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Flaming Arrows: Collected Writings of Animal Liberation Front Activist Rod Coronado
Flaming Arrows is a compilation of writings by Rod Coronado, animal liberator and former Animal Liberation Front prisoner. These essays cover Coronado's first-hand accounts of sinking Icelandic whaling vessels, A.L.F. raids on fur farms, and more. Coronado is perhaps the best known former member of the Animal Liberation Front, jailed for his role in a series of A.L.F. arson attacks against the fur industry. Flaming Arrows Also included are excerpts from every issue of Strong Hearts , Coronado's jailhouse zine. In the last 20 years, Rod has been a source of inspiration and strength in the struggle for earth and animal liberation. Rod has served multiple prison terms, including a sentence for an Animal Liberation Front arson on a fur farm research laboratory. Many have read Rod's writing in publications such as No Compromise, Bite Back, and the Earth First! Journal . Coronado's biography Operation Bite Back was published in 2009. Flaming Arrows is a powerful collection of writings from one man who risked it all for animals and the Earth. "As Earth warriors, we choose to be participants in the ancient battle between good and evil. On our side stand the waters and wind, and all things wild and of the Earth. On the other side, consumed with greed and in persuit of power, control and money, stand all the dark forces that lay waste to Her." - Rod Coronado
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2011
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May 10, 2024
A LARGE COLLECTION OF WRITINGS FROM A FAMED ANIMAL/EARTH ‘LIBERATIONIST’
Rodney Adam Coronado (born) is a Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist, formerly associated with the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front, Earth First!, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. (He served prison time, for some of his activities.)
He wrote (in this collection), “Monkeywrenching is more than a tactic or strategy, it’s the way of warriors… It is our spiritual duty for that most ancient power in our world, the live giver, our one Mother Earth… [In] 1986, after fighting Nordic whalers … I came home to … something very old: human children putting their lives on the line for Earth once more. We were no longer asleep…. we attacked the machines destroying Earth… Across North America, monkeywrenching became the answer for those frustrated with the ineffectiveness of working within the system… Earth First! was changing. It wasn’t just beer-swilling red necks for wilderness anymore. The call… was heard by many primed and ready for action outside the traditional ranks.” (Pg. 9-10)
He explains, “Over the last ten years I have placed myself between the hunter and the hunted, the vivisector and the victim, the furrier and fur bearer, and the whaler and the whale. These are my people, my constituency. It is to them that I owe my life. I have chosen to continue the time honored tradition of resistance to the invading force that are ravaging our homes and our people.” (Pg. 14)
In his 2006 ‘Statement from Prison,’ he explained, “I believe there comes a time in everyone’s life when we have to honestly ask ourselves why we are here… These last two years have surely been such a time for me… [I] always will believe in respecting life be it human or non-human and this planet we call home. A large part of my personal and spiritual evolution has been in the last nearly five years since I became the parent of a beautiful human child. As a warrior I used to think that having children was in impediment to my struggle for peace and justice. Never could I have been more wrong. I believe our creator chose me to be a parent of my son because I was a warrior… Raising a child requires a parent to practice the very principles you seek to teach your children… I chose to engage sometimes in the destruction of property, used to destroy life… no longer do I personally choose to represent the cause of peace and compassion in that way. As a parent… I believe in not raising children to accept violence as a necessary evil. I believe in teaching and living peace with the home that only through example do our children have a chance of escaping a violent future.” (Pg. 16-17)
In an earlier essay, he rejects activists who “religiously adhere to nonviolence and the tactics of civil disobedience in the face of increasingly violent attacks by police… I prefer the path of nonviolence and it saddens me to see societal attention and change primarily in response only to aggression, but unfortunately, we don’t make the rules, we just play the game.” (Pg. 19)
He argues, “Mass mink releases have presented a sometimes difficult question for environmentalists who oppose the domestication of native wildlife but fear the impact that large numbers of mink would have on the surrounding environment… At the 1991 Seattle Fur Exchange auctions, I interviewed numerous mink farmers, none of whom questioned the potential survivability of farm-raised mink in the wild… Whether mink can survive is less of a question than what ecological impacts such introductions have on native wildlife, especially fish, ground-nesting birds and small mammals. In England, research on the effects of feral mink on salmonoid stocks revealed that the mink did little more than impact surplus populations of smaller fish.” (Pg. 25-26)
