Saturday, January 26, 2008

WAR Launches Pre-emptive Attack on Canadian Seal Slaughter

Global Campaign against Escada Continues

HLS Investor Peter Laventhol Shamed Again

Demo #1: Prada

Activist’s first stop of the day was at the Prada boutique on Fifth Avenue and 56th Street. Great location as it is right next door to the incredibly popular Abercrombie & Fitch, where lines to get in usually snake around the corner. This provides activists with an extremely interested audience. Two activists distributed fliers as protesters urged shoppers to boycott Prada until they stop selling fur, especially the fur of innocent baby seals. Graphic banners and posters depicting the brutality of the seal hunt made many shoppers recoil and grimace in horror. Their faces showed us clearly how opposed they are to the slaughter of the innocents and applauded and showed signs of support as they passed the picket line.

Demo #2: Escada

Although Escada doesn’t sell baby seal fur (at least not to our knowledge), the fact that Escada is the target of a global campaign and right across the street from Prada made it a definite for a short but powerful protest. Activists held signs calling for a boycott of Escada and as usual they noted with considerable satisfaction, that the Escada store was empty except for bored sales personnel and frustrated security guards who want to lock the doors, but can’t because they might miss their only customers of the day. How sad and pathetic, Escada. Your share price is tanking, employee morale is at an all time low…..yet you still insist that you must sell fur. Well, activists insist that they must keep returning until you set things straight. See you again real soon!

Demo #3: Gucci

Next stop along Fifth Avenue was Gucci, notorious for their ostentatious use of fur and other “exotic” fabrics like cashmere, not to mention their disgusting use of the fur of innocent baby seals. Their double G trademark must stand for “Glitzy and Gaudy”. The voices of activists raised in chants could be heard all along Fifth Avenue. “50 dead animals, one fur coat”, “50 tortured animals, one fur coat”, “50 murdered animals, one fur coat”…the activists admonished any idiot fur wearer that crossed their paths. Those wearing fur found out it is not a good idea to cross a picket line of assertive and impassioned anti-fur activists, especially WAR activists.

Demo #4: Versace

The last seal fur protest of the afternoon was held at Versace. This was, perhaps, the most heated of the protests that day. At the Escada protest, WAR picked up an interloper, who decided that he would follow the protesters and scream insanely about human rights and stopping the war, wherever the group stopped to protest. Despite the intrusion and disruption, he was actually a good addition to the demonstration for two reasons. First, he was probably more annoying to the upscale stores than the activists were. And second, he was so stupid and made so little sense that he made protesters look more intelligent and reasonable. During this protest, a Versace employee approached a protester to tell her that she needed to get her facts straight because Versace does not use seal fur in their designs. Activists know that any company cruel enough to profit from seal fur, is evil and wicked enough to lie about it.

Demo #5: Peter Laventhol – Owner Spark Management

Although activists had reserved this day of protest to call attention to the Canadian seal slaughter, one location was so close, that activists knew they couldn’t leave the area without stopping by. Just minutes way from Fifth Avenue was the home of Peter Laventhol, owner of Spark Management. Spark is the second largest institutional investor in LSR also known as Huntingdon Life Sciences, a notorious company that is known to kill 500 animals every single day.

Lined up across the street from the entrance to Peter’s building, activists were able to distribute literature and converse with his neighbors and visitors to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) right down the block. Voice were raised in unison, chanting “There’s no excuse for animal abuse” and exhorting Peter to do the right thing and divest of his shares in puppy killing and animal abuse.

The highlight of the protest was when a gentleman from Laventhol’s building came down to speak to the activists. He asked intelligent questions about the connection between HLS and Laventhol and then asked questions about the campaign in general. As a devout animal lover and feline rescuer, this gentleman was horrified at what he was told. He requested a supply of flyers so that he could distribute them to other animal loving building residents. He vowed to do everything he could to help stop the killing.

*click here for slide show & video clip*