As as follow-up to my post on yesterday's post, now have some details of the threats made against the Leapfrog Day Nurseries, courtesy of the BBC, in the form of quotes from a letter received by the LDN:
A letter was sent by the Animal Rights Militia to Leapfrog Day Nurseries because of a child care scheme for Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The note, seen by Channel 4 News, said employees of the nursery would "pay the consequences" for the links.
The scheme was withdrawn by the nursery to protect children and staff.
Leapfrog Day Nurseries - Britain's largest childcare provider - has 102 nurseries nationwide, with units in Beds, Bucks, Herts, Cambs, Essex and Northants.
They administered a scheme for Huntingdon Life Sciences to give employees child care vouchers which can be used at any nursery.
Huntingdon Life Sciences have long been targeted by anti-vivisection extremists. Supports, including the government, argue that its work is needed to prompt medical breakthroughs.
The letter read: "The company you work for is working with Huntingdon Life Sciences. This is a disgusting and cowardly act. You have a choice.
"You can walk away from those sick monsters or you can personally face the consequences of your decision." . . .
The note went on: "Not only you but your family is a target.
"... Sever your links with HLS within two weeks or get ready for your life and the lives of those you love to become a living hell." [My emphasis . . . ed].
[ . . . ]
This is, as I pointed out yesterday (op cit) without benefit of having read these quotes, is how "tertiary targeting" works:
This is a classic example of AR activists putting into practice the "tertiary target" strategy: if the directors of the daycare facility don't concede to the demands of the AR people, they place themselves, their families and their friends at risk. It's easier — and much safer — for the directors to dump on the families of HLS employees than to stand their ground on principle. Which is exactly the purpose of the threats.
Intimidating and coercing the clients and suppliers of your real target ("tertiary targeting") is a very effective strategy, one that when employed against HLS in the past, forced it to delist from the London Stock Exchange, and attempt to list on the New York Stock Exchange, an attempt that was thwarted at the very last minute when Animal Rights activists employed exactly the same tertiary targeting techniques on this side of the pond, frightening Catherine Kinney, the President of the NYSE, to cave in precipitously to AR demands.
The article goes on to say that the LDN is unaware that any children associated with Huntingdon Life Sciences attends their own nurseries — which one would have thought the AR thugs would have confirmed before selecting this particular target.
On the other hand, the threat serves a useful purpose, even if it's directed at a target that has nothing to do with HLS: it sends the message that our cruelty-free terrorists aren't only prepared to act violently, but to act violently and indiscriminately.
To my way of thinking, this further cements characterizing such people as terrorists, if further cementing was ever needed. To these thugs, it's more important to spread a general fear of them and what they might do than it is for them to accomplish a specific goal.
Brian
