biology

Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade

Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade rather than just read about it. In short: The Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade (RCALB), known simply as Animal Liberation Brigade (ALB), is a name used by animal liberationists who advocate the use of a diversity of tactics within the animal liberation movement, whether non-violent or not. As part of a praxis, the intention is to destroy oppressive institutions, describing an endgame for animal abusers.

Key takeaways

Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade (RCALB), known simply as Animal Liberation Brigade (ALB), is a name used by animal liberationists who advocate the use of a diversity of tactics within the animal liberation movement, whether non-violent or not. As part of a praxis, the intention is to destroy oppressive institutions, describing an endgame for animal abusers. The Revolutionary Cells is not a group but an example of a leaderless resistance, as a banner for autonomous, covert cells who carry out direct action similar to the Animal Rights Militia (ARM). Founded in the United States, after bombing Chiron and Shaklee's corporate offices in 2003, activists have since used the banner to firebomb vehicles and threaten to send letter bombs to individuals in the California area. Targets have included corporate customers of animal testing laboratory Huntingdon Life Sciences and animal researchers at UCLA and the California National Primate Research Center. The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Daniel Andreas San Diego for his alleged association with the cell responsible for the 2003 bombings.

Philosophy

Guidelines The Revolutionary Cells guidelines was posted on the Bite Back website after the second bombing:

To take strategic direct action (be it non-violent or not) against the oppressive institutions that permeate the world. Make every effort to minimize non-target casualties, be they human or non-human. Respect a diversity of tactics, whether they be non-violent or not. Any underground activist fighting for the liberation of the human, earth or animal nations may consider themselves a Revolutionary Cells volunteer.

Who are RCALB?

The Bite Back communique also explained who the Revolutionary Cells were and why they exist:

The revolutionary cells exists as a front group for militants across the liberationary movement spectrum. We are anarchists, communists, anti-racists, animal liberationists, earth liberationists, luddites, feminists, queer liberationists, and many more things across various other fronts. Where ever there is oppression there are those unwilling to idly stand by and let it occur, and those people make up the nucleus of the revolutionary cells.

Structure and aims The group formed the same leaderless-resistance model as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which consists of small, autonomous, covert terror cells acting independently. A cell may consist of just one person. According to the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, the Front describes itself as "an international coalition fighting injustice". The Institute's knowledge Base describes it as an "unusually violent animal-rights terrorist movement [...] with a penchant for hyperbole and casting about pretensions of power and importance." Oren Segal, co-director of Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, believes the group consists of the same few "lone wolves" that carry out actions in the name of the ALF and Earth Liberation Front (ELF), "the names are interchangeable [...] they're going to rename themselves depending on what actions they're doing." The existence of activists calling themselves the Revolutionary Cells or Animal Rights Militia (ARM), another name used to inflict violence, reflects a struggle within the Animal Liberation Front and the animal rights movement in general, between those who believe violence and terror tactics are justified, and those who insist the movement should reject it in favor of non-violent resistance.

Extensional self-defense Steven Best has coined the term "extensional self-defense" to describe actions carried out in defense of animals by human beings acting as "proxy agents." He argues that, in carrying out acts of extensional self-defense, activists have the moral right to engage in acts of sabotage or even violence. Extensional self-defense is justified, he writes, because animals are "so vulnerable and oppressed they cannot fight back to attack or kill their oppressors." Best argues that the principle of extensional self-defense mirrors the penal code statues known as the "necessity defense," which can be invoked when a defendant believes that the illegal act was necessary to avoid imminent and great harm. He also argues that is not just a theory, but policy in some African countries where governments hire armed soldiers to protect endangered wildlife from poachers who wish to sell their body parts in international markets:

Pacifists cannot stop poachers, but bullets can, and while many measures must be taken to protect endangered species, right now armed soldiers are the best protection rhinos and elephants have against murderous, weapon-wielding poachers. In testimony to the Senate in 2005, Jerry Vlasak stated that he regarded violence against Huntingdon Life Sciences as an example of extensional self-defense.

Actions

Pipe bombs The RCALB took credit for its first action on 27 August 2003, when two "pipe bombs filled with an ammonium nitrate" were placed at Chiron Corporation's offices in Emeryville, California. Both devices were packed with nails to act as shrapnel. Chiron was targeted because of a contract with Huntingdon Life Sciences, a New Jersey–based animal testing contractor. A group calling itself Revolutionary Cells of the Animal Liberation Brigade e-mailed a statement to reporters taking credit for the bombing which was also sent to the Bite Back website. One of the bombs exploded an hour after the first, although no casualties resulted from the second blast, as the second device was discovered and the area cleared before the explosion.

Office bombing In September 2003, the RCALB took responsibility for another bombing, this time at the offices of Shaklee Inc. in Pleasanton, California. Shaklee was targeted because its parent company, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical, does business with HLS. The attackers are said to be linked to Daniel Andreas San Diego, who was featured on America's Most Wanted and has been placed on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list. A statement was again released from the group to Bite Back this time also including their manifesto. It was thought the bomb was this intended to cause harm, as nails flew out "at a speed of 100 miles an hour", although again no one was harmed.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade

In research: Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Animal Liberation Front, Eco-terrorism, Left-wing militant groups in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade in simple terms?

Why does Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Revolutionary Cells – Animal Liberation Brigade.