Barry Horne Memorial Demo

Saturday 5 November 2011

SPEAK supporters held a protest and information stall outside the Sheldonion Theatre in Oxford to remember Barry Horne on the 10^th anniversary of his death. Barry died from complications from the hunger strikes he went on in prison, which were to highlight the Government’s complicity in vivisection and the way it blatantly went back on it’s pre-election promises.

The feedback received from the people in Oxford was extremely positive and very much appreciated, particularly on this anniversary. A number of new students approached the activists to show their support, and to say how disgusted they had been to find out that their university was involved in such appalling cruelty to animals alongside its links to the arms trade. Not content to sit back and do nothing, they intend to use their time at the university to try to change things.

Support was received from a wide range of people who represented many different members of society, from old to young, from preachers to the homeless, from locals and from those who came from all corners of the globe. Support was also given by those suffering from different debilitating illnesses and conditions who said that, even if animal experiments could find a cure for their conditions, they would not support it.

 Barry’s sacrifice for the animals is as relevant today as it was ten years ago, as are the words he spoke – “If you don’t act then you condone. If you don’t fight then you don’t win. And if you don’t win then you are responsible for the death and suffering that will go on and on” Barry Horne, 15/3/1952 – 5/11/2001.