Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals [Paperback]

In this day and age, and especially in this country, where the words "freedom" and "terrorism" have become inextricably linked, "Terrorist or Freedom Fighters, Reflections on the Liberation of Animals" is a sobering reminder of who it is that has never been free and never will be free as long as human ignorance and greed exists.

I probably like many thousands or even millions of people are aware of the atrocities committed on animals, but who always kept those thoughts buried because our culture believes that humans have dominion over the animals. Dominion maybe, but with that power comes an incredible responsibility to care for them and see that they are treated with respect and compassion.

Certainly the mere fact of being a meat eater or wearing any sort of leather clothing would have to invoke some sort of thought regarding the processes whereby animals are turned into a meal or clothing. It doesn't take much of an imagination to envision this action even for some of us with the least creative of imaginations.

The arrogance of the human race is on full view in "Terrorist or Freedom Fighters and editors Steven Best, PhD and Anthony J. Nocella, II assemble a who's who in the animal and environmental rights movements to provide a collection of essays that call attention to the need to liberate animals from the hands of those who would torture, maim, kill and pervert them for sake of human proliferation and superiority.

The reader is given a glimpse into the origins of the radicalized animal liberation movements in both the UK and the US. A group calling itself "Bands of Mercy" began in Britain in 1972. Formed by Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman the group took its name from a 19th century youth wing of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Their mission was simple, to take direct action against the deadly practice of fox hunts calling it "active compassion." After being arrested and imprisoned in 1974, Lee and Goodman split up in 1976. Goodman decided to take the legal route to animal liberation but Lee knew better. It was time for a revolution. Together with the remnants of the "Bands of Mercy" and two dozen new recruits, Lee formed the "Animal Liberation Front"(ALF). It wasn't until six years later that America got its own "Animal Liberation Front," its first direct action being the liberation of over thirty cats from the labs of Howard University.

None of the essays are gratuitous in their depiction of the horrors committed on animals - but the few words that do describe how we as humans treat animals provide compelling evidence of why direct action by groups such as the ALF is necessary.

Other essays cover everything from why direct action is necessary or unnecessary, the use "consequent anger" from a review of methods employed by St. Thomas Aquinas, to the comparison of ALF to the Jewish resistance movement of World War II and Abolitionist movement during the 1800's.

Some essays are anonymous such as one from the Western Wildlife Unit of the ALF talking about "what a handful of warriors can do" and what they must do. Others are personal such as the essay by Rod Coronado an ALF member. Written with passion and emotion, Coronado gives an account of his direct actions and his subsequent encounters with the FBI.

Perhaps the most disturbing and for me, most depressing, is the last essay by Best himself entitled, "It's War! The Escalating Battle Between Activists and the Corporate-State Complex." It details for us what only few know or even want to know - how our liberties have been eroded for the sake of security, empiricism, jingoism and corporate interest. And I can see how we as Americans have bought into it. Best says, "a new civil war is unfolding-one between forces hell-bent on exploiting animals and the earth for profit whatever the toll, and the activists steeled to resist this omnicide tooth and nail." It was at this point in the book that I began wondering if the guys who took action in the Boston Tea Party were rolling in their graves.

Best describes the steps the government has taken in clamping down on anyone who even utters "a discouraging word" against it. Indeed it seems as though the skies in America are "cloudy all day." He defines the government's definition of terrorism and gives ample example as to why anyone with the slightest intention of standing up for the animals, or the planet or anything for that matter, needs to think twice and then think again. I for one was extremely appreciative of this chapter.

This book, no, this handbook, is a must read for anyone who has even the slightest intention of standing up and speaking out for the liberation of all animals. It is a primer for the cause of animal liberation and the direct action that is needed to meet that end.

When George W. Bush uttered those famous words, "you're either with us or against us" little did he realize that he was speaking on behalf of the ALF and other groups whose mission is one of compassion for all animals, to take direct action in liberating a species who knows all too well what it's like to be on the short end of the stick.

This is an anthology of essays by leading members of the animal rights movement about the tactics and goals of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and about the animal liberation movement generally.

The ALF, whom the editors describe as "human activists who risk their own liberty to rescue and aid animals imprisoned in the worst forms of hell warped human minds can devise," is an anonymous, decentralized, underground network of people willing to take immediate and decisive action to save animals and confront those who exploit and kill them.

Convinced that the time for moderation, delay, and compromise is over, these activists are unwilling to "fiddle while the earth burns and animal bodies pile up by the billions."

The wide range of authors represented here include university professors, members of the aboveground part of the animal rights movement like PETA's Ingrid Newkirk, and former ALF members such as Ron Coronado, Gary Yourofsky, and Freeman Wicklund.

This book will open your eyes, and it may even change your life. I recommend it highly.

--reviewed by Charles Patterson, author of ETERNAL TREBLINKA: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust

This scholarly work thoroughly explains the philosophy behind the Animal Liberation Front and its parallel to direct action activists of other social movements. After reading this book only those with a vested interest in perpetuating the forms of animals abuse that are commonplace in today's society will fail to see that the same issues that emancipated human slaves and paved the way for women's rights are being addressed by animal activists who risk their freedom and liberty to bring justice to those who suffer only because they were born to a mother of another species.

Those with open minds will have a greater understanding of the Animal Liberation activists who act out of a sense of altruism, and of the forces at work to deny both animals and humans their very basic rights.

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