SPEAK Campaigns
SPEAK Campaigns
SPEAK Campaigns Male
31 years old

United Kingdom



Last Login: 11/10/2009
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Website: www.speakcampaigns.org




SPEAK is a grass roots animal rights group currently campaigning to end the use of animals in research carried out by Oxford University. SPEAK is against all animal experiments on ethical grounds and is currently focusing on Oxford University due to the huge numbers of animals suffering inside the laboratories of this well known institution.

Why Oxford?

Attention focused on Oxford University when in March 2004 it emerged that the university had started building a new £18 million animal laboratory. This news came just after Cambridge University announced they were abandoning their plans to build the largest primate laboratory in Europe due to a successful campaign run by SPEAC (Stop Primate Experiments At Cambridge). SPEAC relocated to Oxford and changed its name to SPEAK - The Voice for the Animals, and began the campaign to stop the Oxford animal lab.

Initially Oxford University claimed that the new building on South Parks Road was to be an ‘animal hotel’, and that “no experiments would be carried out there and there would be no primates”. However, in March 2004, the university finally admitted that the new facility would be used to experiment on animals, and it also became apparent that not only would monkeys be bred and experimented on, but there would be colonies of monkeys kept inside the new lab.

The campaign against this new animal torture centre began with a determination and enthusiasm that has not waned over the years. The first success was gained when in July 2004 the building contractors downed tools and pulled out of building the lab, leaving the building site empty for almost 18 months.

The Government's Role

Unfortunately the British Government stepped in, determined not to allow another victory to animal rights campaigners and to make sure the new animal torture lab was built – no matter what the cost. They promised to underwrite the cost of building the new lab up to £100 million and gave Oxford University a lot of other support.

This support from the Government is not surprising when you consider that the then Prime Minister was an Oxford graduate, as were many who held posts in the cabinet. It also had become clear by this time that despite their promises in their election manifesto of 1997 to work towards the end of animal experiments, the Labour Government was clearly backing research on animals and the numbers being used, particularly in university labs was increasing and they had been very supportive of Cambridge University’s plans to build their lab.

In October 2004, after the Government had stepped in with financial support, Oxford University began what would become a very long, drawn out and expensive civil court battle when it sought to impose a draconian injunction on all those legally campaigning against the new lab. At the time of writing, this civil case has dragged on for over four years without a full trial hearing. How ironic that an institution that relies on academic freedoms for its very existence is determined to silence its opponents. The university’s attempts to get all protests within the City of Oxford banned failed, although an exclusion zone was put in place around the new lab limiting demonstrations around the vicinity of the building.

Building work on the lab began again in December 2005, with very high security which included an unidentified contractor, anonymous vehicles, builders wearing balaclavas and a security team who were also known to work as mercenaries in Iraq. On top of this, as the campaign has progressed, it has become more and more clear that Thames Valley Police are providing their own private security service for the university, showing a sickening bias towards them at every step of the way and unlawfully arresting protesters at a lawful demonstration.

However, this did not deter the campaign against the lab which continued to get increasing support, holding several demos each week, turning up at high profile university events, holding huge marches through the City Centre, taking part in debates, giving school and university talks and holding many information stalls, all of which have put the issue of animal experiments at the forefront of peoples’ minds.

Opening of the Lab

On 11 November 2008, Oxford University held a press conference to announce that the lab was completed and that some mice had been moved in. They went on to say that the facility would not be fully operational until the middle of 2009.

The result of the SPEAK campaign against Oxford University’s new animal torture lab is that it has cost millions of pounds over the original estimate, the finished building is shoddily built due to the employment of sub-standard builders, the operational use of the lab was delayed for three years, the subject of vivisection and the horrors it inflicts on animals has been a constant talking point in and around Oxford and elsewhere, and anyone else who might have considered building any other new animal research labs in the UK will have been left in no doubt that it would be a bad idea.

The Future

Now the new torture lab is open SPEAK is focusing on stopping animal experiments at Oxford University, ALL animal experiments, and its resolve to fight for the rights of the animals imprisoned inside its walls is stronger than ever.

