Less than eight months ago, a small but determined group of people wrote the words “No New Animal Lab” in black paint across a flannel bed sheet. Although they were preparing late into the night, the full impact of their efforts would last well beyond…

The following morning, the University of Washington Board of Regents prepared to approve the construction of the Animal Research and Care Facility (ARCF). This move came after a lawsuit against the Regents for hosting private dinner meetings in violation of Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act. It was under this shroud of secrecy that the Regents developed and approved the ARCF contract with Skanska USA. As a hollow gesture towards accountability and transparency, UW decided to produce this sham re-vote to skirt public criticism. As the Regents prepared to approve project construction, the group unfurled the bed sheet banner and began a disruption.

That day marked the beginning of No New Animal Lab, a grassroots campaign to stop the University of Washington and construction giant Skanska USA from building a new underground animal lab that will expand the number of animals that the UW can torture and kill by thousands.

Since then, the campaign has transformed from that first small disruption into a high-profile campaign that spans over a dozen cities, multiple countries, and two continents and that employs a diversity of tactics–letter writing, petitions, public comment, office protests and disruptions, home protests, mass demonstrations, and direct action. The campaign’s dynamic tactics, expanding momentum, accumulating pressure, and radical foundations have awoken and inspired the animal liberation movement.

Now with the arrival of summer, No New Animal Lab campaign is launching a national tour to escalate pressure even further against the University of Washington and Skanska.

The No New Animal Lab Tour will take the campaign across the U.S. with two goals in mind–to stop the lab and to build a movement. Through workshops and protests that will span the country, we will build a network, foster organizational skills and resources, and bring pressure to the University of Washington and Skanska like they've never seen before. The tour will end in Seattle, with a second March on University of Washington of hundreds of people. We will travel from coast to coast, we will take to the streets, we will stop this lab from being built, and we will build a grassroots movement for animal liberation.