Direct Action vs. Pacifistic Protesting

an original hunt saboteur in england


by Thlayli

Within the animal liberation community lately there has been a rather common debate about direct action and how it doesn’t work, or isn’t necessary when there is vegan outreach and protesting we could be doing. The opponents of DA generally argue that these places will rebuild again, and that it makes vegans look bad. I think it is rather silly that this movement is being reduced to nothing but a bake sale and mere rhetoric. Do these people not understand that while they are holding signs in front of fur stores that the animals at fur farms are being ripped apart alive as they stand there and only convince a handful of people?

The people who sneak onto the property of fur farms are at least rescuing a few animals from such a fate of suffering. Those people waving their signs, they need to understand that while what they are doing is still important, and its effectiveness gauged by how devoted they are to their cause, they shouldn’t be ignorant and spiteful towards people who are like minded.

I have always had people tell me that violence only equates to violence, and I totally agree with them. However, violence cannot be committed against property, and if they truthfully believed every word of that statement then they would have the ability to see that the violence being committed against animals directly results in violence against the planet, and people as a whole. The most beautiful gift you can give anyone is their freedom, and until you have experienced the bliss which follows breaking a cage open, and watching these scared animals make a run for freedom, then you have no right to disrespect what they put on the line to make it happen.

Legal repercussions are yet another factor that weigh in on one’s choice to either pick up a sign or bolt cutters. I think anyone would be rightfully out of their mind to want to go to prison, which is why I am shocked that so many people want to hold signs and merely be content on making small, indirect, and slow change. You have to understand that when you are not willing to risk everything for a cause you believe in because you are afraid of the consequences then you are already in the prison of your heart, and the prison of your mind.

We have to remove ourselves from the equation in order to completely get the bigger picture. Our minds cannot be trapped within a steel cage that is worry, regret, fear, because no matter how scared we become it is only a tiny rock compared to the mountain which is animal suffering and the torment or our entire planet.

If you would just close your mind for a second, and close your eyes, listen to the world around you. What do you hear? Vehicles, planes, people walking on the sidewalk, listen a lot more closely and you will hear the screams of our planet as it dies, and all the animals who are suffering in the process. Until our own lives are put on standby, until we realize that we as individuals do not matter, and until we are willing to give up everything that is holding us back, we will only be liberating time as is passes right before our eyes, and by then it will be too late.

I am terrified of the end result if we do not act now. The amount of suffering and death that will ultimately follow from inaction is almost incomprehensible. That is why I refuse to be content on holding signs when I know that with enough people to follow, we can successfully liberate this planet. There are enough of us, many hiding in the shadows, many just wondering how to get started, if we plan, and execute our ideas carefully, we can secure the liberation of every living species, and secure the life of this planet we call home. I strongly urge everyone to reconsider their own agendas, and how much your planet and this movement means to you, because you may not witness the end, someone will, whether it be your children, or the few species left on this planet as it dies.


http://www.negotiationisover.net/