SPEAK Campaign is not, and never has been, about the bricks and mortar of that monstrous building on South Parks Road, it is about fighting for the rights of the animals who are destined to suffer and die within its walls in barbaric experiments at the hands of Oxford University researchers. And what we demand for these, and all animals, is simple; the fundamental legal right not to be treated as 'things', as property, or resources. Just as Felix was, so each animal inside the labs of Oxford, and elsewhere, is an individual; each has interests and each life matters, but as long as humans have property rights in animals they will continue to be exploited and there will be no effective sanctions to prevent their abuse. When the rights of the property owner, a human, are balanced against the rights of the property, an animal, the scales will almost always weigh in favour of the property owner.

With this in mind, SPEAK is now 'SPEAK - The Voice for the RIGHTS of Animals' to emphasize what it is that we are fighting for; not welfare improvements or more 'humane' treatment but legal rights for and an elevation of the moral status of animals. Most animal abusers would profess to care for the welfare of animals who suffer at their hands in order to attempt to make their abuse more palatable to the public and no matter how large the cages in a lab, the animals inside still suffer psychologically and physically and have no control over their own lives. Their exploitation must be abolished, not merely regulated; this is the only way we will achieve real change for the animals.

Oxford University 's horrifically brutal treatment of animals and total arrogant disregard for their rights has led to Oxford being seen as the capital city of animal abuse in this country and SPEAK's focus will remain upon this institution and city until the appalling cruelty there ends. Until this happens, SPEAK and its supporters at home and abroad will continue to spread our message worldwide and encourage all people of conscience to boycott Oxford.

As Oxford University and those who protect and support animal abuse in the government, police and the media continue their assaults on legal protesters who fight for what is right, so SPEAK increases in strength and sees support for the campaign grow by the day. Throughout the coming year, SPEAK will continue to challenge those who abuse animals at every opportunity and in every quarter. We will never be bullied or harassed into walking away from the animals incarcerated inside Oxford University . The lives of the animals matter to them, they belong to them and we will fight for their rights until every cage is empty.



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Demo Diary

Degree Days Demos

Saturday 18th July

Meet from 10.30

The Sheldonian Theatre, corner of Broad Street and Catte Street, Oxford City Centre

For more details please contact us:

Tel: 0845 330 7985 Mob: 07906 497317

Whilst for some people the degree ceremonies are about celebrating their academic achievements, for the animals imprisoned inside Oxford University's labs it is just another day of abuse and fear, waiting to die in painful and pointless experiments. Join us in our protests as unless people stand up and take action then the suffering of these animals will continue.

Boycott Oxford Demo in London

• Saturday 8 August

Meeting 12 noon

The Eros statue, Piccadilly Circus, London

The demo will be moving on to other locations, so anyone planning on arriving later than the start time should have the SPEAK mobile number with them.

For more details please contact us:

Tel: 0845 330 7985 Mob: 07906 497317

Tourism is worth a whopping £576 million to the Oxford economy every year. But most tourists don't realise that Oxford is a city of animal abuse, and when they spend their money to look around historic sites owned by Oxford University, their money goes to an institution that tortures and mutilates living animals. Help spread the word to people before they get to Oxford, about what really goes on behind the dreaming spires.

 
WEEKLY THURSDAY DEMOS

Don't forget that every Thursday there is a demo opposite the site on South Parks Road, 1pm to 5pm. There will be other protests close to the site and other places around Oxford on most days, so keep in touch. For more details on demos please contact us:

Tel: 0845 330 7985 Mob: 07986 559012

Contact Us

SPEAK Campaigns

P.O. Box 6712

Northampton

NN2 6XR

Tel: +44 0845.330.7985

Mob: +44 0790.649.7317

Email: info@speakcampaigns.org




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DEMO DIARY



THE TRUTH IS OUT

In July 2006, the BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) used the Freedom of Information Act to request that universities should disclose the number of primates they had used in experiments in two particular years and for a summary of their current primate research. A number of universities complied with the request but six, including Oxford, refused to do so. Oxford University proffered the ridiculous argument that disclosing the information would be likely to endanger the safety of the researchers and would prejudice their commercial interests.

After a thorough investigation, the Information Commissioner rejected the universities’ arguments and in a landmark ruling in April, the Commissioner’s Office ordered these six top universities to release information about the animal experiments they conduct. The Commissioner believed it was not sufficient to say that, due to the actions of a tiny minority of activists, there may be some general risk to the safety of individuals involved in animal research.

