Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

IMPORTANT: A respectful request to all activists regarding Mark "Stone"

Someone | 11.01.2011 12:59 | Climate Chaos | Policing | Repression | Sheffield

In the wake of the Mark "Stone" story breaking in the mainstream media yesterday, a lot of journalists are trying their best to dig out all the gorey personal details. They are phoning up lots of activists and trying to find out more information. You may be one of those activists.

You are requested not to give any information to the media. Just say "sorry, I don't know anything about that". Be aware that journalists might pretend to be someone else. They will do whatever it takes to get their story. Keep your guard.

There are many people who have been badly affected by this whole thing in different ways. It's important that this outrageous police behaviour is talked about in the media, but it's also important that we all respect people's privacy, and don't just feed the tabloids.

Please rest assured that a number of people know what's going on and are doing their best to deal with the media side of things in a way which is political and not personal.

Thank you

Someone

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

Alternatively...

11.01.2011 15:47

...feed them complete misinformation! Make up outrageous stories about him with fictitious names, etc.

anon


Alternatively...Not

11.01.2011 18:50

Whilst anon's comment sounds like a nice bit of mischief, be very very careful. What if you give them a false name which, unknown to you, is actually somebody's real name who is connected to the movement? Then your little laugh has ended somebody right in it. And for what? A bit of a laugh at the media's expense? A small price for you, a large price for your unwitting victim. This might sound like an unlikely scenario, but could happen, and on something as serious a this, just not worth the risk.

No comment is the best reply.

OK


Give them the name and address of their editor

11.01.2011 19:34

They will certainly be on the state payroll.

stoopid


agree wtih okay

11.01.2011 20:53

Yep, I actually did this once - I my younger days when stopped by the police, I picked a pseudonym out of the air, Only a few years down the line did I find out that another movement had a well known person of the same name. Gotta be careful about these things...

unnecessary


It's a little more complicated than just "don't talk"...

11.01.2011 22:57

So we are 'requested not to give any info to the media' - requested by who?

Given that Mark Kennedy spent 7 years reporting to his superiors, there is nothing anyone is likely to say that would not already be known to the police.

Some things should be talked about publicly. There are important questions to ask about whether having undercover cops among green protesters makes any sort of sense, and in particular whether it is even legal for an undercover officer to enter into a sexual relationship while on duty and while pretending to be a completely different person. The Met needs to be held to account for what happened, and unfortunately the best way to hold the Met accountable is to get a lot of publicity.

On the other hand it's very important to show solidarity to those who were closest to Kennedy before he was found out. I would say that out of solidarity for those involved don't talk to cops about the friendships and relationships that Kennedy was involved in, unless you first talk to those people and make sure it's OK.

maya


Let's keep this simple

11.01.2011 23:46

If you know, or think you know, of someone who was close enough to Mark to be hurt by their association, just keep quiet about it, especially while the press is in feeding frenzy mode. Definitely don't talk to journos about it, but also try not to blab about it in general. Let's exercise a bit of collective discipline and protect our mates from press intrusion.

Silas


Nobody should be talking to the media

12.01.2011 09:54

But requests like this might be taken more seriously if others (Simon Lewis, Sophie Stevens, Ratcliffe defendants, Alessio from the Wombles, and Stone's mates in Notts) kept their big mouths shut.

Jones


Difference between personal and political

12.01.2011 12:38

There are plenty of things about Mark Stone / Kennedy that I am willing to talk about with the press. There are plenty of things that I am not.

It's pretty straightforward really, and just means focusing on his role in the movement, and avoiding his interactions with people on a personal level.

Someone else


Thanks for the Advice!

12.01.2011 13:34

Just to be clear we shouldnt tlk to anyone from the media as we need to protect your exclusive with the Guardian!

Hopefully the funds will come in handy!

BobSchmenge


Media

12.01.2011 14:44

As I understand it, the Guardian had already put two and two together about Kennedy and the collapsed trial, and were going to run with the story regardless. Some of the defendants found out and so contacted the Guardian to try to get quotes in to try to improve whatever they were going to write, steer it away from personal stuff and make it as political and anti-police as possible. A similar thing happened with Newsnight.

Whether or not you agree with this tactic, I'm pretty sure they acted in good faith. I wish they'd also put stuff up on Indymedia, but there you go.

another person


they come in many guises

12.01.2011 19:14

Scumbag journos looking for a salacious story may well not introduce themselves as such.

They may pretend to be an old mate of the person they want info on, or their family or employer or tutor or whatever.

They may say they got your number from someone you trust, they may start out by calling you by your first name and, before you've had time to think, you've given away a crucial detail that puts them on to doing a shitty tittilating story that hurts our mates and distracts from the political reality.

deepthroat


police abuse is political not just political

12.01.2011 22:57

Glad to hear a group of people with their heads screwed on are dealing with the media side of things. That an undercover cop formed sexual relationships with activists is abuse, yes as an activist I expect there could be undercover cops in meetings but this kind of trespass into people's lives and emotions is really beyond the pale. This could have happened to any one of us, I hope this is really being followed up legally & in the media.

rhi


I second all that Maya has said.

13.01.2011 01:13

Isn't the personal political?

Infiltrators spend years in the closest circles of activists, spying on them and feeding information to the police and private companies. Finally, some hope that the public comes closer to realising what an Orwellian state we live in (unfortunately yes, through the mainstream media) - and what sort of scrutiny activists involved in non-violent direct action are subject to - and people are asked to shut up, because some other people know best how to deal with this.

Sorry, but this seems a little authoritarian and patronising.

Here we are given the chance to raise fundamental questions about policing ethics and codes of conduct, growing inter-state collaboration to monitor and tackle activist movements, the frequent use of agent provocateurs... etc. etc. Stuff we have to deal with as activists, but usually meets very little public understanding...

However, I do agree that utmost respect should be shown to those who were closest to him and issues concerning them should not be discussed without their consent.

S.son


what are social movements for?

13.01.2011 02:31

sorry, but mark was active in 22 countries.
smart people know what to say and what not to say to the press. some of us anarchists have been doing alternative/indy as well as mainstream media for a long time. face it, without the very good reporting of the Guardian, this case could completely die in the eyes of the mainstream public, 99% of which have never heard of IMC, or would freak out if they read it, like your mother/grandma. however, with the international spotlight now, bbc and others doing decent reporting (alongside shit yellow press), now maybe somethings will change.

how do you think social movements can work to check runaway cops in the future?

i want to protect people hurt by mark, but also see if we can get all past cases where mark was involved reopened. possibly other activists could get out of prison if past "evidence" from mark would be thrown out. why does nobody mention this important aspect?
HELLO!

also, what about protecting other people in the future? you can bet your ass that mark is shitting bricks now. it is for sure that whatever "handlers" and high ups were managing mark, are immediately changing their guidelines. yes, never trust a cop, but also don't be blinded about how massive public pressure, in the media and on the streets, can bring change.

otherwise, you might as well just give up now.

right?

experienced


double standards

13.01.2011 14:33

I'm a little disgruntled by the implication that the collection of self-promoting media types (the usual faces) are capable of making sensible decisions about what to say to the media, but the rest of us are simply told to keep schtum.

Either:
-tell everyone to keep their mouth shut, including the media junkies or
-allow anyone to speak to the media (which doesn't prevent you from suggesting advice/guidelines about pitfalls to avoid, sensitivity to those most affected etc).

Otherwise it's just the usual cliqueyness all over again.

anti-clique patrol


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech