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Kennedy Mania in the Mainstream Media

19.01.2011 19:01 | Other Press | Policing | Repression | Sheffield | World

The media has gone into a feeding frenzy over what was described by Newsnight as the "deepening controversy over police agents". Yet still none of them are putting together the evidence that political policing has been used to trash the 'right to protest' in this country,of which the use of undercover coppers is only a small part, with FIT Teams, kettling and general harrassment of protestors being other major parts of the ongoing police strategy. Perhaps this is because these same journos are part of the media circus that allows the cops to get away with it as we march towards water cannon and a police state.

However, the long term infiltration of environmental and direct action groups in the UK by PC Mark Kennedy for a seven year period, must be causing some discomfort for the cops, as his antics in the UK and ,according to the Guardian another 22 countries, are beginning to be unravelled.

Today's Independent claims that Kennedy, who is missing but believed to be in the USA, has called in publicity Guru Max Clifford as he "prepares to sell his story". The report further notes that Nottingham Police have launched an internal inquiry into the mess, which will run alongside a limited IPCC inquiry which 'Amerdeep Somal, of the IPCC, said will focus on the alleged failure of Nottinghamshire Police to disclose relevant material to prosecutors.'


ACAB
ACAB


The IPCC investigation is looking at the very issue which according to a report in today's Daily Mail is at the heart of moves by the 20 Ratcliffe defendants convicted shortly before Christmas to appeal their convictions:

...lawyers for the group have written to the Crown Prosecution Service to demand information on whether Kennedy had a role in gathering evidence on which they were convicted.

If he was and the jury was not informed, they could claim a miscarriage of justice had taken place, the Guardian newspaper reported.



.

Recent revelations that Kennedy confirmed that a Leeds based activist, who used the name Lyn Watson, had also been a police infiltrator, are likely to have caused some scurrying around by cops yesterday.

The Guardian "decided, after representations from senior police officers, to refer to her only as Officer A, and to use pixellated pictures of her."

However it has already come to light that 'Lyn Watson' was a member of the now-defunct Clown Army and acted as a medic at Climate Camps, where she helpfully offered radios for hire!!!. Two pictures of her were published by Indymedia yesterday, which would have left the police with no choice other than to pull her from any undercover operations she might have currently been involved in. And she is not the only one!! According to the Guardian:

A police chief with detailed knowledge of the deployments of undercover officers in the protest movement said Kennedy's breach of protocol could lead to the "relocation of a considerable number of people".

That included undercover officers currently involved in ongoing police investigations across the UK and their families. "This is serious stuff," the police chief said. "Lots of people are at risk – their lives are at risk."



The irony of police operations being disrupted by Kennedy should not be lost on us. As a recent FitWatch article pointed out:

Some activists at the heart of international organising believe that the involvement of Mark and others like him ultimately led to the collapse of international networks aimed at organising protest on a European and International scale.


Because, despite Hugh Ordes protestations on Newsnight last night that the deployment of Kennedy was justified by his unmasking of the planned Ratcliffe action, the reality is that the action had not been in its planning stages for seven years, and much of Kennedy's role is likely to have been disruption of groups.

Also being reported today is that German politicians are tabling questions about the role Kennedy played in German actions, whilst an Irish politician has tabled questions after allegations that Kennedy acted as an 'agent provocateur' and was involved in physical attacks on the police in Dublin. He is also being described as a key figure in creating the Iceland movement.

Let us hope that further revelations about Kennedy come to light, to illustrate what a nasty piece of work he is, and that he cannot be trusted by anyone, {not even his handlers who have scurried off to the States to track him down and no doubt try and shut him up) before Max Clifford gets an opportunity to start earning commission on book deals and other money making deals for the former copper and corporate spy.

Additions

for inthemiddleofnowhere

22.01.2011 13:49

Hi,

If you contact Bindman's legal firm, in London (who represented the original 114 people arrested that started the unravelling of Kennedy), they are beginning to organise a class action by people who had sexual relations with undercover police officers. Those bringing the action can remain anonymous.

There is absolutely nothing stopping anyone from talking about their experiences. The main concern was tabloid newspapers who were looking for gossip and nobody wanted to feed them.

The only way we will begin to find out what the police are really doing is to have a public inquiry, led by judges, as these have the power to order Kennedy and his bosses to appear, and for documents to be released. All other inquiries are merely whitewash.

On Monday there will be an action (there will soon be an email address for you to contact them):

Women's blockade of Scotland Yard, Monday January 24, 8:00am

Please forward to your friends and networks

The shocking revelations about police infiltration of protest movements get more extreme day by day. Reading Laura's story in the Guardian today about a 4th undercover cop has made us angry, sad, and upset... bringing home the true gravity of what the state does to political women in the UK.
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/19/wife-fourth-police-spy-children

Women in the UK should not have to worry about being sexually abused by policemen. It is as simple as that.

In response, we call for women to come together for a blockade of Scotland Yard, in protest at political policing and in solidarity with all women who have been exploited by men they thought they could trust.

Meet 8am outside Scotland Yard on Monday morning, January 24th.

The blockade will be simple and dignified. Despite Scotland Yard’s best efforts we will not be broken.

This is a women led event but men are welcome to come in support.

We demand that the police make public the names and identities of all other undercover offices who have worked or are working to infiltrate movements for progressive social change, so women can know whether they have also been abused by the state, and can decide whether to join other women in considering legal action against the police.

It is likely that the police officers and their superiors have committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

We demand a fully independent judge-led public inquiry into policy spying. We have no trust that the police can regulate or investigate themselves. Their actions show that they think that they are above the law. This is a dangerous situation that undermines democracy.

Please pass on to your friends, mums, colleagues and fellow activists...

You can always come for a while and still get to work at a reasonable time!

Tweet it: #inquirynow

You can also follow:

www.facebook.com/nopolicespies

@NoPoliceSpies


In solidarity, one of the many affected.

next steps

Comments

Hide the following 151 comments

Guardian: 3rd (and possibly 4th) Undercover cop 'exposed' -

14.01.2011 22:08

Terms of IPCC Inquiry broadened and new Inquiry launched by 'Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate' into whether such surveillance was disproportionate.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/14/third-undercover-police-spy-cardiff

lynx

Daily Mail quotes Indymedia comments:

14.01.2011 22:57

Says that Mark Kennedy's womanising led to his downfall. A camera placed on the boat by his own handlers caught him having sex with a female activist. The tape became part of a " growing raft of evidence that saw Kennedy removed in 2009 from his £50,000 role"

So, if you can believe anything the Mail says, then Kennedy was pushed and didn't jump because he was remorseful after the Ratcliffe arrests.

The quoted comments once again illustrate the need to exercise discretion and not to post stuff which could lead to other activists being identified.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347320/Sleeping-enemy-How-undercover-cop-Mark-Stone-used-double-life-seduce-idealistic-young-women.html

NPOIU saw budget increased from £2.6 million in 05/6 to £5.7m in 09/10

15.01.2011 00:24

"A sinister history' of undercover cops

Morning Star: The enemy within  http://bit.ly/gb6e7A

lynx

"Nottinghamshire Police withheld secret tapes of meetings"

15.01.2011 09:31

"Meanwhile, the Times reported that the trial collapsed when the CPS discovered Nottinghamshire Police withheld secret tapes of meetings."

Probe ordered into the police eco-spy who blew £2m operation by going native:
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347371/Probe-ordered-police-eco-spy.html

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347371/Probe-ordered-police-eco-spy.html

hate mail

15.01.2011 10:07

The Daily Mail story is interesting, if more in terms of what it unintentionally reveals... The mail, always keen to help out the plod, willingly presents the story as 'undercover exceeds orders, to shock and horror of his handlers.' The only shock and horror the Unit's hierarchy will be feeling is that he, and from that others, got exposed. But when the fuss dies down things will carry on pretty much the same I think, maybe with some cosmetic changes. Whatever the guidelines and training say, a blind eye was turned to his sleeping around, the guidelines can always be used to deny and discredit him on exposure/a change of heart - as is now happening. Deniability has always been a central tenet of spy handling.

Speaking of bosses reacting to employees methods of info gathering, the mail journo, Andrew Malone, who authored this piece emailed a friend, who unfortunately left her email on indymedia on one of these threads, asking for info (not specifying exactly which paper he worked for in his first email), the friend (who never talks to the press) sent one email saying "if that's the Daily Mail you can fuck right off" (not that they would have spoken to any other paper or media sewage pipe); mr Moron took exception to this (in the way journalists do when denied the right to fuck up people's lives), and sent 3 separate replies:

"It is. Peace bro"

then

"Ps...when I get that angry, I find it's handy to roll a fat one, have a cup of tea and listen to yeha noha. Your man is the cunt - not me"

and finally:

"My apologies - but it's a pain in the arse being stereotyped, as I'm sure you probably agree. Take it easy. Andrew Malone"

Shame on us for stereotyping Daily Mail gong-fermers. I guess many people are currently being bombarded by similar losers - NO COMMENT is allus the besht anshwer.

susie bites policemen

Irish Times: Eco-spy infiltrated Irish protests

15.01.2011 10:19

"In an interview given to a Rossport camp member and published by Indymedia, Kennedy stressed it was “really important for campaigns not only in Ireland, in Mayo or in Iceland but also campaigns in Spain, in Italy [to] work together”.

“We need to network and we need to be working on these issues together, exchanging information and ways of doing things, and looking at the ways corporations are putting the pressure on us and sharing that information so that we can go forward and win our struggles,” he said."

“My main concern is not that the police in the UK and Ireland collect information on activists, but that they sometimes act as agent provocateurs in order to discredit the peace movement,” said anti-war activist Ed Horgan.

State apparently denying knowledge of Kennedy's activities.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0115/1224287577245.html

Telegraph: Eco infiltrator Mark Kennedy: The great betrayal

15.01.2011 10:53

Possibly the only thing that hasn't been cut and pasted from elsewhere in this prime example of mainstream churnalism is this quote from a Global Open director:

“The pressure upon him and his family must now be weighty,” says Rod Leeming of Global Open, who says his company had little to do with Kennedy. “Sooner or later, I think that he will make a statement to correct some of the speculation on the internet and in the press.”

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/8260116/Eco-infiltrator-Mark-Kennedy-The-great-betrayal.html

Tust heil for a luagh

15.01.2011 11:49

“It transpires that Germany, and Berlin in particular, was a favourite hunting ground. The city had become a magnet for protesters DUE TO ITS GOOD TRANSPORT LINKS.”

is fucking priceless

@rchie

Times: Police hid tapes that put protestors in the clear

15.01.2011 12:13




"The Times has learnt that the CPS promptly abandoned the trial when it was informed that Nottinghamshire Police had suppressed secret tapes that "fatally undermined the case against the protestors"

The recordings were of meetings between the campaigners at which the undercover officer Mark Kennedy was present.

The revelations are set to be the most damaging in the hostory of Britain's undercover police officers and lead to concerns that serving and former colleagues will be placed in danger."

against paywalls

An activist on CiF: Police climate spies can't break us

15.01.2011 13:17

"The effectiveness of these officers is also questionable. Not only did they fail to secure any convictions, they failed to significantly undermine the movement. A commitment to decentralisation and challenging hierarchy has made the grassroots climate movement resistant to infiltration. A decapitation strategy doesn't really work on a movement that's all heads. In addition, a politics that sought to engage people in mass open actions meant secrets couldn't be exposed because often there were none."

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2011/jan/14/police-climate-spies-climate-movement

catch up churnalism: nothing new here

15.01.2011 13:51

Police surveillance row grows as third undercover officer identified
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8261550/Police-surveillance-row-grows-as-third-undercover-officer-identified.html

Third undercover police spy revealed: Officer infiltrated Cardiff anarchist group
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347423/Third-undercover-police-spy-revealed-Officer-infiltrated-Cardiff-anarchist-group.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Top officers defend undercover work
The Press Association:  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jVzuVam_KCVgqtGwOJQ51io7vnAQ?docId=N0171301295097709053A

lynx

Mail article is fiction!

15.01.2011 16:25

No big surprise there....but it's clear that the Mail article linked to above is mostly fiction. The boat colour, the mooring location,the choice of beer, the drinking in the pub near the marina in december...as a former friend of Stone, I'll tell you those "details" are all WRONG. The rest of the article is either lifted from other newspapers, or from indymedia. And the claim about cops bugging his boat - surely planted by the police in an attempt to prove they had a handle on the situation. A laughable piece of "journalism".

Aresa Crockett

Cannabis smoke

15.01.2011 18:09

Apart from the stuff which is just plain wrong in the old "Hurrah For the Blackshirts" rag, it's a laugh how they always portray us plotting our wicked schemes "in a haze of cannabis smoke". I haven't bothered to check precisely, but I think this is about the fourth time they've resorted to this lazy and decades out of date stereotype. Fact is, dare to spark up just a wee rolly of plain old, unadulterated, Golden Virginia in the circles in question and you're liable to be yelled at. They really know fuck all, see. They even say Flash was outed in December, when it was all over IM in October. Ha! Daily Fail indeed.

Stroppyoldgit

Journos

15.01.2011 18:49

I am more than happy to speak to the press, but they's better get their cheque books out.

Felicity BK
mail e-mail: strategicreserve@yahoo.co.uk

Ordure

15.01.2011 19:08

The contribution by Hugh of that ilk on Newsnight raises further issues about political policing.

He skites over the role of his nark in instigating the action which he is then asserted to have "unmasked", but that now looks likely to come out in the wash.

What hasn't had attention is Ordure's statement that if the action had gone ahead it would have cut off "most of the East Midlands", including, allegedly, hospitals and other essential services.

EITHER he's never heard of the national grid, in which case he's too dim to successfully organise the tea trolley in a local nick, OR ELSE there was a reason for spouting this egregious falsehood. I suggest the latter and the reason was pure propaganda. It was a politically partial intervention by a political policeman, as well as a lie.

Can some of the musicians amongst us please set a catchy tune to the mantra;

"We're not political, we're only doin' our job"

I'll work on a bit of mime and some hand gestures. The Mark Kennedy masks should be quite easy to make.

Stroppyoldgit

Sky: ACPO trying to pass the buck?

15.01.2011 20:08

ACPO says the police cannot operate without intelligence
ACPO says the police cannot operate without intelligence

Another bit of churnalism which essentially recycles the 'news' from other media sites. The last few paras look at ACPOs statement:

"A spokeswoman for ACPO said: "The police service cannot operate effectively to prevent and detect crime unless it uses intelligence.

"The Police Service has an absolute commitment that the gathering and use of intelligence must be necessary, proportionate and lawful.

"Police officers are subject to the law and where they break the law in the course of their activities it will and must be investigated." "

Which suggests that they are going to play the rotten apple card. Of course ACPO had responsibility for supervising the operation, and as Kennedy is known to have had contact with 'Lyn Watson' and 'Marco Jacobs', theres no reason that his antics should have come as a surprise to them.

No doubt ACPO are hoping that the media will soon tire of the story and move on to a feeding frenzy elsewhere, thus taking the pressure off them.

I wonder how many ACPO officers are currently involved in concocting the traditional 'terror scare' story that will be used to entice them away......

lynx
- Homepage: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/ACPO-Defends-Undercover-Work-After-Claims-Police-Hid-Secret-Recordings-Of-Protesters/Article/201101315895782?lpos=UK_Ne

Telegraph: Kennedy's wife has left him

15.01.2011 21:24

Claims she was living in Ireland during the period he was undercover.

Claim that 'Lyn Watson' visited Kennedy frequently in Nottingham in a camper van:
Mohammed Ishaq, who lives next to a house in Nottingham which Mr Kennedy occupied in 2006 and 2007, said: "The woman in the camper van said she was from the Leeds area and that she was Mark's girlfriend

Bit more on his times in Berlin:

"Activists in Germany are also claiming that Kennedy attempted to incite illegal activity by anti-fascist groups by offering to bring over a "crew" of British activists to confront local neo-Nazis.

Jason Fitzpatrick, a former close friend of Mr Kennedy in Berlin, said 'Stone' had offered to "sort out" any local problems with right wing extremists.

Mr Fitzpatrick now believes this was as a result of a request to British police by their German counterparts for help in infiltrating radical anti-Nazi groups in the country.

