There was some surprising news in the UK this week when undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, who spied on environmental groups and even organized national protests and direct action campaigns as “Mark Stone,” offered to cooperate with activists against the police.
The Guardian has had some excellent reporting on this story, and notes that Kennedy visited at least 22 countries over 7 years to gather information on political activists, and in some cases urge them to take illegal action. Kennedy’s spying was undertaken as part of a national police operation against so-called “domestic extremists,” including animal rights activists, environmentalists, and anarchists.
Kennedy has told his (former) friends he had a change of heart, and realized the importance of environmental work (and how he has betrayed people who he says became his friends). He was not alone in his work, though: Kennedy acknowledged the existence of at least one other undercover cop in the UK environmental movement.
I was on The Alyona Show last night talking about how this fits into the bigger picture of labeling activists as “eco-terrorists,” and the history of law enforcement informants and provocateurs sabotaging progressive social movements.
For instance, I recently wrote about an animal rights informant and FBI agent who discussed spreading rumors to discredit activists.
Let me know what you think of the video!