Political Action for Animals has formally changed its name to the League of Humane Voters of New York City (LoHV-NYC) to become the NYC chapter of the League of Humane Voters, a network of local animal rights political action committees throughout the state of New York.

Beginning in August, NYC Political Action for Animals, a Wetlands-initiated animal political advocacy group, initiated a series of meeting with leaders from each of the active animal rights in New York City about creating a city-wide coalition to address the upcoming elections from an animal perspective. In light of WTC and other events, we decided that making a heavy push in this direction at this time would be unwise, and are instead focusing our
energies on developing a long-term New York City animal PAC to include reps from all of the city's animal rights groups to put us in the position to be a powerful presence in the 2001 elections.

According to Political Action for Animals founder Adam Weissman, "Political Action for Animals was always intended to be THE political voice of NYC's animal rights movement, not just another animal rights group. This expansion will help us fulfill that mission." In order to emphasize its connection to the former Political Action for
Animals, the renamed group's slogan will be "Taking Political Action for Animals."

Amidst restructuring, LoHV-NYC has remained active. At "Political Animals," a conference sponsored by the Association of the Bar of City of New York's Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals, LoHV-NYC signed up dozens of new potential volunteers.

At Fur Free Friday, the year's largest anti-fur protest, activists collected signatures on LoHV petitions in support of A 5202 and S 3739, the bills that would give counties the power to ban trapping.

Wetlands 2, Furriers 0 in Opening of 2001 Fur Season

Since 1996, the Activism Center at Wetlands Preserve has taken an active role in trying to diminsh and ultimately destroy the sale of fur in the US and abroad. 2001 was no exception with several protests that hammered the point home to the media, New Yorkers, prospective shoppers, future trend setters and store owners. Like other Wetlands events, the protests enabled members to take an active role in allowing a voice to be heard for those who cannot speak.

Our first event was a spontaneous demonstration stemming from the desire of volunteers preparing for Fur Free Friday to hit the streets without delay. It featured a march with signs to local fur merchants followed by chants. The response from onlookers was universally positive. Storeowners were predictably irritated and in a quite untimely fashion a store clerk engaged Adam in baseball--that is the clerk with the bat, Adam's head serving as the baseball. Thankfully, the incompetent clerk struck out.

Our hope to engender frustration among other fur merchants led us to another protest again in front of local fur merchants. The chants were inspiring and moved people on the street to express support. Fur as we all unfortunately know is a part of the fashion industry. It is for that reason that we came out to influence future fashion designers at FIT. The response from tomorrow's fashion creators was overwhelmingly positive as we ran out of certain leaflets. Despite all the progress of 2001, 2002 looks to be a year of continued struggle against this cruel and arrogant industry. We encourage everyone to join the fight against the bloody fur trade.

FUR FREE FRIDAY!
Wetlands and In Defense of Animals Organize NYC's Largest Animal Rights Protest of 2001

Widely regarded as the most successful observance in years, Fur Free Friday 2001 sent the message to upscale Fifth Avenue retailers that concerned citizens are STILL outraged by the torture and slaughter of tens of millions of animals for luxury garments.

The march began with a rally at Saks Fifth Avenue, where even police were reluctantly forced to admit that this year's march was considerably larger than last year's Fur Free Friday. The rally, emceed by Josphine Bellaccomo, began with a rousing and informative presentations by Josephine, who addressed the cruelty of fur and Anne Muller of Wildlife Watch, who exposed the complicity of NY's Department of Environmental Conservation in perpetuating the cruelty
of trapping.

After informing Saks customers of the cruel nature of the departmentstore's fur coats, protests marched up the east side of Fifth Avenue chanting against the sale of fur items at stores including Gianni Versace, Kiekelson-Cord International, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Escada, and others. At Escada, protesters stopped to express their outrage over the slaughter of rabbits, foxes, and mink for garments sold in the store. Adam Weissman addressed animal rights as a social justice
issue, explaining why fighting animal oppression is a moral duty, not a charitable act.

