i removed the legal@ from the indymedia site<br>Iggy.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/8/24 Jonathan Leighton <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:j@jonathanleighton.com">j@jonathanleighton.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hey Danny,<br>
<br>
I've put this up now.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 14:05 +0100, Danny Chivers wrote:<br>
> Hi Jonathan(s),<br>
><br>
> See attached. Note this is different from the Indymedia version coz<br>
> Frances wanted the legal@ email taken off (we're also trying to do this<br>
> retrospectively on the IMC version).<br>
><br>
> Not sure if it would really be appropriate to send the whole thing out in<br>
> the newsletter, but perhaps the intro paragraph and a link to the blog?<br>
><br>
> After all this, I think I'm ready to take on completely non-cop-related<br>
> roles throughout the entire Camp...<br>
><br>
> Dx<br>
><br>
> > Wicked. Do you have this as a word doc or similar? (It's just easier to<br>
> > paste in without worrying about all the line breaks...)<br>
> ><br>
> > Cheers x<br>
> ><br>
> > On Mon, 2009-08-24 at 10:56 +0100, Danny Chivers wrote:<br>
> >> Hi Jon - see below. Note that the final paragraph has been removed coz<br>
> >> Frances was worried about people sending unhelpful stuff to the legal@<br>
> >> account...<br>
> >><br>
> >> Dx<br>
> >><br>
> >> *********************************************************************<br>
> >><br>
> >> Strange Adventures In Copland<br>
> >><br>
> >> Last Thursday, the Camp for Climate Action Police Liaison Team spoke at<br>
> >> a<br>
> >> "briefing afternoon", at the Metropolitan Police's Training Centre in<br>
> >> Gravesend. Why did they do this, and what on Earth could they possibly<br>
> >> say<br>
> >> to the police? Simon Stanley was at the scene...<br>
> >><br>
> >> Let's be frank. It's a weird task to take on. One day you're doing your<br>
> >> best to avoid the cops as you try to invade a power station / airport /<br>
> >> corporate HQ. The next day, you choose to sit down in a room full of<br>
> >> police. Why?<br>
> >><br>
> >> This isn't just an idle question – many people within the climate<br>
> >> movement<br>
> >> have suffered terrible treatment at the hands of the police, and are<br>
> >> understandably concerned about meetings between cops and Campers.<br>
> >> Meanwhile, the recent rapid pace of events has made it hard to keep<br>
> >> track<br>
> >> of what meetings are going on with the police, and why. This article is<br>
> >> an<br>
> >> attempt to clear things up a bit, to explain why last week's meeting<br>
> >> happened, and what we think it achieved.<br>
> >><br>
> >> The main part of the Police Liaison Team's remit is to gather<br>
> >> information<br>
> >> first-hand about likely police tactics, strategy, personnel and<br>
> >> attitude.<br>
> >> However, the group has another important role as well: to give the Camp<br>
> >> credibility in the eyes of the public.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Those of us who've had a lot of dealings with the police know how little<br>
> >> we can trust them, but many of the public haven't had that experience.<br>
> >> If<br>
> >> we refuse to talk to the police, then a lot of people will (rightly or<br>
> >> wrongly) think we're being unreasonable and so be less likely to get<br>
> >> involved with the Camp.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Meeting with the cops also gives the Climate Camp a "human face" and<br>
> >> might<br>
> >> make some officers be a tiny bit less brutal towards us (we have no<br>
> >> definite proof of this, though). And of course, each meeting brings us<br>
> >> one<br>
> >> step closer to the day when the underpaid officers at the Camp gates<br>
> >> suddenly decide to lay down their truncheons, take off their riot gear,<br>
> >> stick two fingers up at Gold Command and join us in building a beautiful<br>
> >> eco-anarchist utopia. Possibly.<br>
> >><br>
> >> The Police Liaison volunteers aren't "representatives" of the Camp –<br>
> >> they<br>
> >> don't negotiate with the police, make any concessions to them, or give<br>
> >> them any information that they wouldn't have found out anyway. In<br>
> >> previous<br>
> >> years, this has been a slightly frustrating, often uncomfortable, but<br>
> >> nonetheless important job.<br>
> >><br>
> >> This year, however, things have gone a bit weird.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Thanks to the police getting caught in the act at the G20 protests, and<br>
> >> the serious of vaguely critical official reports that followed, there<br>
> >> has<br>
> >> been unprecedented media interest in any meetings between the Camp and<br>
> >> the<br>
> >> police. The cops are on the back foot and are desperately trying to<br>
> >> repair<br>
> >> their image, and so rather than fobbing us off until the last minute,<br>
> >> they<br>
> >> are falling over themselves to drag us into meetings. It's pretty<br>
> >> bizarre<br>
> >> stuff – and it's not without its dangers.<br>
> >><br>
> >> From their quotes in this recent Guardian article [link], it seems the<br>
> >> cops are keen to say "look, we're even having meetings with the<br>
> >> protesters, aren't we nice!". There's a real risk that by agreeing to<br>
> >> these meetings, we might be unintentionally helping out the police with<br>
> >> their propaganda – which is why we worked together with the Camp's<br>
> >> media<br>
> >> team on an Open Letter To The Met [link] to make the Camp's position<br>
> >> VERY<br>
> >> clear. While in the short term the idea that the police are going to be<br>
> >> all cuddly this time round may help to get more people to the London<br>
> >> Camp,<br>
> >> in the long term it could be very dangerous. If the public and the media<br>
> >> decide the police have mended their ways, then their interest will soon<br>
> >> wander, leaving the cops free to get the batons out again.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Meanwhile, we aren't the only ones being harassed by the police. That's<br>
> >> why the Camp's Legal Team have been building connections with other<br>
> >> activist groups including Fitwatch and London Defence and Monitoring, as<br>
> >> well as organisations representing migrant communities, the Campaign<br>
> >> Against Criminalising Communities, the Muslim prisoner support group and<br>
> >> the Newham Monitoring Project. Plans are afoot to get funding for a new<br>
> >> umbrella group to keep monitoring the police and holding them to account<br>
> >> –<br>
> >> wherever and whenever they might operate.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Let's not forget: the police's job is to enforce laws which defend the<br>
> >> status quo, protect the wealthy and the powerful, and stand in the way<br>
> >> of<br>
> >> social change. This has been their role throughout history, and not just<br>
> >> within the UK. Meanwhile, we're trying to build a movement to create<br>
> >> massive social change by directly confronting the Government and<br>
> >> wealthy,<br>
> >> powerful, polluting corporations. This doesn't make it very likely that<br>
> >> the police are ever going to be our friends.<br>
> >><br>
> >> However, one thing that CAN change is the tactics available to the cops<br>
> >> –<br>
> >> the exact level of violence and intimidation that they're allowed to get<br>
> >> away with. It would be lovely to believe that we might influence this<br>
> >> just<br>
> >> by having meetings with the police. Sadly, experience shows that the<br>
> >> only<br>
> >> thing that really works is forcing them to change by exposing their<br>
> >> tactics to the world. It's annoying that we have to do this – we'd<br>
> >> much<br>
> >> rather spend the time on climate action – but if we don't, then things<br>
> >> will only get worse.<br>
> >><br>
> >> We'd like to reassure the rest of the climate movement that the Police<br>
> >> Liaison team fully understand all of this, and that we are also actively<br>
> >> challenging attempts by the police (and the media) to separate our<br>
> >> movement into “good†and “bad†protesters. We've done our best<br>
> >> to explain<br>
> >> this at Gatherings and on email lists, and we're sorry if it hasn't been<br>
> >> totally clear! If you have any concerns or suggestions about the work<br>
> >> we're doing, please get in touch with us – or better yet, come and<br>
> >> join<br>
> >> the Police Liaison team and get involved yourself.<br>
> >><br>
> >> So it was with all this in mind that I stood up in front of a crowd of<br>
> >> seventy police officers on Thursday afternoon, and explained to them why<br>
> >> the Climate Camp was happening, how non-hierarchical decision-making<br>
> >> worked, and what this year's Camp will probably look like. I then<br>
> >> described what it was like to be charged by a line of riot cops for no<br>
> >> discernible reason, to watch your friends being beaten over the head and<br>
> >> arrested on meaningless charges, to see people in front of you being<br>
> >> pepper-sprayed in the face, and to know you have to stand your ground<br>
> >> anyway with your hands in the air because the alternative is to let a<br>
> >> beautiful Camp be trampled under their steel-toecapped boots. They<br>
> >> listened, in silence. It was one of the weirdest things I've ever done<br>
> >> in<br>
> >> my life. Whether or not it will make any difference, I really couldn't<br>
> >> say; but it felt oddly liberating all the same.<br>
> >><br>
> >> Next, we got to hear the police's pre-Camp strategy briefings<br>
> >> first-hand.<br>
> >> Then they took us on a tour of the place where they train riot police, a<br>
> >> kind of “Riotland†theme park with a life-sized fake Council estate,<br>
> >> tube<br>
> >> station and sports stadium...but no, that was far too strange to have<br>
> >> really happened. It must have been a bizarre dream.<br>
> >><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>