While gathering intelligence Mr Kennedy also appeared to revel in the 'alternative' lifestyle of his fellow militants. He even had a sideline as a DJ, staging parties in Berlin.

Mr Fitzpatrick, 42, an American documentary maker, said: "People liked Mark and he liked the beers, the parties, the women. If there was a party at the weekend, sure we'd end up there. He was a great DJ. His name was DJ Escape. That's is funny now.

"But thinking about it, what he did to these girls is an absolute disgrace."

Question raised as to whether Kennedy had a German handler as well.

Quote from the Berlin anarchist black cross statement posted to Indymedia UK:

"Militants from Berlin's Anarchist Black Cross group stated yesterday: "We hope that Mark has to look behind him and be vigilant his whole life. That is the minimum price he has to pay."

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472157.html

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8261958/The-wife-of-the-undercover-policeman-struggling-to-come-to-terms-with-his-secret-affairs.html

BBC: Kennedy goes crying (and lying) to the Mail (for money)

15.01.2011 21:53

Kennedy has sold his story to the Mail, feels he has been made a scapegoat for "a lot of operational decisions (which) have been wrong", decries the appalling "extraction policies for taking an undercover officer out of the activist scene"

Quote:


"Mr Kennedy admitted having two sexual relationships during his undercover work but he said: "I admit that was a wrong thing to do.

"The circumstances I was involved in led to that to happen and I can assure you that I am not the only person who has been involved in sexual relationships as an undercover officer.""

I know cops are thick and have difficulty counting, but that is an absurd claim......

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12199686

UKPA: More of the Mail story revealed

15.01.2011 22:06

Photo's show he has cut his hair.

""I can't sleep," he said. "I have lost weight and am constantly on edge. I barricade the door with chairs at night. I am in genuine fear for my life. I have been told by activists to watch my back as people are out to get me."

He said officers knew of his movements at all times and that he kept police "a step ahead of the game" during planned protests. He said BlackBerry had a tracking device and added: "I had a cover officer whom I spoke to numerous times a day.

He admitted succumbing to "a sort of Stockholm syndrome" but said he "never lost sight of his work"."

lynx
- Homepage: http://bit.ly/ii4H5n

just fucking die

15.01.2011 22:16

Its time to top yourself you pig scumbag. Nobody will shed any tears for you.

anarchist

Mail: Kennedy tells all - is suicidal - can't be believed

15.01.2011 23:09

Mark Kennedy now
Mark Kennedy now

Most interesting are the new pics

The article says he stopped being a cop in March 2009 but in the video he says he was an undercover cop till October 2010.

Claims he couldn't sneeze without his handlers knowing about it.

claims he never broke the law.....

Lies, lies lies for Max Clifford generated cash

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347478/Undercover-policeman-tells-amazing-story-years-eco-warriors-I-fear-life.html

labor

15.01.2011 23:16

One of the articles claimed that Iceland wouldn't have had a green movement if he hadn't been there helping tell them what to do, and providing a lot of resources. Perhaps not, but we have to see that this guy really made the rounds over 7 years. And quite a bit of his time must have been at ordinary tasks that were in some way helpful to organizations.
Given that these infiltrators might be a reality (or even just the numerous people with personality problems or strange goals who show up at meetings for my groups), maybe the question is how to stop individuals who are disruptive, or insist on making poor choices or actions in the name of an organization. A low-risk group might benefit from having paid police doing 60 hours a week for them, if harnessed correctly.

Marie

On phone security

15.01.2011 23:21

I've a relatively minor 'Told you so' point about phones and other tech on actions from the Mail article, where Kennedy claims to have had a tracking device in his Blackberry.

In 2007 I posted here (  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362098.html?c=all ) warning that taking the batteries out a mobile phone didn't stop a modified mobile phone being a tracking or listening device, so they should always be left at home. Among other things I was told that "knowledge IS useful, paranoia IS NOT" and "phones have zero extra space inside them for any additional battery of significant size". Both statements were inaccurate, misleading and demonstrably wrong.

On a Guardian comments thread about Kennedy someone stated that the presence of infiltrators makes all such 'tin-foil hat' precautions useless. Quite the reverse is true since he was able to record the cleared activists. Being able to track Kennedy remotely or listen in when his phone was off would be obviously fairly useful to his bosses. Treat each bit of extraneous tech as a potential threat.

Danny

More in the Mail: True love/unmasking/ undercover operations

15.01.2011 23:36

Mark Kennedy outside his American safehouse
Mark Kennedy outside his American safehouse

REVEALED: The big undercover operations

Transport for G8 Summit, Gleneagles, 2005: ‘A massive anti-capitalism protest. I took on the role of transport organiser, hiring seven or eight minibuses. When the action – to block roads around Gleneagles – came about I could tell the intelligence unit where people were to be dropped off, which roads were to be blockaded and what sort of equipment they would be carrying. The intelligence that was passed was invaluable. I got a commendation for that. I was told information I provided was passed straight to Tony Blair’s desk.’

G20 Summit, London, 2008: ‘Tasked with finding out what protest plans were, I fed back that no one had any strategic or specific plans to cause major disruption. People were going to rally outside the Bank of England but I had not identified any specific threat. The rally was over-zealously policed. Ian Tomlinson died. I am not party to all the intelligence the police had. The people I was tasked to talk to had no intention of violence. The police may have had other intelligence.’

Stopping the Drax coal train, 2008: ‘A Greenpeace-funded operation. Drax is a coal-fired power station in Yorkshire. The action was to stop a coal train going into Drax and create a media spectacle. Greenpeace asked me if I could drive protesters to a place to board the train. I hired a Transit for three days. The action went ahead, they stopped the train and dropped 77 tons of coal on the tracks. It didn’t do anything. Drax has three weeks’ worth of coal backed up.’

Youth centre occupation, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008: ‘There was a large squatted building that was a youth centre that was due to be demolished. It had 50 to 60 people in there occupying it. I was infiltrating to find out what the security measures were. They had petrol bombs, concrete in buckets on the roof, trapdoors in the floor for cops to fall in. The information was given to the Danish police and the building was raided. However, the eviction sparked riots.’

Didcot power station, 2006: ‘I was asked because of my climbing ability to assist with a Greenpeace publicity stunt to hang a banner off a tower to highlight the fact Didcot was putting its ash into a local reservoir. When I got to the top, a good 150ft, the guy who was supposed to do it with me bottled out. I ended up doing it myself.’

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347561/Undercover-policeman-I-loved-lady-I-really-did-Then-passport-real-it.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Turning phones off

15.01.2011 23:36

Thanks Danny, I had never understood WHY taking the battery out wasn't good enough (although respected other people enough to take their word for it).

Now I know I'll be better able to persuade people of the necessity.

An activist

@An Activist

16.01.2011 00:16

Well, thanks for telling me some people followed my advice or came to the same conclusion, I stopped doing group actions just before then so I didn't know. I myself had even been sceptical years before when I was first told to remove batteries from phones, but I soon learned the hard way.

I have to add that in the article I linked to I theorised that thin film capacitors would provide enough power for a low power device over an extended period, but I talked this over with a better engineer than me who pointed out it would be far easier and less noticable just to modify the sealed battery so that half the battery was the device, and the other half was a higher capacity battery. Have a look in the spy shops though to see everyday objects that are onsale to the public but are modded to be malicious, and know the cops have better.

A former cop and genuine good guy warned me just about then that their undercovers have phones that can intercept, upload and download data with all nearby phones. I was never able to prove this or find more info on it, but recently hackers have shown a technique where cheap GSM phones with open software OS can intercept other phones communications with basestations, making the ex-cops story more than plausible.
 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/28/gsm_eavesdropping_breakthrough/

Danny

crap about phones

16.01.2011 00:41

Don't listen to Danny's crap about phones. There is nothing to suggest that Mark recorded using a mobile phone with battery removed. Everybody had their phones taken off them at the Iona school (or before arriving in fact). He either had two or used another type of recording device, perhaps a wire (it's not like anyone was searched). Even if people had been asked to remove their batteries he could have just gone through the motions and no body would have noticed.

There is no significant space for additional batteries in a ordinary mobile phone and yes it would be possible to custom make something for spys but a £30 mp3 recorder in the pocket would be just as good and the cops have much much better kit than that to carry concealed.

tinfoil hats should check their facts

London - July 7

16.01.2011 07:53

"Transport for G8 Summit, Gleneagles, 2005: ‘A massive anti-capitalism protest. I took on the role of transport organiser, hiring seven or eight minibuses. When the action – to block roads around Gleneagles – came about I could tell the intelligence unit where people were to be dropped off, which roads were to be blockaded and what sort of equipment they would be carrying. The intelligence that was passed was invaluable. I got a commendation for that. I was told information I provided was passed straight to Tony Blair’s desk.’ "

Well done Mark. Did you also get a commendation for ensuring the country's police resources were all concentrated at Gleneagles that week? You shit.

m

Kennedy, Global Open and EON - time for some answers

16.01.2011 08:01

From the Daily Mail:

“Then in January (2010) I was approached by a private company which advises corporations about activist trends. It’s run by Rod Leeming, a former Special Branch officer. I’d never met him before.’ The company, Global Open, is based in London and has advised major corporations including E.On – which runs the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant – and BAE. Kennedy handed in his resignation from the police in January, ending work in March.”

E.ON has specifically denied that it employed Kennedy but admitted that it used Global Open – although possibly not in 2010.

According to the Daily Telegraph:

“’The pressure upon him and his family must now be weighty,’ says Rod Leeming of Global Open, who says his company had little to do with Kennedy. ‘Sooner or later, I think that he will make a statement to correct some of the speculation on the internet and in the press.’”

‘Little’ is more than nothing and so both Kennedy and Leeming are confirming that they had some kind of commercial relationship.

It has also been documented that Kennedy used the home address of Global Open director Heather Millgate for one of his companies.

The clear implication is therefore that Kennedy was working for Global Open, that there was some overlap with the police but that it was probably for clients other than EON.

Global Open Ltd has often emphasised its work for pharmaceutical companies and the decision of Kennedy -- a meat eater -- to start attending animal rights meetings in 2010 suggests that this was being done to provide them with intelligence on activists.

This raises a number of questions:

1. Did Kennedy pass Global Open personal information gathered on activists while he was a police officer?

2. How many other former undercover officers are employed by Global Open?

3. How many other infiltrators does it operate?

3. What companies are receiving information from Global Open?

4. It was reported that Heather Millgate’s husband is a former SB officer. Does he work for Global Open?

5. Who in the police introduced Kennedy to Leeming?

6. Was Global Open providing the police with information obtained by Kennedy?

7. Was Global Open aware of the apparent doubts that the police were having about Kennedy?

8. EON said that is now using a different company to acquire information about protesters -- which one?

There is clearly a case for Global Open to say how it acquires its information, its links with the police and which companies employ its services.



GM

Well done Simon Lewis n co

16.01.2011 08:33

You've probably made the fucker hundreds of grand n brought down heat on genuine activists. Is he giving you a slice of the pie?

Arnie

Guardian: NPOIU and the culture of paranoia within government

16.01.2011 09:23

Notes that NPOIU was " launched in 1998 to monitor animal rights extremists. Yet Kennedy's role – he infiltrated the green movement in 2000 – suggests that senior police officers quickly began to view eco-activists as elements threatening state security."

(The interview in the Mail with Kennedy says:
"His marriage failed in 2000, around the same time as he was approached by the Animal Rights National Index, a unit which became the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), a shadowy body that runs a nationwide intelligence database of political activists." yet other reposts state he did not infiltrat till 2003)

The Guardian goes on to note that:
"The NPOIU is deemed so discreet that police will not even confirm the location of its base or the identity of its head, although sources say it can be found within Scotland Yard. Yet it is not part of the Met. In fact, Kennedy's handlers are wholly unaccountable. Acpo, the lead body on domestic extremism, is a private company, incorporated in 1997. It is subcontracted by Whitehall to operate the policing responsibilities of the government's "anti-extremism" strategy and can, for instance, ignore freedom of information requests."

before drawing the conclusion that there is a culture ofparanoioa within the state.

No doubt this has been fuelled by NPOIU itself, which has seen its budget double in recent years, and which activists have felt the effects of as demos everywhere are srcrewed over with NPOIU officers appearing to direct operations.

The Guardian ends with this:
"This is unlikely to change. The question is, how many Kennedys are out there? And to what purpose? Activist groups everywhere are expecting key members to start disappearing in the months ahead."

An Op-ed piece in the Independent explores a similar theme:
 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/paul-vallely-undercover-ops-were-all-in-the-dark-2185638.html

"Some subterfuge is perfectly proper. The police undercover unit to which PC Kennedy belonged began life in the late Nineties to infiltrate animal rights militants who were sending letter bombs to scientists, intimidating researchers at home and, most notoriously, digging up a grandmother's grave. Few would question the ethics of the then National Public Order Intelligence Unit penetrating such a cell by deception.

But the single greatest impulse of any institution is self-perpetuation. When the threat of animal rights extremism had been vanquished, those who ran such units looked for new targets to justify their existence. They got their brief expanded to cover all "domestic extremists", from far-right racists to deep-green eco-activists.

Virtually any protester became fair game, including activists who wanted to shut down a coal-fired power station for a few days as a global warming protest. That was a serious threat, said Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, this week, since the electricity supply for two million people, including hospitals and a lot of vulnerable people, could be affected. But it is hard to put that in the same category as those who want to kill scientists or blow up Tube trains."

As the Guardian did they also question whether Kenendy crassed the line into becoming an agent provocateur:

"But Kennedy did not merely watch from the back of the bus. Rather, he drove it, ferrying people and goods to protests, hiring vans and paying the court fines of his fellow activists."

End result for both seems to be that undercover cops are ok sometimes, that their use should be proportionate, and that there should be a code of conduct to ensure that they behave appropriately.

The Independent furthers it case for a need to police undercover police properly by interviewing a former undercover cop who turned into a "broken biscuit"
 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/covert-police-officer-after-12-years-undercover-i-was-a-broken-biscuit-2185729.html

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/mark-kennedy-secret-moles

feel the Love

16.01.2011 09:46

We still love him, you can betray me, but we still love, all the infiltrators take note, come to us, feel the love we emit, it can never leave you, you are amongst friends who will take the crap for you, unlike your police buddies who only want to crawl over your back to to top, we will wash you clean of that hate, Mark and all the infiltrators, I still love you all, I forgive you all, I know you sit there wondering if we still love you, yes I do, I love you all.
Sandy.
Can you feel that ?
A bit more of that and we may stop killing each other.
Angry mob ? find the love in your hearts, it is more powerful than any weapon.

Sandy with the flower in her hair

Confirmation of collaboration with foreign police

16.01.2011 11:16

"At a G8 protest in Germany the riot cops were planning to go in heavy, but I knew the crowd was planning to disperse. I texted that information in, and the charge was called off."

‘Activism has no borders,’ he says. ‘I would never go abroad without authority from my superiors and the local police.’

This confirms that his information was passed on in one form or another to foreign authorities.
Very interesting....


Foreigner

Guardian: Why a national police force is not a good idea

16.01.2011 11:35

Whilst not directly mentioning our now infamous infiltraitor, Kevin McKenna opposes a national police force (mooted in Scotland) noting:

"The police are already showing signs of straining at the leash of their public accountability. This nation will have cause to regret it grievously if they permit such a powerful beast to emerge from among us. For once an all-powerful, national police force is created it cannot be undone and we will have to live with the consequences for ever."

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/16/scotland-national-police-force

last crap about phones

16.01.2011 12:58

This'll be my final word on this thread and if anyone wants to discuss phones then start a new thread so these comments can be deleted.
'tinfoil hats should check their facts' said 'There is no significant space for additional batteries in a ordinary mobile phone', but anyone who has opened up a Blackberry knows that there isn't the least bit space for a tracking device either, which demolishes their point, especially since I've already explained the battery itself could provide the space for a tracking device and a recording device and more. Presumably they chalk the tracking device up to another of Kennedys lies but I don't.

