How are we to handle police intelligence with care?
national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
feature
Friday October 30, 2009 16:40 by iosaf mac diarmada barcelona - catalunya
Down with this sort of thing!
Thanks to the publication of a British police intelligence "spotter card" issued to rank & file coppers for a climate change protest in 2007 this week by a British newspaper, many people regardless of whether they are activists in the UK or Ireland or indeed elsewhere in the EU are wondering about their constitutional and statutory rights in the face of the European wide creation of intelligence databases by police forces. Whereas those whose images appeared without prior consent in this week's British media may have recourse to legal action and a bit of chatter, Irish political activists, protesters & ordinary citizens thus far enjoy no public recognition of the existence of such databases in Ireland nor it would appear have any mechanism to ensure that their details if not guilty of any criminal offence are removed from the intelligence files of the Garda Siochana.
Related Link:
Original Article from The Guardian: Doth I Protest Too Much?
Ireland as no doubt few of us need reminding is unique in many ways amongst her European peers of either full sovreign statehood or the more ephemeral category of nation. There are as many examples of our differences as our similarities which might readily present themselves in an easy conversation between the whole range of Irish citizens, newcomer migrants or vital cash-spending tourists as may be promptly gleaned from; perusing a potted history of the island, a Bord Fáilte brochure, the wish lists of our fringe nationalists or the complaints of our dedicated alternative left.
However, seldom (do I wager) does such easy conversation highlight the differences of the mechanisms and practise of what we might take for granted as being in common with our European peers' statehoods. I refer of course to our peculiar habits of disenfranchising non-resident Irish citizens and not allowing them a vote in any election, our quaint and old-fashioned habit of not counting ballot boxes on the same day as votes in elections or referenda are cast & of course the extraordinary unsupervised privilege afforded our security services. For none can deny that the Irish intelligence services are answerable alone to the command structures of the Garda Siochana who alone in consultation with the minister of Justice out-source information gathering, translation, interpretation and monitoring to foreign institutions & that alone amongst the EU states there is no publically named or appointed head of intelligence services answerable to parliament in session or even committees set up for the purpose, be they in camara or open to all.
We Irish, may excel ourselves and indulge in more official tribunals than any other EU state to the delight of lawyers and frustration of the public and obfuscation of the truth, but our real and cutting difference is that neither our elected representatives including opposition or the executive appointed by the Dail to govern us count on a formal & transparent mechanism to provide oversight of intelligence.
The news article published in this week's Guardian which used as an illustration a "police intelligence spotter card" reportedly dropped over three years ago has to some extent provoked proper concern at the creation of "Big Brother" files. The secret lapel cameras and mobile car lenses of yesteryear coupled with the two way mirrors of brothels in discreet and affluent London addresses which collated intelligence on KGB suspects and assets of Bolshevikism have now it seems given way to the very easy to spot digital camera held aloft by plod.
The news however, was not new. IMC UK had reported at the time of the climate camp three years ago that a police intelligence handbook and spotter card had been found presumedly dropped by plod during the to & fro of that memorable protest event. The Guardian which has in the last fortnight mobilised its readers to apply pressure to the Daily Mail for its homophobic columnists piece on the late Boyzone member Mr Gately had of course turned to selling its newspaper by both covering the BNP appearance on the BBC flagship program Question Time and one presumes also assisting in the mobilisation of anti-fascist protesters at the studios in London. Following on from such noble shepherding of both readership and pitching at a target audience, the newspaper of the British left has now in support of a decent enough news story published photographs of protesters.
It is important to note that a story which could have been dealt with in one day has been spun out for several days (to sell copy) & thus far there has been no published vindication of the inclusion of the images of protesters which illustrated the original report. Indeed the Guardian itself has changed the online presentation of the article accompanying the illustration three times since. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/94553
Police Surveillance is not as none of us need reminding a solely British or British state matter. We have many times read articles and reports on this website concerning the gathering of police intelligence http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81214 & to what should be of even greater concern, it was on this website that an individual standing next to a private security contractor gathering intelligence on Shell protesters was identified as a member of an international neoNazi organisation.
