Conspiracy to silence dissent
Robert Allen reports on a British court case aimed at suppressing
the radical press
Three editors of the English journal Green Anarchist (GA) - Noel
Molland, 24, Steve Booth, 38, and Saxon Burchnall-Wood, 24, -
have each begun three year sentences in Winchester jail after
being convicted of ``conspiracy to incite criminal damage''
following a three month trial costing £2 million. Their real
crime was to report news of direct action activity.
A fourth man, Simon Russell, editor of the Animal Liberation
Front Supporters Group (ALF SG) newsletter, was found not guilty.
Others may face similar charges.
Described as `terrorists' by Judge David Selwood, an ex major
general in the British Army, the GANDALF (from GA aND ALF) )
trial is a clear indication that the Westminister administration
sees green activists as a serious threat to industry, state and
economic stability in Britain.
Selwood said Green Anarchist was ``the most contemptuous document
I have ever seen in my entire career'' and said he intends to
frame it up for his toilet.
The jail sentences and the continued harrassment of people
associated with the GA paper and the ALF movement is the
culmination of a five year investigation by the British state.
Called Operation Washington it ran from 1991 and saw 55 raids
across Britain during 1995 and 1996.
Responding to the charge that they had conspired to incite
criminal damage by reporting direct action news or knowing others
that had, Robin Webb, one of those originally charged in the
GANDALF trial, said: ``So, what I'm charged with in plain English
is that, `somewhere in the world over a five year period (they're
not sure when) I conspired with people (most of whom I don't
know) to incite other people (they don't know who) to commit
criminal damage (they don't know what) and that the conspiracy
continued into the day after we were charged'.''
In a similar case in 1988 two editors of the ALF support group
were jailed for 18 months for reporting acts against animal
abuse.
Civil rights groups have claimed that the law under which the
defendants were convicted needs to be reformed. John Wadham of
Liberty said: ``People should be convicted on the basis of what
they've done, not what they've agreed to do.''
Jo Makepeace of SchNEWS - a weekly green social newsletter
published in Britain by the Justice group - said: ``This ludicrous
sentence is just trying to scare us into silence, but the last
thing the defendants would want is for people to stop taking part
or writing about direct action. As far as we're concerned, it's
business as usual.''
In September more than 300 groups and individuals involved in the
alternative press signed a statement about the trial and
commented. ``It is vital that the press - alternative,
independent, radical, liberal and establishment - unite to defend
the basic freedoms under attack in this case: freedom of speech
and freedom of the press. It is not for the police to determine
the limits of our discussions. It is not the reporting of direct
action which incites further direct action; environmental
degradation, animal abuse, economic injustice, attacks on
freedom, weapons exports, nuclear weapons, lack of democratic
process - these, among many others, are the inciting factors.''
Of course none of this is new to Irish republicans. The tactics
and the laws employed in this case by the British state are those
honed in the 6 Counties over the past three decades, but they
appear to have shaken Britain's radical greens who have been
persistently accused of naivety in their response to the British
establishment.
``This is not just a problem for Green Anarchist alone, it's
everybody's problem, because it concerns freedom of speech,'' the
September statement ran. ``There is no evidence at all suggesting
that any of the defendants were involved in the acts reported,
but the prosecution (has said) that people would have been
encouraged by the favourable reporting of them. Why is reporting
events that have already happened incitement? Some of the news
had already been reported in the national press - are they going
to find themselves in the dock as well?''
The trial also featured the use of Public Interest Immunity
orders (which radical greens in Britain have dubbed `Police
Interest Impunity') to suppress evidence of secret state action
against Green Anarchist magazine.
The GA editors believe that they were infiltrated by an agent
provocateur who encouraged them to write specific articles but
the prosecution was not obliged to disclose this evidence so that
any agent's future activities would not be compromised.
Nothing changes.
Barry Horne, the animal rights campaigner fingered for the
attacks GA supposedly ``incited'', was found guilty last Wednesday
of 15 out of 16 charges of arson and recklessness which could
endanger life. After the trial, which included ``basically a
two-day course in making firebombs'', the jury returned unanimous
guilty verdicts despite not a single witness being able to
identify Horne as the perpetrator. The charges all relate to the
1994 campaign by the Animal Rights Militia when various animal
abusers' premises on the Isle of Wight were attacked, causing £3m
damage. Horne gave a clenched-fist salute before he was led away;
sentencing is on 5 December.
Prison address of GANDALF 3: Winchester Gaol, Romsey Rd,
Winchester, SO22 5DS. Contact Green Anarchist, BM 1715, London
WC1N 3XX for more details.
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