Terrorists Or Freedom Fighters?

I'd like to meet:

REVIEWS:

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"A solid edited volume on the philosophy and tactics of the ALF and the nature of violence in animal liberation, this book pulls together a diverse pool of contributions from the academy, activists and others. We’d recommend this book for the foreword and introduction alone, both of which rock."

- Vegan Freak

"A collection of essays on the history and impact of Direct Action in the Animal Rights movement. Focusing primarily on the antics of the Animal Liberation Front/Earth Liberation Front, plenty of well-known warriors give their tuppence worth—native American scholar Ward Churchill, whale ship-scuttler Rod Coronado, PETA-founder Ingrid Newkirk and so on. Over the course of the book, many of the same points are repeated rather tediously, and sometimes comes across as over earnest in places, but these points make it a good introduction for those new to the theory/practise of DA. It's American-based, with a section devoted to the implications of the US Patriot Act, and could have done with some photographs, but this is a nice little opener for those who doubt the necessity of Direct Action."

- SchNEWS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
Ward Churchill

Introducing the Animal Liberation Front

Animal Liberation Front Guidelines

Introduction: Behind the Mask: Uncovering the Animal Liberation Front Steven Best, PhD, and Anthony J. Nocella II

History

Thirty Years of Direct Action
Noel Molland

Animal Liberation—By “Whatever Means Necessary”
Robin Webb

A Personal Overview of Direct Action in the United Kingdom and the United States
Kim Stallwood Liberation

Legitimizing Liberation
Mark Bernstein, PhD

At the Gates of Hell: The ALF and the Legacy of Holocaust Resistance
Maxwell Schnurer, PhD

Abolition, Liberation, Freedom: Coming to a Fur Farm Near You
Gary Yourofsky

Mothers with Monkeywrenches: Feminist Imperatives and the ALF pattrice jones

Motivation

Aquinas’s Account of Anger Applied to the ALF
Judith Barad, PhD

Direct Actions Speak Louder than Words
Rod Coronado

Touch the Earth
Lawrence Sampson

Take No Prisoners
Western Wildlife Unit

Perception

Understanding the ALF: From Critical Analysis to Critical Pedagogy
Anthony J. Nocella, II

Open Rescues: Putting a Face on Liberation
Karen Davis, PhD

From the Front Lines to the Front Page: An Analysis of ALF Media Coverage
Karen Dawn

Tactics

How to Justify Violence
Tom Regan, PhD

Direct Action: Progress, Peril, or Both?
Freeman Wicklund

Defending Agitation and the ALF
Bruce Friedrich

Bricks and Bullhorns
Kevin Jonas

Revolutionary Process and the ALF
Nicole Atwood

Terror

ALF and ELF: Terrorism Is as Terrorism Does
Paul Watson

The Rhetorical “Terrorist”: Implications of the USA Patriot Act for Animal Liberation
Jason Black and Jennifer Black

It’s War! The Escalating Battle Between Activists and the Corporate-State Complex
Steven Best, PhD

Afterword: The ALF: Who, Why, and What?
Ingrid Newkirk

Appendices

My Experience with Government Harassment
Rod Coronado

Letters From the Underground: Parts I and II
Anonymous

Defining Terrorism
Steven Best, PhD, and Anthony J. Nocella II

Resources

About the Authors

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT TERRORISTS OR FREEDOM FIGHTERS?:

An important book about the greatest revolution of all time, and a crucial contribution to animal rights literature and current social debates.
- Jim Mason - Author of An Unnatural Order

This groundbreaking collection of essays addresses one of the most important issues of our times: the role of the ALF in the animal liberation movement. By examining the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of the ALF, and by demonstrating that a strong defense can be mounted on behalf of ALF actions and principles, Best and Nocella's volume promises to breathe new life into the debates concerning militant animal activism. This book will be an invaluable resource for teachers, students, and activists interested in animal liberation.
- Matthew Calarco - Sweet Briar College

A serious and essential book on animal liberation theory and practice, a revolutionary bellwether for the Patriot Act political climate of our times and a multiperspectival social critique and defense of animal lives, this book should find a place in university classrooms, activist bookshelves, and Homeland Security offices everywhere. The greatest aspect of this great collection may be its success in generating a foundation for greater understanding and dialogue between those in higher education, in policy organizations and government, and in grassroots groups like the ALF.
- Richard Kahn - Ecopedagogy Chair of the UCLA Paulo Freire Institute, and founder of GetVegan.com

An outstanding collection of writings and an excellent antidote for the corporate welfare state's corruptness and propaganda.
- Chris Hannah - Propagandhi, co-founder of G7 Records

Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? exposes readers to compelling ideas that will undoubtedly make them think, and make them question. It is a valuable contribution to the most critical of public discourse.
- Bob Linden - GoVeganRadio.com

Too often, scholarly works about social movements seem to have little to do with the movement, while activist works often have little substance. Not this book, which combines both viewpoints. Here, readers have access to the logic and philosophy of animal liberation as well as its practice and reflections on our current social era. Best and Nocella have filled a huge void. Bravo!
- Rik Scarce- Author of Eco-Warriors: Understanding the Radical Environmental Movement

One of the most powerful and thought-provoking books I have ever read. Please read it and ACT NOW!!!
- John Feldmann - Goldfinger

An unapologetic, impassioned, articulate and above all, rational defense of the militant tactics and philosophy of those on the front lines to save the earth and all its creatures. This authoritative work ought to be mandatory reading for everyone concerned with the future of creative dissent, radical change, and putting ethics into action.
- Ramsey Kanaan - AK Press

In a century, will people look back on the era of routine human exploitation of non-human animals as we now look at slavery? Moral progress on this front likely will come because of efforts like Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?. This timely collection will help anyone interested in challenging the conventional approach to animals and thinking more generally about the state of our society.
- Robert Jensen - Associate Professor, School of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin

At a time when the most ruthless administration in US history wages war against innocent life‹both human and nonhuman) on behalf of private property and capital accumulation, the struggle against oppression has never been more urgent. Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? hits a powerful philosophical nerve with all those crying out for justice in these desperate and troubled times. In a world driven by profit margins, utilitarianism, speciesism, and in this generalized climate of political swindle, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? speaks truth to power. While today¹s new warriors of Liberation struggling for the liberation of all species through nonviolent noncooperation, civil disobedience, and direct action forms of militant interventionism, are being denounced by the U.S. government as domestic terrorists, the Animal Liberation Front continues to gather worldwide support through on ongoing and principled critique of the exploitation and butchery of animals, as well as the development of a defensible ethics that transcends that it its opponents. This book addresses the politics and the praxis of ecotage within the context of protecting nonhuman animals against all forms of exploitation and violence. It is a work destined to shape the politics of a new generation of militant activists."
- Peter McLaren - Professor, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution

Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? is a great overview of some of the animal movement's best thinkers on the role clandestine and open rescues play in the struggle for animal liberation. A great read for anyone interested in animal advocacy, no matter which side of the debate they fall on.
- Paul Shapiro - Campaigns Director, Compassion Over Killing

The Animal Liberation Front is a legitimate and necessary revolutionary force that deserves academic recognition and study alongside the Underground Railroad, the African National Congress, the Wobblies, and the Suffragetes. Just as animal advocates have long-since acted as the voice for those muted non-human victims of exploitation and slaughter, this collection of essays similarly speaks, with as much passion and reason, for the masked avengers of animal abuse , the ALF.
- Kevin Jonas - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA

"For 20 years, the Animal Liberation Front made headlines and controversy across the country. Now, for the first time the full range of thinking underlying ALF's often daring actions is set forth, both philosophically and practically, and in the clearest possible terms. For those with an even passing interest in the animal rights movement, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? is an exceedingly important book. Its editors are to be commended for assembling it.
- Ward Churchill - author of A Little Matter Of Genocide

For too long, the significance of animal liberation as a movement for Social justice has been disregarded. This book is an excellent resource that will help to clarify animal liberation in relation to other movements for emancipation. It raises important questions about the status of animals in our societies and about resistance in general. It is particularly important at a time when "the war on terror" is being used indiscriminantly as a cover to marginalize dissent. I will be urging my students and my colleagues to read this book and to take its message seriously.
- John Sorenson - professor in the Department of Sociology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario

Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? provides much-needed arguments to counter the prominent, but naïve, “with us or against us” attitudes in today’s America. Through historical description, philosophical analysis, and direct communiqués from animal liberation activists, this book smashes any simplistic understanding of the ALF and other animal liberation groups. Because of this breadth of topics, Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? gives a fuller understanding of the rationale behind animal liberation than a collection of any one of these alone. This book should be of interest to teachers and students of both animal ethics and activist social movements, as well as anyone who wants to better understand a movement badly misunderstood by most who are outside of it.
- Stephen Hanson - Assistant Professor of Philosophy McNeese State University

Finally, a serious look at the latest liberation movement from both a historical, philosophical and activist perspective. Regardless of what one thinks about the tactics of the Animal Liberation Front, this long overdue book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of the movement for animal liberation.
- Michael Greger, MD - Chief BSE Investigator for Farm Sanctuary, Mad Cow Coordinator for the Organic Consumers Association