Walter was, is and will always be one of us. He was one of us when he torched the Sheepskin death Factory in Glendale, the Tandy Leather Factory in Salt Lake City, and the Tiburon restaurant in Sandy, where foie gras, imposition, authority and death is sold.
Through his actions in support of non human animals, Walter has shown how strong and passionate these can be, today, now. He made clear, like many other animal liberationists, that what the animal liberation movement needs for their liberation is not more signatures “to reduce cruelty”, or cries and entreaties towards those who rule and rape life. We don’t need any more philosophical discussions concerning “whether”, “how” and “according to which pseudo-moralistic theory” we will support the one or another submissive attitude on the issue of our broken brothers and sisters. The path we need to take is the one of conflict, ruthless attack and furious fightback.
Walter was one of us when he was arrested by the servants of power, the ATF agents. When he was given in by his own brother, Trapper Zuehlke. But we all know that snitching, just like oppression, has no borders. And that those who snitch political activists are not easily forgotten.
Suppressing our militant brothers and sisters, who fight for animal, earth, and ultimately for Total Liberation from the human chains, does not scare us. It enrages us. We are aware of the common tactics of political isolation followed via this kind of suppressive actions, so as to politically and ethically break activists. But once again authority has screwed up. Not only did it fail to politically and physically isolate Walter but it also managed to create one of the strongest international solidarity movements in the past few years. This sort of solidarity was not developed on the basis of any type of personal admiration, but of political stand and action, subjects of a wider perception of the existing.
Walter was one of us when he first visited the USA “freedom cells” for the arson of a meth lab belonging to Steve Gomez, one of the most powerful drug baron in Iowa, who supplied drugs to his snitch brother too.
He was one of us when he received his sentence for the arson of Sheepskin Factory. He is one of us today, when the conditions of his imprisonment reflect the vengefulness of the existing system, when he has to pay almost 50 dollars for his daily meals and in order to make two 15-minute calls to his family. Walter has to buy his food as he is deliberately given vegetarian instead of vegan food. Apparently, a “court order” is needed so that he can decide for himself what he is going to eat.
For us, this prison system is nothing more than the other side of exactly the same coin. We dream and prepare more militantly than ever for the creation of a societywhich will bloom from the ashes of the last prison, of a society that will promote biocentrism and symbiotism instead of the emetic cartesian artifact of anthropocentrism, of a society where the word speciesism will be long forgotten and self-determination of every animal will not be considered as merely a fairy tale.
This is why we are now sharpening our teeth and claws like wild beasts in front of a new sentence that Walter will be forced to face on October 13th, in the court of Salt Lake City, at 3 pm, and why we scream with anger over the head of every appointed judge.
Free Walter now!
No total liberationist in the cells of our rulers
Until the destruction of the very last prison…
Individuals from the 1st 3-day Antispeciesist Gathering
in the greek area of Crete
