veganarky

Adding to the very specific and targeted media campaign to detail new laws, weapons and technologies to be used by police, as agents of the state, at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Sydney, recent news coverage included details about how 200 people who are under periodic detention order will be given that weekend off – as in they can stay home [link]. The way this is being framed is that it will make facilities available (i.e. gaol cells) for the ‘mass arrest’ of ‘up to 500’ critical of the summit and its economic-rationalist agenda. The major aim of this detai…

For some time now, and dramatically on the increase, calls for ‘a diversity of tactics’ have been made by many within progressive activist circles. It is of significant importance for a number of reasons. These most notable reasons, for me, are twofold. The first relates to where its use emerged from/who is adopting its use and promotion, and the implications of its use and how it is used. The first is easier to note, and the second has significant implications as defined by Antonio Gramci’s deconstruction of ‘common sense’. As such, I will look at them in the order introduced. A diversity of …

I have been working through Peter Gelderloos’ How nonviolence protects the state for the last few weeks. During that time I have had the opportunity to discuss many of the challenges he puts forward as well as some underlying assumptions and non-stated premises. Whilst I think significant amounts of what he has produced provide valuable points for discussion, I also have a number of issues with it. As my comments and reflections on this will be substantial, this will be my first installment, in engaging with this work. My aim here is not to summarise the arguments he has put forward – you can …

I presented a paper at a conference at Brock University in March – “Thinking About Animals: Domination, Captivity, Liberation”. Whilst my paper was directed at animal activists, it had a broader undercurrent. Much of what I was raising I have seen widespread in activist circles. My paper was titled Animal Liberation: symbolic action, un/civil disobedience & the use of fear. In this paper I was commenting on tactics adopted actions across the board – as I think the title indicates. The immediate context of this was the publishing if Lee Hall’s Capers in the Churchyard – animal rights advoca…