Now their point about Kennedy having another phone or another device on him is true, but it would've exposed him as a spy if found. Given that attitude however, what is the point asking for peoples phones and removing the batteries at all if any undercover could just carry two? The procedure simply becomes a useless security precaution that makes you feel irrationally safer (real 'tinfoil hat stuff') without the threat that the agent may be searched for such devices the same way you are searched going into clubs. That could be a patdown for large objects like phones or a electonic sweep for smaller devices. Like I said, the case illustrates to me the need for more care and awareness of tech, not less, and you would have to be suspiciously stupid to call this paranoia. Still, it's not my job to educate you.

Danny

Devices - nothing to lose

16.01.2011 13:34

It's everyone's job to help educate everyone else, let's stop shouting at each other and stick to thinking calmly about how we can best protect ourselves and each other.

It seems we should hold sensitive conversations with as many tech devices removed as possible, asking people to leave phones, ipods and any other devices behind. There is nothing to be lost to anyone by doing this - I don't need to listen to an ipod during a meeting!

Of course if a UC does have a device on them they're unlikely to be spotted, but when this does occasionally happen it should arouse suspicion, since any good activist should respect a rule about "no devices" even if they don't personally see the point.

There is nothing to lose by asking people to leave devices behind, even if you don't think it makes any difference.

An activist

show that PC kennedy is lying?

16.01.2011 13:53

Unsuprisingly the mail article is full of PC Kennedy's lies.

Is it worth countering them, to ensure sympathy doesn't swing to him?

Unsuprisingly the article is full of PC Kennedy's lies.

One interesting bit is which things he has chosen to blatantly lie about now, in the full knowledge that dozens of people are in a position to know they are lies. Is that a calculated choice, given the chance anyone is going to seriously pull him up on it is so low? Is it worth making the evidence of his current dishonesty clear - can his chances of turning the tide of public sympathy towards him / getting an expensive book deal be disrupted?

I'm thinking of:

"I never took drugs."
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347561/Undercover-policeman-I-loved-lady-I-really-did-Then-passport-real-it.html

He said he had only two [sexual] relationships.
Presumably admitting to only a relationship which in the end found him out, and 'Anna' who wrote the Guardian article.

isitworthit?

isitworthit?

Mark Kennedy's family

16.01.2011 13:55

There's been a lot of crap written by activists over the past few months about not being able to give out further about Mark Kennedy so as to protect his family. Then he does a deal with the Mail and there are up to date pics of him, the names and ages of his kids, the country where they've all been liviog even a pic of Mrs K. Plus a 'full' account, albeit his, of what hapqened.

Korky

Blackberry

16.01.2011 13:57

@ Danny

If I may educate you:
There is no need for extra space in a modern mobile phone for a tracking device. They have GPS. All is needed is an extra bit of software that can be transferred as a virus through bluetooth or email.

tracking device

LIES ANALYSIS

16.01.2011 13:58

Bertrand Russell, in exposing what was really going on early in the Vietnam war, reckoned you can sometimes get at the truth by comparing the lies.

LIVING IN FEAR

“I have been told that my former bosses from the force are out here in America looking for me.”

Indeed. Who is it he has cause to be afraid of? Daily Fail interview seems to be geared to placating them and getting them off his back.

UNMASKING & ALLEGED THREATS

I don’t believe his account of the “horrendous Kangaroo court.” The fact is, he needn’t have turned up for that meeting. He knew he was suspected and simply wanted to find out what information people had and whether it was conclusive, which it was.

The person he accuses of implicitly threatening his son can only be one of those who have been slagged off here precisely for taking measures to PROTECT his family. These decent people have been traduced by both sides. Those doing it on here are either hotheads who shout before thinking or police trolls, whereas Kennedy slanders these people quite coldly and treacherously. I don’t see how the person he accuses could have got details of his family in Ireland.

THE G8

As for all that detailed information about blockading plans, his information was either not as complete or as accurate as he pretends or didn’t get through. The cops were repeatedly caught on the hop and didn’t have a clue where and when we were going to pop up. In particular, they were phased by the fact that most people left the Stirling site (from which Mark Kennedy was organising transport) much earlier than they anticipated and were away in the hills during the night before the action. He talks some right shite.

PHONES

Every time people talk about taking out batteries I mention how they nicked Bruce Grobbelar. He said batteries were out of his phone. People usually unimpressed by this info. Question for techies: Wouldn’t wrapping the phone in several layers of tin foil do the trick? Or should I just make a hat with it?

“THE DIRT” HA HA!

“I was living the life to a degree. What I found difficult was the dirt. They should have known I was a cop as I was the only one who ever cleaned anything. People didn’t buy food, they either stole it or took it out of bins. Often vegetables in the kitchen had mould on them. You couldn’t tell if they’d been there for a while or been salvaged. And they had no respect for other people’s property. They put rubbish everywhere.”

Complete bollocks to feed Daily Fail prejudices. Anyone with any contact with the scene involved knows this statement is rubbish which HE’S now putting about everywhere. In fact, Flash Mark was very far from being one of the conspicuous hygienists around:

A wee vignette I recall:
A person: “Wash you hands first, please”
Flash Mark: “Oh ..err.. yeah”

SEX AND DRUGS

Mark had sex with only two women in all those years and never took drugs. Yes Mark, anything you say, Mark.

Stroppyoldgit

Mark Kennedy's Family

16.01.2011 14:06

The fact that he's a scummy bastard who has no compunction about exposing his kids and ex-partner in that way, doesn't mean we should have done the same, does it? FFS sake, are we supposed to behave like police low-life and trample over people we don't know just to serve our ends? It wouldn't even have done that, of course.

Stroppyoldgit

Herald Scotland: Revealed: how eco-spy masterminded G8 protest

16.01.2011 14:15

They managed to find a Scottish angle. Bless

Focus on 'Transport' Mark's role in setting up the G8 camp at Stirling.

"His organisational blueprint was then used for the three other “climate camps” – massed protests against power stations and airports in Drax, Kings North and Heathrow."

Mick Duncan, another activist involved in the running of the base camp in Stirling, described Kennedy as “a really friendly, helpful, lovely guy”.

Duncan said Kennedy helped set up the camp, ferrying in equipment and supplies. He also hired mini-buses to transport people to actions in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Gleneagles.

“It was a brilliant position for someone undercover,” said Duncan. “He was privy to everything.”

The Stirling camp was such an organisational success it helped inspire the UK’s first major climate camps.

“Climate camp built on the G8 camp in Stirling,” said Duncan. “The activists who did that liked how it was organised and thought, ‘Great, this is what should be happening for every climate-change issue’.”

Rest is merely rehashed from other corporate reports.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/revealed-how-eco-spy-masterminded-g8-protest-1.1080175

@tracking device

16.01.2011 14:55

"There is no need for extra space in a modern mobile phone for a tracking device. They have GPS. All is needed is an extra bit of software that can be transferred as a virus through bluetooth or email."

Gee thanks, I'm aware of that, it's actually a free app so need for virii since it was a police phone. A tracking device would be different, an actual device that couldn't be uninstalled or turned off as Kennedy seems to indicate was the case with his. Plus GPS fails under certain conditions - cloud cover, or underground etc. where a radio transmitter keeps working. Regardless of that irrelevant detail though my point is valid and I wouldn't have stated it if I hadn't thought these things through.

Second-guessing any further criticism in the hope this is my last post on the thread (I really should've started a new thread, sorry) you can't just use an RF sweeping device when people enter a room, because electronics can be turned on and off, so you have to keep the RF detector on. Detectors vary in price, sensitivity and functionality, but any sweep is a deterrent as long as you vary the detector. And yes, that device then becomes a single-point of failure so use more than one. These are basic yet rigorous test procedures and while to the non-technical they sound 'tin-foil', any advanced tech seems like magic to the non-technical.
I'm not really sure if you have a reason for arguing for allowing tech at meetings other than the pleasure of arguing against me.

Danny
- Homepage: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/567

Sloppyoldgit

16.01.2011 14:59

You've been stamping your feet all over these threads since the story began, but you're still playing catch-up. Even Kennedy knows that his family aren't in any danger, but you're still propogating that daft argument. The fact is that people knew where he lived, they lied about it, and mugs like you swallowed what they told you.

Baldy

Not too late

16.01.2011 15:26

Mark, if you are reading this.

You are at a crossroads, you need to decide whose side you are on. It's not too late to come back to your friends but with honesty this time. Call me.

Alice

Not too late?!

16.01.2011 16:18

Are you for real Alice, you idiot? Not too late? At a crossroads? You are talking about a scumbag cop whose been spying on us for the state, in our homes, in our beds, for years. He's fucked us over royally, and now he's trying to cash in on it. And you want to be his pal?! Fuck woman, wake up and stop being such an embarrassment.

an ex friend of Mark Stone's

Don't do it!

16.01.2011 16:19

Alice - Mark specialises in and has been trained extensively in psychological manipulation. Please don't try to contact him. It would almost certainly put you and others in unnecessary danger.

An activist

Telegraph latest: 'Security Guards watching over Kennedy'

16.01.2011 16:34

"He is now understood to have private security officers keeping a “discrete” watch on him after he voiced fears for his life and is being represented by Max Clifford, the public relations specialist."

The only apparent new thing in a sea of recycled news.

Maybe they'd be more effective than barricading his door with chairs......

Just love the unattributed photo which I reckon first appeared on IMC uk.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8262746/Mark-Kennedy-15-other-undercover-police-infiltrated-green-movement.html

Who the fuck is alice

16.01.2011 16:46

A fiver says that the “Alice” comment is in the papers tomorrow because they wrote it themselves.
“Alice” is not for real none of us are taking that piece of shit back.

wonderland

watch video, read his interview (& rate comments)

16.01.2011 16:54

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347478/Undercover-policeman-tells-amazing-story-years-eco-warriors-I-fear-life.html

The latest including video interview. You don't need to register to rate people's comments, only to comment

once was friend

@ Baldy

16.01.2011 16:59

Whatever was known and not revealed is not really the point. Anything not revealed (only one thing as far as I know) was to protect his ex-family from the media shit storm. They didn't do any of this and it's not their fault. Scummy Mark has now dumped them right into it. Nice guy, eh?

Stroppyoldgit

More pics of Mark Kennedy from the Daily Mail

16.01.2011 17:09

Mark Kennedy with broken finger
Mark Kennedy with broken finger

Mark Kennedy playing guitar
Mark Kennedy playing guitar

from this article:
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347478/Mark-Kennedy-Undercover-policeman-tells-story-8-years-eco-warriors.html

anon

Danger has now happened

16.01.2011 17:12

On reflection, Baldy's comment is even sadder than I thought. It is of a piece with those who said "how dare you suggest we would harm his family".

To make things absolutely clear, the danger from which people were concerned to protect this family HAS NOW HAPPENED TO THEM. It was Mark who did it to them, not us.

Some people seem obsessed with different presumptions which say more about them than the objective situation.

Stroppyoldgit

Wake up Alice!

16.01.2011 17:24

He wasn't a friend Alice, he was a copper. He's not just gone away on holiday love.

Tony

Soppy git

16.01.2011 17:39

Someone should compile all your comments about the MS affair because you have talked shit from beginning to end. So now his family were being protected from HIM?! I guess he knew where they lived as he was living there (on and off) too, and that's where he was when it came on top. Stop telling lies to make out you know what happened when you don't.

Baldy

@ baldy

16.01.2011 18:12

I have always understood that stroppyoldgit saw the danger to Mark Kennedy's family as being that they would have the media crawling all over them. This has now happened, and caused some distress to at least one child by Mark's own account.

Try and keep up please

The olny sensible ream of comment here....

16.01.2011 18:23

is this part. Well done Lynx for being the voice of reason in a mire of moanym dribbly nonsense by left-wing bores...;

Guardian: NPOIU and the culture of paranoia within government
16.01.2011 09:23

Notes that NPOIU was " launched in 1998 to monitor animal rights extremists. Yet Kennedy's role – he infiltrated the green movement in 2000 – suggests that senior police officers quickly began to view eco-activists as elements threatening state security."

(The interview in the Mail with Kennedy says:
"His marriage failed in 2000, around the same time as he was approached by the Animal Rights National Index, a unit which became the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), a shadowy body that runs a nationwide intelligence database of political activists." yet other reposts state he did not infiltrat till 2003)

The Guardian goes on to note that:
"The NPOIU is deemed so discreet that police will not even confirm the location of its base or the identity of its head, although sources say it can be found within Scotland Yard. Yet it is not part of the Met. In fact, Kennedy's handlers are wholly unaccountable. Acpo, the lead body on domestic extremism, is a private company, incorporated in 1997. It is subcontracted by Whitehall to operate the policing responsibilities of the government's "anti-extremism" strategy and can, for instance, ignore freedom of information requests."

before drawing the conclusion that there is a culture ofparanoioa within the state.

No doubt this has been fuelled by NPOIU itself, which has seen its budget double in recent years, and which activists have felt the effects of as demos everywhere are srcrewed over with NPOIU officers appearing to direct operations.

The Guardian ends with this:
"This is unlikely to change. The question is, how many Kennedys are out there? And to what purpose? Activist groups everywhere are expecting key members to start disappearing in the months ahead."

An Op-ed piece in the Independent explores a similar theme:
 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/paul-vallely-undercover-ops-were-all-in-the-dark-2185638.html

"Some subterfuge is perfectly proper. The police undercover unit to which PC Kennedy belonged began life in the late Nineties to infiltrate animal rights militants who were sending letter bombs to scientists, intimidating researchers at home and, most notoriously, digging up a grandmother's grave. Few would question the ethics of the then National Public Order Intelligence Unit penetrating such a cell by deception.

But the single greatest impulse of any institution is self-perpetuation. When the threat of animal rights extremism had been vanquished, those who ran such units looked for new targets to justify their existence. They got their brief expanded to cover all "domestic extremists", from far-right racists to deep-green eco-activists.

Virtually any protester became fair game, including activists who wanted to shut down a coal-fired power station for a few days as a global warming protest. That was a serious threat, said Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, this week, since the electricity supply for two million people, including hospitals and a lot of vulnerable people, could be affected. But it is hard to put that in the same category as those who want to kill scientists or blow up Tube trains."

As the Guardian did they also question whether Kenendy crassed the line into becoming an agent provocateur:

"But Kennedy did not merely watch from the back of the bus. Rather, he drove it, ferrying people and goods to protests, hiring vans and paying the court fines of his fellow activists."

End result for both seems to be that undercover cops are ok sometimes, that their use should be proportionate, and that there should be a code of conduct to ensure that they behave appropriately.

The Independent furthers it case for a need to police undercover police properly by interviewing a former undercover cop who turned into a "broken biscuit"

Paulo

Quite right

16.01.2011 18:35

The concern for scab Mark's family was always about THE MEDIA and the way they fuck people over. I have never said anything different. Check the archives.

The criticism of this position and the refusal to publish ONE document last October / November was "the media aren't interested" and when the issue hadn't had any coverage after a couple of weeks there were people saying "told you so" on here.

I suppose the damage having been done by the man himself, it can be said now that the ONE unpublished document was a child's birth certificate, on which Mark, as the registrant of the birth, had given his occupation as "police officer".

What a load of paranoia and bullshit over a simple and well-intentioned attempt by principled people to keep some innocent parties, including children, out of the firing line. As a previous poster says, do try to keep up. Thanks to people like you failing to do so, comrades in Germany, and possibly elsewhere, have now got some completely misconceived ideas and good people have been wrongly called "cop protectors".

Please give this campaign up. It is doing the state's work for them.

Stroppyoldgit

Anyone notice the byline??

16.01.2011 18:45

I see that 'Indymedia' photographer Nick Stern is working for the Daily Mail's USA correspondent and helping Kennedy relay his story to middle england. Anyone remember Nick from all those anti capitalist/globalisation demos?

Interesting....

re: Baldy

16.01.2011 19:00

Stop being vindictive and daft.

You got things confused as someone else pointed out.

Stroppyoldgit does know what happened, at least more than many, and has been making valuable contributions to various threads since October, which have supported the people who were closest and who are trying to take care of people and the politics involved. If you can't see that, either trust it, or back off please.

once was friend

Withheld documents

16.01.2011 19:40

Not just a childs birth certificate. Kennedy's driving lisence was witheld (cept from the Bbc.) it contained his Irish address. You might think your lies are the last word. They are not.

Happy Jack

Guardian:Mark Kennedy authored anti-cop article

16.01.2011 20:07


An article authored by Nark Kennedy which accused Icelandic police of "brutality and inciting "potentially fatal" violence towards protesters", was used by Icelandic activists in a legal action against the police.

