Highlights
– California officials introduce state bill to protect animal researchers
– Win Animal Rights (WAR) launches new campaign in NYC for April 2008
– Prominent activist sentenced to prison for bomb demonstration
In recent weeks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicated that eco-terrorism remains the greatest domestic terror threat to the United States, primarily as activists have continued to successfully carry out attacks throughout the country. According to reports, the FBI is currently involved in approximately 180 eco-terror investigations, and has been able to link animal rights and environmental activists to over 1,800 criminal acts over the past several years.
The animal rights movement remains alive and well in the US, as demonstrated by various developments over the past several weeks. We believe that animal rights activists will pose challenges to authorities over the long-term, as they continue to carry out various direct actions against targets of the movement.
New Bill Proposed to Combat Activists
On April 14, 2008, an assemblyman from San Francisco introduced a bill that would allow officials from the University of California to withhold names and other personal information of their animal researchers in an effort to protect them from activists. The proposed bill would make it a misdemeanor to intimidate or cause harm to a researcher, and includes activities such as posting personal information like home addresses and telephone numbers online.
The bill is in response to a series of attacks against researchers from the University of California (UC) over the past year. For example, in February 2008, six activists attempted to enter a UC Santa Cruz researcher’s home by force, subsequently striking the individual’s husband with an unidentified object. In October 2007, activists from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) flooded the home of a UCLA scientist (Previous Report), and in June 2007, an incendiary device was placed under the car of the chief of pediatric ophthalmology at UCLA.
However, activists have warned that even if the bill is passed, it will not result in the desired effect. Jerry Vlasak, a press officer for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, stated that it is unlikely that members of the movement will be deterred by the measures included in the legislation. He warned that due to the large number of activists willing to risk potential repercussions in the name of the movement, previous attempts by officials to curtail their activities provoked activists to carry out additional acts.
WAR Launches April Campaign
Elsewhere, Win Animal Rights (WAR) has launched a “major community outreach campaign” that will take place in New York City and focus on “education” for the month of April 2008. As part of the campaign, WAR will hold small-scale protests at typical targets of the group, i.e. pharmaceutical, financial, and fur companies in an effort to “educate” the general public about the harmful actions of these businesses. Additionally, WAR will hold its “World Lab Animal Liberation Week” in New York City from April 19 through April 27, which will consist of protests and other “educational outreach” events.
We believe that both of these campaigns will consist of small-scale protests that will remain non-violent in nature, similar to previous events launched by the group.
Activist Sentenced for Demonstration on Constructing Bombs
In late March 2008, Rodney Coronado, a well-known activist, was sentenced to one year in prison for demonstrating how to construct an incendiary device during a discussion at a community center in California in 2003. Coronado gave the speech only several hours after activists from the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) used arson to destroy a housing complex under construction in San Diego, causing approximately US$50 million in damages. Coronado has previously served time in prison for other eco-terror related offenses.
As stated previously, activists from the animal rights and environmental movements traditionally emphasize the plight of “political prisoners,” and therefore the media attention on the recent case may serve to increase the belief that activists are unfairly convicted by US officials.
Outlook
We continue to believe that a majority of actions carried out by members of the animal rights and environmental movements will be protests or other acts of civil disobedience that remain non-violent in nature, as seen through the current WAR campaign. However, lone individuals or small cells undertaking more militant activity remain a cause for concern. We believe that in the mid to long-term, underground activists will likely carry out additional attacks targeting UC employees, potentially with violent methods.
Due to the nature of the movements, identifying and detaining militant activists will remain a challenge to US officials in the long-term, despite legislation designed to combat their activities.