He recounts, “it was decided that we would buy out the remaining animals and rehabilitate the release them all… None of us had a clue how we were going to go about the massive project of rehabilitating the mink, bobcats and lynx, but we made a promise to the animals that we would… I called on an old Sea Shepherd friend… I told her that I had just bought sixty mink, four bobcats and two lynx and had no place to take them… Our finances were nil, and I was forced to beg and borrow to provide for the animals… I was still hoping Friends of Animals, who had sponsored the fur farm investigation, would help us achieve our goals… Finally they offered to take the animals off our hands and ship them to a sanctuary … where they would live out their lives in cages… We decided to refuse FoA’s offer. We had no money, yet we agreed to carry out the rehabilitation on our own… it was not unusual to see our volunteers go without a meal so that the animals would have enough to eat… Never have I witnessed a more committed group of activists… The problem was that we did not have the money to purchase the chain-link fence needed to build the pens… who better to make an ‘involuntary donation’ than the state of Washington, who sanctioned fur farming… Late one night we… raided a fenced lot, taking with us the fencing material needed to build two 26-fot square enclosures.” (Pg. 39-40
He states, “I believe there was a day not long ago when humans were more in touch with their mental abilities, and were maybe not always capable of literal communication with animals, but at least capable of conveying the intense feelings of fear and respect. Anyone who has ever known horses can agree that animals are definitely capable of interpreting our most basic feelings. So I spent that night driving… flooding my mind and heart with the image that I hoped our two wild passengers [the two lynx] could understand.” (Pg. 42)
He summarizes, “Back in … Montana, the lynx still pace their cages, staring at the wilderness they once called home. They remain prisoners of a war that began when the first European set foot in their world… And it is a war that continued today… What remains to be seen is whether the children of the earth will break from the ranks of the culture of death and join us in trying to hold open the door to the world that is quickly disappearing, leaving us along in a world where only Man and his machines reign supreme.” (Pg. 45)
He observes, “Apologists for the earth destroyers and animal abusers are quick to point to naturally-caused cases of extinction, but no one can deny that never before in the history of earth has there been such an accelerated rate of extinction as that caused by modern man. The Canadian Seal Wars are just one regionalized armed conflict that happens to be particularly brutal in visibility to any who questions its impact on the other beings we share our planet with.” (Pg. 54)
He suggests, “The majority of our ceremonial foods have always been plant based… It is not hard to remove the animal products from our diet without losing any of its cultural integrity. It is up to my generation to reintroduce the traditional diet that is not only one not dependent on corporate or government commercial foods both plant and animal, but also one that is available to those not able to afford the privilege of natural food stores and their overpriced products. A return to Native American Vegetarianism will always be a goal parallel to my desire for cultural preservation and protection of our homelands and sovereignty.” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “At the same time Earth First! and monkeywrenching surfaced in the U.S., the animal rights movement in America began to employ a tactic that had originated in Britain. Breaking into animal research laboratories, rescuing the animals used in experiments and damaging the equipment used to conduct experimentation… activists rejoiced in the sight of videos released by the ALF depicting hooded members smashing down doors to enter animal labs and spiriting the animals away to freedom... Suddenly many Americans found themselves debating the pros and cons of breaking the law on behalf of animals. Mainstream animal rights groups began to weigh the potential loss of public support for animal rights, a belief in itself that was radical to most members of American society, with the ALF scene as the ‘extremist fringe.’” (Pg. 92)
He acknowledges, “Within the ALF divisions began to develop, not just over arson but about media and euthanasia. Sadly enough, some ALF cells believed in killing healthy animals once rescued, rather than risk finding safe homes for them. Already arguments had erupted in the midst of ALF actions between activists who wanted to dump animals rather than carry them away when alarms were triggered or when homes could not be found… [For] us, liberation meant freedom from a certain death at the hands of human, be them vivisectors, factory farmers, or media-hungry animal rights activists. The responsibility of the animal liberator did not end when the laboratory was destroyed, but when all of its prisoners were guaranteed sanctuary in safe homes or returned to their native habitat.” (Pg. 95)
He asserts, “what the fur industry feared most, [was] not protests, not negative media coverage, but illegal direct actions. The only form of activism for which the corporations and courtrooms cannot control… As the 1990s continue, the ALF is showing no signs of weakness as more and more activists become disenchanted with less effective legitimate means of reform in their attempt to lay a barbaric industry to rest. Four hundred years of death and destruction is enough.” (Pg. 115)
This book will be of great interest to those studying animal rights and other environmental protest movements.
