By Tom Spender
The 17-year-old student drew back her arm and launched a sodden teabag at the departing car of a scientist leaving the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Mill Hill.
She was protesting against vivisection – testing chemicals on animals – in August. She was arrested and prosecuted at Barnet Magistrates Court for the teabag incident, but the criminal record has not dampened her ardour. She will be back.
This girl is one of a new breed of activists, according to Stuart Thomson, of Sedgemere Avenue, East Finchley. He has just compiled a book. New Activism and the Corporate Response, about how protested are legally, and illegally forcing big business to change its ways.
Political engagement is far from being dead, according to Mr Thomson, but it is no following traditional lines. no longer do young people want to joint the old political parties, which have become fashionable to despise.
Instead, they are more likely to join radical grounds that fight their causes through increasingly daring means.
“Before, people were happy to get involved in political parties. Now, people are willing to be active but not in the traditional party political way”.
“Many of the new activists are in smaller groups and more radical. They will bombard websites with emails and jam them up. They also have the technology to keep ringing the switchboard of a company. Websites can be hacked – those of Lufthansa, Nike and Starbucks have all been targeted.
“The Labour Party had its site attacked with slogans and [pictures of] naked people. Nike are doing a lot of very good work where their factories are in the Far East, but they still have to be very much on their guard.
“People will also join pressure groups, such as the anti-Waitrose group in East Finchley, where you have local people leafleting and encouraging each others to go to meetings. I’m actually quite in favour of a Waitrose in East Finchley, but it has to be done right” he says.
Mr Thomson said these activists have been successful in getting companies to change their behaviour.
“Greenpeace is a good example. It worked with electricity provider Npower on a green electricity tariff for customers.
“An its Stop Esso campaign has been very effective. People chain themselves to the pumps and abseil down the outside of Esso’s headquarters,” he said.
But the anti vivisection campaigners, like the teabag hurling 17-year-old in Mill Hill, have been less successful, despite their often violent action against scientists who carry out tests at companies such as product development firm Huntingdon Life Sciences.
“Drugs have to be tested on animals before they can be used on humans. The activists haven’t brought about a change in the law.
“But they understand what their position in the law is. Most of the time they make sure they are within the law by not having too many people on demonstrations – under the Criminal Justice Act you have to apply for permission if you want to hold a demonstration of more than about 20 people.
“But they have done the illegal stuff as well, such as physically attacking scientists, which is the extreme form of activism. They may also target those in the sphere around these companies, such as their banks,” he said.
Huntingdon Life-Sciences is unlikely to make big changes to what it does, but companies whose profits partly depend on consumers’ goodwill towards them will.
“Businesses ignore activism as their peril,” said Mr Thomson. “Far from the development of an inactive Playstation generation, we are seeing campaigners using every tool possible to hurt corporation they disagree with”.
Hendon and Finchley Times, 9 October 2003