Quote:

In the article, Kennedy accused police of acting with "ignorance and [a] complete disregard for the safety of people around them".

He added: "Their inability to address the situation could have been potentially fatal and certainly encouraged acts of violence by the security guards without fear of retribution.

"The police's ignorance and inabilities is to our advantage," he warned. "Their lack of understanding is our element of surprise.

"In effect they and their governmental and corporate puppet masters are startled and confounded by the tide of protest and direct action," he added. "The environmental destruction that is happening throughout Iceland and beyond will continue to be protested and fought against whatever police tactics or corporate intimidation."

End Quote

Article notes that he appeared to actively avoid the politics behind the action.

lynx

Please stop with your lies...

16.01.2011 20:10

We never had his driving license, so could never have withheld it. FFS, stop making shit up, it's fucking destructive!!

An exposer

He had driving licence

16.01.2011 20:23

you are misinformed

morris

Guardian: Loadsamoney

16.01.2011 20:55

"In the interview – for which he received a rumoured six-figure payment brokered by Max Clifford"

Article is basically a rewrite of the Mail interview as is the one taht followed shortly thereafter:
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/mark-kennedy-senior-officers-evidence

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/spy-mark-kennedy-fear-for-life

Misinformed

16.01.2011 21:01

Been a whole lot of that unfortunately Morris. Fellow activists have been treated like idiots.

DM

Guardian: Mark Kennedy: undercover cop or eco-warrior?

16.01.2011 22:29

Although I'm certain that Mark Kennedy stated in his interview with the MoS that he had always been loyal to the police, Paul Lewis still can't decide if the man who provided information about the people he befriended for money, first to the cops, then as a corporate spy and now as a Max Clifford media whore has become one of us.

His (Clifford coached) interview will be upsetting for the police because because a) he claimed he couldn't sneeze without them knowing about it (to undermine the bad apple defence they are obligated to use to defend their murky operation) and b) he revealed that the state had failed to disclose evidence vital to the defence of the Ratcliffe defendants. No wonder he is spooked that the Met have gone looking for him in the USA.

But that Mark Kennedy betrayed the cops is no indicator that he sided with us - he patently did not.

Best bit of the article is the last para:

"The trouble with Mark is you don't know what is real," said Craig Logan, one of the friends who said Kennedy told him about Officer A's true identity. "He was an absolutely extraordinary liar trained by the British state."

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/16/mark-kennedy-undercover-eco-warrior

Mailonline: Call for inquiry over how undercover policeman was supervised

16.01.2011 22:38

Apparently Jenny Jones, outraged at the cost of the whole Kennedy operation wants more money wasted , this time on an inquiry of the police, by the police.

The article takes a pop at ACPO and notes that HM's Inspectorate of Constabulary report in 2009 criticised the lack of oversight of ACPO.

When the Met takes over we can assume it will all be tickety boo....

"

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347747/Call-inquiry-undercover-policeman-Mark-Kennedy-supervised-sex-cash-spree.html

still misunderstanding

16.01.2011 22:55

you misunderstand still - Mark had a driving license, yes, but the exposers did not have it. What they had was only his was the passport in his original name. The driving licence and passport in the name of Mark Stone had been surrendered to the police - hence his need to use a passport in his real name.

But none of this deals with the point that what matters and what matters alone, is that when challenged, Mark Kennedy admitted he was a copper. What difference does any other document mean? lots of demands and such shite, but really the reasons given are hollow. Ultimately, though, if you are not satisfied, and I suspect you will not be, it is probably because you are a troll. The only conspiracy here are all the disruptive posts going on - ever stop to think who this actually serves?

A number of organisations were satisfied enough with what they learned to endorse the original statement - why not actually approach them. One I'm involved with, has only had approaches and we refused to respond to those tossers. But the lack of emails from those seeking more information is telling in itself.

FTP

Niave

16.01.2011 23:00

Alice you are very Niave.

He is STASI. If he slept with you it was under false pretences, you were raped by the state.

Janet "Birdy" Silson

driving licence

16.01.2011 23:01

The more interesting question is how Newsnight managed to get a copy of that document as they did not get it from the people who exposed Kennedy...

FTP

@An activist and M - battery bug £155

16.01.2011 23:05

Removing your phone battery is no longer enough
Removing your phone battery is no longer enough

@An activist + @M

@M You may wish to reconsider your pseudonym as it was previously used here by someone I know to be an unexposed infiltrator with a penchant for strangling girls. You probably didn't know that so no offence, but some of the IMCistas will.

@An activist,
You thanked me for explaining why taking phone batteries out isn't good enough security, and said you'd now be able to explain why to others. Don't use my arguments though, I just found a cheap product that will be much more persuasive. It wasn't for sale to the public when I last wrote on the subject, so I just wrote a new article explaining in depth the articles, only for this shitty PC I am on to be hacked off the internet - for the first time in 4 years this has happened! It wasn't that great an article though, this was the highlight-


GSM Battery Bug

NEW! This incredibly disguised GSM bug must be almost as covert as they can be made. Perfectly resembling a Lithium battery for a mobile phone it is stealth by design.

At first glance and even second glance, this product has the outward appearance of a lithium ion mobile phone battery. The fact that it is a GSM listening device is completely disguised after a SIM Card has been inserted and sealed. Place the device on a desk in a tray, on a shelf or anywhere suitable in full view and even the most observant person will be fooled by its genuine appearance. Once deployed it is simply a matter of dialling the number of the SIM Card that you have inserted upon which the device will auto-answer making no sound or giving away any indication whatsoever. You will then be able to listen in to the surrounding environment up to 5 metres away.

Features

* Quad-band for worldwide coverage
* Operating standby time of up to 3 days
* Maximum calling in time of up to 3 hours
* Speedy recharge of battery - approx. 1 hour
* Supplied with special charger and Orange SIM

Please Note: This unit will not operate on the Virgin or T Mobile networks. Please ensure that you have relevant GSM network coverage in the area which the device is going to be deployed
£154.80 (inc VAT)

Danny
- Homepage: http:// http://www.spyequipmentuk.co.uk/gsm-bugs/gsm-bugs/gsm-battery-bug.html

advice on

16.01.2011 23:35

Please see the relevant chapter in the Activist Security Handbook - it is based in part on a discussion with someone who specialised in mobile phone security to police and corporations: there is a reason why they ban mobiles from their discussions. There are also many other dangers to be associated with simply carrying mobiles.

AS
- Homepage: http://www.activistsecurity.org

I want you to know

16.01.2011 23:44

I am praying for you and those you have hurt so much.

Mary S

Not sure but

17.01.2011 00:01

I think being made about the driving license in some of the is that is was where the friends who unmasked Kennedy got his address. Obviously they got it by good detective work, but they could have got it any number of ways. The point being made was that (precisely or roughly) they knew his likely whereabouts but not to share it.

Ollie

sympathy for the stone

17.01.2011 00:09

looking at the evidence on hand it seems quite clear to me that former dibble mark kennedy is a self-serving egotist who deserves no sympathy from any quarters.

-he sells his services to the state on a considerable salary and a per-diem that would rival most succesful rock bands'.
-he parts company with the state for hiterto unclear reasons and subsequently attempts to sell his services to a private company in much the same role as before.
-he is 'outed', expresses 'mixed feelings' (and his services now invalid), sells his story to the highest bidder.

crocodile tears aside, mark kennedy looks after mark kennedy.

and now max clifford looks after him too. cunt.

enjybee

re: byline

17.01.2011 00:25

The photographer who made the pictures for the MoS- article:  http://nickstern.wordpress.com/
 http://twitter.com/nicksternLA here's someone who knows where the creep lives now

dutchy

@ Morris and DM

17.01.2011 02:59

Of course he had a driving licence. Once his fake one was withdrawn that would have to be his old "Kennedy" one.

The point is the exposers didn't have it, SO THEY COULDN'T "WITHHOLD" IT. Why do you assume any documents the BBC, Daily Mail or any other such organisation gets its hands on must have been supplied to them by the people who exposed Flash for what he is? They could not have got his driving licence from them.

What happened was that the Kennedy passport showed that a child had been added to it, as is often the case with children too young to have their own passports. The details were copied. ( I don't think the exposers ever actually had possession of the passport, just the details from it, but I'm not certain about that). With those details a long, tedious search in BDM records eventually turned up the child's birth certificate (the ONLY withheld document) and it showed Mark as the person registering the birth and his occupation as "police officer". I understand the birth registration was in London, so no Irish address was discovered from it.

That's it. I really do wonder about your motives in stirring all this shit about nothing. Perhaps you'd like to tell us what they are?

Stroppyoldgit

statement from ABC Berlin

17.01.2011 03:26

There a statement from ABC Berlin which is a refreshing antidote to the sickening liberal crap being spouted by some sections of the climate movement right now:
 http://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/32179

At last something critical that isn't full of disinformation!

f

Mail Editorial: Who's policing the undercover police?

17.01.2011 08:49

Sometimes it is necessary for the state to spy on its own citizens - "those involved in terrorism, organised crime and extremism must be monitored and disrupted" (they don't define extremism) but such operations should not become routine - they must be targetted and supervised says the Mail.

It then turns its eyes towards the NPOIU - "which was forced out of the shadows by the unmasking of Mark Kennedy" - "With 100 staff and a budget which has increased from £2.6million to nearly £9million in just five years, it is a branch of the equally Orwellian-sounding National Domestic Extremism Unit" which in turn is part of ACPO a private company not subject to FOI.

Quote:

"So who sets the unit’s priorities? Are all the protest groups being infiltrated really dangerous, or just making a nuisance of themselves? Are these covert operations scrupulously lawful? And what is ACPO’s relationship with the private companies targeted by the protesters?

Disturbingly, we cannot easily answer any of these questions because ACPO is also a private company accountable to no one but its members and not subject to Freedom of Information legislation.

Of course violent disorder is reprehensible and must be tackled but it should also be remembered that the right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy.
Should responsibility for safeguarding that right really be left to a PLC?"

Of course, they don't show that the state would be any better at supervising such operations, nor at preventing miscarriages of justice - but it will cause more discomfort for our stalkers at NPOIU, NDET and NETCU. Which can't be a bad thing.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1347832/Whos-policing-undercover-police.html

Under a stone

17.01.2011 09:34

His location and home phone WERE known.

Simon

To Simon...

17.01.2011 10:17

No they fucking weren't you disruptive shit. Stop spreading lies and mis-information. And if you wanted them did you do any research to try and get them, or just bleat on about it here?

An exposer

The Press in York gets it wrong

17.01.2011 11:45

" The father-of-two said his life had become a “living nightmare” after his secret role was revealed when a crown court trial of six people, accused of planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station, collapsed when prosecutors dropped charges."

"The protesters’ legal team claimed the decision was made after Mr Kennedy offered to give evidence on their behalf."

The legal team didn't claim that, it appear the "gone native" claim first surfaced in the corporate media, spun perhaps by the police themselves, the legal statements are here:

 http://www.bindmans.com/index.php?id=885

 http://www.bindmans.com/index.php?id=890

 http://ratcliffeontrial.org/collapse/

links
- Homepage: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8794551.Undercover_officer____beaten____by_colleagues/

Come on exposer

17.01.2011 12:07

Loads and loads of people know about this, it's been all over the media, isn't it time to finally tell the truth? Are you saying you didn't know where Stone was and didn't have his home phone number before you confronted him? Because if you are you are either not one of the people who confronted him or it is you that is the liar.

Simon

Link to sensible comment

17.01.2011 12:37

Now that this article has so many people commenting on it that people are likely to be attracted to it and thus the cycle will continue, I'd like to point out what I consider a very useful little article less obvious currently on the newswire:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472236.html

In response to it I wrote (amongst other things)

How did this fucker respond when he had the crap beaten out of him by coppers for instance? Did he rant on about what wankers cops are? If not, if if he did but it seemed a little odd, wouldn't that arouse a little suspicion...?

In a way, I also think this case raises the issue of "full time activists". The "give up activism" text is great for all sorts of reasons, but I'd say one is that it'd be much harder for the state to give infiltrators a life that seemed like many other activists, if other activists saw themselves less as 'activists' and more as normal people engaged in struggle (ie, got less involved in the cliqueness of activism, brought their activist friends and non-activist friends together, got involved in workplace struggles, blah blah blah...

I appreciate that many people who devote their entire lives to activism are motivated by great passion - and make serious sacrifices for which I have to express respect - but personally, I always find it a little suspicious when people are happier to be more engaged in far off international struggles than in building on and radicalising whatever admittedly rubbish campaigning might be going on in their local area. I'd argue that this kind of 'activism' can actually be a hell of a lot more threatening to both the state and the status quo than the kind of militant lobbying tactics that have come to define much of the movement (particularly I really think a lot of people need to re-think what *Direct* action means)

Anyway, Love and respect to all those who are having to deal with this. I'm personally not sure regarding the value/problems of dealing with the corporate media on all this (perhaps it will help reveal others, advance our cause, make the general public hate the police even more, all good things), but as someone who didn't know mark, and isn't even sure I recognise him (though I've obviously been tangled in similar circles from the events I've heard he was at), I respect the right of those who HAVE had to deal with the shit to figure out how to deal with it themselves. We should be offering solidarity and support to them, not attacking them for decisions we might not have made personally. Critique is fine (and its definately worth having a no-holds-barred debate about how we deal with these instances, as there will clearly be similar ones in the future), but there's no need to add to the sense of paranoia and divisiveness (and stress for the people involved) by getting personal (or excessively strident - as in "you're doing it all wrong") about it.

In fact, those who do so - without meaning to be divisive myself - make themselves out as nothing so much as police trolls or divisive undercovers themselves... certainly, it's not exactly behaviour that fits with a desire to build a society where we can collectively share tasks in a non-exploitative fashion and communicate our desires in a way defined by respect and mutual aid - is it?

(p.s. Fuck that bastard. I'm sure he's not having a very nice mental time of it, and I feel a very slight pang of human sympathy. Plus, maybe some of what he's saying - amongst the lies - is useful. Nonetheless, fuck him. wanker. utterly agree that he should be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. He'd have to do an awful lot of very helpful stuff for more than 7 years to be deserving of *any* forgiveness)

peterpannier

Link to sensible comment

17.01.2011 12:48

Now that this article has so many people commenting on it that people are likely to be attracted to it and thus the cycle will continue, I'd like to point out what I consider a very useful little article less obvious currently on the newswire:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472236.html

In response to it I wrote (amongst other things)

How did this fucker respond when he had the crap beaten out of him by coppers for instance? Did he rant on about what wankers cops are? If not, if if he did but it seemed a little odd, wouldn't that arouse a little suspicion...?

In a way, I also think this case raises the issue of "full time activists". The "give up activism" text is great for all sorts of reasons, but I'd say one is that it'd be much harder for the state to give infiltrators a life that seemed like many other activists, if other activists saw themselves less as 'activists' and more as normal people engaged in struggle (ie, got less involved in the cliqueness of activism, brought their activist friends and non-activist friends together, got involved in workplace struggles, blah blah blah...

I appreciate that many people who devote their entire lives to activism are motivated by great passion - and make serious sacrifices for which I have to express respect - but personally, I always find it a little suspicious when people are happier to be more engaged in far off international struggles than in building on and radicalising whatever admittedly rubbish campaigning might be going on in their local area. I'd argue that this kind of 'activism' can actually be a hell of a lot more threatening to both the state and the status quo than the kind of militant lobbying tactics that have come to define much of the movement (particularly I really think a lot of people need to re-think what *Direct* action means)

Anyway, Love and respect to all those who are having to deal with this. I'm personally not sure regarding the value/problems of dealing with the corporate media on all this (perhaps it will help reveal others, advance our cause, make the general public hate the police even more, all good things), but as someone who didn't know mark, and isn't even sure I recognise him (though I've obviously been tangled in similar circles from the events I've heard he was at), I respect the right of those who HAVE had to deal with the shit to figure out how to deal with it themselves. We should be offering solidarity and support to them, not attacking them for decisions we might not have made personally. Critique is fine (and its definately worth having a no-holds-barred debate about how we deal with these instances, as there will clearly be similar ones in the future), but there's no need to add to the sense of paranoia and divisiveness (and stress for the people involved) by getting personal (or excessively strident - as in "you're doing it all wrong") about it.

