International Animal Liberation Gathering 2019

Rome, 26th-28th July 2019

An occasion to meet each other, to share analyses and skills and to discuss experiences and strategies in the fight against the oppression of animals and the destruction of their habitats. A fight that for us is part of the wider fight against every form of exploitation, oppression and authority, for total liberation.

This gathering wishes to connect individuals and small groups of like minded people working for animal liberation in a way that is radically different from that undertaken by the majority of animal right groups nowadays. Animal activist groups that lack wider politics, be it for political apathy or for well thought out choices, are becoming increasingly appealing to people with fascist, nationalist, sexist and racist views.

On the other side, in the last years a reformist approach that relies on mass media, on market capitalism and dialogue with the State spread in part of the animal rights movement. We will be talking about the situation in our countries and about how to rebuild a radical movement.

We would like the gathering to have a special focus on strategy and practical proposals in addition to the philosophical and theoretical discussions. We want it to be a place where to share our experiences, to find inspiration and see what is working or not in our territories concerning our efforts to incite once again an animal liberation struggle that is anarchist and intersectional. This gathering is in continuity with the European Animal Liberation Gathering which took place in Bilbao from 1 to 3 June 2018 and the previous ones in Bristol and Marseille [1].

The anarchist struggle for liberation from any form of authority and power is the frame into which we conceive the struggle for animal liberation. Many people would not define themselves as anarchist but are still opposed to hierarchy and domestication, we would love for these people to be part of the gathering.

We want to build a network where we can work collectively to build solidarity bonds and resist repression. The animal liberation struggle is for us strongly interconnected to other struggles for liberation (against patriarchy, homo/transphobia, racism, colonization, environmental destruction and so on) and needs to listen and connect with the people most affected by these oppressions and their struggle to build a inclusive movement that doesn’t reproduce the dominant hierarchies. Other important aspects that we want to talk about are the support for direct action and prisoners support.

We want this gathering to be completely self-organized. We will propose a couple of discussions but we want to leave the space for everybody to propose a debate. We expecially encourage comrades and activists to participate and share their experiences of animal liberation struggles in their territory or their practical skills. If you want to propose a presentation please contact us with a short description of it.

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Notes:

[1] Bilbao 2018: https://animalliberationgathering.wordpress.com/
Bristol 2017: https://bristolliberationgathering.wordpress.com/
Marseille: ratattack@riseup.net

Here’s the schedule of the gathering:

FRIDAY 26th

13.00 Lunch

14.30 – 16.30 Introduction to the gathering
The aim of this gathering, our shared basis, technical issues about the space and its functioning (kitchen, toilets, showers, camping place, workshop spaces etc.), self-organizing of shifts, modes of discussion, other proposals.

17.00 – 18.30 History of the anti-vivisection movement
The presentation is aimed to put into context the struggle against vivisecion, a fight that finds its roots back into the 19th century and that developed in more recent times with a serie of campaigns that in England first, and then in many other countries, have been able to become a concrete threat to the very existence of one of the more profitable sectors of animal exploitation. After over 10 years of fights this specific struggle has been marginalized, partly because of repression that prevented many activists to keep on working on the campaigns they were busy with, partly because of a progressive lack of interest from the animal liberation movement, that started to focus more on practices that were easier to present to the public such as vegan outreach and raising awareness on intensive factory farming. The aim of the presentation is to offer a moment of critical debate on the real possibilities of a relaunch of an effective praxis of struggle against the torture of animals inside laboratories.

17.00 – 18.30 Bodies, sexuality and nature

19.00 Dinner

21.00 – 23.00 How to inscribe the antispeciesist struggle in a revolutionary trajectory and assure its effectiveness?
“In a time when police and judicial repression grows harsher and harsher against antispeciesist activists, it seems important for us, now more than ever, to defend the practice of direct action, to organize ourselves to face repression, to create alliances with other liberation struggles and to support the creation of territories of resistance for the autonomy of the oppressed people. Since 2016, our collective “269 Libération Animal” tries, through a more offensive activism, directly targeting the economic and institutional power, to answer these questions: how to ensure that, in practice, our struggles outline a real, concrete, overcoming of specism? How to think and materialize antispeciesism as a global political project of challenge of the specist dominion, but also of other dominions?”
To continue reading, download the whole text in french or italian

23.00 Music & chill-out

SATURDAY 27th

8.30 Breakfast

9.30 – 12.00 International discussion about the situation of the animal rights movement in the different countries and our efforts to relaunch radical animal liberation struggles
We would like this space of discussion to be a possibility to exchange analyses about the current situation of the animal rights movement in the different countries we come from, and about our efforts, in this context, to relaunch radical animal liberation struggles. We invite individuals and groups who want to partecipate to the gathering to prepare a speech (max. 10-15 mins. each) where to explain the context and conditions in which you’re intervening, the general trend (reformist, libertarian, liberal, reactionary…) of the animal rights movement in your country and, most important, what kind of initiative and projectuality was organized to relaunch an anarchist/libertarian animal liberation struggle – campaigns, events, analysis, strategies… So as to have a basis to encourage the collective reflection and debate about what is working or not to give more strenght to our struggles.

