If you care for animals and people who love them, please read this
haunting but crucially important story of SHAC.
~ Jilly Cooper, author
Harris reveals the history of an extraordinary animal rights campaign
that I was proud to be associated with. It is detailed, heartfelt, and it's
an important account of a movement that inspired thousands of people to wake
up and shout about the cruelty that was happening in the heart of England
... SHAC may no longer be, but that militant spirit, that willingness to
challenge, and the idea of people getting together because they care about
all animals, is an amazing legacy. This is the book about SHAC. This is the
book about US.
~ Benjamin Zephaniah, poet and activist
Your Neighbour Kills Puppies explores how one remarkable animal
liberation campaign adapted to this repression at every turn. However,
victory for SHAC would create a blueprint for pressure campaigns capable of
tearing down any injustice. In the sacrifices of SHAC, contemporary social
justice campaigns should find both inspiration and warnings for the future.
~ Dale Vince OBE, Founder Ecotricity
Your Neighbour Kills Puppies tells the story that inspired a
generation of activists to take a stand against violence and oppression. We
can all learn something from SHAC and this book is a great place to start
that journey. Palestine Action Network wouldn't be doing what we do now
without them. Buy it, read it, then be inspired to get out and take action!
~ Richard Barnard, Co-Founder Palestine Action Network
A chilling, honest and true story of individuals who came together to
stop an atrocity that every decent person should fight to end. Good people
doing good work lost everything, almost overnight, when the government sent
armed storm troopers in to break down doors, break limbs, and close down a
campaign born out of compassion and a sense of fair play. A book to open
eyes, hearts, and minds, and a riveting tale of real life daring-do.
~ Ingrid Newkirk, Founder PETA
Your Neighbour Kills Puppies is an excellently written account
of one of the most well-planned and hard-hitting campaigns ever waged
against animal experimentation, and of the vicious lengths that governments
will go to in order to protect the vivisection industry.
~ Ronnie Lee, Co-Founder Animal Liberation Front
This is a story of compassion and courage that was crushed by the State.
Animal abusers and their profits were protected at great public expense,
while those who opposed animal cruelty were treated as the enemy within.
It's a powerful testament to the inspirational campaigns of passionate
people who stood for justice and a world without suffering.
~ Peter Tatchell, campaigner for human and animal liberation
The SHAC campaign rocked the world of animal liberation and inspired a
new generation of direct action against state-corporate crimes beyond animal
rights. The state's response to SHAC detailed in this book reveals how when
it comes to protection of powerful corporate interests there is no
separation of powers but a fusion of executive, legislative and
prosecutional institutions into a unified repressive machine that will seek
to crush those who dare take a stand for the liberation of living beings
from industrial massacres. Without SHAC's example there would have been no
Smash EDO campaign.
~ Ceri Gibbons, Smash EDO
The SHAC Movement offers vital strategic lessons for those building mass
nonviolent civil resistance today. The courage and sacrifice these
campaigners showed will inspire you to step up, take action and change the
world. This history is a must read.
~ Dan Kidby, Co-Founder Animal Rebellion
Thank fuck there are some people out there prepared to take the knocks to
defend what is right. SHAC were beaten and abused and felt the ugly might of
the state. With the rise of veganism and increasing awareness of animal
rights it cant be long before they will be proven right in their defense of
the defenseless. In an increasingly insane world the only constants are
morality, and defending the rights of animals at all costs is part of that.
~ John Robb, journalist, musician and TV pundit
Activists are just people like you and I who have been stirred to take
action against the abhorrent behaviour of private enterprise or federal
government. Mostly those actions are meant to bring hidden truths to the
surface for all to see. Those actions make us aware of despotism, slavery,
murder, abuse, and needless cruelty - usually for the sake of monetary gain.
This is the story of SHAC; a group of people stirred to action by what they
witnessed and inspired to make us all aware of it.
~ David Life, Co-Founder Jivamukti Yoga
As an undercover police officer … I was asked to infiltrate a group of
people whose goal was to rescue beagles from experimentation, or to fight
similar abuses. It was explained to me that this was to protect the economy
and secure future investment from companies that rely on animal cruelty. I
refused this request but many other undercover officers became embedded in
such protest movements. As Harris exposes in Your Neighbour Kills Puppies,
when big business directs our policing and our wider legal system, it should
terrify us all.
~ Neil Woods, former Detective Sergeant and spycop
This is the story of SHAC from the non-state side. Essential reading for
any activists. Only time will tell the level of infiltration of this group
by the state and corporate spies.
~ Lydia Dagostino, Kelly's solicitors and coordinator of non-state lawyers
in the Undercover Policing Inquiry
This history of SHAC shows how police action against subversion and
domestic extremism widened to encompass crimes against corporate profits,
even if those profits are made at the expense of animal welfare or the
environment. Non-violent protest has a proud tradition of success in this
country which we should all cherish.'
~ Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb, House of Lords
The raw punk rock spirit of the SHAC campaign leaps from the pages of
Your Neighbour Kills Puppies. With 500 animals tortured to death each day
inside the walls of Huntingdon Life Sciences, their urgency and
determination is palpable. As Harris reveals in this remarkable story, when
that DIY ethos plays out on a grand scale, it has the power to shake
governments and change the world. This book is a must-read for all
contemporary activists. None of us are powerless, and until every cage is
emptied, all of us are needed.
~ Moby, musician
Tom Harris has spent two decades in the animal liberation movement and is
a former coordinator of SHAC. He received a five-year prison sentence during
the attempted 'elimination' of the anti-vivisection movement and is a named
victim in the Miscarriages of Justice category of the Government's
Undercover Policing Inquiry.
Chris Packham is a television presenter, writer, photographer,
conservationist, animal rights campaigner and filmmaker. As a broadcaster he
is a presenter of BBC’s BAFTA Award winning Springwatch,
Autumnwatch and Winterwatch series. He also presents notable
natural history series such as Nature's Weirdest Events, Inside
the Animal Mind and Secrets of our Living Planet.
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