In fact, those who do so - without meaning to be divisive myself - make themselves out as nothing so much as police trolls or divisive undercovers themselves... certainly, it's not exactly behaviour that fits with a desire to build a society where we can collectively share tasks in a non-exploitative fashion and communicate our desires in a way defined by respect and mutual aid - is it?

(p.s. Fuck that bastard. I'm sure he's not having a very nice mental time of it, and I feel a very slight pang of human sympathy. Plus, maybe some of what he's saying - amongst the lies - is useful. Nonetheless, fuck him. wanker. utterly agree that he should be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. He'd have to do an awful lot of very helpful stuff for more than 7 years to be deserving of *any* forgiveness)

peterpannier

@ Simon

17.01.2011 13:56

"Are you saying you didn't know where Stone was and didn't have his home phone number before you confronted him?"

That's a new one. You lot keep shifting the goalposts don't you?

I don't know whether the exposers knew that or not before they confronted him, but it's quite possible -even likely- that they did. Until shortly before being exposed he was a friend and we usually do know those things about our friends, don't we?

Where he buggered off to AFTER being confronted and exposed is a different matter. The previous implication was that the exposers knew that and were withholding the information from the rest of us.

The contradictory and constantly shifting nature of these accusations indicates either woolly and incoherent minds at work or a more specifically disruptive motive.

Stroppyoldgit

Guardian CiF: Ratcliffe case: Police smear campaign continues

17.01.2011 14:44

E.on's coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire
E.on's coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire

"What if more than 100 people gained access to one of the UK's largest coal-fired power stations, with the aim of closing it down for a week?" These carefully considered words, spoken in January 2009, kick-started some of the most exciting and terrifying months of my life.

Coal was, and remains, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels. If we had been successful in our plans to close down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station for a week, it's estimated we would have prevented 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

There were two conditions of us taking the action. Firstly, that it would not result in any power failure. Secondly, that we could do it in a way that was 100% safe with no risk of danger to anyone.

The first condition was easy enough. Anyone who has a grain of knowledge about the National Grid knows that it is fully equipped to deal with power stations going offline unannounced at any time. Indeed, our grid is so resilient that the last time we suffered any serious power failing was in 1987 (the year I was born). Even then, it only concerned a small region in the south east. We knew categorically that our action would not result in a single lightbulb going off.

For the second condition, we spent months conducting extensive research, purchasing the appropriate equipment, and ensuring we had people with the relevant expert skills taking part in the action.

We now know the police were fully aware of both the above points from the very beginning of our planning. One of their own officers, posing as an activist and instructed by his bosses, aided us every step of the way.

One seemingly small part of our plan was to take video recording equipment to the power station with us. This was not merely for enhancing our publicity.

As a climate movement we had become increasingly used to the police deploying smear stories as a tactic. The fictitious tales would often emerge as vain attempts to justify excessive policing that the public would otherwise consider unacceptable.

A good example is the 2008 Climate Camp at Kingsnorth. Home Office minister Vernon Coaker was forced to apologise months later for claiming that 70 police officers were injured during the event, after it emerged that the majority of those injuries came from incidental occurrences such as bee stings and sunstroke. One can only assume this particular smear story was to excuse their illegal use of stop and searches at the camp, which led to activists receiving thousands of pounds of compensation.

Knowing we would be hidden away from public view up a chimney at Ratcliffe-on–Soar, we had cameras at the ready to counter any tall tale the police would attempt to give about our behaviour. With the shocking scenes of the G20 just a week before, and the death of Ian Tomlinson, we were also geared up to document the police's behaviour.

Our fear of smear stories proved not to be speculative paranoia. Despite the police preventing the action from taking place and arresting 114 people, it didn't take long before the police press machine began claiming that we were a "serious threat" to society for months to come.

Twenty of those arrested, including myself, recently went on trial as a result of our planned intentions to close down the power station. We failed to convince a jury that we were taking action out of necessity to combat climate change. However, we certainly convinced the judge that our two provisos for taking the action were sincere. In his comments at sentencing, he said:

"It is right to emphasise that this the planned action would have had no practical effect on the electricity supply ... It was your intention that this invasion would have been peaceable and safe. Violence was to be avoided, and the safety of the workers at the power station was paramount. You were fully equipped to carry out your roles safely."

These words from a high court judge did not stop the police in going straight back to the media, stating our actions would have endangered human life and "caused significant disruption to the public".

Even following the revelations about PC Mark Kennedy's role in the action, they still play the same game. Hugh Orde, head of Association of Chief Police Officers, suggested on Newsnight last week that the action would have prevented electricity from reaching hospitals and vulnerable people for a considerable period of time. I find it deeply disturbing that a senior police officer with a responsibility for the country's national security doesn't seem to comprehend how his own National Grid works.

This saga of undercover officers has produced some very serious questions that require answers. The revelations that came out over the weekend about covert police recordings being hidden from the courtroom means that a very serious miscarriage of justice is suspected to have taken place. Do our police want to be proactive in ensuring justice is done and learn from their mistakes, or will they simply cover their eyes and ears while continuing their childish smear campaign?

The police, in their defence, have offered us two flimsy olive branches. Firstly, an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Yet, the remit of this investigation is ridiculously narrow. It seeks only to examine the relationship between Nottinghamshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service, meaning shadowy bodies such as the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (who employed PC Mark Kennedy) will retain their dangerous invisibility. They have also announced an HM Inspectorate of Constabulary investigation, a police-staffed body whose last investigation into the policing of protesters resulted in zero change on the ground.

Whether the police are monotonously smearing activists, or fobbing us off with ineffective investigations, we can see through their strategy. A growing number of voices are demanding that there is a genuinely independent, public and wide-ranging inquiry heard before a judge. If the police want to rescue their fast depleting credibility, they need to show their willingness to co-operate with such a process rather than be seen to desperately employ whatever means necessary to avoid it.

• Bradley Day has been campaigning on climate change for the past half-decade. Much of this time has been devoted to organising for the Camp for Climate Action

Bradley Day - repost
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2011/jan/17/ratcliffe-police

Funny how these undercovers allways go "abroad".

17.01.2011 17:11

Theres one in a high profile (or was a high profile at one time) campaign who has been there for years. Disappears "abroad" and lets the campaign "leader" drive his car. As soon as a major campaigner was arrested this persons other half disappeared without saying goodbye. Funny how they turn up from no where and get friendly with the high profilers isnt it. Then disappear on "work" abroad every so often. People have been told but they dont listen do they. Maybe they dont care because of the physical attraction. Shame on them.

G

They're smarter than that

17.01.2011 18:12

Peterpannier:

Your thoughtful contribution is good, but wouldn't have made much odds in this particular case, nor that of other umasked infiltrators.

"How did this fucker respond when he had the crap beaten out of him by coppers for instance? Did he rant on about what wankers cops are?"

Yes, he did.

Having sympathy for cops is presumably one of the first things they train out of you at spy school.

"it'd be much harder for the state to give infiltrators a life that seemed like many other activists, if other activists saw themselves less as 'activists' and more as normal people engaged in struggle"

Mark certainly engaged in lots of non-activist things, with many people whose full-on activist years were behind them. Activism was no greater a part of his life than theirs. He spent weeks at a time doing nothing political. On a thousand pounds a week.

Dogsucker

Why is this post dated two days into the future?

17.01.2011 18:13

Submitted 17.1.11

dr who

@dogsucker

17.01.2011 18:43

yep, you're right.

we can't ever underestimate how slimy and conniving and well trained these shits will be... i hope what i said didn't come across as suggesting that people were stupid for not having realise sooner. not my point at all... it's the whole point of spies - especially one's that cost ~£250,000 a year, is that it's gonna be incredibly hard to spot them quickly and easily...

still. meeting people's parents? slowly and incidentally checking out their backstory...? i dunno...

and political discussions... even at network x people were pushing that "we all share politics so we don't have to discuss it" line. i'm an anarchist. i don't share my exact politics with anyone, and I don't expect anyone to share mine. of course, i believe in mutual aid and solidarity, and will work with people with politics as close to mine as possible, but it's always worth have friendly and constructive discussions to get further along the line. my guess is, coppers and spies wouldn't be much cop (ahaa!) at this... obviously, you couldn't draw anything from that really (you'd need a passport with a different name on etc...)

guess we should all just start watching a lot more mafia films etc (can recommend the sopranos and the wire...) for tips. would love to try the photocopier lie detector trick on some suspect spy one time... if anyone knows that... ;-)

(thanks for the constructive comment)

peterpannier

fraud

17.01.2011 19:49

Kennedy said that he would have admitted that he was a police officer if he had been asked, but nobody did. Not that I believe anything that a police officer says, but if that's true then technically he has not committed a specific act of deceit (fraud). I think the courts tend to take all fraud quite seriously.

On occasions I have asked activists if they are a police officer and they have become offended and indignant, even when I have tried to explain beforehand.

If we apply for a job, our prospective employer asks all sorts of seemingly impertinent questions, in the application form, and we just tend to accept it.

Isn't it about time we used their own tricks against them?

fmotl

Don't take Mark Kennedy's story at face value - guardian article today

17.01.2011 19:57

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2011/jan/17/mark-kennedy-police-spy?showallcomments=true#end-of-comments

quiteliketheguardianactually

Myths about Lies and Detection

17.01.2011 20:36

"Kennedy said that he would have admitted that he was a police officer if he had been asked, but nobody did. Not that I believe anything that a police officer says, but if that's true then technically he has not committed a specific act of deceit (fraud). I think the courts tend to take all fraud quite seriously" - fmotl

You probably also think that the courts take all cases of murder seriously, but they plainly don't when the murderer is an on duty cop, look at Tomlinson, De Menezes et al. Undercover cops don't have to admit to being undercover cops, that is a well known myth [1]. If Kennedy claimed that it is a lie designed to protect himself and you shouldn't repeat it.

"guess we should all just start watching a lot more mafia films etc (can recommend the sopranos and the wire...) for tips. would love to try the photocopier lie detector trick on some suspect spy one time... if anyone knows that... ;-)" - peterpannier

The Guardian [2] ascribes this myth to the Wire, via a true source, but the myth predates this to previous fiction [3]. If anyone doesn't know the myth, a cop persuades a gullible suspect that they are connected to a genuine lie detector which is actually a photocopier / whatever.

I've played around with homemade lie detectors for fun, and I don't know how useful they are. Because many people believe them they are at least as useful as placebo drugs obviously are. They do indicate some things, such as stress, they do indicate something that (imo) can be interpreted by a rational infomed investigator. I think it is therefore another myth that they don't work at all, and maybe we, like the FBI and the CIA, should use them when questioning each other.

The unexposed infiltrators I know all refused to take a free, independent, professional lie detector test for extremely dubious reasons which leads me to believe they do work and they are scared of it.

[1] http://www.erowid.org/freedom/police/police_info6.shtml
[2]  http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/23/computers-lie-detecting
[3]  http://www.snopes.com/legal/colander.asp

Danny

I'm with the ABC Berlin...

17.01.2011 20:43

... Although I believe the original unmasking wasn't perfect those exposing him can be forgiven, operating as they were in unchartered and choppy waters.

What cannot be forgiven is the appalling and unnecessary media whoring by some so-called activists. Liberal bleating on Newsnight etc about what an ineffectual and harmless bunch of wallies the climate action community are supposed to be is embarrassing to say the least. Passing a recording of "Mark the Grass" trying to re-habilitate himself to the BBC is a fucking disgrace and calling for an inquiry is completely disingenuous and unprincipled.

I can't work out if those involved are so scared they'll do and say anything so they don't have to do 12 minutes community service; if they're just stupid; or more likely, they're trying to preserve and further their precious careers.

Whatever, I'm sure I'll be seeing them more on the telly as the voice of climate change and less on the barricades.

To my German comrades, sorry. Most of us will never forgive him and we still have some principles and self-respect.

ACAB.

Rudeboy

Monbiot on CiF:Eco-terrorism: the non-existent threat we spend millions policing

17.01.2011 20:45

"Animal Rights extremists" - bad / "Environmental extremists" - good

NPOIU targeting liberals - bad

And eventually a point: Quote:

"This government claims to be concerned about both civil liberties and law enforcement. So here is a straightforward test. If it is committed to these principles, it will strip the Association of Chief Police Officers of its powers and its funding, shut down the units it runs, and launch an inquiry into the alleged collusion between senior police officers and large corporations. Which does Cameron put first: the rule of law or corporate power? If Acpo is still operating in 2012, you'll have your answer."

Considering what just happened with Banker's bonuses I think we all know where the Conservatives and their illiberal sidekicks stand - why doesn't George?

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/17/eco-terrorism-policing-environmental-activists

asking activists upfront

17.01.2011 21:40

Several comments above mention asking activists whether or not they are undercover cops and how denial in these circumstances would constitute fraud. Some of this stems, I think, from the entrapment of Colin Stag, who was wrongly convicted for murder on the strength of a lying undercover cop.

Well, I have been asked a few times if I was a cop...I've been an activist for nearly 30 years and in my 20's was asked it a few times, mainly cos I don't take drugs, don't go to parties, don't have many lovers, dress pretty straight and in my 20's had a nice disposable income with my then job, which meant I ended up paying for lots of stuff. Back then I was also the only person old enough to hire vans most of the time and was happy to pay for them!

I never minded being asked - but it was better to be asked upfront than to have it whispered behind my back. when that happened it was terrifying and left me feeling unloved and alone.

I also have a policy of asking new lovers, if they are peripheral to activism, or recently joined, if they are cops. I know this is extreme, but I gently explain why - cos if they deny it, they can't give evidence against me.

Anyway, enough of this, I am a bit fed up with the subject and want to get on with the business of activism and prove that despite their efforts, the state has not destroyed us.

Bee

Bee

@ Why is this post dated two days into the future?

17.01.2011 21:43

Basically, to make it 'sticky' - i.e. that it always appears at the top of the newswire.

This story (understandably) has attracted so many views and people's comments, that it was felt to be better to have all of these in one place rather than spawning a multitude of new newswire posts that would very soon become fragmented. It was felt it was better to do this by having one main post that people would see, and be able to comment on, at the top of the newswire rather than expecting people to navigate (and mods to link) each article to each other article.

I believe a main centre column feature is being developed.

This, and any other editorial decisions, are make on the email list -  http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-uk-moderation - so if people have comments on editorial decisions, this is the place to send them.

Hope this helps.

an IMC mod

@Bee - stupid to the point of evil

17.01.2011 22:25

With best respect to your activism you have just repeated an obvious lie despite me just debunking it.

Asking anyone if they are a cop is meaningless, it is a confession of stupidity, because cops are allowed to lie. Why anyone in this day and age should fall for the myth that cops are somehow so holy that they are denied the ability to lie is beyond me. Cops lie in court on oath everyday, for Gawds sake.

Seemingly cops can't lie to lawyers, at least that is what Kennedy claimed in interview, but then I wouldn't trust that in the least either given Kennedy is nothing but a liar. Whatever you think you have learned from you life in activism is utterly worthless because if you aren't a cop yourself then you are so stupid as to be dangerous. Please don't give anyone else advice ever again, you are risking their lives even if you 'mean well'.

Danny

Animal Rights

17.01.2011 22:51

Adrian Radford, check him out, he spied on AR activists for a while, thing is they ended up getting very long stretches in prison, because they were AR because AR had laws made up specifically to combat it. (because of so many successes but thats another story)

I was regularly suspected of being a cop for a lot of reasons, but it never bothered me.

Someone who I respected told me
"If your a cop we want another hundred just like you"


Animal Rights activists go to prison just for looking at there targets, so if your NOT animal rights you need to be getting on with whatever your doing before they change the laws to suit your targets requirements.

I know a couple who told me they felt very uneasy going to there first ever action, it was a climate camp, with people whispering "cops" and "pigs" they didn't know anyone there.

good way to alienate new comers, cos your so busy doing really important things like trespass which is going to send you to prison for how long??




beagleboy

debunked

17.01.2011 23:43

Danny, you are quite right, my theory crap is well and truly debunked. But some people care more about morality than the legal system. The more regularly we can expose the immorality of the police and and courts, the more we can unsettle middle england, who give our masters their power. Occasionally bringing the middle classes face to face with their Stockholme Syndrome.

