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For those of you who still eat meat/dairy products, are lax in recycling, forget your eco-friendly bags when shopping, drive ridiculous petroleum-guzzling vehicles and purchase items that are harmful to the planet in general without a care in the world: I know that you are concerned in regard to your children’s future and I know that you do not want to condemn them to witness a dying Earth. Please consider listening to we people, whom you tend label as “new-age nut-cases”, “peace-loving hippies”, crazy vegan environmental and animal rights activist “tree-huggers” or, as some corporate/political circles like to refer to us…”terrorists”.

First and foremost, I would like to point out that we aren’t doing what we do for our own posterity, alone, you realize? It would be safe to say that the majority of us are not arguing with you on a daily basis because we enjoy doing so. I am fairly certain that most of us would rather be blissfully engaged in our lives, instead, however, you make that extremely difficult for us. Try to consider that the decisions you make today are severely affecting the future of both your posterity, as well as our own. We do have every right to be heard and our actions reflect that of the truly concerned, not that of “terrorists”.

The common definition of terrorism refers to violent acts intended to create fear, are perpetrated for religious, political or ideological goals and deliberately target or disregard the safety of citizens. That is not what any of us are about. I would say that the common definition of an activist refers to someone that generates acts intended to create an expanded level of compassion toward the plight of others(or animals, or the planet, or a historic site, etc…), stands staunchly for equal rights, pressures political ideologies to defend those rights and deliberately attempts to raise awareness among citizens.

Is it any real wonder why corporate-funded government is attempting to silence us with unconstitutional legislation like the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act and ridiculous accusations? If you are still wondering why, allow me to “break it down” for you, succinctly. It is all related to one simple factor; when YOU listen to what we have to say, WE cause them to lose MONEY. There is no “conspiracy theory” here. All of you full well realize that we live in a society of capital. Everything is ruled by it, in specific, world governments, and none more so, than the United States government. When you stop buying, they get upset and quite frankly, we are not sorry for causing their grief or the “lightness” in their pockets…it is just that simple.

Corporations do pay for what we digest in the media, telling us what to believe. Corporations do fund political campaigns, in order to ensure who seats in office, making our decisions for us. Corporations do write policy in regard to what is and is not allowed in commerce, determining what we can buy or sell. Corporations, do indeed control what bills are proposed on the House and Senate floor, quite a number of which in recent years, have been geared toward unconstitutionally invading the rights of United States citizens. Corporations do dictate what environmental and animal protections are lifted, so that they can continue to make more money at the expense of human posterity. Corporate policy has, does and will continue to lead to the deaths of countless lives, both human and non-human. All of you already know this.

The United States Constitution continues to be dissected in favor of silencing we who speak out against the heinous dealings in the corporate scheme, even being stretched so far as to call us “terrorists”. They want activists to shut the hell up, so that they can continue on “business as usual”, as the world crumbles about the feet of our children’s futures. It is my understanding that the Constitution of the United States of America exists to serve the people, not corporations, who are currently shaping and molding that Constitution, in an effort to have the people serve their interests. I would like your personal opinion in regard to who the real terrorists in this equation actually are? With state Senators like Florida’s Jim Norman drafting bills at the request of agricultural-corporate sponsors like Wilton Simpson of Simpson Farms(Pasco County, Florida producer of over 20 million eggs, annually) in an effort to criminalize as a felony, the undercover documentation of farming procedures, the answer to that question becomes blatantly obvious.

The particular bill, along with several others in states like New York, Iowa and Minnesota, were shot down last year by public opinion, labelled as “Ag-Gag” legislation. Senator Norman’s initial excuse for introducing the bill was that it was intended to stop intellectual property theft. However, during an interview, when asked to cite an example of such theft, he was unable to offer one. The Florida Farm Bureau eventually admitted that the bill was drafted to prevent the kind of negative exposure that animal rights activists generate, which is detrimental to their operations. Undercover footage produced by numerous vegan and animal rights organizations have proven very costly to the animal agriculture industry.

So, in a continued effort to silence us, these unconstitutional travesties will be reintroduced this year in a number of states. Some of them may be “masked” within wording, hidden neatly in agricultural “package” bills. Others will remain as blatant as the sun in the sky. It matters not in which form they find themselves on the floor of any state’s legislative office. What matters is that the average United States citizen continues to stand against them. Please consider that after they have stripped away our right to speak for the voiceless, who will be left to speak up for you when they come for your rights?

Anthony Damiano
Founder of AELLA