Hey folk – if you’re thinking of watching Okja, it’s worth knowing that it normalizes a literal terrorist group (the Animal Liberation Front) as harmless and bumbling. They’re an animal rights group that is on terrorist watch lists all over the world and has been for almost 50 years, due to their propensity for firebombing, pretending to poison candy, and raiding labs (and a whole bunch of other shit).
The movie is also not as kid-friendly as portrayed and uses shock tactics and massive anthropomorphism to manipulate the viewers.
Posting this as a PSA due to overwhelming reader request, I’ll do a full breakdown soon.
@formaldehund Im not super familiar with the ALF, but i feel like this post might be some neolib/carnist bullshit?? Not sure tho.
“carnist”
Here’s a quote from Keith Mann, who was a spokesman for ALF and sentenced to 14 years in jail for his participation in a conspiracy theory to set meat wagons on fire.
“
Labs raided, locks glued, products spiked, depots ransacked, windows smashed, construction halted, mink set free, fences torn down, cabs burnt out, offices in flames, car tyres es slashed, cages emptied, phone lines severed, slogans daubed, muck spread, damage done, electrics cut, site flooded, hunt dogs stolen, fur coats slashed, buildings destroyed, foxes freed, kennels attacked, businesses burgled, uproar, anger, outrage, balaclava clad thugs. It’s an ALF thing!
“
Here’s testimony on the FBI website about ALF activity in the United States:
“The ALF, established in Great Britain in the mid-1970s, is a loosely organized extremist movement committed to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals. The American branch of the ALF began its operations in the late 1970s. Individuals become members of the ALF not by filing paperwork or paying dues, but simply by engaging in “direct action” against companies or individuals who, in their view, utilize animals for research or economic gain, or do some manner of business with those companies or individuals. “Direct action” generally occurs in the form of criminal activity designed to cause economic loss or to destroy the victims’ company operations or property. The extremists’ efforts have broadened to include a multi-national campaign of harassment, intimidation and coercion against animal testing companies and any companies or individuals doing business with those targeted companies. (…) The “secondary” or “tertiary” targeting of companies which have business or financial relationships with the target company typically takes the form of fanatical harassment of employees and interference with normal business operations, under the threat of escalating tactics or even violence. The harassment is designed to inflict increasing economic damage until the company is forced to cancel its contracts or business relationship with the original target.
(…)
In recent years, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front have become the most active criminal extremist elements in the United States. Despite the destructive aspects of ALF and ELF’s operations, their stated operational philosophy discourages acts that harm “any animal, human and nonhuman.” In general, the animal rights and environmental extremist movements have adhered to this mandate. Beginning in 2002, however, this operational philosophy has been overshadowed by an escalation in violent rhetoric and tactics, particularly within the animal rights movement. Individuals within the movement have discussed actively targeting food producers, biomedical researchers, and even law enforcement with physical harm. But even more disturbing is the recent employment of improvised explosive devices against consumer product testing companies, accompanied by threats of more, larger bombings and even potential assassinations of researchers, corporate officers and employees.“
In 2005, ALF was named as a terrorist threat in the United States by the Department of Homeland Security in 2005.
This is just a selection of the most extreme action by ALF – there are countless other crimes I haven’t listed, from vandalism to harassment, and numerous raids of fur farms and laboratories.
Terrorism is terrorism, no matter what ideology it purports to elevate.
Property destruction is not violence.
Do you cry when a Starbucks window gets broken at a protest? I suggest you look up something called the Boston Tea Party, you may be shocked.
Direct action is good and valid.
The ALF is explicitly non-violent.
The ALF credo states
clearly –“It is a nonviolent campaign, activists taking all precautions not to harm any animal
(human or otherwise).”As for the cases you listed that aren’t just “but muh capitalist property!!”, they are all easily debunked:
The claims of poison Mars Bars were a hoax–
“the ALF’s intention had been to cause maximum disruption to Mars, and
bars on sale to the public had not been poisoned, although the press
failed to make this clear.”Undoubtedly not a great tactic so far as propaganda goes, but it was materially effective- as a result
Mars was forced to halt production at a cost of $4.5 million.It literally says in the article you linked that it’s an undercover police officer accused of planting the incendiary device. Ever heard of agents provocateurs? And this guy is named specifically as Bob Lampert who has a whole string of misdeeds to his name, most notorious forming long-term relationships with women while undercover, including fathering a child with one of them.
The grave-robbing case is genuine but it was not committed by the ALF. Activists claiming to be part of the Animal Rights Militia- “a banner used by animal rights activists who engage in direct action utilizing a diversity of tactics that ignores the Animal Liberation Front’s policy of taking all necessary precautions to avoid harm to human life”– were responsible.
And if you think FBI testimony on activist movements can be trusted I’m guessing you’ve never heard of COINTELPRO.
ALF is fantastic and ‘pretending to poison candy‘ has got to be the best thing ever to get called ‘terrorism’. Oh those terrible terrorists pretending to poison sweets, the horror. ‘Pretendin to poison candy’ needs to become either a band name or a paragraph title on my future wikipedia biography tbh.