OK Mr. judge, your honour most high, this man, Mr. respectable officer of the law (law being a kind of supposed moral code of a civilised society, bollox!) accuses me of being naughty. Here is why he is a lier before we even start. When you completely overlook this fact, how do you expect Mr. and Mrs. Serberton to respect your moral judgment?

Every judgement is a political calculation.

fmotl

more activist than thou

18.01.2011 07:57

Just as, if not more, alienating for 'newcomers to activism' than people whispering cop behind their hands (which i agree is counter-productive and drives genuine people out), is the way some people make contributions to this debate. "We're more hardcore than you what are you doing that's threatening anyway?" - magic. Seen it so many times, anti-fascism, animal rights, Palestine... If people choose different priorities that's up to them, and I think recognising there's room for diverse approaches on all fronts is useful; not sitting in our own scene shouting about how great we are. Of course animal rights activists have faced heavy repression, and many of the modern NPOIU tactic came from its direct predeccessor ARNI. Sharing of ideas and experiences not pissing on people from on high anyone?

Also: some people are naive. it's frustrating. But comments like "so stupid you're evil"???!! That's a classic way to help people shed disillusion. Bound to work. Some very regular posters on these threads need to take a good look at themselves and their acitivist superiority complexes. I would suggest (as someone else has also suggested - peter pannier we could have done with your contributions earlier in these debates!) that the informal hierarchies of hyper-activist cool do help the cops plant slime like flash mark, and breaking down activist role play and building something more genuinely non-hierarchical and open to non-clique nerds would be one way of making things more difficult for them. Some of us think activism itself might have to go but we are feeling our way...

susie bites policemen

@Bee

18.01.2011 08:54

I understand the situation you describe, about not being much into partying, drugs etc and spending hard-earned money when it was needed by friends who had none and things needed doing. I was never inside a tight-knit group of activists, who had time to spend with each other while I was looking after my kids and working, (and probably whispered behind my back sometimes) but you know what? I'M still active, still have my hardcore belief in justice and what needs fighting for and am not a cop.
Take no notice of Danny. Just keep up the fight, work alone or find solidarity with true activists and not just those who like to talk the talk.

Flo

Guardian: Undercover police spy ring: minister to be questioned about Kennedy

18.01.2011 10:25

Home Office minister Nick Herbert will appear before the home affairs select committee to answer questions on police financing.

"Members of the committee, including the Labour chair, Keith Vaz, are planning to question him over Kennedy. A programme to plant spies in the protest movement is now estimated to have cost £15m over the last decade."

"Members of the home affairs select committee are very concerned about the recent reports concerning the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy," Vaz said. "As the minister for policing is before us we will take this opportunity to clarify a number of issues, including the role of Acpo and the NPOIU, the management of undercover policing as a whole and the extent to which these officers are relied upon."

Final para: Quote:

"Meanwhile, two environmental activists convicted of conspiring to break into a power station will appear before Nottingham crown court for sentencing. Activists say Kennedy helped to organise and pay for the planned occupation of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. The two activists were convicted last month with 18 others, who were spared jail earlier this month after a judge declared they acted with "the highest possible motives"."

lynx

@ susie bites policemen

18.01.2011 11:45

What an excellent and sensible post!

Stroppyoldgit

Irish Central: British undercover agent led attack on Irish police at rally

18.01.2011 15:27

What was Kennedy's role in protests in Dublin in 2004. Did he have links with the Irish police?

"It was evident before the protest that police had intelligence on the activities of the activists who had travelled across the Irish Sea from Britain, suggesting that they had an informant in the protest movement. A police unit from the Pearse Street station arrested several people after smashing its way into a flat on Leeson Street in Dublin occupied by English anarchists.

"Some people arrested from the UK were kept here for two months but he did not get nicked for that. He was one of the people who were encouraging a confrontation with the garda up at the Parkgate," said an activist who played host to Kennedy."

Another report from the same paper, containing info I have not seen elsewhere:

 http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Appeals-for-inquiry-into-British-police-spies-after-Mark-Kennedy-revelations-114084179.html

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/British-undercover-agent-led-attack-on-Irish-police-at-rally-113840214.html

Guardian: Mark Kennedy case could spell end for police command unit

18.01.2011 17:30

What Herbert said in Parliament today. ACPO under pressure - however looks like Theresa May still supports ACPO - and the move to the Met was already in place months ago.

So it's all window dressing really it would appear

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/18/mark-kennedy-undercover-end-acpo

Association of Chief Police Officers will be stripped of power to run operationa

18.01.2011 17:42

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/18/mark-kennedy-undercover-end-acpo

One step

susiebites is right

18.01.2011 20:43

I'm sorry for being condesending, my intention was to point out that when your doing actions that have little prison time then you should work with almost anyone AND when you become a real thorn in the side of big companies the police and cps will crack down hard on you.

I've done a lot of the classic activities like mass tresspass, lock ons, office occupations etc, and no one should be put off from doing these things cos of the possibility of a undercover cop. Unless your AR cos they have specific laws with regards to research, how long till they copy those laws over to the energy companies? who knows but till they do, make hay etc..

I don't do any actions anymore for a number of reasons, being scared of imprisonment very high on the list.

seriously I respect ALL actions that go towards a brighter now.

sorry if I offended anyone

beagleboy

Anti Fascist ?

18.01.2011 20:47

Wasn't Stone involved with Antifa uk ? he was bragging about being at the BNP shindig/ RWB when a load of Antifa got nicked trying to get across fields to the RWB site ,large arrests and hand to hand fighting with the riot police , he could have been bullshitting I suppose as he was obviously very good at it

soppy old git

UKPA: Undercover police work reviewed

18.01.2011 21:26

Hot on the heels of the statement by policing minister Nick Herbert that:

""It's clear to us all that something operationally has gone very wrong and that is now the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation."

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary announced that it will open a whitewash into the affair, headed up by former Merseyside top cop Inspector Bernard Hogan-Howe. It will run alongside other whitewashing exercises by the IPCC and Met.

Keith Vaz will write to Hugh Order for details of Mark Kennedy's £200k pa expense account.

lynx
- Homepage: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gPmtQg36TtfJsiKnqR7SixqQ-ZLQ?docId=N0228851295380065007A

Kennedy Mania is over

18.01.2011 21:36

Google chart on sources covering Kennedy story
Google chart on sources covering Kennedy story

Having gone crazee over this story for a week, corporate journos appear to have reached the end of their attention spans, and are moving on to other things. Whitewashes will report back some time farinto the future and the 4 spies allegeldy still embedded will probably all go "overseas" very soon.

Hurrah

Till the next batch.....

lynx

@ Kennedy Mania is over

18.01.2011 22:12

Would be interesting to see a similar graph for Indymedia showing articles & comments posted. Many of which have been informative & thought provoking. Many others that have not been.

Overall, I think IM has done a great job - especially the mods - in very trying times. A true testament to the power of open publishing and the people that make it happen.

counter

@rudeboy / ABC Berlin & corporate media tarts

18.01.2011 23:45

I'm kinda with ABC Berlin to, but I met my mum the other day, and she'd been really impressed by the woman on newsnight, outraged at the cops stuff (though I had an argument with her about whether it really was a suprise, given the McLibel revelations that half the group were often spies... ohhh... 10 years+ ago). As much as I hate the corporate media, and agree maybe people go too far with being media tarts and end up greasing their own careers rather than thinking about the consequences for the wider movement/struggle, I also think that a lot of people hate doing media tart work, but realise the value in it, and thus accept that those who can cope with doing it should. personally, as invasive and shitty as the media can be (on top of lying and painting us in bad lights etc etc), i think the movement has benefitted massively from the media coverage (not only because it has made those outside it sympathetic to us, but because it has made sure that a lot of activists have to wake up to this shit - believe me, a lot of people need to be woken up about it, rather than thinking of it as 'tin-hat').

in short, just keeping it all completely quiet helps us how, exactly?

i'm sure those who have been in the media a lot have had to deal with plenty of shit from them, let's not give them a load more hey?

peterpannier
- Homepage: http://www.twitter.com/peterpannier

@ Counter

19.01.2011 08:54

There is a guy in a major campaign who has been involved for years who every so often goes "overseas". He has done this for years and now the campaign has died down with a major campaigner now in prison, this guy has left to work "overseas" but the new campaign leader drives his car and then hands it back to him when he comes back to the UK. He then uses it for a while and hands it back over to her. I wouldn't mind but he cannot stand her and has slagged her off in the past. Trouble is, is she fancies him so likes it when he is around. Shame on her.

Pluto

Those most affected

19.01.2011 09:06

This phrase has been so overused on indymedia it has become devalued and almost meaningless. Those most affected are the anarchists and militant activists who engaged in serious actions with Kennedy, and who yet face arrest and imprisonment, not some self-defined group.

Ange

To Ange

19.01.2011 10:31

What a strange and inconsiderate thing to say. Surely those that are most affected isn't some exclusive group of people, but can include many people for different reasons, both personal and political, and would you believe it, some people fall into both categories.

It's a mess, not a clear cut thing like you seem to make it out to be. Think before you post idiot comments like you just have please.

FFS

EFS Get over yourselves

19.01.2011 11:39

It's not me whose been defining TMA as some exclusive little club. Grow up and get over yourselves before the whole movement drowns in your self pity. I have more than pity for those who may yet pay a high price for Kennedy's infiltration, I have solidarity, something which seems to have been forgotten about amid a deal of mawkish self-indulgence.

Ange

Kennedy was "no James Bond"

19.01.2011 14:18

Best joke of the day comes from the Guardian.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/18/covert-policing-cleanup-acpo

Kennedy was "no James Bond"

It is the Metropolitan police that is now set to take control of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), the largest of Acpo's domestic extremism units.
Today its acting commissioner, Tim Godwin, said that Acpo, which owned the unit, had already identified it as needing better governance, and that negotiations were under way to bring it into the Met "so that it would come within our command and control system, which would ensure a) compliance with law, b) compliance with rules, c) compliance with ethics".

What a f**king joke! The Met kill.

Plus this entire story is a fine example of how to squander the nation cash when at the same time education maintainance allowances are being cut – to give but one example.

Auserity measures – police funding cut backs – don’t make me laugh, my sides are already splitting.

Fuk da polis

take a good look in the mirror

19.01.2011 14:49

Well said Ange.There's the paradox. Some people think it's good to be an individual in a group, save it for your private life. That's the weak point of the group. Check out any EF gathering and you will see the flaw. Same faces tied up doing all the work whilst the 'individuals' do as they please. It just doesn't work. It's so easy to slip in there and go unnoticed or more to the point, a cop to take over an EF workshop on how to spot infultrators(ask tilly gifford). Didn't anyone challenge Kennedy on his over the top input? to me, it sounded like a serious subject matter.Too much focus on not upsetting, putting off potential activists - time me thinks to get a little more hard core which basically means : gate tent,washing up,litter picking,wood gathering etc and less focus on drinking, attention seeking, hooray henrying, ego boosting and chatting up potentials, dead give-aways for privelidged middle class chancers. Yeah what i've written does sound alittle boring,authoritarian, alittle uncool but if the 'movement' wants to be taken seriously then take it seriously, there's plenty of time for fun, it's not as if any activists are exactly deprived over here. It's all too fluffy and weak, c'mon peeps, snap out of it.

jake

some legal advice

19.01.2011 18:33

for those (including myself) who are slightly paranoid by the amount of info the filth now have on them..dunno if this is helpful but the below is from a trusted solicitor. it only relates to UK and wales sorry..

"If I understand correctly....
You're talking about new prosecutions based on old information derived
from the involvement of undercover cops?
In principle this may be the trigger to prosecutions. Evidence from
undercover cops may be the lead the prosecution need to know who to
prosecute for what. But the prosecution itself - the allegations at any
trial - would have to be based on legally admissible evidence which
proves guilt. And it would be unlikely the pros could rely on anything
direct from an undercover cop. And the pros may - in the light of the
Ratcliffe 6 case - be hesitant about prosecuting where an undercover cop
is linked to the investigation, even if his (her) evidence is not being
used.
I don't know about law beyond England and Wales I'm afraid.
I hope this answers your questions, at least a bit."

lee gal

Infiltrator married an activist and had children

19.01.2011 22:19

A fourth spy has been unmasked according to the guardian.

After he told her they got married and had children!

Jim Boyling, a policeman known as Jim ­Sutton when he infiltrated Reclaim the Streets, married an activist and had children.

Noway
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/19/undercover-policeman-married-activist-spy

We need a solid portfolio of these people for future reference

20.01.2011 08:08

As I just posted elsewhere, these photographs will be lost over time. We need a reference point so other political campaigns can check out the faces of these undercovers. Undercovers move from group to group and political causes. A website is needed to showcase these people.

Pluto

Tone 'what a nasty piece of work he is'

20.01.2011 11:45

I don't really agree with concluding the tone of your article - 'what a nasty piece of work' Kennedy is. Sounds a bit like self righteous rancor as testimony to your own purity. In fact it plays into the hands of the police who can distance themselves from him and present him as a bad apple. Your indignation betrays naivety and suggests there is honour in the police because this guy has even betrayed their trust. Come on! This is a state, policing and insipid media issue and those institutions that should be the focus of attack, not the man. We know Kennedy's a cad with serious moral and emotional issues and we should try to make sure he realizes that, but the best thing we can do is humour him and try to extract as much information as possible from him, possibly even show some compassion. Activists, thankfully, didn't beat him up. The cops did.

There have always been undercover police in the protest movement and cognisant of this, strategies and tactics must adapt. It's a good dose of reality, but no need for paranoia. As stated by other activists, the ease with which they can infiltrate shows we still have open organisations and this should not be jeopardized.

Dave

He may have done us a favour anyway

20.01.2011 14:46

Don't you think? Look at the info and publicity he has given us.


Bet his superiors didn't see that one coming lol.

Pluto

No information

20.01.2011 21:49

I don't agree that Kennedy has given us any information.. He didn't, as the media keeps saying, give "Lyn Watson" away. Her name was put to him and all he did was to confirm the strong suspicion which her disappearance had previously aroused. The alternative was to have cause for alarm about "Lyn's'" welfare. That was eliminated by confirmation that she didn't really exist..

He gave no other information as far as I know and it would have been daft to ask for any. He's an accomplished liar so it would be impossible to know if anything he said was accurate and what was disinformation designed to cause disruption.

This, remember, is the man who;

Only ever had sex with two women in our circles
Never took illegal drugs
Was the only person who ever cleaned anything

Yeah, right, Mark.

Stroppyoldgit

Agree he is a liar

21.01.2011 08:44

I know someone who knows this Mark fella and said he often took drugs. I always take things I hear with a pinch of salt but I can definitely believe he took drugs. Not sure about the two woman thing but he is obviously a liar so he could have slept his way around the movement for all I know.

I was referring to his comments about how many undercovers were/are in the movement. Whilst this might also be a lie, I highly doubt it as we know we are targeted. The fact that this info has come from a cop though has helped to give us publicity about infiltration which we otherwise wouldn't have got. It will be interesting to see whether this all dies down now or whether the public/politicians are interested in this obscene overpolicing we have to endure.

To the point where we are filmed continuously, even when going to the toilet (not literally of course but bet they would if they could) or walking off to the coffee shop. There are campaigns I just will not attend where this is allowed to happen. Not because I feel intimidated but because I think it's a bloody cheek they are allowed to get away with it. Especially when they are filming minors. Ugh!

Pluto

@ Pluto

21.01.2011 12:26

Keeping people like you from being involved is one of the main objects of the filming and photos, I reckon. Beyond "intelligence gathering" (and they can only process so much of that) the object is harassment to deter people from taking part. Now there's "democracy" fer ye!

After all, as Jon Murphy, Chief Constable of Merseyside let slip the other day, the police's job is to "achieve the legitimate aims of the government" and committing crimes to that end is just fine and dandy. So oppose the government and the vested interests behind them and the police will oppose you. Political policing is now blatant. The only answer is to defy it.

