As the much delayed public inquiry into undercover policing
restarts hearings this week (Mon 9th May), those spied on by the UK
Spycops met at the weekend at the the ‘Undercover Policing: Trade Unions
and Social Activism’ conference held at the HQ of UNITE the Union to
demand action on the glacial progress of the UCPI, seven years after it
began. Photos available via Jess Hurd: https://jesshurd.com/clients/2205UndercoverPolicingGallery/
Dave Smith from the Blacklist Support Group
(both core participants in the public inquiry) opened the conference by
stating that "institutional racism, institutional sexism and anti-union
bias is central to the worldview of those at the top of the UK's
political policing units".
Veteran
anti-racism campaigner, Mark Wadsworth was interviewed by Suresh Grover
from the Monitoring Group (both core participants in the inquiry)
Wadsworth
told the conference how he was spied on while campaigning with the
family of Stephen Lawrence, including when he arranged the meeting with
Nelson Mandela to meet Doreen and Neville Lawrence. Wadsworth concluded:
"We do not expect justice from the British state investigating itself,
but we will be using the public inquiry as a platform to shine a light
on the undemocratic nature of the British secret state".
The
disgraced undercover policing units are being investigated for highly
abusive conduct ranging from the theft of deceased children’s identities
and instigating sexual relationships with activist women, to spying on
members of Parliament and grieving families of murder victims - often
victims that died at the
hands of
uniformed police. The next round of evidential hearings in the
Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) will begin on Monday, hearing
evidence from unit managers for the period 1968-1982. The inquiry has
been plagued by delays resulting from the obstructive and secretive
approach taken by the police[1] Nevertheless, there is a growing body of
evidence that units such as the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and
the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) were running
unlawful, anti-democratic, secret political policing operations without
proper oversight or control.
Kate Wilson, who recently successfully sued these units for Human Rights violations commented:“The
Investigatory Powers Tribunal findings in my case included violations
of the rights to privacy, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
The evidence coming out of the UCPI shows that those practices were not
the exception, they were the rule. Thousands of people had their rights
violated in this way during five decades of secret political policing.
We need to understand how and why that was allowed to happen and to go
on for so long. We must not forget that he police are a
hierarchical organisation. The problems start at the top, and we should
therefore be paying very close attention to what the managers have to
say.”
In the closing session, Lois Austin from Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance stated:
“Our people were fighting for a fairer, greener, more equal world, and they were treated appallingly by the British state. This is not just about uncovering the truth. We have a score to settle”
One of the guest speakers, John McDonnell MP reflected:
“We have exposed the terrible suffering that came from police spies that abused women activists and provided information to the illegal blacklist. Now the government has passed the Covert Human Intelligence Source Act to make the very same criminality by undercover police, and even rape, torture and murder, perfectly legal. The potential threat to democracy is even worse now. The trade unions and social movements need to respond at scale”
It
is vital to keep the pressure on to ensure the truth about these
unlawful police practices is subjected to proper public scrutiny. There
will be a demonstration at 9am on 12th May outside the Thistle Hotel
in Marble Arch, where the public screening of the witness evidence will
take place. Core participants and witnesses to the UCPI will be
accompanied by a digital advan, showing a short film by Police Spies Out Of Lives, pulling no punches as to their perceptions of the Inquiry to date. Video released on Twitter today: https://twitter.com/out_of_lives/status/1523559953520218112
Note to Editors:
The
conference was co-organsied by: Blacklist Support Group, Campaign
Opposing Police Surveillance, Police Spies Out of Lives, The Monitoring
Group, The Haldance Society and UNITE the Union.
Blacklist Support Group
blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
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