Every year, Undergrpund Badger Syndicate spends 6-8 weeks sabotaging the badger cull day and night without breaks.
They go out looking for cage traps where badgers would be locked over night after eating peanuts so a farmer coming in the morning can shoot them dead.
Over the years, Britain has killed 200k badgers during the cull. They aim to annihilate 70% of the badger population. Sabotaging the badger cull is not just an act of resistance, not just a life saving action, it also is a training ground for people from around the globe to get comfortable with operating in a group, thinking strategically, using maps, radios, night vision equipment and so much more.
This year, Underground Badger Syndicate has been facing some exorbitant costs due to unexpected vehicle issues which have meant they have struggled to keep paying for fuel and other expenses during their most critical time of the year.
We have teamed up with four artists from around the globe to produce some very cute small prints to support UBS. Thank you @Maedmack.art @artivism_by_d_ @matt_made_this @praxis_vgz for their support.
Three of the designs are a6 size, and one is square but of the same dimensions. We firstly intended to print them as postcards, but due to some printer issues the paper is too thin, so they will serve very well as framed pictures or they can be sent as a postcard if you put them inside an envelope!
PS: please note that UBS is in need of immediate funds but we are buay at UA currently, so all orders received now will be posted at the end of the month.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve done one of these and it feels like it is due! We’ve had a very good run with collaborators since we put that final call for support. Many of the frontlines are being covered, and prisoner support is running very smoothly!
Sadly some folks have had to stop the project as they were busy, so we are looking for more collaborators that can commit to an article a month. The PalAction campaign is no longer being covered but we believe it to be quite an important campaign to spread around, so if you’d be interested in writing about it (or better yet, if you are in any way connected to the campaign) please shoot us a message!
Same goes for Defend the Atlanta Forest, and we would also love to cover the Mountain Valley Pipeline campaign in Appalachia USA. Please hit us up if you can dedicate some time every month to writing an update on what’s been going on!
We are of course open to other pressure campaign suggestions to cover on The Frontlines, so do not be shy if you can think of any. Take this call for support as serious as the last one, if you can help, please reach out, we really do not want to get to the point of burnout we got to at the beginning of the year. Do not assume others will contact us either. This call for support is aimed at you!
Secondly, we want to point out that we have noticed an influx of neo-nazis and eco-fascists following us on socials, specially twitter and instagram. Let’s make this very clear, UA is an anarchist, anti fascist platform. We have taken the trash out, but if you’re reading this, fuck you, you nazi scum! You certainly are not welcome here!
Lastly, it wouldn’t be an update without mentioning economic support. We really have noticed a drop on donations and could do with your help! If you can afford a monthly donation, please head to our Patreon. If ypu can only afford a couple coins, we have PayPal, Monero and Bitcoin wallets. Please donate if you can, so we can upkeep the servers, website and other associated costs. It is enormously appreciated.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: we’ve received a memorial text for the first rabbit that was ever liberated from a T&S farm and reported under the ALF umbrella. The text calls for illegal action and we believe we should remind people that we do not promote illegal activities, and the words come from an alleged former ALF operative. The report they refer to can be found here: https://unoffensiveanimal.is/2019/08/26/four-rabbits-liberated-from-fur-farm-action-dedicated-to-matthias/ ]
Back in 2019 I stumbled upon T&S rabbits and I was left perplex by the abhorrent conditions of the farm and the fact that they were breeding rabbits to skin them and sell their fur.
At the end of August that same year, alongside some other ALF comrades, I broke into the farm in Granby and helped free four rabbits. Our intention was twofold. We wanted to give freedom to those rabbits, but we also needed to let the broader animal rights community know that fur farming was alive, even after the UK ban.
The first rabbit I grabbed and placed in the carrier was Hazel, a wide-eyed English spotted rabbit who after the initial scare of being snatched in the middle of the night munched contently on dandelion leaves on her way to freedom with her two sisters and her brother.