Stroppyoldgit

@Stroppy

21.01.2011 13:33

Yeh I know and I will never stop campaigning for what I believe in but I do think when you have injunction servers filming you every time you move or chat to anyone, needs to be challenged. But most people seem to think this kind of behaviour is ok and let them get on with it. I say (like Fitwatch) we should be watching the watchers. I suggested this years ago at a certain campaign but some people just want to carry on and let themselves be filmed almost continuously.


This isn't on as far as I'm concerned. If the public are annoyed with the amount of policing legal campaigners put up with, they'd be furious if they knew just how far it went. I prefer to campaign with likeminded activists who challenge this sort of thing. And I mean, intelligent activists who campaign for the right reasons - not these campaigners who are in it for themselves and gob off at any given opportunity.


Pluto

call for direction, advice and discussion...

21.01.2011 13:48

For some time a while back I knew and had a sexual relationship with Mark “Stone” Kennedy. In my current circle of friends and fellow activists, I am the only person who knew Kennedy. Therefore, the first I heard of his unmasking was just over a week ago when it made international news headlines. At first I was shocked and surprised, but was in denial that this should affect me emotionally. However, I am increasingly developing feelings of regret, sadness and a deep sense of violation of my dignity and right to self-determination.

I wish, like most in this case, to retain my anonymity. I am not looking to sell my story or gain anything from it. Yet I want, somehow, to help ensure that Mark Kennedy never has the option of publishing any part of his story again. There has been much talk of potential book and film deals. The damage that this would cause anyone who was deceived, lied to and defiled by this remorseless, callous individual, acting on behalf of a public authority, is unthinkable.

I am sure that there is strong solidarity and support within the activist community in which Mark lived and worked the most. But, because of my situation, I am not benefiting from any close, community support. Fear of being exposed and having journalists sniffing around has stopped me from telling all but the one person closest to me. And the feeling I get from reading the Indymedia newswire and comments is discouraging and disheartening. Apparently there are people dealing with this, and everyone else should keep quiet.

Mark travelled to 22 countries and slept with many women. Should it really be so that they should just shut up and deal with it? Because we should all know that activist scenes are infiltrated? What if he gets a book and film deal? I’m sure he’s sussed by now how much more money he can make by including all the details of his sexual relationships with the people he was spying on…

There is the potential for a self-regulated inquiry to smack some wrists, sack a few people, re-organise a few departments and sweep most of the dirt under the carpet. But will this prevent it from happening again? Will this bring closure to all of the victims of these pointless, astronomically expensive assignments? Of course not.

Support and solidarity is brilliant, but it is not reaching everyone affected. I know I am not the only one.

This is a call for direction, advice and a respectful, objective discussion on the matter.

Also, I would like to open up a discussion about the possibility of an anonymous class action against Kennedy by the women he had sexual relationships with. Not being a lawyer I don't know how realistic this is and I am sure not all of the women who slept with Mark agree that this is the right action. But personally I will not forgive myself if I take no action against this.

With reference to Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention, which states that:

“everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life…”

and

“there shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.”

inthemiddleofnowhere

@ inthemiddleofnowhere

21.01.2011 14:31

The only people who have been urged to shut up are those making unfounded and fanciful allegations against those who exposed Mark Kennedy, accusing then of concealing information because they declined to publish ONE document which they had. These accusers and fictionalists are probably police trolls.

As Kennedy himself has now done the dirty on his own family, it can be said that this one document was his child's birth certificate. The only relevant information on it was that he gave his occupation as "police officer". It was not published to protect the child and the child's mother from the media shit storm going on, into which Kennedy has now dumped them.

That's all. Nobody is telling you to shut up. I'm sure nobody genuine feels anything but sympathy, solidarity and concern for you over this. There is no special group of people "dealing with" this. That ceased to exist as soon as they went public last October. We're ALL dealing with this -or trying to. Those who find it hardest and need most support are YOU and others in a similar position.

Do contact your old friends again, whether you want to talk about all this shit in more detail or just get the support and love you deserve (as others are). Nobody worth their salt will pressurise you either way. Struggling with what was done to you must be even harder in isolation, I guess, (I can only guess) and there's no reason for you to stay outside.

I send you warm solidarity and hopes for healing, whoever or wherever you are.

Stroppyoldgit

@inthemiddleofnowhere

21.01.2011 14:32

I have two bits of 'two-bit' advice.

1) Seek emotional support outside of the activist communities. Go to Rape Crisis or one of the many other excellent women's groups who daily deal with victims of abuse. The fact this man was undercover in activist circles is less relevant than his sexual misbehaviour being common throughout society, and they will have the best initial support and deeper experience.

2) If you are strong enough, please do take legal action against both Kennedy, and against his employers who repeatedly condone this abuse. If nothing else it is the only path open to stop him selling 'his story' as he has already started profiting from this, and it could punish him and deter this misbehaviour in future. I'm not a lawyer but my understanding is that you can't take an anonymous legal civil action, but you can certainly anonymously seek legal advice. In my opinion you should also ask more than one lawyer if you should pursue a criminal case of rape or sexual contact by deception, where your identity would be protected.

Your pseudeonym suggests you feel isolated and alone, but the intelligence of your writing shows you know you are not the only one in this situation, not only due to Kennedy but to other infiltrators historical and future. Yours is by far the most important post on this subject on Indymedia or in the mainstream that I have read. Everyone here who has read your comment supports you even if we bicker about other things. Just because nobody knows you doesn't mean no-one supports you. Once you have received face-to-face support then please don't lose your anger and please do seek professional legal advice - and like medical advice ask for second and third opinions so you can evaluate for yourself what you are prepared for. Kennedy isn't the first cop to abuse his power sexually, but the more you can do to stand up now will lessen the chances of it happening again.

bon courage

Danny

Can't think of a title

21.01.2011 14:42

I feel for you (inthemiddleofnowhere). I also personally do not see the harm in selling stories to the media (Im talking activists here and not undercovers). Activists will put the money to good use plus also tell it from our side. Am aware words may be twisted by the media but if you get a good lawyer then I don't see it as some sort of betrayal myself. Others may feel different but that is my opinion. I know this isn't what you're suggesting by the way.


I hope others who were in your situation get back to you.

Pluto

@inthemiddleofnowhere

21.01.2011 15:55

I wrote my previous post to you, not seeing the two other replies (I was typing etc while they crossed). I am glad you have had supportive replies. If anyone here is dismissive of your post, like Stroppy said - there are stirrirs and trolls on this thread - ignore them. If you like, I can give you a phone number (not mine but of another activist who posts their real name in these threads) and that activist can put you in touch with myself (they know my real identity) or other activists if you need support. Good luck!

Pluto

police troll

21.01.2011 22:20

"The only people who have been urged to shut up are those making unfounded and fanciful allegations against those who exposed Mark Kennedy, accusing then of concealing information because they declined to publish ONE document which they had. These accusers and fictionalists are probably police troll" ........stroppyoldgit

That is untrue . Stroppyoldgit has been trying to cover up everything about Kennedy's activities ever since October . I didn't know anything about this ONE document that Stroppyoldgit mentions , but have been calling for as much information as possible about the informer and his activities to be released. Stroppyoldgit is now saying that his only concern all along has been to protect the innocent people caught up in Kennedy's web. As if people like Kennedy's wife in Ireland and "inthemiddleofnowhere" didn't have a right to know that they had been deceived by this policeman . As if the Ratcliffe defendants would have been better off if Kennedy's role as a provocateur had been kept under wraps .

Stroppyoldgit has no right to be saying that those who called for more information to be published are police trolls. That is a slur . I'm not saying that stroppyoldgit is a police troll , but I do think that his attempts to silence people who wanted the truth to be told on indymedia gave the police a breathing space and allowed the corporate media to spin the story their own way.

Here's the sort of stuff stroppyoldgit has been saying since October of last year:

"I think a mistake was made in publishing his real name. If that had not been done, then a lot more evidence could have been produced with the name blanked out. That would not have put other, completely unconnected, people at risk. Now that the name has been published, that evidence has to be kept under wraps, unfortunately, and the genie can't be put back in the bottle."

"We don't know and can't be sure he was "sent to infiltrate a campaign" in another country. Maybe, maybe not. This is in the realm of fruitless speculation unless anyone has incontrovertable information."

"Also involved is the privacy and security of people who, as far as we know, are not our comrades (at least, not part of our movement or any of our networks and may not share our views) but are also, as far as we know, entirely innocent in any of this. Should we be instrumental in causing the media to trample all over them just because we don't know them? That would be to behave like uncaring trots, which we're not."


"joe mcivor is right. There is a two-tier system of telling the truth going on here, and there's a bloody good reason for it. Do you think IM or our activist networks exist in some sort of bubble? Some people behave and talk as if they do. The mainstream media trawls this site for new stories and for further details on stories they're already researching. You don't seem to have appreciated what I said above, so being boring enough to repeat myself....."



"The people seeking "proof", further information and details are unlikely ever to get any, and we all just have to accept that. "



"The media will almost certainly be crawling all over this story very soon, if they aren't already. There are people who're almost certainly innocent and unconnected with our scenes involved in the nasty double-life mess created by "Flash". Having had the trail which led to his discovery explained at the @ Bookfair meeting (without details), there is no way any of those details can be revealed, documents produced etc. without bringing the media shit circus down on their heads. Those who know the details aren't prepared to do that. I support them in that decision and I hope everyone else does, too. End of, I think. "

"As for what "Flash" said about his activities, other infiltrators etc., those are the words of a proven liar and deceiver, so giving such unreliable information any currency would only do further damage. Only one name was mentioned as a fellow infiltrator, apparently, and that was someone who was around relatively briefly, was suspected, and disappeared completely some time ago. Those who had contact with that person (which I didn't) know who it was, aren't surprised, and the sudden disappearance says it all, really. "

"We will not be seeing either of them again. The point is not to pick over the bones of this one obsessively, and put others at risk by doing so, but to learn the lessons for the future.
It's a bit unfortunate this broke 2 days before @ Bookfair. That event, for all it's merits, can be to a common or garden rumour mill as a concrete crusher is to wee pepper grinder."
//////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////

I am from Ireland . I have found out from the Guardian and from the Irish Times ie the corporate press , that Kennedy was heavily involved in the organisation of the riots in Dublin on Mayday in 2004 , and that he had travelled to Ireland on many occasions acting as a spy and agent provocateur . Irish activists had every right to know this information before it was publicised in the corporate media . Stroppyoldgit who has been adamant that only redacted information about Kennedy should be told to a select group of British-based anarchists has no right to be accusing me of being a police troll.

joemcivor
mail e-mail: joemcivor@gmail.com

thank you

22.01.2011 12:27

@ Stroppyoldgit and Danny

Thank you for your supportive comments and advice, I do appreciate it. My frustration stems mostly from a) the fact that no-one thought of getting in touch with me (or other women M had an affair with in the past, as far as I know) and b) when I did find out (from the BBC radio one morning) and went looking for direction or advice about how to deal with it all I could find was bickering (this is an exaggeration, I know, but that was the feeling I got). However, I am above all angry at the authorities, MK himself and the system that allowed this to happen and intend to do something about it.

I have left my e-mail address,if you want to get in touch, or anyone else who has found themselves in my situation. I have started seeking legal advice, so if anyone has information about that or good contacts please get in touch.

@ joemcivor

I understand your frustration, but I think it is now time to move on from this document discussion. This document, knowledge about MK's whereabouts or his family's details mean nothing to me. Yes, the information flow should have been a lot better to those of us outside the UK who were affected, but lets be forgiving of the fact that this situation is highly unusual and nobody could have anticipated it and that there is no "right" way to deal with it.

@ Pluto, thank you for your kind words.

Now, please everyone, this whole thing has affected a lot of people in different countries on different levels, personally and politically. Lets discuss this critically and constructively.

Can there be a platform to discuss and learn from what has happened, across countries?

 adha0001@gmail.com

inthemiddleofnowhere
mail e-mail: adha0001@gmail.com

@inthemiddleofnowhere

22.01.2011 13:38

Good I am glad you are doing this. If you all get together, you might be able to do something constructive with this horrid situation. You would all be very press worthy if that is a route you wanted to go down. Not sure I will contact you as I am not one of these women so not sure I will be able to help in any way. I'd just like to say though that anyone who contacts you needs to be vouched for but I guess you already know this.

Pluto

additional info

22.01.2011 13:49

I totally agree with inthemiddleofnowhere about trying to move on, and stop this infighting. I also wish inthemiddleofnowhere the best of luck with any action you take regarding this, and hope that you find the solidarity and support you deserve.

I just want to add that in October when Kennedy was found out enormous effort was made to send this information to those whome he had been in contact with. It was a feature article in several IMC's, and was emailed to lists and groups all across Europe. There was also an effort to give warning to those intimate with him before it broke, so that people didn't find out about it through a computer monitor. I wasn't involved in that, but I know the people who were, and they were faced with an incredibly difficult task. I doubt anyone except Mark will know all the circles he moved in, and who he started relationships with, not even his pig handlers. I'm sorry that joemcivor and inthemiddleofnowhere had to hear this info from corporate sources, but people did try. Trying to communicate something like this to the whole movement across Europe isn't exactly easy. I hope you understand.

Fabbri

I have often wondered

22.01.2011 14:48

About undercovers who are hired by Private Security firms and not the police. I hope that all undercovers are outed over this but I think if people are employed to spy on us by private firms, they will not have to be accounted for? Does anyone know?


Thanks

Pluto

@next steps and fabbri

22.01.2011 16:46

thanks for the info

I will get in touch with Bindman's.

It is great to hear about the planned action on Monday.

Fabbri, as my pseudonym suggests I am literally in the middle of nowhere and have not had much contact with activist circles for a while... so part of it is down to my situation, and I am glad to hear that this effort was made even if it didn't reach me.

 ahda0001@gmail.com

inthemiddleofnowhere
mail e-mail: ahda0001@gmail.com

@ joeMcIvor

22.01.2011 17:41

Point was that people were demanding the production of all sorts of imagined information the people who exposed Kennedy had never had. Because they withheld the ONLY document they had (the child's birth certificate), explaining their reason for doing so (to protect the child and Kennedy's ex-partner from the media shit storm), people got on their backs calling them "cop protectors" and worse.

EVERYTHING known or available about Kennedy HAS been published EXCEPT that birth certificate. Nobody is trying to protect him or keep any of the facts under wraps. The very opposite, in fact. The efforts to protect Kennedy's child and ex-partner eventually came to an end when HE dropped them in the shit from which the people who had exposed him had made their best efforts to protect them.

The exposers never had any of the material they were accused of having (it kept changing) and were always happy for anyone and everyone else to publish anything they had.

That's all. What the hell's wrong with trying to keep the kids out of this? They are not responsible for who or what their father is. Now that they're, unfortunately, not out of it any more (due to Kennedy's own shitbaggery) there is nothing left to withhold.

You may not be a police troll, Joe, but those inventing more and more material and documents which was allegedly being "withheld", adding wild allegations of stuff being covered up for all sorts of fanciful motives, sounded very like they were.

Stroppyoldgit

@joemcivor

22.01.2011 18:10

Not really sure what the point of your accusations is? I know the person who posts as 'stoppyoldgit' and can tell you that he's definitely not a police troll! If that puts your mind at rest in way?
Were you involved in organising something with Kennedy? If you were, then you will know something about what he was involved in in Ireland, if not then he was just another person in a crowd and although his activities are no doubt of general interest/concern to you, it doesn't really make much immediate material difference to you at this stage does it?
No doubt there are people in Ireland who were involved in stuff with him and maybe you should be asking them rather than directing irrevelant criticisms at someone who has consistently tried to keep some sense and proportion in yet another great 'debate' on Indymedia.
Its not the responsibility of the people who exposed him to come up with some complete account of his movements and activities over a period of 7 years and its completely unreasonable to expect them to do so.
Providing that account would surely involve the co-operation of a fairly large number of people over a period of time and may or may not emerge. If you're actually an activist in Ireland why don't you start the ball rolling rather than bitching on here about the supposed failings of others.....

anon

Guardian prints police excuse

23.01.2011 01:21

"You cannot not be promiscuous in those groups. Otherwise you'll stand out straightaway."

This is another lie used to excuse the police behaviour. The activist groups I was involved in were certainly less promiscuous than the many offices and factories I've worked in. A cop would not have to resort to this to fit in. Many people, myself included, actively discouraged relationships with other activists not for fear of undercovers but simply due to the damage that any 'office-affair' can cause when the relationship fails. Anyone who was too promiscuous was seen a liability with dubious motives, and many of the most effective activists I met were effectively celibate.