Rodney Adam Coronado (born) is a Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist, formerly associated with the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front, Earth First!, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. (He served prison time, for some of his activities.)
He wrote (in this collection), “Monkeywrenching is more than a tactic or strategy, it’s the way of warriors… It is our spiritual duty for that most ancient power in our world, the live giver, our one Mother Earth… [In] 1986, after fighting Nordic whalers … I came home to … something very old: human children putting their lives on the line for Earth once more. We were no longer asleep…. we attacked the machines destroying Earth… Across North America, monkeywrenching became the answer for those frustrated with the ineffectiveness of working within the system… Earth First! was changing. It wasn’t just beer-swilling red necks for wilderness anymore. The call… was heard by many primed and ready for action outside the traditional ranks.” (Pg. 9-10)
He explains, “Over the last ten years I have placed myself between the hunter and the hunted, the vivisector and the victim, the furrier and fur bearer, and the whaler and the whale. These are my people, my constituency. It is to them that I owe my life. I have chosen to continue the time honored tradition of resistance to the invading force that are ravaging our homes and our people.” (Pg. 14)
In his 2006 ‘Statement from Prison,’ he explained, “I believe there comes a time in everyone’s life when we have to honestly ask ourselves why we are here… These last two years have surely been such a time for me… [I] always will believe in respecting life be it human or non-human and this planet we call home. A large part of my personal and spiritual evolution has been in the last nearly five years since I became the parent of a beautiful human child. As a warrior I used to think that having children was in impediment to my struggle for peace and justice. Never could I have been more wrong. I believe our creator chose me to be a parent of my son because I was a warrior… Raising a child requires a parent to practice the very principles you seek to teach your children… I chose to engage sometimes in the destruction of property, used to destroy life… no longer do I personally choose to represent the cause of peace and compassion in that way. As a parent… I believe in not raising children to accept violence as a necessary evil. I believe in teaching and living peace with the home that only through example do our children have a chance of escaping a violent future.” (Pg. 16-17)
In an earlier essay, he rejects activists who “religiously adhere to nonviolence and the tactics of civil disobedience in the face of increasingly violent attacks by police… I prefer the path of nonviolence and it saddens me to see societal attention and change primarily in response only to aggression, but unfortunately, we don’t make the rules, we just play the game.” (Pg. 19)
He argues, “Mass mink releases have presented a sometimes difficult question for environmentalists who oppose the domestication of native wildlife but fear the impact that large numbers of mink would have on the surrounding environment… At the 1991 Seattle Fur Exchange auctions, I interviewed numerous mink farmers, none of whom questioned the potential survivability of farm-raised mink in the wild… Whether mink can survive is less of a question than what ecological impacts such introductions have on native wildlife, especially fish, ground-nesting birds and small mammals. In England, research on the effects of feral mink on salmonoid stocks revealed that the mink did little more than impact surplus populations of smaller fish.” (Pg. 25-26)
He recounts, “it was decided that we would buy out the remaining animals and rehabilitate the release them all… None of us had a clue how we were going to go about the massive project of rehabilitating the mink, bobcats and lynx, but we made a promise to the animals that we would… I called on an old Sea Shepherd friend… I told her that I had just bought sixty mink, four bobcats and two lynx and had no place to take them… Our finances were nil, and I was forced to beg and borrow to provide for the animals… I was still hoping Friends of Animals, who had sponsored the fur farm investigation, would help us achieve our goals… Finally they offered to take the animals off our hands and ship them to a sanctuary … where they would live out their lives in cages… We decided to refuse FoA’s offer. We had no money, yet we agreed to carry out the rehabilitation on our own… it was not unusual to see our volunteers go without a meal so that the animals would have enough to eat… Never have I witnessed a more committed group of activists… The problem was that we did not have the money to purchase the chain-link fence needed to build the pens… who better to make an ‘involuntary donation’ than the state of Washington, who sanctioned fur farming… Late one night we… raided a fenced lot, taking with us the fencing material needed to build two 26-fot square enclosures.” (Pg. 39-40
