Public meeting organised by Calderdale Trades Union Council
2pm on 10th April at Hebden Bridge Trades Club
Deep Deception
McLibel Campaigner Helen Steel tells the story of ‘the
spycops network’ and the women like herself who uncovered the shocking truth
In 1987, Helen Steel was a gardener and environmental and
social justice activist with, amongst others, London Greenpeace. She later
formed part of ‘the McLibel 2’ campaign that badly damaged the reputation of McDonald’s.
Almost two decades earlier in 1968, a shadowy undercover
police unit was established in Britain – the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS)
– to spy on protesters in mainly left-wing and progressive groups. SDS This along
with its successor – the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU),
formed in 1999 – targeted anyone with a desire to protest the status quo.
That included anyone expressing a dissenting voice, or
attempting to hold the government or big business to account. Steel, as part of
‘The McLibel Two’ campaign that began in 1990 and lasted well over a decade, was
just such a voice.
Officers from the SDS and NPOIU secretly infiltrated
organisations by ‘any means necessary’, including forming long-term, intimate
sexual and emotional relationships with women activists, having children with
some and robbing others of the chance of motherhood. Helen Steel was targeted by
an SDS officer whose real name was John Dines but who hid behind the name of
John Barker, who had died at aged 8 in 1968. Steel had no idea she was involved
with a police spy.
Dines is amongst over twenty undercover officers who have been
identified as having deceived women into intimate relationships. The women had
no idea they were involved with men who were police spies.
Steel and the women have discovered the truth about these
men’s identities and tactics through their own research and shared experiences.
It was those efforts that led to the public exposure of the
officers and subsequent widespread outcry about the activities of these units.
Since these initial discoveries, the tactics of the SDS and
NPOIU have become one of the biggest policing scandals of our time. The
revelations led in part to the announcement of an undercover policing inquiry
(UCPI), which began taking evidence in November 2020. The fight for truth and
justice is far from over.
Steel and four women involved are now releasing a book DEEP
DECEPTION ON 31ST March. Come along to Hebden Bridge Trades Club at
2pm (prompt) on Sunday 10 April to listen to Helen Steel, a remarkable woman.
Other speakers at this meeting will include UCPI Core Participants
such as Mark Metcalf, a NUJ delegate to Calderdale Trades Council.
11 May - just over 50 people attended the meeting.
