Thread by @copscampaign

Day 3 of this round of the #SpyCopsInquiry starts in 5 mins - watch at


We'll be live-tweeting - along with @tombfowler - throughout the morning (yes, it's due to finish for the day at lunchtime)

#spycops

@tombfowler First is Rajiv Menon QC, representing Tariq Ali, Ernie Tate and Piers Corbyn.
You can now download their written Opening Statement from ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
#spycops

@tombfowler As Menon says, Ali gave evidence in Nov 2020 and Corbyn in April 2021.

Sadly, Ernie Tate's ill-health meant he was unable to give evidence in person to the @ucpinquiry, and he passed away in February of last year, (without ever receiving any meaningful disclosure)

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Menon: "we adopt the submissions being made by the co-operating group of Non-State Core Participants (NSCPs)" and remain “deeply concerned about excessive delay and secrecy”.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Today he will limit himself to making some remarks, on the following topics:
a) Tranche 1, Phase 4 (“T1P4”) closed hearings;
b) T1P3 evidence;
c) Disclosure and redactions;
d) SDS and MI5;
e) SDS in the 1970s;
f) Future of the Inquiry.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Mitting heard evidence from 5 former #spycops at the secret ('closed' to the public, the media, the Non State Core Participants and their legal teams, but open to the police/State representatives) 'T1P4' hearings, sometime in the autumn of 2021.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Their names are also kept secret – along with their cover names – so we know them only as HN21, HN41, HN109, HN302 and HN341.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Transcripts of these hearings – redacted, so we can't even see the dates they were held! - are now being published, along with a document of "Unattributable Excerpts".

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry We are told that this equates to around 50% of the evidence received; the other 50% will never be published and will remain secret forever.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry The Inquiry tells us that these redactions are made “for reasons of public interest”
What and whose public interest?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry The public interest is surely in learning the truth – the full nature and extent of this secret political policing, which was carried out on members of the public!

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry We are left in the dark about why these redactions were made,and similarly, about why these 'unattributed excerpts' could not be attributed to anyone.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry How can NSCPs participate effectively and equally in this 'Public' Inquiry when witness statements are withheld, the opportunity to ask questions denied and so much evidence is unattributed?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry Closed hearings have no place in a 'Public Inquiry'. Especially when the evidence concerns events of over 40 years ago.
Why not use screens etc?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry It is incredible that HN21 – who took part in the BBC documentary 'True Spies' 20 years ago and spoke openly then – is now unable to give evidence openly to a public inquiry.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry He was a married officer, who infiltrated the SWP.

He admits to a sexual relationship with a woman he met at a Marxist study class, but makes the 'excuse' that she was “apolitical”

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry How is this relevant?

Does he think it makes his violation of her more palatable?

As Menon says “HN21 was never asked these questions. He should have been”.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry HN41 said that he was warned not to go to Southall on the day when Blair Peach was killed by violent police officers.
Why are the names of the groups he infiltrated all redacted?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry This has raised lots of questions about the police's pre-planning, the role of the A8 unit and the @metpolice attitudes towards anti-racist demonstrators.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Did senior police see the left-wing protestors as an 'enemy within'?

No surprise that Special Branch's report into the killing of Peach has gone missing, despite SB having their own archives. Presumably it's been destroyed

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice There is a sense of this Inquiry representing a wasted opportunity, which these closed hearings have contributed towards.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice We know that senior police officers visited the SDS safe house, and that this #spycops unit was known about at the highest level.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Was the unit's success measured by the degree of chaos caused by the police on the streets of London? asks Menon

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice The far-right were the true public order threat.

The police protected them - in Red Lion Square, in Lewisham and in Southall

Were these events considered police 'successes'?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Over the next few days, we are due to hear the evidence of various SDS managers.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Detective Inspector Roy Creamer is one of them. He adopted what Menon calls the 'direct approach' of finding out about political groups and their politics - asking them questions in person!

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice In contrast, Conrad Dixon and most of the other #spycops chose the 'oblique approach'

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Menon pointed out that the kind of intelligence the police needed for public order purposes could easily have been done from open-source, publicly-available, information

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Menon then returned to the topic of disclosure and redactions - and repeated his earlier calls for these to be reviewed, on at least an annual basis, by the @ucpinquiry

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice One more thing - we still haven't seen the "annual threat assessments" produced by the security services. Why not?

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice We have learnt much more about the relationship between the SDS and MI5.
"In our view, MI5 were the organ grinders, and SDS were the monkeys"

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice He says that MI5 seem to have leapt on to the potential of the new #spycops unit to supply them with information about the 'New Left' and anarchists

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice We know that MI5 was more interested in individuals than groups.