He states, “I believe there was a day not long ago when humans were more in touch with their mental abilities, and were maybe not always capable of literal communication with animals, but at least capable of conveying the intense feelings of fear and respect. Anyone who has ever known horses can agree that animals are definitely capable of interpreting our most basic feelings. So I spent that night driving… flooding my mind and heart with the image that I hoped our two wild passengers [the two lynx] could understand.” (Pg. 42)
He summarizes, “Back in … Montana, the lynx still pace their cages, staring at the wilderness they once called home. They remain prisoners of a war that began when the first European set foot in their world… And it is a war that continued today… What remains to be seen is whether the children of the earth will break from the ranks of the culture of death and join us in trying to hold open the door to the world that is quickly disappearing, leaving us along in a world where only Man and his machines reign supreme.” (Pg. 45)
He observes, “Apologists for the earth destroyers and animal abusers are quick to point to naturally-caused cases of extinction, but no one can deny that never before in the history of earth has there been such an accelerated rate of extinction as that caused by modern man. The Canadian Seal Wars are just one regionalized armed conflict that happens to be particularly brutal in visibility to any who questions its impact on the other beings we share our planet with.” (Pg. 54)
He suggests, “The majority of our ceremonial foods have always been plant based… It is not hard to remove the animal products from our diet without losing any of its cultural integrity. It is up to my generation to reintroduce the traditional diet that is not only one not dependent on corporate or government commercial foods both plant and animal, but also one that is available to those not able to afford the privilege of natural food stores and their overpriced products. A return to Native American Vegetarianism will always be a goal parallel to my desire for cultural preservation and protection of our homelands and sovereignty.” (Pg. 76)
He recounts, “At the same time Earth First! and monkeywrenching surfaced in the U.S., the animal rights movement in America began to employ a tactic that had originated in Britain. Breaking into animal research laboratories, rescuing the animals used in experiments and damaging the equipment used to conduct experimentation… activists rejoiced in the sight of videos released by the ALF depicting hooded members smashing down doors to enter animal labs and spiriting the animals away to freedom... Suddenly many Americans found themselves debating the pros and cons of breaking the law on behalf of animals. Mainstream animal rights groups began to weigh the potential loss of public support for animal rights, a belief in itself that was radical to most members of American society, with the ALF scene as the ‘extremist fringe.’” (Pg. 92)
He acknowledges, “Within the ALF divisions began to develop, not just over arson but about media and euthanasia. Sadly enough, some ALF cells believed in killing healthy animals once rescued, rather than risk finding safe homes for them. Already arguments had erupted in the midst of ALF actions between activists who wanted to dump animals rather than carry them away when alarms were triggered or when homes could not be found… [For] us, liberation meant freedom from a certain death at the hands of human, be them vivisectors, factory farmers, or media-hungry animal rights activists. The responsibility of the animal liberator did not end when the laboratory was destroyed, but when all of its prisoners were guaranteed sanctuary in safe homes or returned to their native habitat.” (Pg. 95)
He asserts, “what the fur industry feared most, [was] not protests, not negative media coverage, but illegal direct actions. The only form of activism for which the corporations and courtrooms cannot control… As the 1990s continue, the ALF is showing no signs of weakness as more and more activists become disenchanted with less effective legitimate means of reform in their attempt to lay a barbaric industry to rest. Four hundred years of death and destruction is enough.” (Pg. 115)
This book will be of great interest to those studying animal rights and other environmental protest movements.
November 11, 2021
I was surprised by this collection of Coronado’s writings, thinking that they’d be entirely focused on animal liberation issues; Coronado’s analysis of indigenous struggles around the world was a welcome divergence from the main topic. Inspired writing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews