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London Greenpeace was an anarchist environmentalist activist collective that existed between 1972 and 2001. They were based in London, and came to international prominence when two of their activists refused to capitulate to McDonald's in the landmark libel case known as "McLibel". It was not affiliated with Greenpeace International nor with Greenpeace UK.
In 1972 a group of activists loosely associated with the Peace News newspaper formed a new group committed to environmentalism and anarchism. Initially the group campaigned for the ending of atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons by France at Mururoa atoll in the south Pacific. In support of this, in 1973 the group held a 60-strong protest march from London to Paris, via Dover, Ostend and Wattrelos, ending in a demonstration at Notre Dame cathedral. [1] [2] [3] [4]
London Greenpeace was not affiliated with Greenpeace International. Greenpeace International was formed out of a rough coalition of various environmentalist groups in 1971, many of whom were already using the name "Greenpeace". London Greenpeace emphatically wanted to remain independent of this new and larger Greenpeace, which it saw as being too "centralized and mainstream for their tastes". [5]
The group was formed to show the links between militarism and environmental damage. They were linked, ideologically and in their activism, with radical environmentalism, green anarchism and pacifism. They were officially affiliated with War Resisters' International, the National Peace Council, [1] and Campaign Against Arms Trade, and supportive of the Animal Liberation movement. In the 1980s they were involved with the Stop the City campaigns, [6] whilst the 1990s saw them helping to initiate the London-wide Reclaim The Streets Network. They are viewed[ by whom? ] as one of the first anarchist groups to promote a specifically environmentalist message.
During the second half of the 1970s the group pioneered the campaign against nuclear power, and worked with a number of anti-nuclear alliances such as Stop Urenco, the Torness Alliance, and the Nuclear Information network. [1] London Greenpeace was also involved in the opposition to the Falklands War, and co-founded the Anti-Falkland War Support network. [7]
London Greenpeace gained public attention with the McLibel case, which became well known as one of the first SLAPP suits against freedom of expression. McDonald's Restaurants sued London Greenpeace, which later morphed into "McDonald's vs Steel and Morris". The case lasted for 15 years and was finally settled in 2005. The McLibel case became famous because McDonald's lost the public relations case in the public mind.[ citation needed ]
In 1990 McDonald's issued proceedings against five London Greenpeace supporters, Paul Gravett, Andrew Clarke and Jonathan O'Farrell, Helen Steel and David Morris, for libel. The company offered to withdraw actions against each individual in return for an apology and an undertaking not to repeat the claims. The activists had been distributing a pamphlet throughout London containing allegations regarding starvation in the Third World, destruction of rainforest, the use of recycled paper, links between the company's food and heart disease & breast/bowel cancer, false advertising, the rearing and slaughter of animals, food poisoning, and employment practices. Of the five defendants, Gravett, Clarke and O'Farrell apologised to McDonald's, while Steel and Morris (often referred to as "The McLibel Two") refused.
Almost all of London Greenpeace's resources and efforts went to helping the pair over the years the case was heard, but in 1997 both defendants lost and were ordered to pay McDonald's £60,000. However, the extended court battle was a public relations failure for McDonald's; the company decided not to pursue the two defendants for the money.
In 2001 London Greenpeace issued a public statement announcing their dissolution. [8] While the McLibel action brought fresh energy, publicity and urgency to the organisation, this did not last long, and the group felt it best to permanently suspend their efforts. [8]
In October 2011 activists from the group exposed Robert Lambert, whom they had known as Bob Robinson, as a former undercover police officer who had infiltrated the group. [9] After court cases centring on Lambert and other undercover police officers, in 2014 and 2015 the Metropolitan Police apologised and paid compensation to eight women who had had intimate relationships with undercover officers, including Lambert. The police admitted that the relationships had been "abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong". [10] [11]
Steel said that another undercover police officer from the Special Demonstration Squad, John Dines, became treasurer of London Greenpeace. [12] The Guardian reported that Lambert co-wrote the leaflet central to the McLibel trial. [13]
Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its diversity" and focuses its campaigning on worldwide issues such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling, genetic engineering, anti-war and anti-nuclear issues. It uses direct action, advocacy, research, and ecotage to achieve its goals.
McDonald's Corporation v Steel & Morris[1997] EWHC 366 (QB), known as "the McLibel case", was an English lawsuit for libel filed by McDonald's Corporation against environmental activists Helen Steel and David Morris over a factsheet critical of the company. Each of two hearings in English courts found some of the leaflet's contested claims to be libellous and others to be true.
Helen Steel is an environmental and social justice activist who is known for her involvement in the McLibel case, an English lawsuit for libel filed by McDonald's Corporation that lasted for 10 years and was eventually taken to the European Court of Human Rights, where Steel and fellow campaigner David Morris won their case against the UK Government on the grounds that they had been denied a fair trial. She is a key figure in the 'Spycops' scandal and subsequent Undercover Policing Inquiry.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was an international animal rights campaign to close down Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), Europe's largest contract animal-testing laboratory. HLS tests medical and non-medical substances on around 75,000 animals every year, from rats to primates. It has been the subject of several major leaks or undercover investigations by activists and reporters since 1989.