They were all about six months old and were distributed in pairs to safe homes who since then gave them the very best life possible.
A few days ago we heard the news that Hazel had passed after teeth complications. She had spent the past three years living with her sister and enjoyed causing chaos, jumping into bed and doing binkies every time she had the chance.
In many ways, Hazel was the catalyst to an incredibly inspiring storm that would shut down T&S Rabbits forever. A few months after her liberation some unknown comrades liberated even more rabbits from T&S. After that, and after some very heartwarming pictures of yet another liberation during Christmas, people set up a campaign that would ultimately shut down the farms.
During the campaign I watched from afar and wondered how Hazel and her siblings were doing. It is very sad to hear of her passing, but I write this because I believe her story should be heard to understand her legacy. She was the very first rabbit ever liberated from T&S by the ALF.
When we sent the report, at the very end, we signed “until we win”. We won. Hazel won the freedom for every rabbit released from the hellhole that was T&S.
Please, never give up the fight. Go out at night with your friends and fight back against the horrible exploitation that animals undergo every single day. Liberate, sabotage, bite back! You never know how much an action could contribute towards the broader struggle, even more when it is reported and folks learn about it and might take action themselves.
Make it your mission tonight to find freedom for somebody else, in raging and loving memory of Hazel.
The ALF needs you. The animals need you. Take action.
Last week we heard that Lobo, known in Rojava as Elefteria Hambi, was martyred in Syria. After joining the YPJ in 2018 they moved to the mountains where they joined the YJA Star guerrillas and on the 25th of November 2019, they were murdered by the Turkish state during an airstrike. The news of their martyrdom was not made public until today.
photo credit: IG @nehahirve
Lobo was without a doubt the bravest person I have ever met. For security reasons details will be spared on a public forum but we are aware of their involvement in some of the harshest and most catastrophic blows to those involved in the destruction of the earth and those perpetuating fascist ideologies in Europe in the last decade. They understood diversity of tactics not as a reminder that organising a demo or Food not Bombs was also a great way to fight against capitalism. They understood diversity of tactics as an invitation to imagine how much harder you can hit against the enemy that destroys this planet, the enemy that exploits the people in it and the enemy who abuses the animals that inhabit it. They were not worried about raising the bar and making those who destroy us feel what they need to feel.
Lobo was an exceptionally intelligent human being. I met them in Hambacher Forst, where we quickly gravitated to each other. They were reserved and I never learnt much about their personal life, but I slowly uncovered that they spoke six languages (which made for very useful communication when the cops were around!), that they were extremely fast doing maths in their brain and that they had read every book possible, yet they did not speak about theory and instead allowed their fight to embody their philosophy. We spent many days fighting, and many nights dreaming of a better world. We spent many weeks plotting and discovering ways to keep battling against RWE. They were by far my best accomplice in the woods.
One morning, when the police were putting pressure and attempting to evict barricades in the forest, Lobo was arrested. They had glued themselves to the platform of a tripod that stood in the way of the police, so cops had to cut around their hand and arrest Lobo attached to a huge plank of wood. When they arrived at the cop shop they fought multiple cops at once who were trying to remove the plank of wood with baby oil. By the time the plank came off every single cop was on the floor, covered in baby oil, and both of the fingerprint machines the cop shop had were completely destroyed. Even in captivity, Lobo would fight back. I was nicked whilst doing arrest support for them and saw the aftermath of that fight. The cop shop had no way of collecting any biometrics that day.
When we were released, Lobo realised that I had also been nicked just waiting for them outside the cop shop. They said, “That’s cute, let’s go steal some chocolate so I can do arrest support for you!”. Always cheery, savouring every victory, plotting the next solidarity attack.
When the government issued the first attack on Unoffensive Animal Lobo was there, shoulder to shoulder on a laptop, building back up the socials, the website, the fundraising options, and reassuring me that they wouldn’t just take the platform down. They believed in total liberation, they were an animal liberationist, and they embodied solidarity.
