David Naguib Pellow - Total Liberation

Total Liberation

Total Liberation

The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement

David Naguib Pellow

University of Minnesota Press

Minneapolis London

Portions of the book will appear in David N. Pellow and Hollie Nyseth Brehm, From the New Ecological Paradigm to Total Liberation: The Emergence of a Social Movement Frame, The Sociological Quarterly (forthcoming).

Copyright 2014 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by the University of Minnesota Press

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Minneapolis, MN 554012520

http://www.upress.umn.edu

Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data

Pellow, David Naguib.

Total liberation : the power and promise of animal rights and the radical earth movement / David Naguib Pellow.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4529-4304-6

1. Animal rights. 2. Animal rights movement. 3. Environmentalism. 4. Radicalism. I. Title.

HV4708.P45 2014

179.3dc23

2013048789

The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.

For

Allan and Hazel

Contents

AEDPAAntiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act

AEPAAnimal Enterprise Protection Act

AETAAnimal Enterprise Terrorism Act

AETA4four activists charged under the AETA

AIMAmerican Indian Movement

ALECAmerican Legislative Exchange Council

ALFAnimal Liberation Front

AMAAmerican Medical Association

ANCAfrican National Congress

APOCAnarchist People of Color

ARAnimal Rights

ARCAnimal Rights Conference

ASPCAAmerican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

BLABlack Liberation Army

BLMBureau of Land Management

BPPBlack Panther Party

BWMBecause We Must

CALPIRGCalifornia Public Interest Research Group

CFACascadia Forest Alliance

CFDCascadia Forest Defenders

CLDCCivil Liberties Defense Center

CMUCommunications Management Unit

COINTELPROCounter Intelligence Program

COWChallenging Oppression Within

CSLCCold Snap Legal Collective

DGRDeep Green Resistance

DWWDominant Western Worldview

EF!Earth First!

EF!erEarth First!er

EJenvironmental justice

EJPEnvironmental Justice Paradigm

ELFEarth Liberation Front (also the Environmental Life Force)

EWOK!Earth Warriors are OK!

FBIFederal Bureau of Investigation

FNBFood Not Bombs

GARCGrassroots Animal Rights Conference

GEgenetically engineered

GMgenetically modified

GMOgenetically modified organism

G8Group of Eight nations

HLSHuntingdon Life Sciences

HSLFHumane Society Legislative Fund

HSUSHumane Society of the United States

ICEImmigration and Customs Enforcement

IDAIn Defense of Animals

IRAIrish Republican Army

IWWIndustrial Workers of the World

JTTFJoint Terrorism Task Force

LGBTQlesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer

MFDMazama Forest Defenders

MNDOTMinnesota Department of Transportation

MSUMichigan State University

NAACPNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People

NAALPONorth American Animal Liberation Press Office

NAELFPONorth American Earth Liberation Front Press Office

NAFTANorth American Free Trade Agreement

NARNNorthwest Animal Rights Network

NEPNew Ecological Paradigm

NWLFNew World Liberation Front

NYPDNew York Police Department

PCRMPhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

PETAPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

POCLADProgram on Corporations, Law, and Democracy

RC-ALBRevolutionary CellsAnimal Liberation Brigade

RRRRound River Rendezvous

RSPCARoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

SCSCScott and Carrie Support Committee

SDSStudents for a Democratic Society

SEIsocioecological inequality

SF8San Francisco 8, former BPP activists

SHACStop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty

SHAC7Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty imprisoned activists

SLAPPstrategic lawsuits against public participation

SOARStudent Organization for Animal Rights

SSCSSea Shepherd Conservation Society

TINAThere is no alternative

TWACTrans and Womyns Action Camp

USAIDUnited States Agency for International Development

USEPAUnited States Environmental Protection Agency

USPIRGUnited States Public Interest Research Group

WARWin Animal Rights

WTOWorld Trade Organization

I began this study in 2008 with the goal of understanding how radical environmental and animal liberation activists seek to effect change, particularly in the face of state and corporate repression. I conducted one hundred semi-structured interviews and extensive fieldwork at conferences, activist gatherings, meetings, and other related public events (which involved hundreds of additional informal conversations with activists) and performed exhaustive content analyses of thousands of pages of newsletters, magazines, journals, websites, and zines produced by activists. Overall, the three componentsinterviews, fieldwork, and document analysisoffer an opportunity to triangulate sources of evidence to provide a more complete presentation of the data.

I began by identifying key organizations, groups, and individuals within the radical environmental and animal rights movements, as acknowledged in both academic and activist literature (I frequently use animal rights and animal liberation interchangeably).of Animals (PETA), although many interviewees came from smaller local or regionally based groups and informal collectives that are less well known. Additionally, I interviewed a small sample of members of several mainstream animal rights and environmental organizations, a small sample of key members of historically relevant movements that have heavily influenced contemporary radical environmental and animal liberation activists (e.g., Black Panther Party, Black Liberation Army, and Puerto Rican Independence movements), as well as numerous activist attorneys working with environmental and animal rights groups and individuals.

I used respondent-driven and reputation sampling to locate interviewees. I chose to employ a semi-structured interview technique that allowed for standardized questions yet flexibility in answers and elaborations. Sixty-nine interviewees identified as men, and thirty-one identified as women, a reflection of the fact that many of these organizations are male-dominated. People whom my research team and I interviewed for this project came from Arizona, southern and northern California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, D.C., Washington State, and West Virginia.

In an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the movements and ensure I was interviewing a wide range of participants, my research team and I also attended several environmental and animal rights conferences, and major events in the United States, including the Their Lives Our Voices conference, the Let Live conference, the Earth First! Roadshow, the Trans and Womyns Action Camp (TWAC), and the Earth First! Round River Rendezvous. I also attended many smaller gatherings, workshops, and events organized by activists in several cities. At each event I attended panel sessions and discussions, observed, and interviewed participants. Fieldwork at some events even necessitated camping in forests and digging latrines.