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After careful consideration, the Secretary of State has reached a final decision and has given a personal direction for you to be excluded from the United Kingdom on the grounds that your presence in the UK is non-conducive to the public good. The Secretary of State has taken this decision based on the actions you have taken and the statements you have made on animal rights.
The Secretary of State notes your admission that at the International Animal Rights Conference in East Peckham you stated that, “we don’t want to reform them [vivisectors], we want to wipe them off the face of the earth.” It is considered that these are your views and we have reason to believe that you have publicly stated these views in the UK and that you intend to continue to do so.
The Secretary of State also notes that in January 2005 you said in an interview posted on the Milwaukee Indymedia website that you “do not include attacks on inanimate objects as violence (vandalism, sabotage and other terms work better here).” He also notes that in May 2005 you wrote an article which was posted on the Arkangel website which stated, “if violence is needed to save an animal from attack, then violence is legitimate as a means of self-defence for animals.”
The Secretary of State observes that in April 2004 you wrote an article on the Satya website entitled, “Thinking Pluralistically: A Case for Direct Action”, in which you stated that, “it is obvious that not all violence is justified, but it is equally obvious that not all violence is unjustified. Self-defense is one example where it is acceptable and prudent to use force against another person if necessary. . . Acting as proxy agents or for animals who cannot defend themselves, ALF actions in principle are just.”
In an article on your website from July 2004, you stated that, “whereas direct activists use an inclusive logic to appreciate all facets of our struggle, many mainstream activists use an exclusive logic that disparages militancy and illegal tactics. . . . If we look at the history of militant tactics in the human and animal liberation movements, we see that illegal actions have been very important and effective. I support SHAC. I support the ALF.”
In expressing such views it is considered that you are fomenting and justifying terrorist violence and seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts and fomenting other serious criminal activity and seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts.
In reaching his decision, the Secretary of State has taken account of your representations, in particular those in your letter of 8 August 2005. He notes your assertion that you do not advocate or incite violence. He is aware that you accept that you made the first statement detailed above but that you assert that this remark was “maliciously taken out of context”.
The Secretary of State takes the view that even if your remarks at the Conference were taken out of context, when taken together with your other public statements and comments in various articles, your speech at the Conference demonstrates that you support and justify violent action, including the actions of the ALF. In your article of July 2004 you publicly admitted that you support the ALF. By expressing these views you are fomenting and justifying acts of terrorist violence in the UK, you are seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts in the UK and you are fomenting and justifying serious criminal activity and seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts in the UK.
The Secretary of State considers that should you be allowed to enter the UK and attend further UK demonstrations or conferences you would continue to express such views. In doing so, you would be committing listed behaviours and would therefore be behaving in a way that is non-conducive to the public good.
In light of these factors, the Secretary of State is satisfied that you should be excluded from the UK on the grounds that your exclusion is conducive to the public good.
We instruct you not to travel to the UK as you will be refused admission on arrival. There is no statutory right of appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision.
Yours Sincerely,
The Secretary of State
The Terrorism of “Terrorism”
“'Terrorism’ is a word people use to refer to armed struggles they don’t like.” —John Burdick, Syracuse University
I give them some credit for doing a bit of homework. But it is astonishing that because of views I peacefully express as a philosopher and activist, a person without a criminal record, that with the stroke of a pen I was banned for life from four countries – England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland – and had “no statutory right of appeal.” (Indeed, the humanist lawyers at the ACLU and their British counterparts ensured this would stand as – speciesist humanists that they were – they took no interest in my case and cause)
