Thousands of them share their support every day on Facebook and Tumblr. The supporters are legion in their black t-shirts – tapping away at laptops, surfing crowds at shows, bussing tables at the local vegan eatery, distributing zines. It has far, far too many, and the madness has to stop somewhere. The Animal Liberation Front is in desperate need of fewer supporters. Instead, I read it as a call for a redirection of “support” – specifically, less cultivation of the image of militancy for social gain, and more actual action.ĭO NOT SUPPORT THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT I did not take that from this article at all. Unfortunately many will misread this critique of “support” as including support of ALF prisoners. The ALF doesn’t need “support” – it needs participation. The message of this article is long overdue: There is no such thing as “supporting the ALF”. This takes many forms, from ALF t-shirt-wearing by those who have never lifted a finger to help animals to “militant” blogs written by those who leave their computers only to go to restaurants or anarchist meetings. Specifically, a subculture of keyboard gangsters who build a social identity around ‘supporting’ the ALF – motivated only by the image it builds and the social benefits of appearing “radical”. This article calls out a particular type of person: those who exploit the risk and sacrifices of the ALF (and others) to increase their social status.
However there is a tenor to this article that is hard to fake.
There is no way to verify the authenticity of the author as being a “liberator” or ever having carried out an Animal Liberation Front action. This week I received an anonymous article, which I am posting below. Message to ALF supporters from “an anonymous liberator”.