They have been missed for a long time, but now being certain of their martyrdom, they will be missed even more. Make no mistake, martyrs never die, but the struggle is going to have to do a lot more effort in order to fill the gap that Lobo leaves in the struggle.
They loved the animals, the trees and the fight.
I will howl at the moon for you every time something goes up in flames. We fight in your memory. We love you greatly.
So we forgot that it was our anniversary last month. Oh well, for new and old readers of Unoffensive Animal, we are seven years old already!
Lots have changed since we started. The collective has gone through many iterations, and even this year we were very close to shutting down until a new bunch of people decided to jump on board and revitalise the project!
We keep the same priorities in mind. Prisoner support is the backbone of the movement. Animal liberation and total liberation are one of the same. Fascists are not welcome in the movement. Capitalism must burn for the liberation of all. Also, fuck celery.
We have provided a platform for those who wish to remain anonymous for seven years. We have raised funds for prisoners and for folks facing legal trouble. We’ve given talks, organised events and tried to educate as much as possible on security culture.
We have seen many campaigns succeed, and many more fight extremely hard. It is always incredibly beautiful to see the many shapes that resistance takes when coupled with passionate and creative activists.
Thank you to all who have supported us this far, all of you who were there from the very beginning, and all of you that joined along the way, as well as every single person who has contributed with articles and information and any other support!
Thank you too to those who have kept us afloat with donations. We don’t get paid, but the project is not free, and we keep wanting to support as many prisoners and activists as we possibly can.
Thank you to all who keep fighting in whatever way they feel is best.
PS: on our seventh anniversary we also count with the lowest amount of donations per month. If you can afford it and like what we do, please consider donating, as a one-off or as a monthly donation, every little helps!
It’s been about three months since a bunch of folks came forward to help keep UA running. We’ve had great offers of support and people that have really gotten stuck in to help and provide more content for the platform. Frontlines has a constant stream of articles covering campaigns around the world, prisoner support is back to publishing once a week; Incite, Conspire, Inspire are back once again and even Tech&Sec has made a welcome appearance!
This is all hopeful and we are very glad for everybody who stepped up to support, it has really helped lightening the load and easing the burnout!
That is not to be said that we couldn’t do with some more contributors, if you thing there is a cool campaign that should get semi-regular updates and you’d be up for writing about it, reach out over email! The same way, if you have ideas for other content that you believe the movement could benefit from, do contact us and we can see if the UA is the platform for it, and as some other folks have already done, if you want to share about a specific action or campaign as a one off, do contact us too! We really, really would like to collaborate with as many different voices as possible, so don’t be shy!
As always, hit reports are being received anonymously and anyone wanting to report about underground direct action should do that following the how to on www.unoffensiveanimal.is/contact-us
The shop still has a few tees and hoodies at discounted prices, as we want to empty most of the stock. A few people have mentioned that they miss the Defend Direct Action hoodie/t-shirt design, is this a design that a good few people would like to get again? If we get a good few people saying so, we can sort out a preorder for you all and do a one-off print! Comment below and let us know if the DDA design is something you’d like to get, or if you’d like some other fresher designs!
Lastly, we would like to mention that we could always do with some economic support. Servers, domains and hosting as well as secure collaborative platforms for all the contributors is quite an expensive endeavour so we can keep the platform afloat, but also remember that most of the money raised by UA goes to prisoner and court support, so if you can afford a donation, please do so. UA collective does not get paid wages or any form of profits from the collaborations, everything is run on a volunteer basis.
Recently, anonymous aboveground activists conducted research of east coast fur farms, with the purpose of determining operational status and the number of active fur farms in the eastern United States, primarily Pennsylvania and New York.
Of the 18 farms visited, only one farm was confirmed as an active mink farm, the Stahl mink farm in Sunbury PA (4130 SR 890). One fox farm was inconclusive, the Pacuchinski fox farm in upstate NY (2730 Lenox Road). All 16 others have shuttered. We found dilapidated and decayed sheds, and sheds that once confined mink were full of derelict machinery and various tools.
