News from SPEAK political
First off we want to apologise for not being in touch for a while. The fact is, we are so busy at the moment that finding the time to update you is a problem. However, we realise that from the outside this can leave our supporters feeling that little is happening with SPEAK Political which couldn’t be farther from the truth. With this in mind, in future we’ll try to be more forthcoming.
Recently it has been suggested that we involve ourselves in various campaigns, as well as the London local elections. We have resisted this because it would defeat the whole point of SPEAK Political which is based on making an impact at the British general election. This is where the REAL power is brokered and as tempting as it might be to get things going early, there’s no point in deviating from our chosen path.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will an effective political party. The Greens have spent thirty years being largely ineffectual, the animals can’t wait another thirty while we do the same. We know that some people will question what we are doing, but now is not the time to lose our nerve. We’re building something big from the ground up, and this means we must remain ruthlessly single-minded and not be swayed from our objectives. We want to make a real difference for animal rights, not collect the ‘just glad to be here’ award at a local election! Please stay with us on this and keep the faith.
On a more positive note, we’re pleased to announce that The Animal Protection Shop is going from strength to strength. The shop is getting busier all of the time, and you really feel we are beginning to establish ourselves amongst the local community. We hand out a lot of animal rights leaflets and have discussions with previously uninterested members of the public on AR issues every day. It’s basically like having a street information stall that the police can’t interfere with. In fact, we feel the education aspect is almost as important as the fundraising, something Joseph Stalin realised when he said "Ideas are more powerful than guns, we would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."
We’re also acting as something of a hub for local animal rights activists, as well as a point for people to bring in donations of blankets, etc for a couple of local animal sanctuaries we support. Things are going so well that we’re currently in the process of opening shop number two which should be open within a couple of months.
We’re also building up the infrastructure of SPEAK Political. This is a slow process and unfortunately there aren’t any short-cuts. New members join all the time, and even more importantly, so are new candidates. Last time we wrote to you it was to announce that Keith Mann had come on board. This time we’re pleased to announce that an equally respected animal rights activist has joined our ranks. Dave Wetton needs little introduction as one of the pioneers of the Hunt Sabs, as well as being active in many other aspects of animal rights. You can read more about Dave’s exploits during the early years of the HSA in Keith’s book From Dusk ‘til Dawn: An insider’s view of the growth of the Animal Liberation Movement (2007), or here