As any long term reader of any Indymedia node across the globe will know, anonymity has always been guaranteed for writers, users & even those who chose are accepted to assist in the maintenance and editing of indymedia sites. The principle of anonymity is indeed the fourth of the global principles of unity of the independent media centre network c/f http://iosaf.baywords.com/global-principles-of-unity-of...work/ http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/PrinciplesOfUnity
Over the years it has become common for those who upload images of protesters or activists who have not given their consent to appear in alternative media news or reports to black out, smudge or protect the identification of those in the picture.
Of course sometimes articles published on this site as other nodes and platforms of alternative media and the sites of the campaigns who struggle for workers rights, environmentalism, human rights, migration issues, national determination issues, gender sexuality issues, animal rights issues, education issues (& our whole range of concerns) have found it proper and correct to illustrate or publish the names of individuals who work contrary to our common agenda.
If any of us have had cause to wonder or comment in these last days at the startling (& in my opinion un-neccesarily illustrated evidence) of British police intelligence databases and worry about the obvious evidence that such databases exist in Ireland as well as throughout Europe - then I would suggest they move to articulating a campaign which informs Irish civil society and thus pressures the Oireachtas to correct one of our key differences to our European peers.
We need a named & accountable head of intelligence and secret security services who is answerable to the Oireachtas through both Dail & Seanad committees with the findings of same made available to the public.
= Names
= Accountability.
= Transparency.
We also need a clear and proper procedure made available (or if already available elucidated publically) for individuals to remove their private details from any database held by the state which has no justification deriving from criminal convictions.
2007 antiwar Garda intel goes hoodie & harder to spot than 2 way mirror in a brothel
2007 Garda anti-war protest surveillance forgets a tripod needs a stable surface.
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (15 of 15)
Jump To Comment: 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Post Brexit was always going to be a dark place.
Patel and UK government plan to criminalise literature & agitprop
Produced for and by listed terrorist organisations.
Any noodles..,
She has included Extinction Rebellion, IWW, and Greenpeace on her list.
If your logo aint on list you aint a terrorist
The fbi and the cia now engage in a variety of criminal assaults on their Targets; one such action is castration.
The cia recently announced that Viagra is being offered to men who help in the USA war effort in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places. No mention is made by the cia of the ongoing practices of the fbi/cia to castrate men who refuse to cooperate (in the murderous war efforts), or who otherwise act against the interests of the American intelligence services (the fbi/cia).
Secret laws now authorize the fbi/cia, et al , to engage in threats of castration and actual castration at will when the intel services can show some basis for the chemical assaults on selected Targets. One such basis is the showing that the Target has or is suspected of having a venereal disease (such as HIV or HPV, etc.) and is therefore a presumed threat to society. Indeed over half the adult male population is now believed to be infected with the HPV, a fact that offers great opportunity for the intel services to carry out their threats of castration on a broad section of the general population.
http://www.brightonpittsfordpost.com/latestnews/x407382...h-HPV
If the fbi/cia decide to end the productive life of an activist, or other suspected “enemy” , he may be incarcerated in a mental hospital by using fraudulent civil process as I have briefly summarized ;
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/05/375399.shtml
http://www.cmaq.net/node/29986
or he may become the subject of a phony criminal case wherein the imprisonment of the Target satisfies the intel service’s need.
Today the fbi/cia also review the medical records of male Targets and conduct other in- depth investigations in efforts to profile the Target in a predetermined manner that ostensibly seeks to justifiy castration. However, in order to achieve the desired end, the intel services also create a file on the Target wherein women swear in false affidavits and file derogatory statements against the Target, rendering the Target vulnerable to corrective action. In some instances the fbi and the cia actually poison or otherwise infect the Target as suggested in some of the links below in order to disable, injure or kill the Target.
Generally, the public is not aware of the dirty tricks used by the intel services against Targets, including adverse actions & procedures against uninfected men and others who pose absolutely no threat to anyone. The central goal of the intel services (the fbi/cia) is to protect state secrets (including their crimes against humanity)
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html
and to further political objectives (such as silencing whistleblowers).
Thus, men must become more vigilant regarding the crimes planned and committed against them by the fbi/cia agents and their operatives, including members of the public at large who are often co-opted into assisting the assassins in the poisoning and killing of selected Targets (sometimes by obscure methods).
http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/forum/topics/fbicia-methods-...e-and
http://barbarahartwell.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-reports....html.
