Simon Jenkins' article is interesting but I fundamentally disagree with his assertion that:
Quote:It would be overly cynical to imagine that Acpo was actually sponsoring green activism, to remind ministers of the importance of NPOIU and the terrible things that would happen to power stations if it was cut. But there can be no doubt of the insidious grip that the securocrats' "social terrorism" now has on the public's sense of safety.
Call me a cynic, then.
If green activists (or any "terrorist" group for that matter) simply sit round a fire, smoking spliffs and chowing nut roasts, then NPOIU and its SIS partners could not justify their funding.
I strongly suspect that the handlers of the covert agents demanded: i) actionable intelligence; ii) evidence of illegal actions starting with criminal damage to property; and, iii) evidence of protest that could be framed as a risk to national security (eg an attack on a power plant).
Kennedy claims he was told by his handler that some of his "intelligence" went directly to Tony Blair. I bet it was "intelligence" in my category iii) above.
Scare Blair by feeding into his preconceptions about a violent, militant, left that threatened "New Labour values". (To use Mandelson/Blair/Brown speak.)
Kennedy/Stone appears to have both incited acts of aggressive protest, and provided material support (cash, equipment) for such actions.
This is agent provocateur, false flag, territory.
Blair was happy to accept any "secret intelligence" that fed his agenda.
By creating false flag protest actions, NPOIU and the SIS kept themselves in funding and kept the political class in tune with their agenda.
Indeed, they dictated the agenda to the politicians.
There is, of course, a deeper political level here. One which is far more sinister.
Any one who knows any of the (genuine, not agent provocateurs) protesters in the environmental groups would know that their actions are not to mindlessly damage power stations but more along the lines of public actions to draw attention to the environmental dangers of the present installations and also to draw attention to the alternatives available and the lack of political will to change. :attention:They are more in the tradition of theater than terrorism.
Good piece by George Monbiot. Dare one hope it and others like it will have some effect? What? Put the brakes on the drive to neo-fascism/neo-feudalism? The very last thing the UK and the USA have 'become' are democracies, where the Plebs make any decisions or change the structure of the Polity based on their wishes and sensibilities. The Oligarchs and their Corporations rule supreme...and more so with every day. Sadly....oh, so sadly. Those of us who see what is happening, seem only to be documenting the end of civil civilization; perhaps to likely the end of civilization and life on the Planet entirely. Its not too late, but getting very, VERY close to being 'too late'! IMO.
My bet it by 2012 all the same Police [public and privatized] horrors will not only still exist, but have increased budgets and operatives...however, perhaps they'll change the names as a PR move.
The exact same [perhaps worse] goes on in the USA, by Police and FBI et al.
My prediction is that Kennedy's next step is a HUGE seven-figure advance on a book.
The more things change, the more they..........
I don't even need to wait till next week, or even tomorrow.
Nothing will change in the slightest, other than that this sort of policing will go even further underground, for as Monbiot says:
Quote:It looks to me like a state-sanctioned private militia, fighting public protest on behalf of corporations.
David Guyatt Wrote:I don't even need to wait till next week, or even tomorrow.
Nothing will change in the slightest, other than that this sort of policing will go even further underground, for as Monbiot says:
Quote:It looks to me like a state-sanctioned private militia, fighting public protest on behalf of corporations.
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power"
-Benito Mussolini
"Fascism is capitalism plus murder."
-Upton Sinclair
I'm more inclined to the Hitler model of National Socialism where the state and wealthy elites joined together in a thousand year Reich.
Hitler's plans for the thousand-year Reich were laid in 1925, and kicked off in 1933 --- that's 78 years ago with 922 years remaining.
David Guyatt Wrote:I'm more inclined to the Hitler model of National Socialism where the state and wealthy elites joined together in a thousand year Reich.
Hitler's plans for the thousand-year Reich were laid in 1925, and kicked off in 1933 --- that's 78 years ago with 922 years remaining.
