Activists & The Surveillance State, Glasgow

Activists vs the surveillance state: Learning from Repression

What can activists learn from each other across generations, communities, struggles and countries about state security practices, about the interests that they protect, and from the resistance of activists and movements being spied upon?

Drawing from a new collection edited by Aziz Choudry, with contributions from/on Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada, South Africa and the US, in this talk Choudry will explore what experiences of state surveillance, political policing, and the criminalisation of activism can tell us about the nature of democracy in liberal democracies – and state power.

Aziz is joined by Eveline Lubbers of the Undercover Research Group, and ‘Andrea‘, an activist who was deceived into a relationship by undercover police officer Carlo Neri.

Andrea will talk about her experience, the way such relationships were strategically used by the police, and about the campaign for truth and justice led by women like her.

Aziz Choudry is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University. He is also the editor of Just Work? Migrant Workers’ Struggles Today.

The event is hosted by the Socialist Theory and Movements Research Network.