Comments on: Humane Society Donates Money to “Eco-Terrorism” Witch Hunt, But Not Enough to Protect It From the Green Scare

By: lantz.

lantz. — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:46:48 +0000

Thanks for another excellent article, Will. Superbly written and thought provoking, as always. It's almost bizarre just how far this thing has gone. The degree to which history is repeating itself almost makes me feel as if I'm in a television show, Truman Show style, and everyone is laughing as I walk around uber-confused. I'm not laughing.

HSUS made a bad move. But we must understand: corporations are corporations; they do things that make them look good, that will make them popular with a broader range of people, and will just keep law 'enforcement' off their backs. It always boggles my mind when people are so surprised that an animal rights corporation does something that seemingly contradicts their mere existence.

As an anarchist, I don't believe any of these big businesses are our savior. A politician is just as worthless as the one that came before, a CEO just as corrupt as her peers. You're correct in saying that this is a culture war, but let's not forget about the class war, too. There are plenty of vegan capitalists running around, and to that end, they will always support the government in hopes of securing their comfy position. No capitalist with a lot of money wants to think about potentially NOT having a lot of money. By the way, does anyone know what Ingrid Newkirk's salary actually is?

My point is this: forget about PETA. Forget about HSUS. Support them as much as you personally believe is possible, for you, but don't stop supporting smaller, grassroots organizations. Don't stop supporting collectives, and worker-owned businesses. Don't stop doing everything you possibly can to end oppression and injustice, whatever that may mean to you.

Don't stop fighting. This nightmare is not sustainable. It will end, but not without a bitter struggle. Remember that all movements are connected and try to have some solidarity with all fellow activists. The power belongs to the people!

- lantz.

By: The SHAC Model: A Critical Assessment « People’s Informative

The SHAC Model: A Critical Assessment « People’s Informative — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:58:06 +0000

[...] HSUS have gone so far as to laud the FBI for cracking down on animal liberation efforts. In 2008, HSUS ostentatiously offered a $2500 reward to anyone providing information leading to the conviction of persons involved with an arson alleged [...]

By: easyVegan.info » Blog Archive » easyVegan Link Sanctuary, 2008-08-11

easyVegan.info » Blog Archive » easyVegan Link Sanctuary, 2008-08-11 — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 23:15:45 +0000

[...] Green is the New Red: Humane Society Donates Money to “Eco-Terrorism” Witch Hunt, But Not Enough… The Humane Society of the United States has offered $2,500 to the “eco-terrorism” witch hunt in California. [...]

By: Will Potter

Will Potter — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:38:59 +0000

Thanks Tracy! I’ll have something up later in the week.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:13:05 +0000

Pacelle defends the reward money:
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/09/nonviolence.html

My blog post about his post:
http://diggingthroughthedirt.blogspot.com/2008/09/hsus-defends-reward-in-firebombings.html

Pacelle shares readers’ comments about his post. Of course, not mine or any others that disagree with what the HSUS did:
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/09/nonviolence2.html?cid=129710342#comments

By: chris

chris — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:02:07 +0000

I understand the need for a legal organization to distance themselves from illegal activities as to not be lumped together, but donating funds to the “eco-terrorist hunt” is ridiculous.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:25:18 +0000

asdas: We don’t even know for sure that it WAS AR activists but, to me, that makes what HSUS did even worse because they assumed it was and were so quick to speak out against them in order to protect themselves. That is even more despicable (again, IMO) than speaking out when they KNOW it is AR activists.

By: asdas

asdas — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 15:42:26 +0000

You guys are trying to be outraged at the idea that the media would assume AR activists did this, but at the same time a few of you (GW, Kathy, Harry) are saying that it would be OK if they had. Can you blame people for assuming that it was probably AR activists? “False flag operations” are exceedingly rare in real life.

By: xveganx

xveganx — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:52:00 +0000

what really sucks about this arson is that the media, of course, call up Jerry Vlasak and get some choice quotes about how the vivisectors should be scared, etc… etc…
WHY IS A PERSON WHO OPENLY SUPPORTS VIOLENCE AGAINST LIVING CREATURES ALLOWED TO BE A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE DIRECT ACTION ANIMAL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, MOSTLY CONSISTING OF THE A.L.F., WHICH HAS CONSISTENTLY FOLLOWED GUIDELINES OF NOT HARMING ANY LIVING CREATURE?
FUCK JERRY VLASAK. SOMEONE MAKE HIM SHUT UP. HE IS AN IDIOT.
Fuck the FBI and UC for using this arson to scare up support for a bill protecting vivisectors from public scrutiny. And double fuck them if they had something to do with this arson!
It is highly doubtful to me that AR people had anything to do with this. How many times have you heard of teenagers running around late at night setting things on fire randomly? It happens all the time. But if AR people DID have something to do with this, they obviously made horrible mistakes, and should compensate the family in some way (perhaps anonymous re-payments, since I wouldn’t like to see a witch-hunt style trial that sent the idiot arsonists to jail for absurd sentences for the PR value of the FBI), and they should NEVER ENGAGE IN DIRECT ACTION AGAIN! They obviously don’t have the mental capacity to handle it. BUt again, I find it highly doubtful that AR people were responsible.

PS- Will, this website is totally awesome and I really respect and apprieciate all the hard work that must go into it.

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:31:05 +0000

Meant to write “work,” not “rowk.” Wow.