On 5 May 2009, Oxford University finally released the information that had been requested, which included details of the numbers of animals, including primates, imprisoned and killed inside its laboratories over the last few years.

This information revealed that Oxford University's new biomedical sciences building can hold up to 16 000 animals inside it at any one time. This is a huge number of animals, all of whom are individuals who are being deprived of their freedom, who are suffering and who will be killed when they have outlived their usefulness to this institution. And this number does not even include all the animals that Oxford University incarcerates and experiments on in total, just the ones being held inside the new lab.

In 2008, Oxford University held eighty six macaque monkeys captive. They forced them to learn certain tasks by depriving them of food and water. Sixty six of these macaques were then experimented on, which mostly involved slicing off the tops of their heads and removing parts of their brains for research into Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer’s, despite the fact that macaques don't get either of these diseases. Others were used to try to develop vaccines for HIV and other illnesses.

Oxford University claims that the monkeys don't suffer when being taught the tasks they want them to do, and that they do some of them 'entirely voluntarily', which is a farcical depiction of the fact the animals are starved into submission. Don't forget that no animal would willingly place itself into a tiny transportation cage that is so small that it can't turn around, or willingly spend hours unable to do anything but touch items on a computer screen.

Oxford University goes on to claim that only small sections of brain are removed, that the animals receive anaesthetics and painkillers and that the brain damage is minor. What they neglect to mention is that similar procedures have been refused licences in a number of other countries due to the suffering that such research causes to animals and that the experiments are ethically unacceptable because of this. In fact the Home Office licenses granted to Oxford University shows that these experiments cause the animals severe and substantial suffering.

Oxford University also claim that 'At the end of its life the animal is humanely killed.' which makes it sound like the animals are put down when they reach the end of their natural life. This is not the case at all; the animals are killed as soon as they have served their purpose and are no longer of any use to the researchers - a pitiful end for creatures who should be afforded the right to be able to live their lives free from being experimented on.

Despite their best efforts, there is no justification that can excuse Oxford University treating living animals in the way they do in their laboratories. The very fact that they continually try to prevent any details about their animal research from being made public, should make everyone question just what this institution is up to and what it is trying to hide.

It is a complete travesty that non-consenting, sensitive and intelligent creatures are being incarcerated and then mutilated in barbaric and cruel experiments that should have been banned many years ago. SPEAK will continue to fight for the rights of animals not to be imprisoned inside laboratories and not to be experimented on, not until every cage is comfortable, but until every cage is empty.

BOYCOTT OXFORD

HELP SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT WHAT REALLY GOES ON BEHIND THE DREAMING SPIRES OF OXFORD

Tourism is one of the biggest sources of revenue for Oxford University, an institution that has many historic and expensive buildings to maintain. The city as a whole is hugely dependent on the UK and overseas visitors who spend huge amounts of money on hotels, restaurants, places of interest, historic buildings, museums, shops, interpreters, tours, transport and all the other businesses that profit from and depend on the constant year-round influx of tourists.In fact, tourism contributes a whopping £576 million to the Oxford economy.

So imagine the effect it would have if tourists started boycotting the university and the city, whose council gave its full backing to the brutality that will be inflicted upon the 16, 000 animals destined to be incarcerated within the university's new lab, due to its links to animal cruelty...

Unfortunately, it's a sad fact that many people care more about money than they do about the suffering of innocent, sentient beings. So if they think they may lose profits due to the city's links to animal torture, they may feel more inclined to help rid Oxford of the barbaric animal experiments carried out by its university

For this reason, with the university's new animal torture lab now open, SPEAK has launched a new phase in its fight against the suffering inflicted upon non-consenting animals by Oxford University: targeting the tourist industry. We belive that the public are entitled to know what goes on behind the closed doors and darkened windows of its laboratories, the hidden truth that certainly will not be shown to them on any walking tour or tourist map of the city.

SPEAK supporters will be active both in the UK and abroad to inform tourists that if they visit Oxford they are condoning the brutal mutilations carried out on animals in its university's labs on a daily basis. It is a task that everyone can help with, no matter where they live. Everybody lives near to either a bus, coach or train station (from where those travelling to Oxford may depart), and most people have access to tourist information offices or places where tourist information is given out such as libraries and stations.

So now it's time to get active, order the SPEAK Boycott Oxford leaflets and posters and get out there to inform people that they can make a difference to the animals by choosing where they spend their time and money.