12.30 Lunch

14.00 – 15.30 Introduction to hunt sabotage
An intro to hunt sabotage and strategies to stop hunters from their bloodthirsty fun.

16.00 – 17.30 Repression against animal liberation activists
Info and updates about the recent wave of arrests and trials against antispeciesist activists in France and Switzerland and how to support them

16.00 – 17.30 How to pick locks
“Have you ever forgotten your keys and realised that if you knew how to pick a lock you could use your pick sett to let yourself in? Look no further. Learn how a lock works and how to exploit it. For sporting purposes only. Of course.”

18.00 – 19.30 Security culture for the conscious activist
With the growth in vegan activism in the recent years, a considerably higher number of underground actions has been noticed, not only within the underground scene, but also by ‘law enforcement’. We will attempt to discuss tactics, good praxis and advice for anyone (yes, even overground activists!) to avoid being targeted by the filth, to not make things easily accessible to information gatherers and to not fall for state paranoia.

18.00 – 19.30 Animal Liberation and Climate Justice: mass actions against animal industry
Gaining momentum for mass actions against animal industry: bringing together the animal liberation movement and the climate justice movement. Report from Germany, where Animal Climate Action organizes an action conference to start a radical, anticapitalist alliance for mass mobilizations to hit animal industry directly and sensitively.

20.00 Dinner

22.00 Music & chill-out

SUNDAY 28th

8.30 Breakfast

9.30 Demo against a place of animal exploitation

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Conclusions & cleaning-up

PRACTICAL INFO

Event location

The name and address of the place that will host the gathering will be announced a couple of weeks before the event.

A phone number to call for information will also be made available.

It is possible to sleep on the premises if you have no other accommodations, bring your tent and sleeping bag. Camping showers are available at the campsite. If this is not possible for some reasons, contact us and we will try to find accommodation for you inside (but please be mindful that only a few places are available). There will also be a dormitory for women / trans people / queer people who want to sleep in a separate space. The place ensures hospitality for those who participate in the meeting from the night of 25th July to the morning of 29th, if you intend to stay longer in Rome you will have to organize yourself with other solutions.

The place is accessible to people with disabilities.

At the entrance and for the entire duration of the meeting there will be an info-point with information on the place, maps of the place and the cityand the number of a local lawyer.

For security reasons the venue that hosts the meeting will be closed during the night after a certain hour of the evening. If you plan to arrive or leave during the night, you must agree in advance with the person who has the keys to the place.

If you come by car, you can park for free outside the place.

Entrance and Admission

Admission to the meeting is free, but a free offer for food will be requested. . Only wine, beer and fruit juices will be at a fixed price. The money collected will be used to cover the expenses of the organization and, if there’s a remaing sum available, for prisoners support activities.

The animal companions are welcome, but be careful because inside the place that hosts us there are cats and chickens.

Distributions, Info stalls, Translations

Tables and info stalls dedicated to the support of prisoners will be available (info, letters, donations), distros and flyers. Feel free to bring your own distribution, but please let us know in advance so we can check for available spaces.

We will have the equipment available with radio and headphones for simultaneous translations. It is expected that most presentations will be in English, with translation into Italian and possibly into other languages. But we will decide from time to time, depending on the needs of the people present, how to organize the translations. We need more people available to translate! If you can help us with this, contact us.

Food and Kitchen

The kitchen will be self-managed, except for Friday evening when the dinner will be organized by the people of the place hosting the meeting. There will be a poster where to sign in for the kitchen shifts, as well as for cleaning, infopoint, food recovery and other tasks. The collaboration of everyone is crucial for the success of the meeting!

All the food will obviously be vegan, if you have any particular allergies please let us know in advance.

If you want to contribute with food donations, contact us. We need: coffee, tea and herbal tea, dried fruit, tahina, extra virgin olive oil, muesli, capers, olives, drinks, anti-mosquito lotions and everything that comes to mind!

A serigraphy will be available on-site, we have animal-themed frames, if you want you can bring plain-colored shirts or pieces of fabric to print sweaters and patches!