Thread by @copscampaign

We are starting again.
Mitting is about to play his three minute video again, warning everyone about the consequences of breaching the restriction orders that he has made.
#spycopsinquiry
#spycops

Tariq Ali was a member of the International Marxist Group (IMG) - a British section of an international organisation known as the 4th International, created by Trotsky in 1938, after he broke with Stalinism.

The IMG had branches in many towns & cities, including Birmingham, Leicester, Chesterfield, Manchester, London, Nottingham, Hull, Oxford, Norwich, Folkestone, Edinburgh, York, Glasgow, Reading & Crewe, & about 100 members at that time (some branches may have had a single member)

Ali explained that the 4th International grew slowly, it never became a truly mass movement except in Bolivia and Sri Lanka.
In France at its peak it had perhaps around 50k members?

In the UK, the IMG's membership grew to a thousand, max.
It aimed to create left-wing marxist parties to challenge Labour for the loyalties of the working class.
Even the Communist Party didn't manage to do this.

It's interesting to note the questions that David Barr asks:
Did the IMG use violence? Did members of the IMG commit serious criminal offences to further their aims?

Ali had to be clear that the IMG's aims and tactics did not include violence, or any serious criminal activities. He said it was "possible that the odd member did but certainly not to my knowledge".

Next, we were shown a'special report', signed by 'HN340' and countersigned by CI Saunders.
A report about discussions of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) industrial dispute at 'North London Red Circle'....

Barr asked about a line that read "it was important that IMG actvity within the unions ensured they could better exploit any future revolutionary situation."

Ali said he feared that the capitalists would win that particular dispute, and that he very rarely attended these discussions (set up by the Red Mole newspaper and therefore often the first contact people made with the IMG).

Paragraph 4 suggests that Tariq Ali was present, but he cannot recall this meeting at all.

Was the involvement of IMG members in trade unions open or covert? Open, confirmed Ali.

On 14th April, the IMG held a meeting at Southall Town Hall as part of their GLC election campaign.
About 50 people attended. Suggested by the #spycops officer who reported on it that many of the white attendees were not local to Southall.

Ali was asked for his reaction to the discovery that the police had been reporting on this?
It was unnecessary, no big secret. This was a public meeting, anyone was welcome.
Informers have been around since the 18th century so that is no big surprise.

There was then more discussion of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) and its strategies for combatting racism. Ali reminded us of the slogan "self defence is no offence".

Another SDS report flashes up on screen - it list 229 names of people identified as attending the ANL's carnival vs racism – including Tariq Ali and Dave Morris.

If this refers to the event in Victoria Park, Ali told us that it was a pleasant day, with lots of children and music, he could not recall any violence.

The next such report lists 69 named individuals who attended an ANL march and rally on 14th May 1978.

We then heard about a demonstration against the National Front in Southwall on 23rd April 1979.
At the time, Ali was the parliamentary candidate (for Socialist Unity) in that constituency.

Local organsiers were worried about the possibility of racist attacks, and put Ali in a safe house to keep him out of any trouble. He was holed up with Misty, the reggae band, when the police "charged into the house", and pulled everyone out

.. Ali and the others were made to "run a gauntlet" and truncheoned so severely that he passed out. He woke up in a police vehicle, under arrest, and upon his eventual release, had to walk home

He said that the police's treatemnt of them that day made him think of a "colonial police manual" from the days of the Raj

That was the same day that Blair Peach -who we have already heard about in this Inquiry-was killed by the police.

Unsurprisingly, the next report was on a meeting called by those campaigning for justice after Blair Peach's death, which Ali attended

Barr apologised for being repetitive in his ques, but asked Ali how he felt about being spied on at this event
Ali retorted: "What is the point of having a report like this except to keep people in work?
Or to make my file heftier than it was, for absolutely no rhyme or reason?

Ali was invited to speak at a wide range of public meetings. He was involved in many groups on the left. A much more recent document is shown - a report into a meeting of the Stop the War Coalition steering committee on 15th March 2003

li's name is listed, along with MPs like Jeremy Corbyn and George Galloway

The final three reports this afternoon have a more personal nature.
The first is an SDS report, dated 23/01/80 about a man called Phil Evans. He is described as "a long-standing member of the SWP, who lives at [redacted], a single man, he is employed as a sub editor, at...."

"He conveys his politics by way of cartoons in left-wing publications"
and had been engaged to provide illustrations for Tariq Ali's book, 'Trotsky for Beginners'.