After Escada, protesters crossed to the west side of 5th Avenue, to expose the cruelty and suffering being marketed by fur peddlers Prada, Henri Bendel, Fendi, and Bergdorf Goodman. Protesters then went west to Lexington Avenue to finish off the march at Bloomingdales. There, Martin Rowe, an editor of animal rights books, spoke with passion against the insanity of the fur trade. Peter Muller of the League of Humane Voters addressed the political system as an avenue for advancing animal rights.

On a lighter note, the Radical Cheerleaders, in full cheering garb, graced the march, waving their pom-poms and dancing as they berated the fur industry with their humorous cheers.

Josephine brought the day to a close by leading protesters in chanting for compassion, asking Bloomingdales, a store that sells $25,000 fur coats, to stop profiting from animal suffering.

According to Gabrielle Silverman of The Activism Center at Wetlands Preserve, "Fur Free Friday 2001 was the first salvo of a renewed campaign to put an end to the sale of fur in New York City and the world. Wetlands and In Defense of Animals will keeping pressure on the fur trade through weekly demonstrations in the fur district and a major march for Fur Free Christmas."

Global Sweatshop Coalition Marches and Rallies to Say: "No War, No Sweatshops!"

On November 24, 2001 the Global Sweatshop Coalition held its 5th annual "Day in Solidarity with Sweatshop Workers" This year the event was focused on the connection between terrorism, war, attacks on immigrants, and the global sweatshop economy. A speaker from the New York University group for Social Responsibility, Rebekah Wolf, stressed the theme. People say that students have dropped anti-globalization and anti-sweatshop work for the new peace movement, she said. But these aren't different movements, Wolf emphasized; there is just one movement.

Global Sweatshop Coalition members believe that the demonstration was in fact the first in York to make an explicit link between sweatshops and the war, but we can't report any significant differences from previous years in either attendance or the reactions of bystanders. Some 100 people participated, which is about the same as in most years; a few bystanders were hostile and a few were supportive, but most just seemed curious.

There was more coverage than usual--not all of it favorable—from the mainstream media, including 1010 WINS, WCBS radio and TV Channel 41 (the local station of Univision, the largest US Spanish-language network).

We were also featured on WBAI in Exile's "Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report in Exile.".

Below is the English translation of an article about the march from El Diario-La Prensa, New City's most popular Spanish-language newspaper.

To the Rhythm of Drums and Slogans:
Protest Against Exploitation and War
Damaso Gonzalez
El Diario-La Prensa, 11/25/01

Around a hundred people carried out a march-rally yesterday at different points in Manhattan to protest against globalization and the violation of the human rights of the immigrants that livein the US.

During the demonstration, which was organized by a number of groups, among them the Global Sweatshop Coalition, the Nicaragua Solidarity Network and the Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants, the protesters shouted slogans calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan.

On this topic, Faruk [Abdel-]Muhti, of the Palestine National Alliance, said that the US is waging a war against the Arab world.

"We condemn the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but at the same time we are against the attacks on the human rights of thousands of Afghan civilians and the attacks which [the Israelis] are carrying out against their Palestinian neighbors."

The demonstrators suggested that the war the West is leading is nothing more than a war for oil, since the energy-producing potential of the ground [in the Afghan region] is well known.

With drums and songs, the coalition denounced the violation of the rights of thousands of immigrants who have been detained in recent days only because of their physical appearance.

The demonstrators started their route in Union Square park. From there, they walked all along 14th Street and went down Sixth Avenue, where they had various stops at stores that retail products made in maquiladoras.

On this topic, the demonstrators chanted slogans against what they called "sweatshops," in which multinational companies make substantial profits.

"We want to make it clear that the only way to stop this is through organizing by the workers themselves, and in Haiti we've made progress, with the unionization of at least 400 workers for Cointreau (a fine French liqueur) so that they can negotiate better for wages and for respect for their labor rights," said[Christian Lemoine, member of the Batay Ouvriye ("Workers'Struggle") Network].

The demonstration ended outside the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) center on Varick Street, where the protesters warned that the government of George W. Bush is getting ready to promote trade treaties which only benefit the big corporations and through which poor countries will get still poorer.