The news about the undercover cop living for seven years as an activist was first sent out in an email by Indymedia last summer. I don’t particularly remember seeing Mark Kennedy or Mark Stone as he was called on the scene, around at anti G8 camps or protests. When I first joined Rhythms of Resistance, an activist samba band, in 2003, I discounted the endless rumours of certain members being, in fact, policemen. One guy, unfortunate perhaps in having the surname ‘Blue’, was particularly targeted with this slur. Every week, in the pub afterwards, people would whisper about each other. I just thought it was paranoia. I also thought it was a kind of activist ego trip. As if we were so important, dangerous and destabilising that the authorities would make the effort to join the band, come to rehearsal every week, wear glittery pink clothes, go to freezing demonstrations, just to keep an eye on us. We were a public band anyway, anyone could join, we were actively recruiting members.
I got in trouble for starting up a Facebook group and Twitter account for the band, despite the fact that we already had a Myspace page and a website. ‘Facebook is run by the CIA’ I was told, by members that had personal Facebook accounts. “So what!” I’d counter “if they want to know about us (‘they’ being a nebulous undefined ‘the government, MI5, the police, the army, the forces of evil’) then they just have to attend rehearsal. “
I guess I was wrong. It seems incredible that Mark Kennedy was paid by the government to live as a hippy, to smoke dope (gotta be aufentic yeah?) and hang out in squats. The police suspected he’d gone native, Serpico-style, he was enjoying it all a bit too much.
Mark Stone found out that ‘anarchist’ activists are actually rather nice, trusting people who want to make the world a better place, who don’t eat meat and worry about animals. The fact that he ate meat was one of the giveaways. In the UK, most political activists are vegan unlike the activists I met in France, who remain carnivore, whatever their politics.
And Mark was shagging around, his poor wife in the real world has discovered. Perks of the job? Lots of lovely activist totty. That’s another thing, sexist behaviour is common in activist circles because ‘there’s no war but the class war’ and feminism as an exciting cause has all but disappeared into a poorly attended separatist enclave. You won’t find many women over the age of 30 in this world nor mothers.
Rog T
January 16, 2011 at 12:40 pmThere's always been loads of infiltrators in all sorts of groups. If they were just making sure peace campaigners were not planning to murder people, I'd not be too bothered, but when they are buggering up people engaged in lawful protest, it becomes a massive issue. I've long suspected that much of the trouble at dems is started by agent provocatuers. This is when it becomes more than an issue. I'd urge anyone in a jury to throw out any cases where it appears that the establishment has instigated the trouble
theundergroundrestaurant
January 16, 2011 at 12:56 pmHi Rog,
Certainly that was the case at the Genoa Anti G8 protests. There are videos of Italian police donning balaclavas and causing trouble…
Ben Emlyn-Jones
January 20, 2011 at 12:21 pmDespite Mark Kennedy using his job as an excuse to indlulge himself in the drugs and sex of the activist community it's good he discovered that world of peace and environmental comapaigners is not the den of iniquity he suspected, as anybody would suspect if you read "The Sun" etc. (BTW, at the recent student riots, why do the papers only show the two people smashing a window, not the hundreds sitting peacefully down round a campfire? Answers on a postcard please!) I'd like to be able to idolize the story into a kind of "Avatar" scenario, but maybe that's pushing it a bit!
theundergroundrestaurant
January 20, 2011 at 1:20 pmhaha Avatar! Love it!
Anonymous
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Can I use part of the information from your post right above if I give a backlink back to this website?
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Ben Emlyn-Jones
January 21, 2011 at 12:00 pmOne of my favourite movies!
I suppose I can also sympathize with Kennedy's wife if she feels betrayed, but I wonder if we do so to excess. At the end of the day, she chose him! How many "boring Mr Nice Guys" did she turn down before she made her choice?
vera
May 8, 2011 at 1:28 pmwish that also in portugal all politic activists would turn vegan, but the large majority, is not even vegetarian!
seo pakistan
May 23, 2011 at 7:19 pmyap its a huge destruction and a massive issue to protest unpeacefully nice post about the subject thanks for sharing this
Henry North London 2.0
August 19, 2011 at 11:08 amAOL is also a spying front, Someone I knew who was in MI5 hated AOL with a searing passion