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/resumepage.html
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part16-updatefor.html
http://www.governmentattic.org/docs/FBI-Army_Bacteriolo...s.pdf
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/germs.pdf
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/tooth14.html
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/letterformthemed.html
http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/forum/topics/psychoelectroni...eapon
http://www.governmentattic.org/docs/USMC_NeuronalEntrai...8.pdf
http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/hightechassau.html
The last commentator suggests that we ought look to the north of Ireland & in almost the same breath as much as any internet comment may be understood as paced in breaths, sighs or aspirated punctuation suggests that many "leftist"[sic] groups have no interest in looking north. alas, there as are many who only think in the north and don't notice the south as there are those who only think about ireland and don't think about europe.
In the very first paragraph of the main text of my article I had hoped to make it clear that all too often the differences between the Irish state & her EU peers of "either full sovreign statehood or the more ephemeral category of nation" could often be too easily "gleaned from; perusing a potted history of the island, a Bord Fáilte brochure, the wish lists of our fringe nationalists or the complaints of our dedicated alternative left.
I had thought it was clear thus that my article dealt with the Eire state and its exceptions in the EU as I outlined in the following paragraph.
Nonethless, I assure the last commentator and others who have taken the same general attitude to my attempt to highlight an institutional problem in the Eire state, that the peculiarities of the northern Ireland statelet and thus the problems of the UK state and its peculiar arrangements via the 3 strands for the northern irish statelet had not escaped my analysis.
My first appended comment brought readers' attention to the curious circumstances surrounding the final days of cock robin Jeffery Donaldson and the role played in those days be then justice minister of the Irish state, Michael Mc Dowell. I wrote quite correctly that on the day the news of Donaldson's murder in county Donegal within the Eire state was reported, a curious chain of events was added to our public record. The president of Sinn Fein who had accepted the resignation and apology of Donaldson received a phone call from the then British secretary of state for NI, Hain informing him of Donaldson murder whereupon Gerry Adams communicated the facts to the Donaldson family.
If nothing else illustrates the ephemeral limits of sovreign statehood and the remit of the Eire state's security services - then that peculiar chain of communication does.
There are doubtless some amongst the readership who have glossed over and deftly ignored points I tried to make holding to their steadfast political (& possibly cultural) convictions that there may only be one security service at play and wickedness on the island of Ireland & equally only one true enemy of transparency, accountability and those standards I argue should no longer be accepted the Irish state uniquely amongst EU members.
In response to such conviction and analysis, I would yet again invite contemplation and tactical movement which ought easily apply to both the Eire state, the apparata of the Garda Siochana and the still emergent apparata of security forces of both overt and covert nature in the northern Irish statelet (naturally not forgetting the legacy of its precursors).
We ought see, thus, as in many other areas of our full sovreign statehood or the more ephemeral category of nation areas of overlap and dependence with our neighbour wherein the continuing exceptions afforded, or simply present through oversight or negligence in the Eire state, may not be tolerated more.
in either the interest of the "north or south" - so simply put.
nor in the interest of the patchwork of judiciaries and societies which is the "united kingdom"
nor in the future priorities of the Irish peoples or the EU.
Had we in the past counted upon a named head of intelligence and security services who was answerable to the Oireachtas and subject to committee and oversight thus presenting even the first step towards accountablity and transparency -
then surely many matters of concern to those who think only in the "north" be they there or in "america" would have proceeded through different pathways?
Instead we have lived and continue to sustain glaring institutional disparity within the totality of relationships of these islands which logically impinge rights throughout the archipelago.
Quite simply if I must put this idea in terms which can be read by those I described as our "fringe nationalists" - then it is in our longterm interest to not only match the Brits in their window-dressing and mechanisms of oversight but to excel them.
I suggest you look north and talk to the people with experience in this.
I talk of course, of the north of Ireland.
Problem is, many Southern 'leftist" groups have no interest in looking north.
For anything.
Today’s Tribune has a report about senators’ salaries and expenses .
“Senators salaries were topped up with more than €2.71m in expenses for items including foreign travel, telephone allowances, special secretarial allowances and a variety of other unvouched expense items. ........Sixteen senators have claimed more than €200,000 in expenses since 2005, an average of more than €50,000 a year in excess of their salaries”.