Spanner Films is a small London-based documentary company founded by film director Franny Armstrong in 1997.
Richard Rampton KC was a British libel lawyer. He was involved in several high-profile cases including Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt, where he defended Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books against David Irving.
EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF, with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses throughout the United Kingdom. It employs 11,717 people, and handles 5.22 million business and residential customer accounts.
The American restaurant chain McDonald's has been criticised for numerous aspects of its business, including the health effects of its products, its treatment of employees, the environmental impact of its operations, and other business practices.
Franny Armstrong is a British documentary film director working for her own company, Spanner Films, and a former drummer with indie pop group The Band of Holy Joy. She is best known for three films: The Age of Stupid, a reflection from 2055 about climate change, McLibel, about the McDonald's court case and Drowned Out, following the fight against the Narmada Dam Project.
Covert policing in the United Kingdom are the practices of the British police that are hidden to the public, usually employed in order that an officer can gather intelligence and approach an offender without prompting escape.
The National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) was run by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), a private company connected to United Kingdom police intelligence, and was set up in 1999 to track green activists and public demonstrations. It has been found that much of the Unit's work was against "activists working on social justice, anti-racist, and environmental campaigns" and legitimate dissent, rather than extremist groups, with more than 1,000 political groups having been subjected to surveillance by covert officers. The work of the group has been accused as having hobbled Climate-related protest in the late 2000s in the United Kingdom and more widely.
The Consulting Association (TCA) was a controversial UK business, based in Droitwich, which, from 1993 to 2009, maintained a database of British construction workers and became implicated in a "blacklisting" scandal, which is ongoing. Revelations about the database resulted in the business being shut down, the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010, a Parliamentary enquiry, High Court actions leading to compensation payouts valued at between £50m and £250m in total, and a series of cases being brought to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mark Kennedy, undercover name Mark Stone, is a former London Metropolitan Police officer who, whilst attached to the police service's National Public Order Intelligence Unit, (NPOIU) infiltrated many protest groups between 2003 and 2010 before he was unmasked by political activists as an undercover policeman on 21 October 2010 and his identity was confirmed by the media three days later. During his time under cover he manipulated and deceived several women into having sexual relationships with him with the knowledge of his superiors. An Investigatory Powers Tribunal found his actions to be an "abuse of the highest order" and had "grossly debased, degraded and humiliated" one of his victims.
Robert Lambert MBE is a British academic and former undercover police officer. He served in the controversial Special Demonstration Squad and posed as a left-wing animal rights activist from 1983 to 1988, fathering a child with an activist, who was unaware of his true identity, during his deployment. Both the woman and her child have needed psychiatric treatment as a result, and both have been awarded damages against the Police.
The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was an undercover unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, set up in 1968 with the approval of the Wilson government, to infiltrate British protest groups. It was part of the Special Branch, and worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It operated from 1968 to 2008.
Louise Wallis is a DJ, singer, and writer who is also known for her animal advocacy. She lived in London, England, and now resides in South Wales.
Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police is a 2012 book by The Guardian journalists Rob Evans and Paul Lewis.
Around the end of 2010 and during 2011, it was disclosed in UK media that a number of undercover police officers had, as part of their 'false persona', entered into intimate relationships with members of targeted groups and in some cases proposed marriage or fathered children with protesters who were unaware their partner was a police officer in a role as part of their official duties. Various legal actions followed, including eight women who took action against the Metropolitan Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), stating they were deceived into long-term intimate relationships by five officers, including Mark Kennedy, the first officer to be identified as such, who was publicly identified on 21 October 2010 as infiltrating social and environmental justice campaigns, and Mark Kennedy himself who claimed in turn that he had been incompetently handled by his superiors and denied psychological counselling. According to The Guardian, Kennedy sued the police for ruining his life and failing to "protect" him from falling in love with one of the environmental activists whose movement he infiltrated.
The Undercover Policing Inquiry is an independent statutory inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales. It was announced by Theresa May, the then Home Secretary, on 6 March 2014, and its terms of reference were published on 16 July 2015. The Inquiry has been chaired by Sir John Mitting since July 2017, following the resignation due to ill-health of Sir Christopher Pitchford.
Housmans is a bookshop in London, England, and is one of the longest-running radical bookshops in the United Kingdom. The shop was founded by a collective of pacifists in 1945 and has been based in Kings Cross, since 1959. Various grassroots organisations have operated from its address, including the Gay Liberation Front, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and London Greenpeace. Housmans shares its building with its sister organisation Peace News.
My former partner at the time I got the writ was an undercover policemen, obviously I did not know that until many years later. He was infiltrating London Greenpeace, he became the treasurer of London Greenpeace, he was actively involved in the McLibel support campaign
