A NEW YEAR MESSAGE FROM SPEAK

It is over a year now since Oxford announced that its monstrous new lab was opening and that its first animal prisoners were being moved in, and in June 2009 it was revealed that this hell-hole would hold at least 16,000 animals at any one time; sixteen thousand innocent, non-consenting individuals who will be subjected to appalling abuse in worthless research. This is an horrific figure, but, in reality, the numbers do not matter – as long as one animal is deprived of his or her rights, dignity and freedom, SPEAK vows to continue to fight for them and to give them a voice.  Oxford talks about setting a ‘gold standard for animal care’ on its website, as ever telling a tale of half truths and downright lies and painting a highly sanitised picture, but that is not really the point. We are not asking for bigger cages and toys, we are not asking for welfare reforms, which, in effect, do far more harm than good as they allow abusers to excuse their continued actions (let’s not forget, most animal exploiters claim to care for their victims’ welfare ). No, what we are DEMANDING is basic legal rights for animals not to be treated as mere property, tools or ‘things’. Until there is a shift in society’s attitude towards animals and they are afforded these basic rights they will continue to be enslaved, deprived of their liberty, and will suffer both physically and psychologically in the labs of Oxford and elsewhere. So-called scientists will continue to be permitted to inflict ‘severe/substantial suffering’ on animals such as Felix, will continue to slice them open, damage their organs, and kill them and dispose of them as they would a worthless piece of rubbish. No amount of welfare reforms will change this.

This will not be an easy fight to win, nor a quick one. In a society where animal exploitation is part and parcel of everyday life for most, and where the economy derives a vast amount of revenue off the back of it, this will be a long, hard battle and, as we have see in Oxford, the powers that be will attempt to intimidate, bully and harass those fighting for the rights of animals. In its eight hundred years plus of its existence, Oxford University has been used to its influence being bowed down to and is not accustomed to being challenged, and as we have seen in the draconian injunction it has taken out against anyone wishing to protest against its abuse of animals, it is used to simply using its power and money to crush those who dare to make a stand against it. When Oxford’s new Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Andrew Hamilton, took his post recently, leading Oxford alumni, including animal behaviourist Desmond Morris, Ann Widdecombe MP, Nobel Prize winning novelist JM Coetzee and former government advisor on animal experiments Prof. Michael Balls signed an open letter to him urging him to make Oxford a ‘progressive institution’ and to ‘lead the way in developing animal-free medical research’, the response from within the university was typical; arrogant and disingenuous, with the Registrar claiming that Oxford is committed to ‘reducing, refining and replacing’ animals in research, when the numbers are on the increase, and that debate on the subject is welcomed, when it has done everything within its power to stifle free speech. But we are determined that this institution, and all involved in the abuse and exploitation of animals, will learn that those with right on their side will never be deterred and will never give up fighting, and that it cannot smother the desire for change. The ‘easy’ path to take would be to walk away, to choose a smaller, less influential target, but we are not in the business of giving in and to back down would do nothing to help the overall increasing number of animals suffering in laboratories throughout the UK, and we will never desert the animals incarcerated inside Oxford’s labs.

 As we approach the sixth anniversary of the campaign in Oxford, it is fantastic to see so many people turning up, week after week, to demonstrate their opposition to the university’s completely unjustifiable enslavement of animals, but even more encouraging is the number of new faces we see each week, new people joining our campaign to end the vile practice of vivisection. Over this Christmas and New Year period numbers have been greater than ever, a clear sign to the University and its friends in high places that our resolve is stronger than ever; no matter the day or occasion, those seeking justice for animals will be out there, fighting for them and giving them a voice. We are resolute as ever; nothing will stop us and no injunction will prevent us from making our voices heard. Please join us in 2010 – together we WILL fight on and we WILL win.