Saturday, June 17, 2006
WAR: Back to Basics at Baker’s

We’re Ba-a-a-a-a-a-ck
After being away from Central Park West for a time, it was great to return to West 88th Street, site of the multi-million dollar penthouse apartment of CEO of Huntingdon Life Sciences, Andrew Baker. It was a pleasure to unfurl WAR's 15-foot banner that reads Andrew Baker Puppy Killer. That banner added to our graphic 12 foot banner complete with a large photo of a bloody mutilated beagle, killed at HLS, made an impressive backdrop for the two dozen activists holding signs and chanting loudly.

In the background an educational outreach table was manned by activists who were delighted by the level of interest shown by neighbors and Central Park visitors as they strolled by. Many neighbors came by to tell us that they had missed us and that they were pleased we were back and continuing with the fight to stop the killing at HLS.

The day was made especially purposeful by the presence of a photographer from the Village Voice, which is doing a story about SHAC, WAR and the campaign to stop the madness at HLS. As always, the demo was loud and spirited as we expressed our rage at the continued killing of 500 animals each day by the scum at HLS.

Our next stop was a first time visit to Margaret Foran, a Vice President of Pfizer pharmaceuticals responsible for Corporate Governance. An oversight position that Pfizer was required to add to the executive staff as a result of a legal action which resulted in a deferred prosecution. The more we find out about Pfizer, the scummier the lot of them appears to be.

Margaret was busy on Saturday hosting a graduation party for her offspring. The doorman greeted two activists, who had entered the building lobby, warmly and invited them to go right upstairs to #12 D where the party was in full swing. After knocking the activists were invited to “come in”. A packet of literature was delivered and the party revelers were told that there was a protest going on downstairs in front of Margaret’s building.

The drunken partygoers all stumbled down to the ground floor where they proceeded to scream at protesters, pushing, shoving and bullying and generally showing their asses. One large hulking man with a huge beer gut bellied up to a petite protester and tried to intimidate her into silence. To the protesters credit, we stayed calm and in control and allowed them to act stupid and foolish and just stayed the course continuing the demonstration.

One of the highlights of this demo was when Margaret’s daughter screamed that the protesters should be helping orphans in Africa. At which point we were happy to tell said daughter that Pfizer was responsible for killing children in Africa and had been prosecuted legally for their actions in third world countries. The best part was when Margaret pulled the girl into the lobby and admonished her for bringing up points that Pfizer could not possibly defend themselves against.

Message for Margaret, if you are going to have parties at your place you might want to keep the location a secret until the last minute. You see Margaret, you have a relative that hates what companies like Pfizer and HLS do just as much as we do. We’ll be back Margaret until you get the message. We consider puppy killing and orphan killing equally reprehensible and Pfizer is responsible for both.