For more info see:http://speakcampaigns.org/sitepages.php?a=26



SPEAK-Wrong Again Pt1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9g2iKzgQw



SPEAK- Wrong Again Pt2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch0-h4uM0KI

Felix: Victim of Oxford University

Felix was a primate who was imprisoned inside Oxford University for a year and was subjected to horrific experiments before being put to death by those who had tormented him.

His tormentors had given him the name 'Felix' which in Latin means 'happy'. It is a sick 'in joke' by Oxford University vivisectors, who no doubt found it amusing to call him such a perverse name, considering the pain and suffering that Felix was about to be forced to endure.

For a year, Felix was held alone in a cage, a cage he could barely move around in. He was kept apart from his kin and was 'conditioned', using food rewards to compel him to do a series of tests. Basically, he was starved into submission, only being given food if he complied with their wishes.

Felix's final few months would havd been filled with pain, torment and much suffering. He had the top of his skull sliced off and electrodes forced into his brain. He was then fitted with a cranial chamber (a box like contraption that sits on top of the skull). His pain must have been unbearable but he had no-one to comfort him. Just a barren cage surrounded him. There was no kin to cuddle up to, to ease his pain. He was alone until the day his torturers had finished with him; the day they put him to death.

The 'research' that Felix was used and abused in was granted a licence which permitted 'severe/substantial suffering'. It was refused a licence in other countries such as Germany and Switzerland due to the immense cruelty involved. This research is continuing in Oxford's labs today, as Felix was just the first of ten macaques destined to suffer the same fate in this barbarity.

Oxford University has the audacity to label itself as an institution of 'academic excellence'! However, the reality is that the life Felix was forced to endure had nothing to do with academia, but everything to do arrogance; the arrogance of individuals who hold life so cheap that they can dictate not just how and when to end a sentient life, but how much suffering they can and will inflict upon that life.

To read more abot Felix and the Felix Campaign, and to view the video, go to http://speakcampaigns.org/sitepages.php?a=22

Click here to read Felix's Project Licence

Felix training to be cooperative in his own mutilation and murder
Felix during 'training' to teach him to cooperate with the very same people who inflicted unthinkable cruelty on him and ultimately put him to death.

national demo

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SPEAK Campaigns has 1592 friends.
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SPEAK Campaigns's Friends Comments
Displaying 25 of 109 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
REFUSE/ALL Brighton 28/11

REFUSE/ALL Brighton 28/11



Nov 8 2009 4:01 PM

SPEAK benefit gig in Wolverhampton @ the Varsity on 14th Nov (see flyer on our site for full info)with Contempt, Refuse/All and lots more.
tanyaisa

Tanya Payne



Aug 15 2009 10:12 AM

I'M TRYING TO SPEAK FOR THE WOLVES, AS I CONTINUE TO SPEAK FOR ALL VOICELESS ANIMALS IN LAB'S, ETC.


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/47/stop-killing-our-wolves-in-usa-alaska-and-canada


Olivia

Olivia



Aug 15 2009 10:12 AM

Thank you for the add!
XOXO
Love and Light...
TierrechtsInitiative Rhein-Main (TIRM)

TierrechtsInitiative Rhein-Main (TIRM)



Aug 15 2009 10:11 AM

Thanx for the add (-:
Against Animal Abuse

Against Cruelty



Aug 15 2009 10:11 AM

hey thank you for accepting me
Anthony Marr

Anthony Marr



Aug 15 2009 10:11 AM

Anthony Marr has uploaded his 7 speeches at the Animal Rights 2009 conference (www.ARConference.org), plus those of Alex Hershaft, Armaiti May, Bob Bloom, Bruce Zeman, Bryan Pease, Catherine Doyle, Christine Garcia, Darius Fullmer, Heidi Boghosian, Kari Bagnall, Kim McCoy, Matthew Strugar, Odette Wilkins, Peter Hammarsted, Rick Corbett, Shannon Keith, Share Bond, Tim Gorski and Will Potter, on to his profile page (www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr --> click "View My Videos" right underneath the white dog). Enjoy!

Also, Matt Rossell's interview about animal experimentation on Animal Voices yesterday is now in Anthony Marr's space (www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr), set on auto-play. A must listen.

