Always Looking Forward

by Walter Bond

In 2010 fires broke out in the name of Animal Liberation bringing businesses of animal exploitation to their knees in Utah and Colorado. What was left when the smoke cleared were communiques from the self-proclaimed A.L.F Lone Wolf. After his capture the world wanted to know more behind the pseudonym. Walter Bond is the A.L.F Lone Wolf. In this collaboration of his original work, Walter captivates his audience and answers their questions with the raw truth. With stories and articles from behind bars, this book outlines what motivates true animal liberation and what inspired Walter to take action as the Animal Liberation Front.

Genres: Animals

182 pages, Paperback

First published October 13, 2011

Reviews

[Corvus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Camille Marino and Walter Bond have both had their issues in the past with oppressive behavior. They have now graduated to full on white supremacist fascism by creating a nazis-for-the-animals website (this is serious, I swear) called "Vegan Final Solution." I don't recommend reading it. It gets worse than just the title. I hesitated to write anything on here because I don't want their website to get more attention. So far it seems like everyone who has seen it finds it to be abhorrent. I also worry that the same old speciesist leftists- who constantly look for reason not to include the largest marginalized group on the planet (other animals) in our liberation- would love to latch on to a site like this and claim it represents animal rights, liberation, or vegan movements while erasing vegans from oppressed and marginalized groups (who make up most vegans on the planet despite white washing.)

I decided that their usual targets with this sort of thing- younger vulnerable white people often influenced by neo-nazi ideology- should also see someone criticizing them. Eco-fascism has no place in any sort of "liberation" framework. At least they made it blatantly obvious with their word choices that they are promoting genocide. It's a sad day for other animals when we have mainstream white vegans making it all about diet or shopping, ignoring other oppression, taking up a ton of space, and silencing marginalized and radical vegans. Then you pile this on top of it and it reminds me that those whose voice has been stolen from them by humans (other animals) now have another boot added on top of them. If you care about other animals, please do not fall into the rabbit hole of Marino and Bond. Also, if you ask movement veterans, they can tell you a bit more about Marino in particular and what she has done to other activists.

If you want some books to read regarding animal liberation, check out these instead:

Fear of the Animal Planet by Jason Hribal
Beasts of Burden by Sunaura Taylor
Oxen at the Intersection by pattrice jones
Aphroism by Aph and Syl Ko
Neither Man nor Beast and The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol Adams
From Dusk 'Til Dawn: An Insider's View of the Growth of the Animal Liberation Movement by Keith Mann
Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals Ed. Best and Nocella
What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe
Tongue-Tied: Breaking the Language Barrier to Animal Liberation by Hanh Nguyen
Veganism in an Oppressive World Vegan of Color Community
When Animals Speak by Eve Meijer
Fat Gay Vegan Sean O'Callaghan
Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl
The Dreaded Comparison: Human and Animal Slavery by Marjorie Spiegel
Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust Charles Patterson
(It's been a very long time since I read the last two, but included them because even if they make mistakes- which I can't recall if they do or not- they both show how fascism and genocide are linked to animal exploitation.)

There are a bunch more on my to-read list, but I did not list them since I have not read them yet or just forgot to. Many of them came highly recommended, particularly works by Lori Gruen and Claire Jean Kim.
Also, I don't have any social media accounts (besides this.) Some of these books are a bit old and I often miss when new things come out. I am sure many other people have many resources if you ask around.

Here's a list of bloggers and youtubers off the top of my head but I am undoubtedly missing a ton:
Animal Resistance University
EVERYTHING by Brenda Sanders
The Cranky Vegan
VINE Sanctuary blog
AfroVegan Society
Christopher Sebastian's blog
Striving with the Systems
A Breeze Harper's Blog
Vegan Bill of Consistent Anti-Oppression
The Vegan RD blog
Black VegFest
Queering Animal Liberation
Earthling Liberation Kollective
Crip Humanimal
Food Empowerment Project
Chilis on Wheels
Striking at the Roots
The Bearded Vegans Podcast
For fun, Veganarchist Memes' Facebook

Please remember that you can never successfully fight oppression with another form of oppression.

[Marius Jaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to see and engage with one of the faces of militant animal liberation, this is the book for you. Depending on your background, Bond can come across as a self-righteous and judgmental tool, an incredibly powerful and persuasive militant who puts action before speech, or a wingnut crazy guy with no respect for property or your right to do what you want to animals. That Bond can be so many different things to so many people is why you should read this book.

Walter is the self-described Animal Liberation Front (ALF) Lone Wolf. He's a political prisoner serving time in Federal prison. Earth Crisis sings about him in “Firestorm.” Dr. Jerry Vlasak, Founder of the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, interviews him. Bond does not apologize for his actions, and he continues to advocate for straight edge, veganism, and animal liberation.

Walter Bond’s Always Looking Forward is a collection of multiple short pieces. Most, if not all, were published in other venues, zines, and sites. The Introduction by his mother is awkward. I just didn’t get why it was there.

The writing is not polished, but this lack of polish is not a problem: it keeps pure the overwhelming power of his position. Polishing would have softened the intensity of how he communicates his beliefs. Polishing would have weakened the feel of his virtually indestructable commitment.

In terms of the physical book, production values are relatively low in terms of image quality and typesetting; definitely like reading a zine that was converted to a book.

There is no question that he’s able to communicate persuasively and powerfully. Unlike so many activists and militants who couch or hide their intent, Bond is live, real, and raw. To dismiss Bond and those he inspires would be a mistake.

[Ryan McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A searing indictment of western culture, monotheism, and the passivity of the modern animal rights movement. Read this book.