BUILDING LOCAL
GROUPS
BY TOM HARRIS
THE history of animal liberation is built on victories secured by autonomous local groups. A lot has changed since I first took action for non-human animals in 1999, but the importance of local groups has not diminished. It’s easy to hope large organisations will secure change on our behalf. However, while national and international groups launch and inspire campaigns, it is usually local activists who protest, petition, and relentlessly take action. In fact, most of those big organisations started as local groups themselves. PETA began with five people campaigning out of a basement in Maryland, and the Save Movement grew from a handful of activists holding vigils as Toronto Pig Save. In a grassroots movement, change comes from the bottom up. Without determined individuals forming local animal rights groups, our movement would barely exist. In 2003, my partner and I formed one such group, the Southern Animal Rights Coalition (SARC), covering the south coast of England. Over the next seven years
124
FORÇA VEGAN
we closed a puppy farm (and rescued the dogs), shut several intensive egg farms, stopped the MoD using goats in diving experiments (and freed the goats), made Portsmouth, Bournemouth, and Southampton fur and foie gras free (at least for a while), and launched a campaign which eventually led to a ban on testing cosmetic Botox on animals. We were only stopped because we were imprisoned for campaigning with another anti-vivisection campaign, which you can read about in the previous issue of Força Vegan. We certainly aren’t special; virtually anyone could do what we did. However, if noone had sought out and confronted those local targets, the farms would still be open, dogs would still be bred in veal crates, goats would still be dying in deep diving experiments, and millions of mice would still
be injected with Botox and smashed against a table to snap their necks. Ask yourself; what has been achieved in your area over the last seven years, and what could be achieved over the next seven? If you want to see more happen you aren’t alone - that’s exactly how we felt when we launched SARC. Every town and city needs at least one local group. If you have one and you like how they campaign, you’re all set; join up and join in. However, many towns don’t have active groups, you may not feel that your local group is a good fit for you, or they may be focused on a single issue that you’re happy to help with, but don’t want to devote all your attention to. If you don’t have a local group, or yours isn’t a good fit, you should start your own. If you don’t, who will?