...ah but as you well know...some embers were not extinguished and have been saved and nurtured, given new fuel and are now about to re-ignite [if some have their way...and, IMO, they are well on their 'way'!.........
IMO, Hitler was, as Lenin would have said 'a useful idiot' and a figurehead. Others, behind him, backing him, prodding him, allowing him, were equally to blame. That ilk are still around, powerful and ready, willing and able...unless we [all!] stop them....and put all the embers out forever.
The coverup is launched.
The government is suggesting that the power to run undercover agents will be removed from ACPO plc.
All fine and dandy. Except that undercover agents are not being abolished. They're simply being moved to management by another body such as the Metropolitan Police.
I'ts just a shuffle of the cards, giving the agents provocateur a new reporting line.
When they get caught hoisting those false flags again, we'll get another "oh dear" from the Home Office and another new management reporting line.
Quote:Mark Kennedy undercover spy case sparks shake-up of police operations
Association of Chief Police Officers will be stripped of power to run operational units, says Home Office minister
Alan Travis, home affairs editor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 January 2011 16.54 GMT
The Association of Chief Police Officers is to be stripped of its power to run operational units in the wake of the case of Mark Kennedy, the undercover police officer who spent seven years posing as an environmental activist.
The Home Office minister, Nick Herbert, acknowledged for the first time that "something had gone very wrong" in the Kennedy case, which led to the collapse of the trial of six people accused of planning to invade a Nottinghamshire power station.
Herbert told MPs the case demonstrated strongly that Acpo should no longer have the responsibility for national organisations such as the unit that runs covert operations gathering intelligence on domestic extremists in England and Wales.
He disclosed to the Commons home affairs select committee that the Metropolitan police is poised to take over control of the national public order intelligence unit (NPOIU) to provide "proper accountability" for its activities.
He said a lead force such as the Met or the soon to be established National Crime Agency should take over national operational units such as the NPOIU.
"The government is strongly of the view that there needs to be proper accountability for Acpo and its successor body," he said.
"Units like this should not be operated by Acpo and they should be operated either by a lead police force or in future the National Crime Agency where there is proper governance in place." Acpo currently runs national units involved in running counter-terrorism work, domestic extremism, vehicle crime and criminal records.
A second blow to the future of Acpo, the professional strategy body for the police service, was dealt when it emerged today that the Association of Police Authorities have refused to continue to fund the body, pleading lack of finance. The home secretary, Theresa May, has written to the APA asking them to reconsider their decision.
Senior Met officers today promised that the activities of undercover officers will be brought within the London's force's "control and command system" to ensure such operations are conducted within the rules, lawfully and ethically.
"We have to make sure that we don't overexpose them," said the Met's acting commissioner, Tim Godwin. "We have to make sure that we don't leave them too long if that is the case."
Godwin said the domestic extremism unit had already been identified by Acpo as needing proper accountability. "As a result negotiations are in hand to bring it into the Met so that it would come within our command and control system, which would ensure a) compliance with the law, b) compliance with rules and c) compliance with ethics."
Herbert told MPs he had no knowledge of the case until the Guardian disclosed that the prosecution of six activists planning to invade Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station collapsed because of Kennedy's role in organising and funding it.
He also refused to comment on claims by MPs that both the names of the business secretary, Vince Cable, and the Green party leader, Caroline Lucas, were listed on the domestic extremism database simply because they had been present at peaceful protests.
The home affairs committee chairman, Keith Vaz, who said Kennedy was "no James Bond", also pressed the minister to investigate the alleged £200,000 expenses bill run up by Kennedy.
Herbert said such undercover operations were matters for the police within the legal framework of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and under the oversight of the surveillance commissioner.
"In this case it is clear that something operationally has gone very wrong and that is now the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation," said Herbert.
"I think everybody is concerned by the Kennedy case and we have an IPCC precisely to investigate this kind of thing. It is right that the IPCC should look into it and then we should take note of that."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/18...NTCMP=SRCH