Geoffrey Craft (HN34) says the SDS gave MI5 “a huge base of information for their vetting activity".

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice The name of the Special Operations Squad (SOS) was changed in 1972 - it became the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). It's suggested that this was done to prop up the lie that the #spycops main interest was in public order policing of demonstrations etc

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice as we heard yesterday, there seem to be NO reports relating to public order issues throughout this entire period - let's see what happened in future 'tranches'

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice The far right was never subject to anything resembling the degree of intrusive surveillance/
infiltration of left wing & anarchist groups, despite the fact that racists & fascists were well-known for their violence.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice The political persuasions of many senior police officers, many of an ex-service background, were
very much on the right of the political spectrum..

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice This is clear from many of their witness statements - eg Geoffrey Craft's contained comments about “mob rule”, “lefties” and “scruffy, hairy so-and-so’s" etc

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Menon was glad to hear Mitting making a commitment this week to examine the very lawfulness of the #spycops operations

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice However he has a few more issues to raise...
for example, Ken Livingstone's name only features in a handful of intelligence reports disclosed so far – this is odd, considering what Margaret Thatcher (and others) said about him at the time

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice Freedom Press and the Freedom Collective were also targeted in the 1970s – by Roger Pierce, who attended internal meetings & even wrote articles for the paper – but there has been very little mention of them in the disclosure so far, not even of Pierce's reports
@Freedom_Paper

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper Finally @DuwayneBrooks was spied on by Barry Moss. It's important that the Inquiry take another statement from him asap about the surveillance of Brooks and the Lawrence family, in light of new information about alleged @metpolice corruption in this case.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Mitting says he won't debate these issues further today.

He promises that Roger Pierce's reports have been collated and will be appear in the next 'phase' of the #spycopsinquiry

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Join @tombfowler over at twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1… for a reaction to what we've heard so far this morning

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks After a short break, we'll be hearing from Dave Morris

#spycops
#spycopsinquiry

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Dave Morris is speaking as a core participant in this Inquiry, as someone who was targeted by
#spycops from the mid-1970s onwards - both personally and as a member of targeted political and campaigning groups.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks He has already contributed a Witness Statement, and two detailed Opening Statements for previous hearings of the #spycopsinquiry.
His written statement for this 'Tranche' can now be downloaded from ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks On Monday we heard Mitting say how much he had valued the opportunity to learn about Trotskyism from an expert, another Core Participant and victim of the #spycops - Tariq Ali.

.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Dave is now offering his services – especially in light of the police misconceptions which appear in various disclosed documents, incl the #spycops Annual Reports - to explain the ideas of anarchists to the Chair

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks “I will try to explain the predominant motivations, aims and activities of anarchists and the anarchist movement as I see it” offers Dave
“Standing up for the public interest against the rich and powerful”

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Morris has been involved (since 1974) in a range of groups and campaigns trying to encourage the public to
support one another/empower themselves where they live/ work, to challenge injustice, oppression and damage to the environment & make the world a better place for everyone.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks These groups have been open and collectively-run, and engaged in the kind of public activities which the public are invited to join in or to replicate for themselves, and which are essential if humanity is to progress and survive.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Such groups, as we all should, question and challenge those institutions which wield power over people’s lives, and control the world’s resources and decision-making.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks These include Governments, transnational corporations, military organisations, and financial institutions.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Such powerful institutions are generally tightly controlled by a small self-serving elite, continually obsessed
with power and profit, and are ruthless and unaccountable.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Dave sees them as “the real subversives” - subversive of society and
people’s real needs – that need to be investigated.
(as he said in April 2021)

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Indeed they are also the inevitable cause of most of what the #spycops would doubtless define as ‘public disorder’ in response to injustice.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Unsurprisingly such institutions have made a shocking mess of the world for centuries - causing mass hardship and poverty; disempowerment, discrimination and oppression; exploitation of workers and resources; horrific wars; and large scale environmental destruction.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks They have brought humanity to the brink of nuclear annihilation, and have been systematically exploiting and
destroying the natural environment upon which human society depends for our survival – as a result our species now faces a catastrophic and possibly terminal future.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Many of the groups I have been involved with believe that the evidence of history demonstrates that such aforementioned institutions can’t be successfully reformed and turned into benevolent, useful public bodies.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks However history also demonstrates that grassroots movements for change, if large enough and determined enough, can shift the balance of power and win concessions and victories for the public along the way.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks The groups I have been involved in have tried their best to support efforts to build ‘single issue’ and other campaigns and movements to improve things in the here and now.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks Some of those groups logically also call for the hierarchical & authoritarian institutions which are causing the shocking problems humanity unfortunately has to face, to be replaced in the long term by a genuinely democratic way of running society.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks One in which people all over the world collectively manage their own neighbourhoods, workplaces and lives, and ensure that all the resources are shared fairly and all decision-making is for the public good.

