Fonds AR427 - David Barbarash fonds

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Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

David Barbarash fonds

General material designation

  • Textual record

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Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

CA UVICARCH AR427

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1971-2003 (Creation)
    Creator
    Barbarash, David, 1964-

Physical description area

Physical description

180 cm textual and other material

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Archival description area

Name of creator

(1964 -)

Biographical history

David Barbarash was the North American press officer for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) from mid-1999 until late-2002. He also founded the North American Animal Liberation Front Supporters Group in Toronto in the early 1980s. Barbarash has been linked to Anti-Racist Action, Anti-Fascist Militia, Militant Direct Action Task Force, the Justice Department, Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. He began <i>Ekomedia</i> (later retitled <i>Ecomedia</i>) in Toronto in 1984, an alternative/ anarchist wire service inspired by <i>BC Blackout</i>. Ecomedia published the <i>Anti-Authoritarian News</i>, later the <i>Ecomedia Bulletin</i>, which ran until 1992. (For more information on <i>Ecomedia</i>, see Kerry Mogg, "Introduction to Zines and Small Press," in <i>Only a Beginning: An Anarchist Anthology</i>, pg. 366)
<br>In Toronto in 1988, Barbarash was convicted of breaking the windows of fast food restaurants, fur stores and butcher shops. He was also convicted of property damage worth $50,000 and the theft of 29 cats from the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1992. Fellow activist Darren Thurston served two years in prison for participating in the University of Alberta action, but Barbarash fled to the US to avoid arrest, and lived in hiding there for two years until the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found him living in California. In 1994, Barbarash was deported back to Canada and served four months in jail before being released for time served and a guilty plea.
<br>A Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation of David Barbarash, which began in 1997, was prompted by a series of pipe bombs sent through the mail to various individuals and organizations across Canada in 1995.
<br>In 1998, Barbarash and Thurston were charged with sending letters with razor blades inside to hunters and guide outfitters across British Columbia. The charges were later dropped after the RCMP refused to provide documents to the defendants' lawyers. It is posited that the documents would have confirmed that the RCMP were using undercover police agents, a fact Barbarash maintained the RCMP lied about at the defendants' preliminary hearing. Barbarash always stated his innocence and alleged the undercover agents were attempting to entrap him to commit crimes in the course of their investigation.
<br>Barbarash's home in Courtenay, British Columbia was raided on July 30, 2002 in response to a request from the FBI, which regards the ALF as a domestic terrorist organization. Materials seized during this raid were returned to Barbarash without ever reaching US custody, owing to a judge who overturned the search warrant in response to what she termed "triple-hearsay" used in obtaining the warrant.
<br>Of his activities regarding animal rights, Barbarash states: "Just because they can’t speak up for themselves doesn’t mean that we have the right to do whatever we please to them." (Source, ALF David Barbarash interview http://www.animalliberationfront.com/ALFront/Interviews/Interview%20with%20David%20Barbarash.htm)

Custodial history

Scope and content

Fonds reflects Barbarash’s activities relating to anarchism generally and the animal rights movement specifically, and consists of: articles, brochures and pamphlets, clippings, court documents, correspondence, personal notes, and subject files. Subjects include: animal rights, ALF, Earth First!, legal proceedings, logging, marijuana legalization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), pro-gun lobby, trophy hunting, and the Vancouver 5.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Received from David Barbarash in 2008.

Arrangement

The original folder order has been retained. Where there were no original folder titles, a descriptive title based on the contents has been imposed by the archivist. The folders generally consist of clippings, correspondence and brochures; original series were not in evidence and series have not been imposed by the archivist.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Finding aid available with folder level control.

Generated finding aid

Associated materials

Select items from the collection of David Barbarash have been digitized and are available through UVic Digital Collections.

Related materials

Accruals

2008-032, 2012-026

General note

Finding aid prepared by Nada Lora, Lara Wilson, and Allan Antliff

General note

Part of the Anarchist Archive.

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Description record identifier

david-barbarash-papers

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Status

Final

Level of detail

Partial

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Created on 20 February 2013 by the University Archivist.

Language of description

  • English

Script of description

Sources

Digital content (Master) rights area

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Accession area