Posted by Negotiation Is Over on July 19, 2011
(Read on NIO)

On July 16, a fundraiser for Walter Bond was held in South Florida. Walter called in at 2 p.m. to deliver the following address:

Currently, NIO has been embarking on a campaign to end vivisection before it begins by letting students of animal research know that their future career path will simply not be tolerated by the true animal liberation activists of this world. People that make a living torturing animals under the guise of science are nothing more than sick freaks that must be stopped. It is my opinion that there should be an LD50 experiment done on the entire animal research community. Until that fortunate day arises, please support NIO as much as you can. Every dollar you donate will go directly towards the liberation of our animal relations and the abolition of their exploitation.

We must never forget the animal victims of human injustice. We must never forget our responsibility to defend their lives.

We abolitionists in this animal liberation struggle know that these are not complicated issues. We will never live in harmony with each other until we can live in harmony with the environment as well as other species.

Animals have the right to live free from human slavery, use, abuse and death. It’s not rocket science. It’s very simple. Still many factions, groups and organizations in the past and the present spend too much time politicking, people pleasing and paper pushing. Their logic is flawed.

Personal interest is the enemy of animal liberation. Our mandate is to defend their lives. The four legged and the furry. Those with wings and those with gills. Not to smile and talk and play on people’s sympathies. If people’s sympathy was so powerful than they would not engage in these horrors and slaveries to begin with.

But I must confess I did not write this brief address to give you a lesson in morality or to try and get you to see the logic of a truly revolutionary mentality. I’m reaching out to you to let you know that we exist. I want you to know that people like me exist. We know that every single abuse that our animal relatives endure at the hands of speciesist human oppressors is sick and wrong! We know that torturers and murderers don’t stop because we ask them or even because we tell them. They stop because we make them! Unless you have saved an animal from death and watched them frolic with glee or run for freedom, then you don’t know what’s right or wrong. Unless you’ve walked the path of a liberator or warrior for these critters, then you don’t yet know how impotent all other half measures are.

And I want you to walk that path. I want you to walk that path because it’s necessary if we want to save animals, any animals from imminent death and subjugation. I want you to walk that path because it’s long overdue and justified and I want you to walk that path because if you don’t no one else will.

Once upon a time I was not so secure with my own abilities. I spent years talking to people, organizing and putting my energies into indirect activities, instead of animal liberation itself. I, just like all of us, bought into the glamor and hype of mainstream groups or key individuals having all the answers. While it’s always wise to learn from the experience of others and employ tactics that have proven successful in past and current campaigns, the true tactical answers are in our hearts and in our feelings.

When I was younger, I used to build slaughterhouses for a living. One day while packing away my work crew tools, a hog got loose from the kill floor and made his way to our maintenance area. He was bleeding from the throat, scared and running for his life. I stood there and watched as he was beaten to death. While my fellow coworkers cheered and high-fived, I decided to shut my mouth. I decided to turn away. I made a deliberate decision to be polite, not risk my job or safety and just focus on “the big picture.”

Now as I look back on my activism from this prison cell, my only lasting and true regrets are in what I failed to do. My shame is in my complicity. A couple years later I was a vegan, an abolitionist and an animal liberation direct activist. I vowed to never turn away again and don’t you turn away either! The future starts in the present and every life saved is a victory. Ours is and always must be a selfless movement and it must become a ferociously active movement. If there is one pitfall that seems universal among the mainstream of animal rights, it’s their capacity to think more than act.

Our resistance to the abuses must be physical. Think about that! In the very place you are at this moment, animals need your defense, protection and urgency. If you don’t get along with other people or groups within the animal rights community in which you live, so what? Work with those you do or work alone. Don’t ask the question, “what can we do?” – ask the question, “what must we do?” and then do not accept defeat. Then you will find that you have joined the most powerful and self-realized group of people on the planet. Those who span various social justice movements from various times and places. Those who come from every race, creed and generation. The true catalysts of change, the liberators!

Don’t be so concerned with “the big picture” or “long-term goals of animal rights.” The future is important but far too many individuals and groups assume the position at the steering wheel of this movement already. Instead concern yourself with the trenches, the hard work, confrontations and liberations you can win now in your own backyard. Remember, if you don’t act no one will and what we do or fail to do right now is incredibly important. It’s literally the difference between life and death.

Animal Liberation, Whatever it May Take!