As well as providing details of Mr Evans' employer and landlord, it lists the same info about his girlfriend, a fellow member of the SWP and a primary school teacher in Newham. A photo of Evans is included.

When asked for his reaction to one final doc (a report from Oct 1968) he said "It is total fiction. I cannot believe it. To suggest that I had intimate contact with a male students union president is bizarre. I have never been gay or bisexual: there is no truth to it whatsoever"

Ali was asked if he would like to add anything else, now that he has seen the huge bundle of documents prepared for this 'tranche'?

"To be perfectly frank, I have not been able to go through all of the bundle as thoroughly as I would like."
However many of the documents do not seem to be relevant,

I would like to share one item though.

I was stopped once, while jogging around Hampstead Heath,
by a man who said his wife used to work at GCHQ...

He asked me some questions to verify who I was - he asked if I had broken up with my then-partner in 1980? He explained to me that 'my wife was detailed to listen to all your phone conversations' (around that time)...

'...and she heard you and your six-year old daughter crying.'
She ended up deciding to pack in the job at GCHQ as a result of this.

The next questions were from Rajiv Menon QC. he asked Ali for his memories of the police raid on the Black Dwarf offices.
Did the police have a search warrant? Did they tell you what they were searching for?

Do you remember 'True Spies', the TV documentary about the #spycops units?
It featured an UCO using the name 'Wilf', talking about the extensive phone-tapping operations that the State ran.

Activists at that time believed (with giood reason) that their phone calls were being listened to. Ali and his friends would fake conversations as a way of testing their secret listeners.
"Later on it was more or less public knowledge"

So, just to summarise, said Menon,
your phone was tapped, your mail was opened, the police searched your work place...

One of the #spycops made a copy of the IMG office keys.
When you were told about this (by the True Spies documentary-makers) you seemed shocked, and said "it's quite amazing, it's quite amazing"...

Ali: "The person who copied the keys must have occupied a position of trust, I'm wondering now who it was because one's memory fades about who these people were”

Ali explained that learning about this level of intrusion, this much access into a totally legitimate office, took him by surprise, and left him with "an unpleasant feeling".

We now know that the person who copied the keys used the name 'Dick Epps'.
However Ali has no recollection of this person.
The Inquiry has not supplied him with a photograph taken at the time - this might havde aided him in remembering/ recognising this character.

Menon: What was it about the war in Vietnam that led you to oppose it?
Ali: Even though the war was far way, we saw it on TV every evening.
The BBC shared footage & reporting with US networks.

He still remembers seeing a CBS report showing Marines burning a village, and killing people.

Don't forget – I had been to Vietnam, I had seen the bombing, and “the scale of violence and torture was astonishing”

Menon asked Ali about a man called Tony Soares – who was seemingly active in the Black Power movement of the time – but Mitting popped up again to request that this name is not mentioned,in case it was a breach of privacy.

Mitting claimed that this was to do with an individal's privacy rights, and
"nothing to do with secrecy or the State"
Menon pointed out that there is no Restriction Order, he is deceased and his name is already in public domain.

Ali confirmed that he was never given any explanation for the raid on the house where he was sheltering with Misty N Roots. He has no idea if the police had a search warrant for that operation

Blair Peach was a school teacher, and he was spied on by Special Branch. What do you think about that?
Ali: The teachers unions were quite active and militant in that period – maye that is why they were spied on?

The Chair interrupted Menon for a second time, confused about what Menon was describing - it turned out to be a covert recording device planted in a Stop the War meeting, rather than an 'intercept', and so Mititng allowed him to continue

Ali: It puzzles me really why they need to do this.
The Stop The War Coalition has been completely open since it was set up at the Quakers hall, Friends Meeting House.

In his written statement Ali said
"The direction of travel is clear from the questions – to dissect the politics of the victims of police spying, and therefore to turn the spotlight away from the actions of the police. This is the politics of 'blame the victim'."

He felt then this Inquiry was a "monumental waste of time" (for him at least, not necessarily for other CPs) but ; he no longer feels that, after today, but hopes that the final report reflects what he has said about this spying being totally unnecessary.

“You have the greatest knowledge of contemporary and recent Trotskyism than anyone in England”....
Mitting buttered Ali up to 'assist' him further, by giving him a free history lesson....

We stopped tweeting at this point.. you can read more about Trotskyism in the written transcript....