SPEAK (animals)

SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals is a British animal rights campaign that aims to end animal experimentation and vivisection in the UK. Its current focus is opposition to a new animal testing center being built by Oxford University.

History
The campaign was born out of Stop Primate Experimentation at Cambridge (SPEAC), which in 2004 halted the construction at the University of Cambridge of a new primate research facility. Had it gone ahead, the facility would have been Europe's largest primate vivisection centre. (See Primate experiments at Cambridge University.) Cambridge announced in January 2004 that the facility would not be built as a result of the "unacceptable financial risk ... largely due to extended delays in the planning process". They acknowledged "that these delays resulted, in part, from the activities of protesters".

After this announcement, the coalition of activists involved in SPEAC learned that the University of Oxford was planning to build a new biomedical research facility to house research animals. In response, the activists announced the formation of "SPEAK, the Voice for the Animals", and declared that their campaign against Oxford would be the second stage in their efforts to end all animal testing in the UK. They say they have learned that talks between Oxford and Cambridge have resulted in Oxford agreeing to conduct some of the brain experiments that were lost at Cambridge.

Activists
The spokesman for SPEAK in Oxford is Mel Broughton, a landscape gardener who has served time in prison for possession of incendiary devices with intent to bomb Huntingdon Life Sciences, Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory (see Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty.) In 2004, he told the Daily Telegraph that he did not regret his past convictions, stating, "I don't have a view on how other people go about their demonstrations" and that "I campaign within the parameters of the law."

Other activists who have been named publicly are Robin Webb, who runs the Animal Liberation Press Office; and Amanda King, who was involved in the Save the Newchurch Guinea Pigs campaign.

SPEAK and the law
Although SPEAK only sanctions legal avenues of protest, acts of intimidation, incitement and violence have accompanied the campaign, usually claimed by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). Robert Cogswell, co-founder of SPEAK is on record as saying that the organisation does not condemn the actions of the ALF.

These have included an arson attack on Hertford College boathouse, an attack on Corpus Christi College sports pavilion (which was, apparently, confused with Christ Church property), sending threatening letters to building firms connected with the construction project, the vandalism of other firms connected with the university, and threatening violence against Oxford University staff and students.

SPEAK say that, in the course of their legal protests and demonstrations, their members have suffered assaults and intimidation from police in collusion with the university. In September 2004, Broughton's mother suffered minor injuries during a protest at the construction site, when an unidentified substance was thrown at her, allegedly by one of the construction workers. According to Thames Valley Police, a January 14, 2006 SPEAK protest resulted in around 350 protesters tearing down fences and throwing missiles at police officers. SPEAK, in response, accused the police of a "sustained and brutal attack" on protesters, including "woman, children, the elderly and infirm." Police say ten people have been arrested at SPEAK protests since the start of 2006, mainly for public order offenses.

In July 2004, the university's principal contractor, Walter Lilly, a subsidiary of the Montpellier Group, withdrew from the contract to construct the animal-research facility after its shareholders received threatening letters. Although the company would only say that the decision was reached by mutual consent with Oxford University, it was widely interpreted as a victory for SPEAK. Oxford continued the project amid tightened security with a new, unnamed contractor. In November 2004 the university obtained an injunction against a number of individuals and groups, including Broughton and SPEAK, which restricts them from approaching within 50 yards of the construction site and the homes of those connected with the construction, and from holding protests of greater than 50 people in Oxford without police support. The injunction followed mounting complaints from students, researchers and workers about the hours-long use of sirens and megaphones by SPEAK on an almost daily basis. SPEAK considers this an unfair restriction on their legal right to protest, while the University claims the injunction ensures "the right of individuals to conduct their lawful business without fear of intimidation or violence." In 2006 Oxford appealed to the High Court to extend the injunction after "clear threats" were made against the university by the ALF. The court ordered that the injunction be widened to extend the exclusion zone, ban the use of megaphones and afford greater protection to individuals supplying goods or service to the university. A request by Oxford to further restrict the number of protesters to 12 was denied.

In October 2006, after allegations were made on the SPEAK web site, Oxford University won a further injunction, prohibiting SPEAK from publishing the "name of, or any information concerning, the company asserted by Speak to be the contractor for the building of the [Oxford] research laboratory".

Pro-Test
In January 2006, a student group called Pro-Test was formed by Laurie Pycroft, then a 16-year-old, with the aim of countering SPEAK and defending the use of animals in biomedical research. Both groups called demonstrations in Oxford on February 25, 2006, resulting in about 700 "students, dons and members of the public" holding a rally opposed by 200-300 SPEAK activists, according to The Scotsman.

Oxford injunction
The Sunday Times reported on June 18, 2006 that members of SPEAK have been awarded legal aid to finance a challenge to an injunction taken out by Oxford University that prevents protesters from threatening or photographing staff, students and contractors at work or at their homes, and that places restrictions on the size and duration of demonstrations. The newspaper has named Mel Broughton, Robin Webb, and Amanda King as three of the activists who have received the funding.

Since being granted legal aid, King was successful in having her name removed from the injunction, but Webb was not. He had argued that the injunction would curb his freedom of speech as a journalist, and claimed he was not a member of any animal rights group. However, according to The Guardian, in his ruling the judge described Webb as a "propagandist" and a "central and pivotal figure [in the ALF]"

Advertising Standards Authority ruling
A brochure produced by SPEAK included a quote from Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE). The quote stated that: "The animal testing regime ... is utterly futile." NICE objected that the statement was quoted out of context and was therefore misleading. In June 2006, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the complaint by NICE and ruled that the use of the quote was in breach of ASA guidelines.

The ASA noted that Rawlins' quote referred to the use of animal testing in "long-term carcinogenicity studies with known genotoxic compounds or compounds that produced hyperplasia in chronic toxicity tests only", and did not imply that he was against all animal testing.

Coverage in local media
Due to the sensitive nature of the issue and the targeting of other companies seen as "supporting" Oxford University, reporting of Speak's activities in the local press usually only extends as far as reporting the dates and times of protests, and quoting direct speech from Oxford University and SPEAK spokespersons. Nevertheless, SPEAK has made claims on it's website that the Oxford Mail, a daily local paper, has deliberately mislead readers due to being part of an "Old Boy's Club" with Oxford University.

Comments posted beneath news stories on the Oxford Mail's website are predominantly critical of SPEAK and their campaigns in Oxford, usually with posters claiming to be based in Oxfordshire. There are also a small number, often claiming to be living outside of Oxford, who support SPEAK and anti-vivisectionists. The Oxford Mail has also published critical editorials of the violent tactics used by some animal rights protesters.