain accessories. FUR FARMING STILL EXISTS IN THE UK. 

 We want to send our greetings to Matthias and Mirabelle, who managed not to serve more prison time in Switzerland. We see you and we love you, keep up the fight! 

 Before we go, we want to propose a little game. Let’s end this year with continuous animal liberation actions, from farms being raided to as much economic sabotage as you can imagine. Take action, send a report to BiteBack and nominate another group to spark up. 

 We are nominating our comrades at SWALF and the mighty Djurrättsmilisien. 

 SHOW US WHAT YOU’VE GOT. 

NEALF. “

20 DUCKS LIBERATED, HUNTERS HUT DESTROYED.

5th of November – Northern Italy.

Received anonymously via email: 

“Duck hunting in the country is one of the most cruel and vile form of this practice.

Ducks are imprisoned in cages or chained to weights into the water, so that they can’t fly away.

Their natural behaviour of calling other ducks for help is used against the others, who are the final preys: they become bait of their own similars.  

IN MEMORY OF BARRY HORNE! 

HUNT THE HUNTER!!!”

MINK FARM SET ON FIRE

6th November, Sweden.

Via BiteBack Magazine:

translation of anonymous report (photo: blt.se):

“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)”



THE ANIMAL RIGHTS MILITIA VISITS MINK FARMER FOR HALLOWEEN.

29th October, Sweden.

anonymous report:

“On the 29th of October Djurrättsmilisen (the Swedish Animal Rights Militia) celebrated an early Halloween together with fur farmer Niclas Pettersson. Loads of cat shit was thrown into his beloved garden. And a Halloween prop, a gravestone, was put in his garden as well. The gravestone was marked with ‘RIP Niclas Pettersson ex-mink farmer’. 

Happy Halloween you disgusting animal abusing scum! //Djurrättsmilisen”

Photo: Unrelated lab raid in the late 80s.

ALF PRESS OFFICER IN SKY NEWS (2005).

Content Warning: It includes some vivisection footage that might be distressing to viewers. 

In this episode of ALFridays we show you a Sky News segment featuring Dr Jeyyr Vlasek, an ALF press officer, during 2005.

Based in the USA, the feature includes SHAC campaign, anti fur campaigning and anti bear hunt protests. With a very strong focus on direct action, the mainstream media wonders the links in between underground and overground actions. 

There is also a snippet on the actions that the vivisection lobby took during the SHAC campaign to counteract the investigation footage, like employing professional spokespeople and releasing their own videos on animal testing.

It is an interesting segment that shows how direct action and acts of sabotage can get the attention of the media, starting the conversation on issues that otherwise would be ignored.