Building Local Groups by Tom Harris

Ask yourself; what has been achieved in your area over the last seven years, and what could be achieved over the next seven?

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 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.

Campaigning for SARC, my partner and I were always happy to get on roofs, run inside fur shops, D-lock ourselves to something, hang a banner, and if the police insisted on it then we’d get arrested.

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?

When setting up a group, you should consider what your goals are. You don’t need a perfect masterplan but think about the areas of oppression you intend to focus on, and the forms of activism which might be most effective. The Talon Conspiracy website has a great collection of old animal rights newsletters, full of ideas on how to campaign. New activists joining your group are likely to follow your example, so be responsible but take the initiative and lead from the front. Campaigning for SARC, my partner and I were always happy to get on roofs, run inside fur shops, D-lock ourselves to something, hang a banner, and if the police insisted on it then we’d get arrested. We never asked anyone to do the same (we always advocated personal autonomy), but our example was infectious, and our whole group was dynamic, active, and on the face of it at least, fearless. Because we normalised it, for SARC activists, that was simply how we all expected protests to be. There is no right or wrong way to conduct a protest (aside from the obvious: racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia… have no place in our movement). As long as your intentions are positive, and you believe you are being effective, you should pursue whatever tactics you feel best. Whichever route you choose, never expect others to carry out protest tactics that you won’t.

Tragically, we all have dozens of potential targets on our doorstep, from intensive farms and abattoirs to vivisection labs and racetracks. While any business can be closed through pressure campaigning (and for me, that should always be the aim), the resources required will vary depending on the target. A single protest may convince a shop selling fur to remove the offending garments. Closing your local animal testing laboratory is likely to take years and require a level of dedication which most nascent groups can’t commit to. Avoid launching a campaign you don’t truly believe you can win; it will lead to burnout and despondency.

To maintain group morale, set simultaneous short, medium, and long-term goals. For example, convince a local store to stop selling fur in the short-term, close a pet breeder in the medium-term, and aim to shut an abattoir as your long-term goal. Alternatively, focus solely on the abattoir, convincing key suppliers to cut ties with them as a shortterm goal, gather covert footage as a medium-term goal, and close them down as your long-term goal. Regular victories will keep everyone in your group positive and motivated as you chip away at your long-term goals.

Once you have an idea of your strategies and campaigns, you’ll want to recruit some people to help. While you should never underestimate how much one or two determined people can achieve, more people mean more skills, more time, and potentially more impactful protests. Some of the most effective protests I’ve attended involved just two people running into an office building with megaphones and leaflets, but twenty, fifty, or a hundred people would have made them even better.

We often assume ‘if we build it, they will come’. You may have a thriving vegan community in your area, so why aren’t they turning up to your protests? There are several reasons. Firstly, people can only join you if they know you exist. Many groups complain about a lack of support, but make little effort to reach beyond their existing Facebook followers. Secondly, diving into direct action and protest can be incredibly scary for people who have spent their entire lives fitting society’s definition of ‘good’. Don’t be annoyed that someone who doesn’t want to hurt animals, and is happy baking plant-based treats and stroking cows doesn’t leap straight into confrontational action without your support, education, and patience.

In any walk of life, when you’ve done something for a long time you forget how you started. None of us woke up one day as animal liberation activists. We each had something, or a chain of somethings, which compelled us down this path. Think about your personal story. How did you become an activist? Talk to other people to learn their stories too and see what lessons you can learn for recruitment.

I became an activist when I was 15, after reading ALFSG and Huntingdon Death Sciences Campaign newsletters. Those magazines taught me the importance of clearly communicating your activities, accomplishments, and calls to action. This has become a lot easier with social media, however it is easy to create online echo chambers. To reach beyond your immediate circle, you can pay for targeted advertising, or consider producing and disseminating a good old-fashioned newsletter. A physical (or digital) magazine compiles information which can quickly get lost in social media feeds. People can pick it up and put it down at leisure, rather than having all that information vanish and be forgotten. After I read those newsletters, I spent the next year plastering my town with posters and stickers, I set up information stalls on my local high street, and held several protests on my own or with my brother. When I was 16, I contacted a local band about a punk show I was arranging. After a discussion about animal rights, the singer invited me out hunt sabbing. I learnt another important lesson; most people who get involved in activism don’t seek out their local group, but are invited to join it. To grow your group, it is imperative to reach out to as many people as possible. The more people you invite to a protest, meeting or action, the more people will come. My knowledge of sabbing – and animal rights in general – was limited to those magazines, and what I’d seen on the news. I didn’t have a clue what I was getting myself into, so I sought advice from the place society had taught me I should. Going to my local police station and asking them if I should take up hunt sabotage will always be one of my most absurd memories. It was the last time I entered a police station through the front door, and the first time I got involved in an existing

I learnt another important lesson; most people who get involved in activism don’t seek out their local group, but are invited to join it. To grow your group, it is imperative to reach out to as many people as possible. The more people you invite to a protest, meeting or action, the more people will come.

Pictured: Vegan Information Project in Dublin, providing information to the public

animal rights group (suffice to say, I ignored the police advice). Apprehension is a common theme. Many people become involved in activism after attending meetings, protest camps, or other ‘safe’ and more neutral introductory settings. This way they can meet other campaigners, learn what activism involves, and dip their toes into the animal liberation movement without having to dive straight into what can seem an intimidating or confrontational situation.

That’s my story, but if you consider your own path you’ll likely uncover more areas you can focus on to attract new members. Another important avenue for recruitment is through forming alliances. Support other progressive social justice campaigns, and it’s likely they will support you. It is a great opportunity to discover new tactics and strategies, as well as building and enriching multiple campaign groups. Be inclusive and consider how inviting your group appears to people from different backgrounds to yourself. The words you type and images you use can speak to people in different ways, so consider how you reach as wide an audience as possible. Everyone should have a role to play in your group. Whether it’s research, fundraising, social media, protesting, creating banners… no one should be excluded or undervalued (unless they are a fascist).

Setting up a group can cost money, but it doesn’t have to cost a lot. Banners can be made from reclaimed advertising signs, and for many years I photocopied leaflets using facilities at my local university. However, you may need to hire a venue for meetings, and you might want to get leaflets, placards, banners, and possibly a newsletter professionally printed. Your group’s branding will have a big impact on recruitment and how seriously you’re taken (big businesses don’t spend millions on it for nothing). Then there’s megaphones, petrol money, social media ads… Some of this can be subsidised by yourself, or other group members, but fundraising can be a great way to promote your group and gives your group more options. There are a host of donation apps such as DonorBox, Ko-Fi, Paypal… do some research to see which works best for your group. Make sure

you add links to any social media posts. Organise fundraising events online and in the real world to bring in much needed cash, and to gain the attention of potential new recruits. Consider holding street stalls; essentially a pasting table (available from hardware shops), with leaflets and petitions on, surrounded by posters showing why you are there. Make the petition relevant to your groups aims and invite every person who passes to sign (hold out a pen and look them in the eye when you ask). The more organised you appear, the more seriously you’ll be taken.

If we want more local groups, it’s up to each of us to create them. As a grassroots movement we are individually responsible for forcing the change we want to see in the world. As the ALF have been saying for years; if not you, who? If not now, when?

Tom Harris

Author at SHAC Justice