I'm happy to read I was wrong and that the victims can take a class action anonymously, I hope inthemiddleofnowhere is wary of other email contact that may not just be cops and journalists but other more common exploitative sexual sickos.

Danny
- Homepage: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists

Anonymous the New World Organisation

23.01.2011 17:44

Anarchism is a state of mind
speak only of the truth and not of your actions
I will not be infiltrated
I speak only for me, we are all organisers
If you think it needs it, then do it
Prepare for yourself and what you can do
Always aim for peaceful action
Those who speak of what they do will be clear for all to see
I seek no fame

Anonymous

C4 News clip of 'Lynn Watson' in Rebel Clown Army

25.01.2011 22:28

 http://www.channel4.com/news/undercover-police-officer-filmed-in-clown-costume

"The video of 'Lynn Watson', who led a double life between 2003 and 2008, shows her with the non-violent radical group who called themselves the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.

In the footage filmed in 2004 she is seen shaking her backside outside an MP's office and playing cricket with a feather duster during a protest against the Iraq war.

It is believed that she was deployed by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit and she was embedded in the peace and environmental activist movements in Leeds for five years."

zoeyou

Threat

25.01.2011 23:13

I suppose this must mean that they saw the clowns (CIRCA) as some sort of threat. Find this hard to get my head around. I did find them a bit scary at times and when Lynn says in that film "We need more clowns". It made me shudder. God help us, there are so many clowns in this world already.

Sam

my political concerns

26.01.2011 11:33

Last October , after seeing hidden comments on this site, which said that Kennedy had been an Indymedia moderator , I wrote to Indy Nottingham asking them to say whether this was the case or not. A moderator replied asking me to say who I was, what my interest was and why I believed that Kennedy had been a moderator. Given the circumstances I think he was entitled to ask those questions This is what I wrote back to him .



“I come from Ireland and my interest is political .You ask me to identify myself, but I don't know who you are. I work on the assumption that everything I write to indymedia is read by the police, but I do not intend telling them my name. It isn't my belief that Stone /Kennedy was a moderator. I don't know whether he was a moderator or not, but as a user of the site I am surely entitled to know if one of its editors is or was a policeman.

We had a very well organized direct action campaign for over thirty years in Ireland which was thoroughly infiltrated and eventually controlled by the British state. The internal security department of the provisional IRA turned out to have been run for many years by the British intelligence operative, Freddie Scappaticci, and his infamous “nutting squad”. I think I can see individualist direct action and the security problems it inevitably involves leading activists in the UK into the same trap.

Indymedia started from the mass movement at Seattle and had its finest moments in the build- up to the Iraq war and the mass opposition to war expressed on Feb 15 2003 .After that demo the New York Times warned presciently that there were now two world super powers -the USA and world public opinion. Those forces who thought that there should be only one super power i.e. American imperialism began to get nervous and set about destroying the mass movement growing in opposition to it.

Indymedia is a resource which, when taken up by the mass movement again, will pose great problems for the state; I am sure that the state is well aware of that. It should come as no surprise that the police in Britain have attempted to recruit moderators. Reading now-hidden statements from the poster “messy “ on the Stone / Kennedy thread gave me the impression that Stone /Kennedy had been a indymedia moderator – an impression reinforced when another poster wrote in opposition to “messy” that Stone/ Kennedy had only ever been a moderator at IMC Scotland. There have been many rumours about Indymedia Ireland having at least one compromised moderator on its editorial board. Why that should concern me, you ask. I think you know why it should concern me, and also anyone else who doesn’t want the police snooping into their activities. I don’t want spies knowing what my IP address is.

Whether Stone/Kennedy was a moderator or not, Indymedia should take steps to encrypt IP addresses coming into the site so that moderators are not able to see them: one designated data controller should be appointed who is able to access IP addresses so as to enforce banning of trolls etc. If Stone/Kennedy was a moderator then it makes that more urgent.

I wrote to Indymedia UK asking to know ,not the details of Stones activities , but the scope .How high up the ladder in the non-hierarchical structures of anarchism was he able to climb before being rumbled ?Was he in Donegal when the minks were released into the wild last month ? I’m having to work it out myself from the comments to indymedia , but it seems that there has been a very serious breach of security .The traumatized reaction from people caught in Kennedy/Stone’s web indicates that . I don’t want to know names of people who were involved in illegal activities, but you can be sure that the state already knows those names .Frankly, I don’t think that the secrecy is about shielding people who were involved in illegal activities - there were not that many illegal actions were here? The secrecy is about shielding the anarchist/ direct action political line from scrutiny .As an opponent of that line I think I should be allowed to make my case even if the indymedia collective disagrees with it. I wrote to the indy uk thread last week:

'“There seems to be a two-tier system of telling the truth going on here - some people are allowed to know more about the extent of Stone /Kennedy’s spying than others. I find it incredible that indymedia -which is a news site - seems to be encouraging the suppression of news to the wider public .Why should it be only those who still call Stone/ Kennedy by his first name that get to know about what he was up to ?

From what I have read on indymedia about Stone/ Kennedy , besides being a cop he was an IM moderator , an animal rights activist , an anti-fascist activist and an eco warrior . He boasted about having a van and a team of six activists prepared to travel anywhere in Europe. Somebody posted to indymedia ireland over the weekend warning readers about Stone / Kennedy saying that he had visited Ireland on a couple of occasions . Last month animal lib activists raided a mink farm in Donegal and released thousands of minks into the wild. I would like to know -and I think that I have a right to know - whether Stone /Kennedy and his team of six were involved in the action.”'


Somebody called stroppyoldgit wrote seven days ago on indy uk: “The media will almost certainly be crawling all over this story very soon, if they aren't already”. But has that been the case? How come there have been no lurid James Bond stories in the tabloids, no in-depth analysis from the Guardian, no cynical crowing from the Telegraph? Why is the secrecy /security policy from indymedia complimenting the silence of the corporate press on this matter?”

ends
……………
The Notts moderator wrote back giving assurances that Kennedy had not been a moderator and I believe that he was telling the truth to the best of his knowledge. I also don’t think that stroppyoldgit is a police troll by the way ,and thank his anonymous friend for the assurances. But I do think that stroppyoldgit has been wrong.
The corporate press has crawled over the story since as we know, but only after the trial of the Ratcliffe activists was abandoned. It seems to me now that the corporate media was complicit because the Association of Chief Police Officers wanted them to be.

The corporate press has subsequently revealed that Kennedy was involved in a number of direct actions in Ireland, including the training of activists here.


FARMLEIGH
In 2004 EU heads of state met over the Mayday weekend at Farmleigh House in Dublin’s Phoenix Park to mark the accession of ten new member states into the EU. The gardai (Irish police) mounted the biggest security operation in the history of the State involving a national emergency plan against the anti-globalization demonstration - which had been mobilsed mainly by the Irish anarchist movement through the WSM and the Dublin Grassroots Network (DGN). The Irish media peddled gardai-sourced stories of Al Qaida infiltration of the visiting UK delegation to the demonstration .This is the way the Irish Independent for instance spun the massive state response to the mobilization under the headline “Government on red alert against terror for EU day”
.
“The national emergency plan will be also in place, with all A&E units in Dublin on standby for receiving casualties in the event of an attack.
Garda intelligence is concerned that terrorists will seek to slip into Ireland among the large number of anti-globalisation protestors who are planning on holding a major demonstration in Dublin on May Day to coincide with the EU enlargement ceremony.”

The Irish WSM's report from May 2004 indicates that the successful policy for mass mobilization had been fought for at planning meetings and adopted ,despite opposition from within the DGN by those who thought that “all our actions should involve direct action”.

“For the first time the movement mobilized large number of people from outside its own ranks, in a demonstration that was in direct defiance of the Irish governments attempt to ban such demonstrations.” see;
 http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2004/farmleigh1may.html

The media reported two weeks ago –seven years later - that Kennedy/Stone was one of the main instigators of the rioting that occurred at Farmleigh House that weekend .No mention of Al Qaida of course .

A Dublin-based activist with the Workers Solidarity Movement said Kennedy had stayed at his home twice over the weekend .According to the Irish Times,

"The activist, who did not wish to be identified, said he had met Kennedy several times between 2004 and 2006, both in Ireland and at the G8 protests in Scotland in 2005. “He was very encouraging of the more militant end of direct action.”
On the day the Guardian reported that the Ratcliffe trial had collapsed, a poster to Indymedia Ireland reported :
“Mark Stone / Kennedy was one of the UK visitors to Dublin in 2004 for the Dublin Grassroots Network Mayday actions. He was heavily involved in the run up to the action - including the search for a squat for people to stay in (which was subsequently raided and people arrested), the delivery of motorcycle helmets to the Wombles (which was stopped by police and the helmets seized), and the inner organisational meetings of anarchists in Dublin. One Dublin activist’s house was raided and a lot of personal stuff was taken away, despite their limited involvement in the organisation, but they had offered their house as a place for UK visitors to stay. He was trusted by the UK group, was aware of every detail of the actions being planned by DGN, and was never questioned or suspected.”

Kennedy clearly acted as an agent provocateur in Ireland on Mayday 2004. One would have thought that some of the people arrested or batoned at Farmleigh House that Mayday weekend would have an interest in knowing about the activities of this British policeman/provocateur - who was apparently brazen enough to take his balaclava off on the night while encouraging demonstrators to attack the Irish police.


I believe that the there was and is a deliberate policy coming from the state in Britain and in Ireland (but not only in these two countries) to turn an emerging mass movement against capitalism into a secret circle that the police can infiltrate and control. That state policy entails the use of agent provocateurs and entrapment: this is not irrelevant to those who do not agree with the type of anarchist direct action that Kennedy advocated .It should not be irrelevant to those anarchists who believe in revolution, because revolution means mass action.
As I wrote on Indymedia Ireland last week:

“Solicitor Mike Schwarz who represented 20 campaigners convicted of planning the Ratcliffe-on-Soar action as well as the six whose cases collapsed earlier this week has called for a “full and robust independent inquiry” into the role of Kennedy/ Stone.

Such an inquiry is necessary in Ireland as well as in Britain, but more importantly the political implications of the case need to be thoroughly examined by all anti-capitalists.

Some on the left still call for the type of “direct actions” encouraged by Kennedy/Stone. They argue that with bold deeds it is possible to by-pass the difficult but essential political work needed to build an independent, class-based mass movement. But only a mass movement can successfully challenge the entrenched power of the state.

It is becoming increasingly evident to more and more people that the state's agenda is to impoverish the vast majority of the population to preserve the privileges of the financial elite. At the same time what have passed for democratic institutions in Ireland and all over the world are being exposed as organs of state rule - useless and in fact hostile to real political change.

The state’s response to the inevitable emergence of a mass movement against poverty and war is to try either to divert the movement behind left-sounding politicians and trades union leaders who are capable of fostering parliamentary illusions – note the rise of the ULA - or else encourage the sort of direct action groups that it has ample experience of infiltrating and controlling.
Direct action certainly has to be taken, but it will never succeed if undertaken by a small group of people.”

joe mcivor

Collective responsibility

27.01.2011 10:09

That's a really good comment...but I just need to bust a few myths. There is no suggestion anywhere that Kennedy had a 'group of six activists' that traveled around with him doing actions...that's just misinformation/wrong end of the stick lunacy.

Nobody is trying to keep the extent of Kennedy's activities secret...he was involved in many things in many countries over a period of 7-8 years...nobody, not even his girlfriend knew exactly what he was doing at all times. The job of finding out what he did and where he went is now a collective responsibility. Nobody is going to do it for you! There's an excellent thread on here (which could have/should have been started months ago, maybe people needed jolting out of their shocked stupor) where people contribute any information they may have...check it and ask your questions there, or ask Irish activists who may have seen him.

As far as I know he hasn't been active in Ireland since 2006. As far as I know he wasn't an indymedia moderator. But even those who were close to him as friends don't know the answers to most of these questions.

His girlfriend, with the support of a few close friends that she trusted did the hardest thing someone could ever do..suspect, investigate and expose the person she was closest to. Her/their job is now over. There are no secrets, the mainstream media has found out for themselves the identity and address of his children, which was all that had been kept back. From now on it's a collective responsibility to collate as much information as possible.
Stop winning about conspiracies and get on with it!!!!

anti conspiracy

Clarification needed

30.01.2011 23:08

@ Aresa Crockett - I can't find any mention of "The boat colour, the mooring location,the choice of beer, the drinking in the pub near the marina in december" in any of the numerous articles I've read since last October. Please repost the link so I can clarify IN MY OWN MIND ONLY whether those details are wrong or not.

@ Jake - As one of those "same faces", I couldn't agree more. And the 'individuals' you mention include committed activists who are definitely NOT cops - but they still think that a gathering organises itself, the tents and marquees magically (excuse the pun) sprout from the fields like mushrooms the day before, the loos dig their own holes, and the food arrives by flying carpet and is cooked by invisible devas.

@ Baldy and other detractors - StroppyOldGit knows what he is talking about and has posted rational well written comments since this broke : you obviously don't, and haven't so shut the fuck up.

I have avoided commenting at length on any of this, preferring to read, listen and watch what's said and draw my own conclusions from that, and from having known Mark as a friend and fellow activist for most of the last 5 or 6 years. It's obvious to me that the uninformed are either extremely paranoid or linked to the media/authorities. I wonder why people have called for more information because they are unsure whether he visited their campaign/group/action - it's not as if he is unrecognisable, even after the haircut and change of clothes. The way I see it, when he accepted his 'role' all those years ago, the only things he knew about the activist movement would have been the lies of the media and the authorities. During his time 'in role', he realised that those lies were exactly that, and that the people who became his friends were not intent on violence, but are attempting to change things for the better. I'd say that he's now between a rock and a hard place, and bear him no ill will - if fact I have compassion for him, and a certain amount of respect for putting his head way above the parapet - after all, he could have disappeared last October and that would have been the last of it (except of course for those immediately/intimately involved).

On the subject of suspicions and paranoia - there are a lot of people who don't 'do' actions out there, but are active nonetheless. Don't lose sight of that.

As I said above, until now I have avoided commenting at length on this subject - this will be my only one, and I will not answer any replies to it.

Landlord

@ Joe McIvor

01.02.2011 17:17

You and I shouldn't be arguing. You don't seem like a police troll either, though many of the hidden posters obviously were.

It is completely untrue for you to say: "Stroppyoldgit has been trying to cover up everything about Kennedy's activities ever since October". A simple track back through my comments will prove that. I don't know anything to cover up which isn't already in the open.

I have merely supported the people who exposed him who have revealed ALL they know about his activities and simply kept one document (his child's birth certficate) under wraps to protect his ex-partner and children from the media (an effort now blown). That document contained only one relevant fact. It was signed by Mark Kennedy and he gave his occupation as "police officer". That was the clincher which outed him. The name of his child, the mother, date and place of birth etc., were of no significance and the exposing group were right not to reveal those irrelevant details.

@ Anti conspiracy is quite right. It is clear that Kennedy had fingers in many pies all over the place. The nexus within which he lived much of the time and which eventually exposed him was the loose network of Earth First / Dissent (2005 vintage). Nothing he did in those circles has been covered up. You place emphasis on his role at the time of the EU Summit in Dublin in May 2004. The fact is, that he had not really entered the EF scene at that time and did not do so until August of that year. He may have been known to people around Nottingham earlier than that, but not to the wider network.

Kennedy now being known for what he is, it is, as anti conspiracy says, up to be people in the different scenes he infiltrated to track back, evaluate and EXPOSE what he did and what his connections were. You seem to be slagging off EF circles for not knowing everything he was up to. YOU CAN'T COVER UP WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT.

I support the fullest possible exposure of Kennedy's links and activities, but that ball is now really in the court of people in Germany, Ireland, Iceland and other places he infested. Maybe there are even circles on this island he got his nose into which we don't know about yet, but that's it -WE DON'T KNOW!

Nothing the exposers of Mark Kennedy know about him is being kept secret or covered up and I'm sure nobody wishes to do any such thing. A lack of omniscience does not equal concealment or any sort of dodginess.

Stroppyoldgit

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