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State surveillance, counter-terror powers and global securitisation

Post-event press release from the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities

On 10th of December, at a public meeting held in the NUJ Headquarters, a range of speakers addressed the manifold issues arising from state surveillance. It was argued that these could not be considered in isolation from the prevailing escalation in counter-terror powers and global securitisation.

Responsible investigative journalism of the highest standard has revealed both the way in which undercover policing has been used to monitor legitimate political activity and also how UK authorities have apparently engaged in the mass collection of personal communications and data in the name of national security. Those revelations have started an important public debate, both nationally and internationally, that would otherwise not have taken place.The meeting made significant contribution to that debate, bringing together many figures who have been at the forefront of these stories. The audience considered strategies of how to safeguard freedom of expression, right to privacy and civil rights.

Listen to the whole debate in the podcast of the meeting

Notes

  1. The meeting was co-sponsored by Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), Statewatch, NationalUnion of Journalists (NUJ), Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers.
  2. The speakers who contributed were:
    Michelle Stanistreet (NUJ general secretary), Tony Bunyan (director of Statewatch, journalist and author of The Shapeof Things to Come), Rob Evans (Guardian journalist and co-author with Paul Lewis of Undercover: the True Story of Britain’s Secret Police), Matthew Ryder (QC at Matrix Chambers and representing David Miranda), Dr Nafeez Ahmed (author, international security scholar, environment writer for the Guardian and author of A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilization And How to Save It), Les Levidow (CAMPACC), Kat Craig (Reprieve, legal director of the Abuses in Counter-Terrorism[ACT] and vice-chair of Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers )