Table Of Content

Activists and the Surveillance State Activists and the Surveillance State Learning from Repression Edited by Aziz Choudry and Between the Lines First published 2019 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Aziz Choudry 2019 The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7453 3781 4 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3780 7 Paperback ISBN 978 1 7868 0372 6 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0374 0 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 7868 0373 3 EPUB eBook Published in Canada 2019 by Between the Lines 401 Richmond Street West, Studio 281, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3A8 www.btlbooks.com Cataloguing in Publication information available from Library and Archives Canada ISBN 978 1 77113 435 4 Paperback ISBN 978 1 77113 437 8 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 77113 436 1 EPUB eBook This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. Typeset by Swales & Willis Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America Contents Acknowledgements vii Part I 1 Lessons learnt, lessons lost: Pedagogies of repression, thoughtcrime, and the sharp edge of state power 3 Aziz Choudry 2 The surveillance state: A composition in four movements 23 Radha D’Souza 3 Activist learning and state dataveillance: Lessons from the UK, Mauritius and South Africa 53 Jane Duncan Part II 4 Coming of age under surveillance: South Asian, Arab and Afghan American youth and post-9/11 activism 79 Sunaina Maira 5 ASIO and the Australia–Timor-Leste solidarity movement, 1974–79 97 Bob Boughton 6 The plantation-to-plant-to-prison pipeline 117 David Austin interviewed by Aziz Choudry 7 Forgetting national security in ‘Canada’: Towards pedagogies of resistance 129 Gary Kinsman contents 8 Prevent as far-right Trojan horse: The creeping radicalisation of the UK national security complex 153 Nafeez Ahmed 9 Political policing in the UK: A personal perspective 177 Emily Apple 10 Spies wide shut: Responses and resistance to the national security state in Aotearoa New Zealand 197 Valerie Morse Part III 11 Undercover research: Academics, activists and others investigate political policing 217 Eveline Lubbers Notes on contributors 249 Index 253 vi Acknowledgements Drawing from the knowledge of activists and critically engaged academics, this book asks what people did, didn’t, could and should learn about the power of states and capital from activists/movements viewed as threats to national security and targeted by state (and state- corporate) security operations, harassment, surveillance, infiltration and disruption, highlighting lessons learned and missed opportunities. The idea for a book of this kind has been percolating for many years – in countless conversations, discussions and debates with a wide range of people, stretched across cities, countries and continents as well as in reflections on my own and others’ experiences. I am blessed with a great network of friends and comrades with whom to think and act. I deeply appreciate the contributions of all of the chapter authors. This is not an easy topic to write about, not least for those whose lives have been, or are directly impacted by state surveillance, harassment, infiltration and worse. But this book is also a testament to the historical and ongoing resistance of ordinary people to the national security state. Many thanks to David Shulman at Pluto Press for his interest in, and enthusiasm for this book project, and to the rest of the Pluto team for their production and design work. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to Désirée Rochat whose careful preparation of the manuscript for publication embodied editorial assistance par excellence. Sincere thanks to Jeanne Brady for her careful and efficient copy-editing, and Adam Bell at Swales and Willis for his help in the production of this book. I also acknowledge support from my Canada Research Chair in Social Movement Learning and Knowledge Production. While working on this book, my friend, colleague and comrade Abby Lippman passed away. We had had many conversations, over several years, over cups of tea at her kitchen table, and on marches and demonstrations on the streets of Montreal, about the issues, struggles, vii acknowslaerdagements politics and histories in this book. Having shared the proposal with her, I had imagined that she would read the final product, hopefully with interest, with her usual sharp eye and mind, dry sense of humour and generosity of spirit. This book is dedicated to Abby. All royalties for this book will be donated to The Right2Know Campaign (South Africa). Website: https://www.r2k.org.za viii part i