The animal rights campaign group opposing the Oxford Research Centre, known as SPEAK, spend much of their time hunting down and identifying targets – both individuals and organisations – who have some involvement with the University. They ask their supporters to write and inform such organisations about Oxford University’s ‘appalling animal research history’. Not surprisingly, the individuals and organisations involved get plenty of threatening, abusive or unpleasant letters sent by activists who do not divulge their identity.
SPEAK are always complaining about the secrecy which they allege surrounds animal research, but boast constantly that no one can hide from them.
Strangely, when it comes to their own membership, they take a rather different view. SPEAK outline on their website how they have gone to great lengths to protect their list of members, even going so far as to place the list outside of the UK so that it does not fall within legal jurisdiction in this country.
In defending this approach, one of their main leaders, Robert Cogswell, argued that the SPEAK list would almost certainly have very young children and elderly people on it and he didn’t believe it was right to scare people by handing the list over to Oxford University. Bizarrely, Cogswell appears to claim that Oxford University would send official emails ‘threatening people - law abiding members of the public who have done nothing worse than to support a legal campaign whose objectives they believe in.’
SPEAK have reassured those that have subscribed to their email alerts that their identities are totally safe; they are not controlled by SPEAK in the UK but by supporters outside the UK. So no matter what happens, they claim that ‘our email alert list will never fall into the hands of Oxford University’.
As for the victims of animal rights extremism, many of whom were identified by SPEAK in the first place, SPEAK have consistently stated that they will not be drawn to comment on activities that are not part of their campaign. So tough luck.
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