Quotes Concerning Direct Action

Alright, here we go; the disclaimer. I tire of writing these. The statements here are about direct action. Because there is debate about direct action, legal and illegal, violent and non-violent, I have included quotes pertaining to a little of both. If there are more quotes from one view as opposed to another I apologize, but I am somewhat limited by what I happen to run across while perusing the internet.

Anyway, know that it is not my intent for you, or anyone you know, including that weird guy down the street, to do anything listed here. (repeat 4 times)

(13 Quotations)

• David Barbarash - "We’re very dangerous philosophically. Part of the danger is that we don’t buy into the illusion that property is worth more than life. We bring that insane priority into the light, which is something the system cannot survive." - (former ALF spokesperson)

• Dr. Steven Best (Chair: Philosophy, Univ. of Texas, El Paso) - "Some see property destruction as violence; I see it personally as a totally unwarranted extension of the term violence. Violence should only be defined as harming living sentient beings not things and not objects. We have other words for that such as property destruction, such as vandalism, call it what you like, but it’s not violence. Only in a twisted capitalist logic could one equate smashing a door and crushing a skull. . . Because only in capitalism are physical objects elevated to the status of living subjects protected by property rights, and living subjects like animals reduced to the status of things. [25]"

• Dr. Steven Best (Chair: Philosophy, Univ. of Texas, El Paso) - "And one could say that if you cause someone harm psychologically . . . in the minds of the exploiters then that is violence. That is psychological violence. Home demos and those types of demonstrations will always cause psychological trauma to their targets. If that’s what it takes to shut down HLS let’s have more of it. Excuse me if I shed no tears. Excuse me if I am not concerned for bourgeoisie anxiety over the lives of living beings. [25]"

• Kevin Jonas - "We're a new breed of activism. We're not your parents' Humane Society. We're not Friends of Animals. We're not Earthsave. We're not Greenpeace. We come with a new philosophy. We hold the radical line. We will not compromise! We will not apologize, and we will not relent! ... Vivisection is not an abstract concept. It's a deed, done by individuals, who have weaknesses, who have breaking points, and who have home addresses (referring to home demos)."

• Martin Luther King Jr. - "In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law ... That would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law."

• Ronnie Lee - "It seems to me perfectly natural and a very moral thing for people to intervene directly to save animals from persecution. Of course, this would often mean breaking the law, but those laws have been made by a selfish and arrogant human species without taking the interests of animals into consideration."

• Justice Potter Stewart - "The right to defy an unconstitutional statute is basic in our scheme. Even when an ordinance requires a permit to make a speech, to deliver a sermon, to picket, to parade, or to assemble, it need not be honored when it's invalid on its face."

• Paul Watson (Founder: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) - "There are three basic laws of ecology, the first is the law of interdependence, the law of finite resources, but the one I want to focus on is the law of diversity; that the strength of an ecosystem lies in the diversity of species within it. Now this can be applied to the movement, that the strength of a movement lies in the diversity of approaches, diversity of ideas. So there’s a lot of time that’s spent with people disagreeing with each other on tactics, when in fact we should all just agree to disagree and utilize whatever tactics we’re best skilled at and most experienced at utilizing. [26]"

• Paul Watson (Founder: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society) - After fielding a question of how to respond to those that disagree with direct action strategies Paul had this to say, "After Rod (Coronado) and David (Howitt) sank those whaling vessels in Iceland . . . I had a (former) Greenpeace colleague come up to me he says, “You know I just wanted to let you guys know what you did in Iceland was despicable, reprehensible, criminal and unforgivable.” And I said so. And I said why do think we care what you think, who the hell are you. We didn’t sink those ships for you, didn’t sink ‘em for you or any of the other six billion primates on this planet who are whining about it. We sank them for the whales. Find me one whale that disagreed with that tactic and we’ll reconsider. . . . You know when your liberating chickens it doesn’t matter what the people who eat the fetuses think. It matters what the chickens think. The chickens want to be liberated. And the only people who are against the chickens being liberated are the people who want to eat them. There’s no argument there you don’t work for people. It’s as simple as that. [26]"

• Daniel Webster - "The inherent right in the people to reform their government, I do not deny; and they have another right, and that is to resist unconstitutional laws without overturning the government."

• Freeman Wicklund - "We, as the forward-thinking people of today, should recognize the fact that there is nothing wrong with breaking unjust laws in the pursuit of justice. Damaging property saves animals."

• Elie Wiesel - "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."

• Screaming Wolf - "You might feel alone in your commitment to liberation. You are not. Realistically, we must expect that most people will resist the messages in this book. . . There’s no getting around that fact. But there will be others like ourselves who will recognize these truths, and who will join our cause. Our numbers will always be few compared to the abusers and cowards. Our small numbers make each of us even more valuable and special. But our numbers will grow, as our efforts reinforce and validate others who feel the way we do. And many thousands of people feel as we do."