Who is being targeted? and Why?

If you've been reading the UK press recently, you cannot fail to have noticed the coverage of the longterm campaign by animal activists 'SHAC' - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty against animal researchers Huntingdon Life Sciences.

Huntingdon Life Sciences are a research institute that carry out animal experiments on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. Without these experiments, new products including food, healthcare, household/garden products and drugs cannot legally be introduced into the market.

However, the vivisection of animals for this type of research is an extremely sensitive issue and as with all industries carrying out necessary but 'dirty' work (such as waste disposal and nuclear power) there is huge ethical opposition. The opposition against HLS is extremely well organised and supported and has resulted in a relentless campaign to shut down all HLS activities by direct action group SHAC - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. In the words of one SHAC activist "for every 500 animals that HLS brutally murder every day there are 500 strategies that activists will employ to destroy their vile business".

More important than the cause that SHAC represents, is the enormous detrimental effect that such well organised direct action can have on a business and any other organisations or individuals involved or linked to that business.

The SHAC campaign began approximately 3 years ago with written protests to HLS requesting them to stop animal cruelty combined with protests outside the building. The campaign has gradually intensified and SHAC now practise a policy of zero tolerance which involves thousands of protesters demonstrating outside HLS gates, phone calls to staff, flyposting, targeting directors at home via post, home visits and even physical attacks.

Harrassment

About 12 months ago, campaigners began the harassment of any organisation or individual connected with HLS. This includes HLS investors (banks, financial institutions), individual shareholders and HLS customers - Pharmaceutical companies, food groups, supermarkets etc. Names, addresses and telephone numbers of such organisations and individuals have been published on the internet and SHAC supporters have been encouraged to take as much direct action as is necessary to force shareholders to sell their investment in HLS.

This continuous campaign of direct action has been so successful that a large number of HLS shareholders and customers have been forced to drop their support of the company. During 2000 SHAC carried out a 'summer of protest' outside shareholders homes. Out of 1700 shareholders, hundreds sold their investments after letters from SHAC describing HLS cruelty to animals and threats of more home protests.

Demonstrations and Bomb Threats

Customer demonstrations at organisations such as Novartis, British Biotech, Dupont and GlaxoSmithKline have included leafleting in customer car parks and business centres as well as passing traffic. Such protests caused Novartis to send staff home from work as the demonstrations were proving to be bad for business.

Investors, Barclays Bank have severed links with HLS for fear of attacks from protestors and did not want to put staff at risk from reprisals whilst fund manager Philips and Drew withdrew after receiving hate mail threats and hoax bomb threats that caused the evacuation of their building. TD Waterhouse in Manchester had their office targeted 3 times and financers HSBC, Credit Suisse, Citibank and Merrill Lynch have all withdrawn support after being targeted by SHAC. Merrill Lynch had to cordon off an office after the delivery of a suspect package was hand delivered to their Moorgate office.

SHAC has denied all involvement in bomb hoaxes which are believed to be the work of the Animal Liberation Front. Commenting on the bomb threats, a spokesman for SHAC said "we condemn terrorism but a bomb hoax is not terrorism".

For HLS, this continued harrassment has resulted in low worker motivation, shattered customer confidence and crisis level share prices. Over 3 years every HLS site has been infiltrated and they no longer own two thirds of their laboratories.

During February 2001, 1500 UK activists lay siege to several of HLS's biggest clients causing severe disruption. In the US activists have flooded the phone lines and e-mail systems at the offices of Stephens Inc, HLS's largest shareholder and financier that saved HLS from financial collapse after the withdrawal of funds from other backers. The campaign has been stepped up since February to include daily demonstrations and publicity stunts. SHACs own statement on their website was "we will be a public relations nightmare" (until funding is withdrawn).

Legislation

The government itself has reacted with a promise to consider legislation to prevent the "preposterous" behaviour of activists. Recent anti-terrorist legislation was meant to include provisions to curb the activities of animal rights extremists who use violence to pursue their cause. Jack Straw has now said that these provisions will include the activities of those activists who stopped short of actual violence but who, nevertheless, made the lives of scientists intolerable. (for more information on the UK Terrorism Act 2000 please visit the home office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism/index.htm)

The Future

As of March 2001, the campaign against HLS continues as does the work of HLS with the help of their new investors. The end result of the campaign remains to be seen but unfortunately it is unlikely to be non violent. SHAC's own statement was " we want fund managers to realise that if they invest in HLS they are investing in trouble".

What we need to realise from this chain of events is the immense influence that one well organised single issue group has had on a whole range of large multinational organisations and individuals, who when faced with threats to personal safety, adverse publicity and loss of business have been forced into an impossible situation where they have no bargaining power. The message for them is simple - they either lose their investments with HLS in the short term or lose a whole lot more than business in the long term and without legislation in place to prevent further harassment, HLS and their partners will have a bumpy ride to come.

So, what can organisations do to protect themselves

from direct action groups:

Key Points:

We have links with approved training bodies in both the UK and USA who can provide tailored training in terrorist threat management.

For further details please email us at info@scanna-msc.com

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a new wave of animal rights terrorism