SPEAK keep providing me with such good fodder: in their savage personal attack on Pro-Test’s leader (see Pro-Test: in very good hands), they also have a pop at RDS’ very own Simon Festing about his appointment to…

the top position of the main organisation sponsored by the vivisection industry, the Research Defence Society (RDS); a man who played a pivotal role in the campaign to stop the Newbury bypass, a campaign often referred to as ‘The Battle of Newbury’ because of the often illegal nature of the campaign, and thus hardly a man in a position to condemn others for acting in a manner Governments deem unacceptable.
SPEAK, 1st Feb 2006

I decided to ask Simon about his shady past.  Here’s what he had to say about the questionable tactics…

The campaign against the building of the Newbury bypass was overwhelmingly one of peaceful protest. Many ordinary local people were involved. We had peaceful rallies where thousands walked the route of the bypass without any need to use loudhailers or hurl abuse at people. Locals who were in favour of the road scheme did not feel threatened or intimidated. It is true that many protestors were arrested for their actions – such as sitting in front of bulldozers or staying up trees. I supported such actions morally, as long as they were carried out without harming or harassing anyone, and those involved took the consequences of their actions. This could not be more different to the animal rights extremists who hide their faces behind balaclavas. Only cowards threaten children and students, or lob bricks through windows in the dead of night and then run off.

We have a long history of peaceful protest in the UK which must be upheld. But protest is only one part of winning arguments. Just because you protest, it doesn’t make you right. Oxford University have a legal right to build the new research centre, just as much as SPEAK have a right to peacefully protest about it.