Animal Liberation Front

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The Animal Liberation Front ( ALF , German: Tierbefreiungsfront ) is an internationally active, decentralized group of the militant animal liberation movement that is classified by the FBI as a terrorist organization in the USA . Their goal is to prevent animal testing and the killing of animals. This is done primarily through animal liberation and attacks on laboratories and animal farms by means of sabotage , arson attacks and other direct actions. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is considered a sister organization.

Emergence

The beginnings of the ALF go back to the "Hunters Saboteurs Association" (German roughly Jagd-Sabotage Vereinigung), or HSA for short. This was founded in Great Britain in 1964 to prevent hunting through direct action. After a short time sabotage groups formed all over Great Britain, including one in Luton, in which Ronnie Lee was also active. In 1972, parts of the HSA formed a more radical group called the “Band of Mercy”, which set itself the goal of not disrupting ongoing hunts, but rather preventing them from starting by destroying hunting vehicles. In the years to come, the group expanded its acts of sabotage to include various objects related to animal exploitation.

Ronnie Lee and Cliff Goodman were arrested for the first time in August 1974. After 12 months in prison, Ronnie Lee decided to found a new group, the Animal Liberation Front.

Organization and structure

The ALF is a non-hierarchically organized movement in which there are no formal or other memberships. It consists of mutually unknown, autonomous cells, which can consist of several caregivers or just one individual. All people who live vegan and are committed to the following goals or who adhere to the following criteria may declare themselves as belonging to the Animal Liberation Front:

  • The liberation of animals from the places in which they are tortured, such as laboratories, animal factories, fur farms etc. The animals must be given to a good home where they can live free from suffering until their natural end.
  • Inflicting economic damage on all those who benefit from animal exploitation and murder.
  • Showing the horror and atrocities that animals are exposed to behind closed doors with the help of non-violent, direct actions and liberations.
  • Taking all necessary precautions so that neither humans nor non-human animals are harmed during the actions.

motivation

The ALF has set itself the goal of freeing all animals from their conditions of exploitation, be it from factory farms, test laboratories or fur farms. The ALF draws the motivation for its militant acts from the assumption that the moral justification for the exploitation of non-human animals is based on a speciesist bias . There are two main arguments that fundamentally question the exploitation of non-human animals:

  • Argument of the human borderline cases: This says that no clear dividing line can be drawn between humans and other animals, which is why their exploitation cannot be legitimized from a philosophical point of view.
  • Argument of lack of relevance: Here it is argued that even if there were qualitative differences between humans and other animals, these have no moral relevance. Example: In hospitals, more intelligent, more creative or physically stronger people are not treated in front of other, less “outstanding people”.

The ALF recognizes a life in freedom for all animals and tries to achieve this with direct actions . In communiqués or philosophical ALF texts, this is often compared with the militant Underground Railroad from the time of the liberation of slaves in the USA or resistance against National Socialism during the Nazi regime in Europe. Many people close to the ALF believe that only a combination of militant sabotage and legal campaigns can lead to the liberation of all animals.

Methods

The methods used by the ALF include the liberation of animals from test laboratories or breeding farms, warning letters, telephone precautionary measures and house demonstrations, as well as the marking of buildings, vehicles, devices and the like. that are directly or indirectly related to any form of animal use. The operator is supposed to be economically damaged by the sabotage and the resulting costs. In addition, ALF activists organize accommodation and care for the animals.

According to the letters of responsibility published on their homepages, many actors, especially in Germany, limit themselves to property damage against, in the opinion of the ALF, inopportune institutions. These are primarily hunting grounds ( high seats etc.), butcher shops, slaughterhouses, fur traders, fur farms etc., whereby the methods range from breaking window panes to sawing off high seats and using butyric acid to arson attacks. According to research by the weekly newspaper Die Zeit , 136 attacks verified by letters of confession and press reports in Germany between 2009 and 2014 were directly assigned. The ALF's own information, as well as the Federal Criminal Police Office, speak of a significantly higher number of acts.

