This has been a grassroots effort. Please considering making a donation to support!
The corporate-led crackdown on the animal rights and environmental movements originated, and has grown most rapidly, in the United States. But many of these tactics have been exported to other countries, in some cases aided by U.S. law enforcement. As the U.S. grapples with “Ag Gag” legislation, for example, EUROPOL describes animal right activists and environmentalists as “terrorists,†and warns that their tactics include undercover investigations and “images of sick and abused animals.â€
Copycat prosecutions have appeared in Austria, Finland, Spain, and elsewhere.
This is a troubling trend, and activists in many other countries are closely watching the United States’ war on “eco-terrorism.”Â
Last year I lectured at a conference in Germany focused on working together across social movements and across borders to fight back. I had some wonderful conversations with people about the need for activists to recognize, and prepare for, a U.S.-style backlash against animal rights and environmental activism.
To this end, I am very excited to announce that I’ll be going on a speaking tour through Germany, Switzerland, and Austria next month.
The tour includes:
June 3, 2012 — Hamburg, Germany
June 4, 2012 — Bremen, Germany
June 5, 2012 — Dortmund, Germany
June 6, 2012 — Düsseldorf, Germany
June 8, 2012 — Freiburg, Germany
June 9, 2012 – Tübingen, Germany
June 10, 2012 — Zurich, Switzerland
June 11, 2012 — Vienna, Austria
June 12, 2012 — Innsbruck, Austria
June 14, 2012 — Berlin, Germany
(I’m exhausted just looking at that!)
This has been a completely DIY effort, organized by incredible friends with Assoziation Dämmerung (click through to read their mission statement about connecting social movements).
The sponsoring organizations in each city will be helping out with travel costs once I’m overseas, but by far the most substantial cost has been airfare from the U.S. If you’ve thought about buying a book, poster, or making a donation, now would be a wonderful time to do it — it would help cover these costs.