An alliance of people spied on by Britain's political secret police
When: Saturday 16th May 2020, 10-4.30pm
Where: M Shed, Princes Wharf, Wapping Road, Bristol BS1 4RN
Price: Free!
Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) have organised a full programme of events for their 2020 Radical History Festival, in collaboration with hosts at M Shed.
The 2020 Festival has two main Themes, where once again we will reveal hidden histories, debate and agitate for a future of better pasts:
– State and private surveillance of labour and social movements (1792 to now)
– Hidden histories of post-war mainland Britain (1945-51)
When environmental campaigners exposed Mark Kennedy as an undercover police officer (or spycop) in October 2010, after a seven-year posting, outrage ensued over the fact he had coerced a number of female activists into relationships, and taken part in criminal actions.
Numerous other spycops were (and are being) exposed after this, forcing the Government to set up the Undercover Policing Inquiry into the activities of its undercover operations through the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) since 1968.
The cover-up, and whitewash, was underway, utilising multiple arms of the British state. But as we will show in this theme, surveillance activities by both the British state and private/corporate entities have been ongoing for centuries, often working together, hand in glove.
From fears in the aftermath of the French revolution in the 1790s, republicanism and the struggles for democracy to resistance to World War One and the increasing political and economic power of the working class in the 1960s, the British state through spying has attempted to neutralise, suppress and stymie progressive movements and groups. And they didn’t stop yesterday…hello Special Branch!
Speakers will include the Undercover Research Group.
Post World War II we find a Britain with its treasuries exhausted after paying for the War; a diminishing world power supported by colonies it could no longer afford to maintain, nor contain! Its citizens were determined not to be short-changed again, as they were after WWI, in a post-WWII settlement they had fought so hard for, after a conflict in which so many had lost their lives.
Money for this reconstruction and social investment could only come from the US, the only global power to emerge unscathed from WWII. What would the rising US Empire demand in return from the diminishing British Empire?
We’ll share peoples’ stories of the push for social reforms, labour activism, civil rights and experience of national service within a diminishing empire under austerity; and look too at the break-up of the colonial Empire and Britain’s treatment of its former subjects.
Now aded to the line-up: Winston Trew of the Oval 4 & Rosie Wild on ‘Black Power & undercover policing’ in 1970s.
So, you’ll know it’s not just going to be talks, discussions and workshops!
Once again expect:
Not to be missed – go up to Level 2 to see the Feminist Archive’s Women’s Liberation exhibition.
All the events at M Shed are free with no booking required – all are welcome!
M Shed
This will be the 4th Bristol Radical History Festival, which once again is hosted by M Shed, Bristol’s social history museum located on the historic harbourside.
There are several tie-in events:
Monday 6th April, 8pm at Cube Cinema – The Dirty War on the NHS: Director John Pilger’s searing critique on the history of the NHS from 1948 to the present. £5/4 – Tickets/info here.
Friday 15th May, 8pm at Cube Cinema – Gadael Tir / Leave Land, the story of a thousand years of land rights and protest in Wales (in English). £10/8 – Tickets/info here.
Programme
The programme of events will be updated regularly at the Bristol Radical History Festival site.