On the 1st July 2024 ‘Tranche 2’ of the Undercover policing inquiry (UCPI) will start. This year, it will run for several months.
Anarchists and activists have been engaging with this process for several years now. But what can we ever really learn from the police investigating themselves? Is the UCPI just a time consuming distraction? The exposures happened in 2010, and it will be over a year before that time period is reached in the courts…
The phrase ‘Spycops’ has become well known and understood… but in this process have some of the wider implications of undercover policing got lost?
Why is it important to continue to interrogate these issues from an anarchist perspective?
How can information be shared when there is no affinity?
How can we learn from the past without it consuming us?
The issues around infiltration are still very much relevant today, but it is vital to find new ways to engage with them.
- Many groups are now publicly organising/mobilising around Palestine and ecological direct action. What can be learnt from previous issues around “mass action” in terms of corporate and state surveillance?
- This year Reclaim Power will target Drax power station in Yorkshire. Last time this was a direct action target (2006), several of the undercover cops were involved.
- The discussion will highlight some of the issues from the recent wave of exposures of undercover police in Barcelona.
The discussion will take place after Sunday cafe, so join us for food at 6
BASE 14 Robertson Rd, Easton BS5 6JY https://basebristol.org