The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is a method of engagement in direct action
that attempts to bring an end to animal abuse and to challenge the dominant
logic of speciesism. ALF ‘members’ may operate alone or in small,
anonymous cells where they plan and execute actions that may lead to the liberation
of captive animals and/or to economic sabotage. This has in the past involved
the destruction of vivisection laboratories and meat delivery trucks, the releasing
of animals, and the smashing of fur store windows. Much like the bloc tactic,
ALF activists
generally operate in small clandestine groups, find it useful to protect their
identities by donning ski-masks, and engage in numerous direct actions (especially
property destruction); however, unlike the bloc tactic, ALF activists do not
utilize the ‘cover’ provided by lager mass mobilizations: they
are more likely to operate alone, under the ‘cover’ of the night.
Although often referred
to as a group by the mass media, the ALF does not carry
membership files, nor does it hold open meetings. As long as activists are willing
to stick to its 4 guidelines (1. to liberate animals from places of abuse; 2.
to inflict
economic damage on those who profit from animal exploitation; 3. to reveal the
abuses of speciesism by performing non-violent direct actions; 4. to take all
necessary precautions against harming human and non-human animals)1, they
may regard themselves as acting on behalf of the ALF. To be certain, there are
groups with official memberships which affiliate themselves with the ALF. The
Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group (ALFSG), which defends ALF actions
and supports imprisoned activists, and the North American Animal Liberation
Front Press Office, which provides information to the media that helps to explain
ALF actions, act as voices for the movement. However, both groups maintain
that their members do not engage in direct action and that they are only there
to
provide support to individuals who do.
Steven Best
Peter Singer
Tom Regan
Richard Ryder
Environmentalism
Anti-Capitalism
Green Anarchy/ Anarcho-primitivism
EcoFeminism
Animal Liberation Front
Supporters Group (ALFSG)
Animal Rights Militia
The Band of Mercy
Center on Animal Liberation Affairs (CALA)
Citizens Organized for Animal Liberation (COAL)
Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade (CAFT)
Earth First! (EF!)
Earth Liberation Front (ELF)
Hunt Retribution Squad
Hunt Saboteurs Association
The Justice Department
Stop Huntington Animal Cruelty (SHAC)
Direct Action
The Bloc Tactic
The ALF grew out of the experiences of groups such as the Hunt Saboteurs Association, who disrupted hunting expeditions in the 1960’s. Established as a practice in 1976 in England, the ALF opened up avenues of struggle to activists who were disillusioned with the ‘passive activism’ of “large mainstream groups lobbying for stricter laws protecting animals”(2). It has, since that time, successfully established itself as an international underground movement with actions taking place in England, Canada, the US, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Holland, New Zealand, Australia, and many other countries.
The ALF has been designated in the US by the FBI as one of the top two movements
responsible for domestic terrorism (the other movement is the Earth Liberation
Front)(3). According to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics, ALF activists
were responsible for over 313 illegal incidents between 1979 and 1993 (4). In
1999 alone, the Department of Justice reports that six ALF ‘terrorist
attacks’
resulted in damages worth over $3 million (5). Several examples of ALF actions
are provided below.
March, 1979: First ALF action in the US. In New York City, activists broke into
the New York University Medical Center, from which 1 cat, 2 dogs, and 2 guinea
pigs were liberated (6).
June, 1981: First ALF laboratory liberation in Canada. 1 cat, 5 rabbits, 1 rat,
and 14 guinea pigs were rescued from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto
Ontario (7).
1990 - 1994: In what the ALF literature designates as Operation Bite Back I,
fur
research facilities and feed suppliers were targeted in extensive direct action
campaigns throughout the North America. The actions varied, but most were
aimed at inflicting economic sabotage. In June, 1991 the Nothwest Fur Farm
Food Cooperative in Edmonds, Washington, was broken into. Activists set up
incendiary devices which ignited the next morning causing over $1 million in
damage. The company was forced to close down. In August, 1991 two offices
were broken into at the Washington State University. The activists removed files
and computers, and left messages sprayed on the walls. In October, 1992 in
Logan, Utah, USDA’s Predator Research Station is broken into. Activists
spray-
painted slogans, released 29 coyotes and set one of the buildings on fire.
Damages were estimated at $600,000. (8)
1995 - ongoing?: Operation Bite Back II shifts the focus from actions that aimed
at maximizing economic damage to actions that aimed at liberating animals. In
November, 1995 in Aldergrove, British Colombia, activists broke into Rippin
Fur
Farm from which they released 5,000 mink. In May, 1997 in Mt. Angel, Oregon,
activists liberated 10,000 mink from Arritola Mink Farm (9).
