Category: Radicals & Revolutionaries

Radicals & Revolutionaries: Thanks to Tylor and Jake for my Recent Interview

4/9/2022

"As the Animal Liberation Front exploded (literally and figuratively) onto the scene, the desire for the clandestine organization to have a public mouthpiece grew bigger. And so the ALF Press Office was born.

"Born in 1957, Roger Yates would find himself quickly drawn towards direct action by the attitudes, philosophies and actions of, you guessed it, the Hunt Saboteurs Association. (Are you picking up on a trend here?)

"At the request of Ronnie Lee, Roger became the ALF Northern Press Officer which would eventually lead him to facing years in prison on conspiracy charges. But Roger had other plans…"

HERE'S the Roger Yates episode.

0 Comments

Radicals & Revolutionaries feature Ronnie Lee

4/2/2022

1 Comment

My old - very old - mate, Ronnie Lee is the second guest of the new Radicals & Revolutionaries Podcast series.

"At the beginning of the Band of Mercy and the Animal Liberation Front, someone liberated that first animal and struck that first match. And it was Ronnie Lee.

Born in 1951, Ronnie would become interested in veganism and the world of animal rights by seeing a TV program in the early 70’s about the Hunt Saboteurs Association. He would soon join, and launch his own chapter, sometimes sabbing by himself.

But he realized that if you could keep the hunt from leaving in the morning by sabotaging their equipment and vehicles, you wouldn’t even need to be in the fields. So in 1972 the Band of Mercy was born. Starting out with low level attacks on hunt vehicles and kennels, he and his friends turned it into a crusade against all animal use. By 1976, they had become the Animal Liberation Front, and as they say, the rest was history."

RONNIE LEE (part one) - "And then we had heard about a vivisection laboratory that was being built and we used to go hunt sabbing in that area. “Oh blimey! That’s quite a lot of it there now…” We happen to have a gallon of petrol, of gasoline in the – in our car. So we thought “Well, why don’t we have a go now?” Y’know? So we sloshed it around in the annex, and threw a couple matches down, and it went up – woosh! And we made our getaway!"

RONNIE LEE (part two) - "I was arrested in ’86, and charged with conspiracy – charged with conspiracy to cause arson, to cause criminal damage and to incite other people to cause criminal damage. I didn’t do the damage myself, what I did was encouraged other people to do it. They said “oh, we suspect that Mr. Lee dabbled himself in this action,” which I did, a lot! But they couldn’t prove it!"

1 Comment

Introducing Radicals & Revolutionaries Podcast

3/31/2022

0 Comments

Tylor Starr and Jake Conroy have launched an excellent oral history podcast series under the title, Radicals & Revolutionaries.

Tylor and Jake write: "Social justice movements have always embraced a wide variety of strategies and tactics to move their struggles forward, including direct action. The idea of taking action to immediately stop an opposing action, often using illegal and controversial tactics, has forever been the focus of debate, even amongst it’s participants."

THIS is their primer episode, and then they get to it, with their first guest being Dave Wetton, a remarkable man with an amazing story of activism that dates back to the 1960s. Dave's story is told over two episodes.

DAVE WETTON (part one) - "Dave was born in 1943, and went to his first animal rights demonstrations in 1961. The Hunt Saboteurs Association would be born in 1963, and Dave, at the age of 20, joined shortly after. He would spend decades with the HSA, often in leadership positions, helping it grow into the amazing network of activists that it is today."

DAVE WETTON (part two) - "I remember going back to 1965. There were 3 of us. We went down to Salisbury with the intention of liberating some of the dogs from the chemical warfare establishment."

0 Comments

Radicals & Revolutionaries: Thanks to Tylor and Jake for my Recent Interview

Radicals & Revolutionaries feature Ronnie Lee

Introducing Radicals & Revolutionaries Podcast

Roger Yates

Archives

Categories