Another report on the paper’s front page exposes internal corruption within the gardai , quoting an unnamed source within the force saying that levels of internal gardai corruption are of “pandemic proportions". Officers with the “ right connections” have been able to gain promotion to detective rank over the heads of often better qualified and experienced officers . Those with connections.... “ have ridden roughshod over disciplinary regulations due to their 'pull'," one officer is quoted as saying
And you can bet your yearly expenses that what the corporate press is saying is just the tip of the iceberg. The Oireactas and the Gardai are both part of the same corrupt state set –up . Neither is seriously going to investigate the other.
...........
It’s a good thing then that the churches have recently been able to inject some moral fibre into the affairs of the nation , isn't it? Perhaps the church could somehow be brought in to arbitrate – maybe the Christian Brothers. Unfortunately the Tribune has a story about the Christian Brothers today as well . Could there could be a chance here for one of the new religions Lawrence Cox has been reporting about down in Maynooth to light the way forward for us.
"We need a named & accountable head of intelligence and secret security services who is answerable to the Oireachtas through both Dail & Seanad committees with the findings of same made available to the public."....... iosaf
What do we need a head of intelligence and secret security services for in Ireland ? In Britain they have a long history of conjuring up national enemies to justify this sort of secrecy : Agincourt, the Spanish Armada , Napoleon , the cruel Hun etc .But why here? .If you don’t include the Danes , Ireland has really only ever had one national enemy - and the Special Branch isn’t harassing anyone for wearing poppies . We need to know why the state , which is supposed to be here to protect us , is spying on us . There needs to be an independent system put in place whereby concerned citizens can monitor these sorts of gardai activities safely without being harassed and accused of being subversives.
Dail and Seanad committees will never be allowed to monitor the gardai effectively . Anybody who takes the time to read the recently published book on the Official IRA and Workers Party will be able to see clearly how the Special Branch operates .The Branch actually monitors these legislators' activities to its own ends , turning a blind eye to all sorts of criminality - including murder - as and when it suits them .The legislators – with the exception of a few mavericks like Michael McDowell - invariably back down to the gardai or else they get the treatment.
Suspect A in the British Police spotter list is Emily Apple of FIT Watch. This is an interesting police video of her arrest which was also obtained by the Guardian.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUvrkS_PKsA
Now you too can be on a spotter card! Simply put the web address of a picture of you in the box at the link below, and be immortalised next to other "potential troublemakers"!
Q is a definite trouble maker
Intelligence is an extremely dirty game with no rules and no boundaries, everything even murder is excused by the State - all in the interests of 'protecting the State' (remember Margaret Perry, RIP).
I remember the time I attended a Republican commemoration for the 22 Irish hunger strikers (RIP) which was held across from the GPO, when a young Garda from the Special Detective Unit came across to me and handed me an abortion leaflet (he went to the bother of getting it from an anti-abortion group who were handing out leaflets at the GPO on the day) and presented it to me with a sinister smile - you have to be a pretty morally bankrupt individual to do something like that - but, then I believe all working in the intelligence world are devoid of any conscience and morally bankrupt - nobody decent would survive in it.
Here are lots of pictures and videos of police using FitWatch (look it up) tactics, and one charming member of Special Branch who thinks he shouldn't be photographed without his permission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7C54zQ1niY
This has been edited as it refers to hidden material- indy mod
Caption: Video Id: U7C54zQ1niY Type: Youtube Video
Garda Movies
There are no double standards "IamSam".
Gardai are supposed to work as professionals within a code and standard which I have pointed out is not accountable or transparent. We have not nor do we publish details or photos of Gardaí when they are not on duty & arguably the collation of such information would be considered a subversive act.
Citizens of a liberal democracy such as the Irish are entitled to participate anonymously in the core political process of state (franchise) & their right to assembly, speech and opinion are guaranteed by both the ratification of the Universal declaration of human rights and the European charter of human rights.
Furthermore all Irish and citizens of the EU states are constitutionally guaranteed the right to presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
There has been no move on the part of the Irish security services, police body or ministry of Justice to satisfactorily explain the criteria for these databases, the mechanisms of information exchange with third parties (be they other states or corporate entities in the private sector) nor any indication of how long such data is kept nor how citizens without any criminal conviction or even those without reasonable cause of suspicion to be engaged in subversive activity as understood by the definition of proscribed organisations - may access their details and remove them.
