Animal
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Newsletter - Animal Writes � sm
22 August 1999 Issue

Message to the Court
By [email protected]

[Editor's note: Animal Rights Online does not condone or promote breaking the law, even when fighting to help animals. We believe that the best course of action is to work within the law to effect change. There are also serious issues involved in freeing minks into an environment for which they are not suited. Bearing this in mind, the ARO staff still felt that the following article was something we wanted to share with our readers.]

A five minute oration was delivered to Chatham, Ont., Judge A. Cusinato on April 27, 1999, after I was found guilty of committing a random act of kindness and compassion. Fifteen-hundred-forty-two minks were liberated and given a chance to flee the murderous grounds of the Eberts Fur Farm in Blenheim, Ont. Cusinato's myopia was evident after he handed down a six month sentence. However, a deportation parole was issued, and I was returned to Michigan after serving 77 days at a maximum security detention center. The speech was given on behalf of the entire movement. I hope you approve. (Unfortunately, for several reasons, the 40-day hunger strike lasted only 10 days.)

I stand before this court without trepidation � without timidity � because the truth cannot be suppressed today and the truth will not be compromised. Mohandas Gandhi, one of the most benevolent people to ever grace this earth, once said, "Even if you are only one person ... the truth is still the truth."

The dilemma we face today is whether this court chooses to acknowledge the truth. The following statement is for everyone's edification.

One day every enslaved animal will obtain their freedom and the animal rights movement will succeed because Gandhi also proclaimed that "All throughout history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants � and at times they have seemed invincible � but in the end � they always fall � always."

The true devoted humanitarians who are working towards the magnanimous goal of achieving freedom for animals cannot be stopped by unjust laws.

As long as humans are placed on a pedestal above non-humans � injustice to animals will fester � because without universal equality � one type of equality will always create another type of inequality. There will be no compromise here today because the truth cannot be compromised.

My presence in this courtroom today is paradoxical. I ask this court ... If it is NOT a crime to torture, enslave and murder animals � then how can it be a crime to free tortured, enslaved and soon-to-be-murdered animals?

Humankind must climb out of its abyss of callousness � its abyss of apathy � and its abyss of greed. Enslaving and killing animals for human satisfaction can never be justified. And the fur industry must understand that the millions of manual neck-breakings � anal and genital electrocutions � mass gassings � drownings � and toxic chemical injections � can never be justified. And, the snaring of millions of free-roaming animals in steel jaw leghold traps � who die slow, horrific deaths � is unjustifiable, as well.

There will be no compromise ... for the truth cannot be compromised. The schism that this court has created between the five co-accused has been sealed.

Now that I have been convicted � through my volition and in a symbolic protest of the unjust conditions that animals endure ... a hunger strike will begin tomorrow at 7:30 a.m.

For every mink that ever languished in a tiny cage � and was savagely murdered at The Eberts Fur Farm ... I will go hungry. And for the 40 million other animals worldwide that have the skin ripped off their backs in a disgusting display of barbarity � in the name of vanity ... I will go hungry.

And if this court expects me to experience an apostasy � meaning an abandoning of my beliefs ... it's sadly mistaken. In April of '97 ... when I was incarcerated for 10 days in a Chatham jail ... I briefly experienced ... vicariously ... what a caged animal goes through. And � thanks to that 10-day bail hearing ... my empathy for every mistreated animal � intensified.

No matter what I go through � during my incarceration and hunger strike ... will be nothing compared to the everlasting torture that innocent animals endure on a daily basis.

And if this court is alarmed by my honesty � let me close with a quote from slave abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. "I will be as harsh as the truth and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think or speak or write with moderation � I am in earnest. I will not equivocate. I will not excuse. I will not retreat a single inch. And I will be heard � The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead � My influence � shall be felt in coming years � not perniciously but beneficially � not as a curse, but as a blessing � and posterity will bear testimony that I was right."

There will be no compromise here today because the truth cannot be compromised.

Gary Yourofsky, ADAPTT President (810-763-2715 voice mail/pager)
[email protected]

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