Going to Trenton in my heart 22 February 2006
Posted by Zach in SHAC, legal, regional, support.add a comment
The SHAC 7 are specifically requesting supporters to come to court for these last three weekdays this week, since the prosecution finished yesterday, and the defense’s case starts today (Wednesday). From the request from defendant Andy Stepanian:
The government’s case is expected to rest this Tuesday, and it is at that point that we will be putting on our defense. We have been restrianed from showing footage of the documented crimes commited by HLS, we have been prohibited from allowing expert testimony on how vivisection is both morally and scientifically fraudulent, and we have been prohibited form mentioning the recent charges brought against HLS by the NJSPCA (see http://www.animaldefense.info/news/010506.html) We must show that we have support from the community!, we must show that we are not only innocent but we are right!, YOU CAN HELP US DO THAT! For the animals inside HLS, and for the the freedom of myself and my co-defendants please tell everyone you know to PUT ON YOUR BEST CLOTHES AND BIGGEST SMILES AND ATTEND COURT WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY OF THIS WEEK.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Your Friend,
Andy Stepanian
I just emailed the Boston ADL list to see if anyone else is going Thursday. If no one is I may still go via train and bus, but it’d be more difficult.
Herbivores galore!
In other news, I ordered an almost complete set of Herbivore magazine back issues, and they arrived today. I think they will be massively useful as info sources for wiki articles…
Boycott Newbury Comics; SHAC update 18 February 2006
Posted by Zach in SHAC, activism, boycotts, fur, regional.1 comment so far
I’ve seen my share of graphic footage of animal abuse, but holy shit, I couldn’t finish watching this video, from a 2004-2005 undercover investigation of Chinese fur farms.
If you don’t want to or can’t watch it, let me give you the highlights: workers killing or stunning animals by repeatedly slamming their heads on the ground by their hind legs, workers skinning animals alive, skinless animals still alive and moving, animals going berserk in cages as they see what’s going to happen to them.
Apparently, about half of the finished fur sold worldwide comes from China, because animal regulations there are virtually non-existent and labor is so cheap. So this is kind of like a major problem. You can read more about it (and send a letter to someone) on this page by the HSUS, or this less detailed Peta page.
What Newbury has to do with it
I heard about this, albeit in less graphic detail, this past Monday at a meeting of the Boston Animal Defense League (BADL). BADL is organizing a boycott of Newbury Comics, a popular New England music retailer, because they have refused, after months of polite requests, to stop selling novelty items made with Chinese-farmed rabbit fur in their stores. They’re a smallish operation (26 stores, all in New England), so I imagine the boycott will be successful.
That link goes to a wikiveg page I just made, which contains info on getting more involved if you like. You can also get more info on the boycott’s homepage, myspace.com/boycottnewburycomics.
Second week of SHAC 7
The SHAC 7 site, which for a while hadn’t been updated, has been modestly redesigned and is now being updated. Yesterday this report on the second week of the trial was post:
The second week of the SHAC 7 trial has come to a close, with the prosecution nearing the end of its case. It is expected that the prosecution will rest on Tuesday afternoon.
The week saw employees from a variety of companies related to HLS testify about home demonstrations and direct action targeted at their companies and residences. Their testimony contained one common thread: they could not identify any of the defendants as having directly been in contact with them. A slew of FBI agents, officers, and others also took the stand to testify about the information seized from the defendant’s homes during raids. One computer expert that the government spent nearly $200,000 just on analyzing the defendants’ computers. Talk about money well spent!
Thus far, the jury has only heard one side of the story—the way the government would like to present it. Next week, the defendants will finally have a chance to have their voices heard.
Fur-st week of SHAC 6 13 February 2006
Posted by Zach in SHAC, activism, direct action, legal, regional.add a comment
The first week of the SHAC 6 trial seems to be going well. From the SHAC 7 MySpace profile:
The week saw approximately 15 witnesses for the government, including the Huntingdon Life Sciences’ Managing Director Brian Cass and other HLS employees. Despite allegations by the government that the SHAC USA site was “causing” people to take direct action against these employee’s homes, most testified that either nothing illegal had happened at their homes or that their home addresses had not been posted on the SHAC USA website prior to any direct action. Of course, none could say that any of the defendants had done anything illegal to them.
The highlight of the week is when the government called a 20 year old activist from Ohio who was “caught” participating in an electronic civil disobedience (ECD) (the act of visiting a website with special software designed to overflow a server’s bandwidth and effectively crash the site) and who sent black faxes. Undoubtedly, the government expected him to testify that SHAC USA and/or its website caused him to do these things. Instead, he repeatedly said he learned about it from other places, participated in the actions on his own freewill, and none of the defendants had anything to do with his actions. When asked why he had sent the black faxes, he said that he was angry after watching the undercover footage at HLS where workers are hurting beagles.
The trial is going on in Trenton, NJ; if you want to visit (do it before mid-March), instructions are on the original post. My ma lives near there, so I be able to visit the trial at some point.
In a few minutes I’m heading off to a meeting (my first) of the Boston Animal Defense League. It seems like they largely focus on the HLS/SHAC campaign, and on protesting a certain fur shop in Boston. I’ve been wanting to focus my wikiveg posting efforts more narrowly, so as to get a couple topics covered more comprehensively; I think I may let fur/fur farms and SHAC/HLS be what I focus on for the next few months. (My other choice was horses – did you know almost 90,000 horses are slaughtered in the U.S. every year and exported abroad for meat? I was shocked.)
Peter Young, Asia, chocolate cake, & candles 30 January 2006
Posted by Zach in activism, direct action, non-food veganness, recipes, regional.2 comments
We have some new users in the past few days: Jan, who’s been adding some pages on eating veg*n in several Asian countries (I’ve made an Asian category and put I think all of the pages in there); Ampolla has been adding some nice recipies (including Chocolate cake); and NTK, who’s been around a little longer than those two, has added some interesting info on candles and what they are made of. Glad ya’ll are here (:
I just spent a good while today making a page about Animal Liberation Front activist and prisoner Peter Young. Peter was involved in a bunch of successful mink liberations back in the 1990’s, got arrested, fled, and successfully evaded the cops for seven years, until getting arrested in late March of last year. He got sentenced to two years in federal prison.
I used a couple images from the Support Peter MySpace profile, and messaged them if that was OK. I imagine it’ll be OK.
Peter on liberating mink:
It’s just too easy. Two people can liberate 1,000 mink every 15 minutes. I believe if most people knew the simplicity of these actions, they would spend a little less time on instant messenger and a little more time tearing down fences. (from interview in No Compromise 28)
