JILL PHIPPS - A TRIBUTE
Jill Phipps was a British animal rights activist. She lived in Coventry, England. On 1 February 1995, Jill was crushed to death under the wheels of a lorry carrying live baby veal calves into Coventry Airport in Baginton, England, to be flown to Amsterdam for distribution across Europe. 10 of the 33 protesters present had broken through police lines and were trying to bring the lorry to a halt by sitting in the road or chaining themselves to it. Jill was crushed beneath the lorry's wheels and her fatal injuries included a broken spine. Phipps' brother Zab commented:
"Jill was crushed and died on the way to hospital. Our mother, Nancy, was with her. The lorry driver has not been charged, not even with driving without due care and attention."
The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the driver, Stephen Yates. Jill's family believe that the police were to blame for her death, because the police appeared determined to keep the convoy of lorries moving despite the protest.
Veal calf exports from Coventry Airport ended months later, when the aviation firm belonging to the pilot responsible for the veal flights, Christopher Barrett-Jolley, went bankrupt following accusations of running guns from Slovakia to Sudan in breach of EU rules. In 2006 he was charged with smuggling 271 kg of cocaine from Jamaica into Southend airport. The continuing level of protest was such that several local councils and a harbour board banned live exports from their localities. All live exports of calves later stopped due to fears of BSE infection. In 2006 this ban was lifted, but Coventry Airport pledged that it would refuse requests to fly veal calves.
Jill's Film, with footage of Phipps, the Coventry live export campaign, the funeral, and interviews with Phipps' family was produced and shown for the first time at the Jill's Day 2005 event in Coventry. Memorial events are held by grassroots animal rights groups around 1 February each year.
TRIBUTE TO JILL BY JOHN CURTIN
I will never forget Jill. Her beautiful smile is etched into my memory. In this brief article I just wanted to get across an aspect of Jilly where she wasn't smiling - when she was furious, facing aggressive bullies.
The best way I can illustrate this is to recount a little story that she recorded in her diaries. She was out in the Swanswell park when she came across a man throwing stones at the swans. She dived into action and stopped him but he still continued to lurk around the park. She rang the police and the RSPCA - not surprisingly they did nothing. What Jill did next goes to the heart of what I want to convey about her - she went home and got a baseball bat and went back to the park where she carried out a 3 hour vigil. Here she was this slim built dreadlocked punky princess patrolling up and down the pond, alone in the dark, armed with a baseball bat.
Just think of it this way. Swans are beautiful, graceful, serene creatures - to be in their presence is to be blessed with a sense of blissful, tranquility - but.....if someone were to do something that made them feel under threat or, even worse, if they feel their young are threatened then .... watch out! When necessary they have attitude by the bucket load. To an aggressor they certainly do not take a pacifist approach - and neither did Jill. Like all of us who get into animal liberation she despised bullies, of whatever type.
Many huntsman witnessed Jill's fury. Amongst their many vices they are invariably un-believably sexist. When they attack sabs they expect the women to run away screaming. Jill would scream alright and then run towards them!
Jill and, her mum, Nancy were the first two lib loonies I ever met when I went to a public meeting of Coventry Animal Alliance, back in 1983.
I have many fond memories of going to punk gigs with Jill and then smash-ing butchers windows afterwards. She received a suspended sentence for a raid on Unilever laboratories. However when she gave birth to her beloved son Luke she realised that her ALF activities would have to take a back seat a she couldn't risk being taken away from her son - she still stayed active in every other way - doing stalls, sabbing and rescuing animals.
Just prior to the export of calves from Coventry Airport she was happily getting on with her life but Barrett-Jolley's business plans put a stop to all that. The sight, day after day, of those baby calves being driven past her broke her heart but also rekindled the warrior inside her - she fought like never before. She was a vegan, she was a mother, she was angry beyond belief. Just picture a mother swan, in defence of her babies, hissing and
flapping their opened wings.
One day she took a bottle of cows milk out of an office at the airport. A worker saw her and shouted out "you've stolen my milk" to which she replied "it's not your milk, it belongs to the calves".
She spent many cold winter days and freezing nights outside the gates of the airport - and she eventually died fighting for the right to life.
In our subsequent wave of anger we stopped Barrett-Jolley. He moved on elsewhere. A few years ago he was arrested for importing cocaine into Southend Airport and he is now serving a 20 year prison sentence.
It is greed that lead him to his prison cell and greed that killed Jill.
What she wrote in her diaries regarding the hordes of police who escorted Barrett-Jolley's in and out of Coventry airport has been deemed unsuitable for publication!
Jill was a warrior. Jill's Day ends up at the Swanswell park - around 20 swans live there in this tiny little oasis of green. When you look at a swan and become lost in the haze of blissful peace and tranquility that they radiate... remember the warrior that lies beneath the surface.
The Jill Phipps Fund
The Jill Phipps Fund was formed to help finance Jill's Day 2005 but also as an ongoing way of raising money for campaigning and sanctuaries. Any amount of money you can donate would be very much appreciated.
To make a donation please make cheques payable to:
"Jill Phipps Fund"
and post to:
The Jill Phipps Fund, PO Box 3605, Coventry CV1 3WS
More information about Jill can be found by visting her tribute website at:
www.jillphipps.org.uk
In 2008 there was no co-ordinated week of action, but people around the UK and around the World took their own actions and made their own rememberances. Many of Jill's friends have become particularly active in the campaign against greyhound racing and the success of this campaign is dedicated with love to Jill.
You can find out more about this vigourous campaign by visiting www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
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