In Lower Saxony there were four unexplained arson attacks in empty fattening facilities in Sprötze , Vechelde , Mehrum and Schnega , which were newly built as suppliers to the Wietze poultry slaughterhouse . There were letters confessing to the acts that identify with the Animal Liberation Front. The owners each suffered property damage of an estimated tens of thousands of euros.

The accommodation of the so-called Silver Spring Monkeys (here Domitian) in a foster home after the police released them from Edward Taub's behavioral research institute in Silver Springs in 1981 was the first action taken by the ALF.

More militant currents can be observed in the USA. Members of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) who were involved in animal experiments were seriously threatened there, including Molotov cocktails on their homes. The FBI sees the ALF as a terrorist group with special interests. Since ALF is not an association, there are support groups in many countries (e.g. Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group (ALF-SG) or Die Tierbefreier ). They publish letters of confession, cover legal aid costs for activists or look after detained perpetrators.

criticism

Criticism is directed against the methods used in some cases (e.g. arson attacks on cars by people who are in contact with the relevant companies), which have terrorist traits. Although the ALF repeatedly emphasizes that an important part of its planning is to prevent harm to people and animals, there is a risk that bystanders can be injured with every arson attack, which has not happened before.

Because of the significantly more militant appearance in the USA, the ALF is often viewed there as a terrorist organization. In January 2005, the American Department of Homeland Security also listed possible attacks by members of the ALF in its report on terrorism.

In the Wiener Neustädter animal welfare process, 13 people active in public and legal animal welfare were accused of having formed a criminal organization under Section 278a of the German Criminal Code (Austrian “Anti-Mafia Paragraph”). The court examined a connection between the 13 defendants and the ALF actions committed by unknown persons. The specific case concerned a series of butyric acid attacks and damage to property against Austrian fur trade, in which, however, the specific perpetrators could not be determined. The court contradicted the public prosecutor's statement that it was a criminal organization and acquitted all of the defendants after three months in pre-trial detention and a year-long trial. No connection could be established between the publicly active persons and the ALF actions.

More moderate sections of the animal rights movement criticize the fact that the actions of the ALF lead to people being deterred from issues of animal rights policy. Such an approach has a polarizing effect, as a result of which activists distance themselves from basic social values. Walls would be built up (creating images of the enemy ) rather than dismantled and a dialogue would be prevented. The ALF argues that radical action on its part would move animal rights organizations with less radical methods to the center of society. Although the ALF counts themselves to the left scene, in the left scene they are often considered eccentric, who are accused of antihumanism and crude concentration camp comparisons.

The ideological orientation differs fundamentally from the idea of ​​animal welfare, which is why many animal welfare organizations perceive it as too radical and therefore distance themselves from the ALF and its actions. While “classic” animal welfare organizations fight inadequate or in their eyes cruel keeping or use of animals, activists of the ALF reject the keeping and use of animals per se as illegitimate. At the same time, the ALF categorically rejects classic animal welfare, among other things with the aim of animal welfare and careful slaughter.

