Anti-Flag For PETA: Never Be Silent

For Immediate Release:
2 May 2012

Contact:
Ben Williamson +44 (0)7525 411 733; [email protected]

London – As one of the most respected punk bands of the past decade, Anti-Flag has made a career of standing up for what’s right and speaking out against oppression. Whether the cause is human rights or animal rights, you can count on these politi-punks to fight back. And now, following the release of figures highlighting a rise in convictions for cruelty to animals across Eastern England, Anti-Flag is appearing in a brand-new PETA UK campaign that proclaims, “It Only Takes a Moment to Change the Life of an Animal Facing Abuse and Exploitation. Find Your Voice”.

“It is imperative that any community faced with animal abuse take measures to find the culprit or culprits and stop the violence”, says PETA UK spokesperson Ben Williamson. “Animal abusers are a danger to everyone – they take their issues out on whoever is available to them, human or non-human.” 

History shows that past incidents involving cruelty to animals regularly appear in the records of serial rapists and murderers. Young killers Mary Bell, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables as well as serial murderers Ian Huntley, Thomas Hamilton (Dunblane massacre), Fred West, Dennis Nilsen, Ian Brady and Raoul Moat all started out by deliberately harming animals. The number of people convicted of cruelty and neglect to animals rose by nearly a quarter last year, according to RSPCA figures released last week.

Anti-Flag will play the Forum Hertfordshire in Hatfield as part of their own festival, ANTIfest, on 3 May.

The band joins a long list of musicians – including Tommy Lee, Dave Navarro, Steve Forrest, Iggy Pop, Sir Paul McCartney and Justin Bieber – who have teamed up with PETA UK and its affiliates to fight for animals.