In many other EU states that is simple right. We call it protection of personal data. A photo of police agent on duty in either uniform or plain clothes does not constitute personal data.
Does no one here see the double standards of complaining about intelligence gathering by An Garda Siochana and then printing the names, stations, addresses and pictures of Gardai?
Sure if your going to complain that obtaining pictures and information about people is unfair shouldnt you refrain from doing it?
I posted this paragraph below on an other thread, but i now want to expand this and go into more serious matters. Young people, who are attending demos and protests are being singled out, for server intimidation and humiliation by these "Special Branch" boys and girls. Now what they do is, they follow them usually if they are on their own, ask them their names and addresses, dates of birth, what school they go to and if they have a job. They then proceed to search them, some times asking the to speared eagle up against the nearest car where they go threw their pockets. This is done under the mis use of the drugs act. They names and addresses are taking under the offences against the State act. all of this activity, is a complete abuse of their powers. It is also to discourage young people from becoming political activists.
On Monday the 12/10/09 a demo was held outside of the U.S. embassy, as it was been set up, a scruffy looking guy came out of the embassy took out his ID that showed he was in the Gardai, he then said he was going to be taking the names of all the people that would come to the demo. A video phone was produced and he was asked to repeat what he said, he then changed his ground and said he would be taking the names of the organizers only. The organizers had told the Gardai two weeks before hand of what they would be doing, they had been talking to a uniform Sergeant for half an hour or more before this guy came to inter fear. He went away from the camera asked an other man for his name and date of birth, he had on right to ask for any of them. In the end three, T.D.s the General Secretary of one of the biggest Trade Unions,and a member of the national executive of the I.C.T.U. plus many other full time trade union officials and members form S.I.P.T U. and other unions, were there. There were also many ordinary law abiding citizens there, all the time we were there, this guy and six others, who came later, were taking photos and writing down every thing that was on the banners, why? There was no need for them to be there, why were the security services of the state monitoring three T.D.s (including a FF TD) and what did it cost?
As you can see from the statements above, no one is safe from the activates of these people, they have now been giving an increase in their funding to help them with their work, at a time when everyone else is enduring cut backs. There is a need for a monitoring group, made up of trade unions, the churches, community groups and politicians to monitor their behavior and insure the right to protest and civil liberties are maintained. The situation is getting worse by the day.
It's important to highlight the unreasonable nature of garda surveillance of legitimate protesters. There needs to be more transparency as you say. Speaking of transparency, I definitely prefer it when you write articles clearly like this! :-)
In a back feature article of 2007 we may read about the launch of the Garda Siochana Ombudsman. This office was created against the backdrop of serious and as yet unsatisfactorily resolved accusations of brutality and negligence not to matter victimisation of individuals in Garda custody.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82457
Let us not forget some of those cases ended in death.
The Garda Siochana Ombudsman office was of course set up under the tenure of big swinging Mickey Mc Dowell in the ministry of Justice. A job which many of us remember him for more than his brief stint as leader of the Progressive Democrats or even his cack-handed supervision of the judiciary.
In my honest opinion for younger readers that's the long version of the email IMHO
Michael Mc Dowell was an excellent example of what can go wrong with our current Irish set-up which counts on no named, accountable or transparent head of intelligence services. Mc Dowell alluded to and held forth on many ocassions in both the Dail and press conferences on matters which ought have been sub rosa . There was no proper, accountable and transparent means to verify his politically opportune assertions that the IRA counted on 1,000 members, that the St Patrick's Cathedral migrant protesters and hungerstrikers included members of the Taliban.
Just as there was no mechanism through committee oversight and review to publically pose the thorny question why had he not offered a proper explanation for the "Love Ulster" riots which occured it would seem at his invitation or even pricklier why he or the Garda Siochana had not afforded security or surveillance to former SF leading member and former MI5 spy / asset Jeffry Donaldson.
oh yes.
sin é.
As I wrote at the time, Mc Dowell as Hain knew full well who killed Cock Robin & since Hain informed Adams before Mc Dowell was supposed to know - it would seem big swinging Mickey Mc Dowell had a part in his death.
.:. scelere velandum est scelus .:.
as Seneca the roman satirist put it, " a crime hides the crime" & like he knew -
He lived to see enough of them.