A wheelie good action (groan...) and an "intelligence approach"
Well, well... what fun was had on Monday (11/12/06) at the Block the Builders thing. Camp women ended up with a starring role due to our innovative use of domestic objects, namely a skipped old wheelie bin and some drainpipe, all sponsored by LaFarge.
It's amazing what can happen with a handful of women and some creative construction work.
Interestingly (perhaps), while in custody afterwards, we were invited by two chaps from the Ministry of Defence "intelligence" gathering people to be "approached" and give them all our secrets. Unfortunately no cash was on offer, so most declined. They are always in plainclothes, one called Jackson, the other Blake (I kept wanting to call him David Blaine ... no idea why). They hang out with a woman called Polly. Here's a picture of Jackson (far left) and Polly (right, foreground). I can't find Blake at the mo. They were getting their breakfasts in Mackie's cafe, attempting to gather intelligence, during the GP/BtB inspection thingy on 27 November.
Anyway, I was curious as to what form their (doomed) fishing expedition would take, so I agreed to it (after being very upfront and telling them they would not discover anything very interesting and that I was just seeing how long they would last ... in the end about two minutes before they gave up). So, I got out of my cell for about 10 mins altogether, cos first the custody office had to note the "approach" on my custody record, then we wandered off for our little (pretty one-way) chat, which consisted of them asking about how things had gone/were organised, whether there was anyone we were worried about (presumably by that they mean things like asian or middle eastern gentelmen with big beards ?? or maybe they have the same preoccupations as other nectu types ... "militant animal rights" people, etc ... who knows!). Oh yes, and they also tried (hopeless) flattery ... "we want to talk to people senior in the organisation" - on this I had to laugh and mumble something about hierarchy and non-organisation. As predicted, we all got bored very quickly and so I asked them whether they had any specific intelligence they would like to share with us (you never know)... no, not really...
Well, I got to have a smoke on the way back to my cell and plant a few countermeasures in their minds (figure it out guys, if you are reading). So it was a fun game.
The reason I'm posting this is cos I think others should see who they are and understand how these people work. They are showing up at most demos and actions outide MoD bases. Often they will just hangout and figure out who is who and, no doubt, overhear or even chat to newbies. They dress casually. If arrested they may invite you to chat with them (despite my experience, my recommendation would be not to!).
They are paid to spy on you, to find out about you, your life, who you hang out with, how you organise and - ultimately - to use whatever intelligence they gather to try to thwart effective action. If you see them at demos and stuff - tell others around you who they are. The more of us who know, the less effective they are.
Anyway, onwards to the next thing ...
ps. if you are interested to find out more about the MDP force intelligence people, see their annual report - p18 and 19 may be of interest (link below)
http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/hc0506/hc12/1206/1206.pdf
jk
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