The number of operational U.S. mink farms is now under 100, down from over 400 in the 1990s and 274 just ten years ago. Estimates of active U.S. fox farms put the number between 25 and 50.
Last year, the Animal Liberation Front liberated over 15,000 mink from U.S. fur farms. In recent years, global pressure campaigns have seen nine designers go fur free. This is the grim state of the fur trade.
As the fur industry teeters on the brink of collapse, it’s up to all of us to do what it takes to ensure this industry never recuperates. Activist efforts and a diversity of tactics can destroy this industry that preys on native wildlife.
Look for the latest updates of closures and active fur farms at finalnail.com.
So after the shift in workload and the increase on collective members and folks taking responsibility within UA, we have decided that the online shop is more work than what is worth. We are going to stop stocking hoodies and tees, so whatever is online right now are the last few items to grab!
To ensure we sell out the last bits of stock, we have set the minimum price for tees at 16 GBP and for hoodies at 28 GBP. Of course, the shop lets you chose your own price and we do not consider those numbers “payments”, but donations, so you are very welcome to donate more if you want and can afford it.
We will most likely keep prints, flags and other small items up in the shop on a regular basis, but hoodies and tees are just not profitable enough to grant the effort of running the shop and dealing with missing parcels and wrong sizes! As it stands, the designs we have printed in the past will not be printed again, unless enough folks express they want a specific design reprinted, in which case we might be able to do a pre-order only sale and print only the ones that folks have already paid for.
From now on, in terms of tees and hoodies, we would love to do intermittent drops with fresh designs as and when, only in the form of pre-order. If there are any artists that would like to work with us, please reach out! We’d love to see what we can come up with! Equally as mentioned before, if there is any old design that enough people seem to want, we could also get them printed on pre-order basis.
We would love to hear from you, what kind of limited drop designs would you like to see? What sort of themes? Do you have any artist recommendations?
Go to the website and grab something before it runs out:
On Wednesday May 17, A female FBI Agent approached Burning Books wanting information about an arson attack on an anti-choice medical center. In June of 2022, a pro-choice activist group, Jane’s Revenge, claimed responsibility for the action. Burning Books is trying to spread this information around the activist community to be aware.
Leslie’s facebook statement on the situation read:
“About an hour ago I had a visit from the FBI.
The agent presented her badge, stuck her foot in the threshold of the door, &attempted to ask me about the fire last June at Compass Care here in Buffalo. I replied that I was not going to talk to her, pointed at her intrusive foot, and said she was not welcome to come inside.
The FBI has an inexcusable and horrific track record of working to destroy social justice movements, which spans its entire history. I have personally been targeted by the FBI for over 25 years, & the thought of cooperating with them in any way turns my stomach, to say the least.
Please beware that this investigation is underway and do all you can to spread the word about this danger to activists, our movements, & our collective future. Together we keep us safe.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Needless to say, be it the FBI or any other form of law enforcement around the world, cops are not your friends. Don’t talk to cops. Never talk to cops.
Leslie, thank you for being not only an inspiration and reference, but so fucking good at raising the alarm without being alarmist!
we have received an anonymous submission about cop city that we would like to share with all our readers:
“The struggle against cop city, and for the Weelaunee forest has been explosive, experimental, and wild for nearly three years now. In the situation in the process our enemies have brutalized us, charged people with domestic terrorism, leveraging 5-35 years in prison against them, murdered our friend and comrade Tortguita, attempted to repress our struggle, and yet we are still here fighting.
As the forests we swore to protect get clear-cut, and people face hefty sentences leveraged by the courts, as we stare at the possibility of raids, repression, investigations, and the unknown, we desire to take the plunge. We will make our enemies pay for every inch. We will not let them know a moment of peace.
We call for the mechanisms of the US capitalist system, the government, and the infrastructure that upholds it to be moved against in an effort to make this wretched civilization and those responsible which took our friend and levies the might of their courts and police against us pay.”
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