Anthony Marr, Founder & President
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
www.HOPE-CARE.org
www.myspace.com/AnthonyMarr
www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr
www.HomoSapiensSaveYourEarth.blogspot.com
www.ARConference.org
Action for Animals

Action for Animals



Jul 29 2009 6:57 PM

Thanks for adding us! Please read the blogs & flyers and watch the videos on our page to find out how you can help thousands of animals over your lifetime. And plz add our banner or video or add us to your top if possible, to help educate your friends.
Camille Couteau "Non Officiel"

Camille Couteau "Non Officiel"



Jul 12 2009 10:07 PM

Thanks
☮louise

☮louise



Jul 8 2009 2:52 PM

hii.
thanks for accepting, hope you're okay. (:
x
shirly

shirly john



Jul 6 2009 3:52 AM

thanks for add me. wish all the luck and i pray the world be change and proctect our lovely creature animals
Lea

Lea
Online Now!


Jul 5 2009 4:48 AM

Thanks for the add!! Great to have met a fellow animal rights activisit!! :)
Veg_Michael

Michael McKenna



Jul 4 2009 10:43 PM

thanxxx for the add. your voice is heard loud and clear! keep fighting for animal peace!! go veg and help save the planet !!! check out my profile. bet you cant watch the videos without painfull feelings. laterzzzz :}"
Emotive Bronze

Emotive Bronze



Jul 4 2009 7:35 PM

Hell and thank you very much for supporting my music, you are very kind. I very much respect what you are trying to achieve with this page and how I wish there were more out there like you. To quote the late great Timothy Treadwell, “Animals rule!”. Love and peace, EB.
Moonwarriors

Moonwarriors



Jun 15 2009 12:07 AM

Hello ~ thank you for being a friend of Moonwarriors. I am drumming up signatures for 14 petitions to stop the gassing of healthy, loving animals in the USA ~

Please visit my blog and sign the petitions to put an end to animal gas chambers:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=401449585&blogID=430014756

There are 14, if you could sign at least some of them that would be great ~ Thank you for helping animals ~ have a good weekend
~♥~

"What is unconscionable, abominable and outrageous is that animals, healthy and well-behaved, are being killed because someone says there are too many. That is something we do not accept. That is something we find intolerable" - Richard Avanzino, President, San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (1997)

A quote from Redemption - The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution by Nathan J. Winograd

Visit The No Kill Advocacy Center:

http://nokilladvocacycenter.org/reforming-animal-control.html
MISS TINA

Tina Sklar



Jun 2 2009 8:14 PM

Just passing threw to show some love
Punk Against Poison

Punk Against Poison



Jun 10 2009 9:50 PM

Thanx for the friend add guys.

Cheers & Respect
from New Zealand//Aotearoa

NO JUSTICE.....JUST US!!!!!
SL - LIFE IS TOO MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING !!

SL - LIFE IS TOO MUCH PAIN AND SUFFERING !!



Jun 11 2009 7:27 PM

HELLO!
THANKS FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP!
HAVE A GREAT UPCOMING WEEKEND!
Paula Dravigny

Paula Dravigny



Jun 4 2009 8:30 AM

Thank you !
QUARTO POTERE*new song*

QUARTO POTERE*new song*



Jun 9 2009 10:20 AM

animal liberation NOW!!!
thanx for the add.
XBabyXGirlX

XBabyXGirlX



May 22 2009 5:02 PM

Have a Beautiful and Wonderful Weekend!! Thanks fort he ADD!!
Tower Hill Stables

Tower Hill Stables



May 19 2009 7:31 PM

Thanks for being a friend of Tower Hill Stables. Please support if you can. We need about 200 more members in order to keep going.
Freaks For Life International

Freaks For Life International



May 19 2009 4:02 AM

Thanks for the add :)



~Amanda
Sarah Ryan

Sarah Ryan



May 17 2009 11:15 PM

Thanks for the add.
Good luck with all your campaigns
to help animals. It's great to see
people like you doing such good work.
All my best wishes to you.
Sarah.
Sagi

Sagi



Dec 7 2008 10:44 AM

much love
Carivegan . Org

Carivegan .Org



Oct 18 2008 9:44 PM

it's amazing what you are doing, and rather disgusting that you have to do it.

stay strong.

Cv
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