July, 1997: In Redmond, Oregon, Activists set fire to the horse rendering plant,
Cavel West. $1 million worth of damages is reported (10).
April, 1999: Activist broke into research facilities at the University of Minnesota,
where they liberated 116 animals, and destroyed computers, microscopes, and
medical equipment. Their actions handicapped research on Alzheimer’s,
as human cancer cells were destroyed with the laboratories (11).
April, 2001: In Eastport, New York, ALF activists liberated 232 ducklings from
a
Cornell Duck research Laboratory. The ALF Press Office announced that the
action was undertaken because the “research is not "pro-animal"
it rather
maximizes profits for an industry of animal murder, animal exploitation,
environmental degradation, and greed” (12).
November, 2002: In Italy, activists broke into a dog-breeding farm from which
they liberated 128 beagles bred for scientific experiments. “Murderers”
and “ALF
will free all” were spray-painted on the walls of the farm (13).
July, 2003: In Australia, ALF activists remove a section of an electric fence
around the Puckapunyal Army Base in Victoria. The opening allowed Kangaroos,
which were scheduled for mass slaughter, to escape (14).
June, 2004: In Russia, activists broke into the Animal Physiology Deportment
of
Moscow State University, from which they released 94 rats (15).
Steven Best and Anthony
J. Nocella II (eds.), Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?
Reflections on the Liberation of Animals, (New York: Lantern Books, 2004).
Lyle Munro. Compassionate Beasts: The Quest for Animal Rights, (Westport,
Connecticut: Praeger, 2001).
Charlotte Montgomery. Blood Relations: Animals, Humans, and Politics,
(Toronto: Between the Lines, 2000).
Angus Taylor. Magpies, Monkeys, and Morals: What Philosophers Say about
Animal Liberation, (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 1999).
Mark Rowlands. Animal Rights: A Philosophical Defence, (New York: St. Martin’s
Press, 1998).
Helena Silverstein. Unleashing Rights: Law, Meaning, and the Animal Rights
Movement, (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996).
Peter Singer. Animal Liberation, (New York: Avon Books, 1990).
Critiques:
Michael P.T. Leahy. Against Liberation: Putting animals in perspective, (New
York: Routledge, 1991).
Lorenz O. Lutherer and Margaret S. Simon. Targeted: The Anatomy of an Animal
Rights Attack, (Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992).
Susan Sperling. Animal Liberators: Research and Morality, (Los Angeles:
University of California Press, 1988).
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/
http://www.animalliberation.net/
http://www.nocompromise.org/alf/alf.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/3609/ring.html
http://www.animal-liberation.com/
http://www.animal-liberation.pl/
http://www.liberation-mag.org.uk/
Academic:
http://www.cala-online.org/Journal/Journal.html
Critiques:
http://www.animalrights.net/
1 “ALF Mission Statement/
Credo.” Available at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/WhatisALF.htm
2 “Who is the ALF.” Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/veganresist/alfhistory.html
3 “Animal Rights Philosophy,” Animal Liberation Philosophy and Policy
Journal. Available at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Debating/Journal%20of%20Animal%20Liberation
%20Affairs3.htm
4 “ALF, 1979 - 1993.” Available at: http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/alf79.htm
5 US Department of Justice, “Terrorism in the United States 1999: Counterterrorism
Threat
Assessment and Warning Unit Counterterrorism Division.” Available at:
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/terror/terror99.pdf
6 “Monumental Animal Liberation Front Actions - United States.”
Available at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/alfusa.htm
7 “Monumental Animal Liberation Front Actions - Canada.” Available
at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/alfcanada.htm
8 “Operation Bite Back - Part 1.” Available at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/biteback1.htm
9 “Operation Bite Back - Part 2.” Available at:
http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/biteback2.htm
10 See “ALF, 1979 - 1993.”
11 See “ALF, 1979 - 1993.”
12 “Frontline: A.L.F. Claims Duck Liberation.” Available at:
http://www.skeptictank.org/ecowar/gen01029.htm
13 “’Terrorists’ Steal 128 Beagles.” Available at:
http://www.animalliberation.com.au/news/news2002.htm
14 “Australian ALF Protecting Kangaroos.” Available at: http://lists.envirolink.org/pipermail/arnews/
Week-of-Mon-20030728/004238.html
15 “Diary of Actions.” Available at: http://www.directaction.info/news_june16a_04.htm