Peter Singer , one of the pioneers of the animal rights movement, demands an exact description and differentiated evaluation of the ALF activities. In particular, a clear distinction must be made between different forms of violence . Only on this basis could certain forms of violence be categorically condemned.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Noel Molland: Thirty Years of Direct Action . In: Steven Best, Anthony J. Nocella II (Eds.): Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals . Lantern Books, New York 2004, ISBN 1-59056-054-X , pp. 67-74 .
  2. ^ Robin Webb: Animal Liberation - By "Any means necessary" . In: Steven Best, Anthony J. Nicolla II (Eds.): Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals . Lantern Books, New York 2004, ISBN 1-59056-054-X , pp. 75-80 .
  3. ↑ animal-liberation-front | What is the ALF? (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 25, 2017 ; Retrieved January 25, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tierbefreiungsfront.de
  4. ↑ Oscar Horta: The scope of the argument from species overlap . Ed .: Journal of applied Philosophy. 2014, p. 142-154 .
  5. ^ Daniel A. Dombrowski: Is the argument of marginal cases obtuse? Ed .: Journal of applied Philosophy. 2006, p. 223-232 .
  6. ^ Bentham Jeremy: A Fragment on Government and an Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation . 1948, p. 412 .
  7. ^ Mark Bernstein: Marginal Cases and moral relevance . Ed .: Journal of social philosophy. 2002, p. 532-539 .
  8. ↑ Craig Rosebraugh: The Logic of Political Violence . 1st edition. Arissa Media Group, Oregon 2004, ISBN 0-9742884-1-1 .
  9. ^ Bruce G. Friedrich: Defending Agitation and the ALF . In: Steven Best; Anthony J. Nocella II (Ed.): Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals . Lantern Book, New York 2004, ISBN 1-59056-054-X , pp. 252-262 .
  10. ^ Arson attack on sausage factory in Hanover. ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Press release of the organization "Die Tierbefreier" from March 19, 2007, the letter of confession is dated March 26, 2007 (also on the homepage) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tierbefreier.de
  11. ↑ The Vegan Army Faction. In: The time. Nº 36/2014, September 14, 2014.
  12. ↑ With paint, explosives and fire accelerators. In: Zeit Online. October 10, 2014.
  13. ^ Matthias Rude: Mast systems flared. In: Junge Welt . December 12, 2011, accessed June 5, 2012 .
  14. ↑ UCLA Vivisector Lynn Fairbanks Targeted by Animal Liberation Front ( February 13, 2009 memento on Internet Archive ) The Animal Liberation Press Office. July 12, 2006. Accessed August 13, 2012.
  15. ↑ Terror at UCLA. In: Critical Mass. August 22, 2006.
  16. ^ FBI testimony on the ALF. James F. Jarboe, House Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, February 12, 2002. Accessed August 13, 2012.
  17. ↑ "From Push to Shove" , Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, the autumn of 2002.
  18. ^ Justin Rood: Animal Rights Groups and Ecology Militants Make DHS Terrorist List, Right-Wing Vigilantes Omitted. In: Congressional Quarterly. March 25, 2005.
  19. ^ STANDARD Verlagsgesellschaft mbH: acquittals for all defendants . In: derStandard.at . ( derstandard.at [accessed on January 26, 2017]).
  20. ↑ Helmut F. Kaplan: Animal Liberation - Criminal Acts or Consistent Ethics? In: Interdisciplinary Working Group Animal Ethics Heidelberg (Hrsg.): Tierrechte . Harald Fischer Verlag, Erlangen 2007, p. 151.
  21. ^ Animal rights extremists in Arson Spree. In: Guardian. June 25, 2005 (Critical article about the ALF attacks)
  22. ↑ Mast systems should burn. In: taz. 4th August 2013.
  23. ↑ Militant Animal Liberators - Defense of the dwarf rabbits, attack on capitalism. In: Der Spiegel. October 21, 2006.
  24. ↑ "Criticism of the concept of the anti-fur demos" ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Animal Liberation 79 (2013) - Association magazine of the association "Die Tierbefreier" @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tierbefreier.de
  25. ^ "Statement" by the animal liberators Hamburg on a protest against the German Animal Welfare Association or its chairman
  26. ↑ Film ban for animal liberators. In: Europe Online. January 16, 2014.
  27. ↑ Peter Singer on democracy, legal violations and the use of force

literature

  • Steven Best: Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals . Lantern Books, New York 2004, ISBN 1-59056-054-X .
  • Donald R. Liddick: Eco-Terrorism: Radical Environmental and Animal Liberation Movements . Praeger, 2006, ISBN 0-275-98535-0 .

Web links

Commons : Animal Liberation Front  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files