“This is libertarian socialism, or anarchism” says Morris.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks He heard what Mitting said on Monday about welcoming suggestions of relevant reading materials.

And would recommend the following:
‘On Anarchism’ by Noam Chomsky (Penguin, 2014),

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks ‘Anarchism: a very short introduction’ by Colin Ward (OUP, 2004),
and ‘Demanding the Impossible – a history of anarchism’ by Peter Marshall (Harper Perennial, 2008).

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks If you enjoy science fiction he also recommends ‘The Dispossessed’ by Ursula Le Guin.

NB: These titles are all available at independent/ radical/ anarchist/ left-wng bookshops, such as those in London targeted by #spycops themselves – eg @freedom_paper and @HousmansBooks

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks Morris is proud of the many groups and campaigns he's been involved in over the decades, & believes that such efforts should be supported, not undermined.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks “As someone who was an active anarchist at the time, Dave says he doesn't recognise the ignorant, derogatory, misleading SDS & SB Annual Reports’ official characterisations about the ideals & activities of
anarchists during the '70s.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks ‘Graham Coates’ is the only former undercover who spied on anarchists that we've heard evidence from so far...

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks For 2 years he personally targeted me and the groups I was involved in (especially the
Anarchy magazine collective).

As he concluded: ‘ The anarchists I reported on
posed a minimal challenge to public order.’

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks He also reported ‘I do not think either IS [the International Socialists] or the anarchist movement was subversive in terms of their actions.’

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks and ‘I do not believe any info I provided... was particularly significant. I do not think it would have made any difference to public order if I had not worked for the SDS’.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks Morris: Anarchist groups, just like pretty much all of the left wing and campaign groups targeted, were full of well-meaning and idealistic people with a sense of justice,
engaged in spreading progressive ideas for a better society.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks They were
- helping run newspapers, bookshops and other co-operative projects;
- taking part in open or public meetings and social and cultural events;
- encouraging people to think and speak up for themselves and support each
other and their needs where they live and work;

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks - and encouraging people to empower themselves to be in control of their lives
rather than just be loyal ‘subjects’, passive ‘consumers’ (of corporate products,
media and advertising) and forced to obey those with power over them (eg
landlords, employers, politicians and police).

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks They were participating in a range of essential protests on the issues of the
time, and constructively supporting movements against injustice and inequality,
and for positive change.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks Yet the biased and self-serving official Annual Reports – extracts of which were quoted so eruditely by the Counsel To the Inquiry in his opening statement on Monday – deliberately fail to acknowledge and outline these basic facts.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks If they had, they would have had to have admitted that their infiltration
operations were indeed totally unacceptable.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks In the Tranche 1 period the main groups I was involved in included the
London Workers Group (supporting workers challenging exploitation at work),
the Union of Postal Workers and ‘Rank and File Post Office Worker’ magazine
(fellow postal workers supporting each other)...

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks Anarchy Magazine (spreading
anti-authoritarian ideas and news), the Persons Unknown Support Group (a campaign in defence of activists arrested, found at trial to be not guilty), and the Torness Alliance (opposition to the development of nuclear energy).

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks The London Workers Group was infiltrated by ‘Tony Williams’, who was a spy from 1978-1982.

His statement has so far been withheld from me as for some reason he has been allocated to Tranche 2

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks It is therefore impossible to
comment or ask questions of his managers about the extent of this unlawful & disgusting infiltration of what was an open group, and about the other groups he targeted.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks However, we know from two of the disclosed documents that he became firstly the Treasurer of the London Workers Group and then the Secretary, giving him full access to personal information on the group’s supporters, no doubt to be passed on to M15 for blacklisting purposes.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks Interestingly, another document from M15 dated 30th July 1982 states that when ‘Tony Williams’ was due to be withdrawn from the SDS in 1982 the MI5 F6 manager had met with HN68, who considered it was no ‘great loss’ as ‘Tony Williams’s work had not been ‘particularly productive’.

@tombfowler @ucpinquiry @MetPolice @Freedom_Paper @DuwayneBrooks @HousmansBooks @threadreaderapp unroll