PRO Release, 2034: RESPECT and the Intelligence Services
Peter Piper | 02.06.2004 14:59
London June 2, 2034
This morning's release from the Public Record Office of material from MI5 archives reveals the organized campaign waged thirty years ago by the Security Services against a political party called RESPECT.
This morning's release from the Public Record Office of material from MI5 archives reveals the organized campaign waged thirty years ago by the Security Services against a political party called RESPECT.
London June 2, 2034
This morning's release from the Public Record Office of material from MI5 archives reveals the organized campaign waged thirty years ago by the Security Services against a political party called RESPECT. RESPECT was an adhoc coalition which formed out of the opposition to the war against Iraq in 2003, and which faced its first electoral challenge in 2004 in the European Parliament election. In October-December 2003, after the visit of George Bush, planning meetings at MI5 headquarters put together a simple strategy of divide and rule. Respect was, at its core, an unstable alliance between trotskists and muslims. Why not then use Left issues such as women's and gay rights?-- on both of which it was felt Muslim perspectives might differ from those of left activists. A testrun of the strategy was used on the Palestine march of 2004-- but the results were disappointing, because rather than provoking some expression of Muslim homophobia which could be used, it demonstrated more sensitivity and solidarity on those issues on the part of the PLO. But the tactics continued. Various forms of contemporary leftwing media, in particular Indymedia and Urban76 were used to float the rumour that RESPECT was in some way a vehicle for either SWP manipulation or various kinds of sexism or homophobia, and in any event was electorally irrelevant. The intelligence service, at the same time, used "anarchist" rhetoric about the irrelevance of elections altogether, to try to depress the dissenting vote. The test came on June 10th, when all waited to see how, if at all, the widespread public disgust with the Labour government of the day would find expression. Blair et. al. hoped fervently that the anti-government vote would be split to irrelevance between the LibDems, the Greens, with Respect an indifferent their player. ....
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This morning's release from the Public Record Office of material from MI5 archives reveals the organized campaign waged thirty years ago by the Security Services against a political party called RESPECT. RESPECT was an adhoc coalition which formed out of the opposition to the war against Iraq in 2003, and which faced its first electoral challenge in 2004 in the European Parliament election. In October-December 2003, after the visit of George Bush, planning meetings at MI5 headquarters put together a simple strategy of divide and rule. Respect was, at its core, an unstable alliance between trotskists and muslims. Why not then use Left issues such as women's and gay rights?-- on both of which it was felt Muslim perspectives might differ from those of left activists. A testrun of the strategy was used on the Palestine march of 2004-- but the results were disappointing, because rather than provoking some expression of Muslim homophobia which could be used, it demonstrated more sensitivity and solidarity on those issues on the part of the PLO. But the tactics continued. Various forms of contemporary leftwing media, in particular Indymedia and Urban76 were used to float the rumour that RESPECT was in some way a vehicle for either SWP manipulation or various kinds of sexism or homophobia, and in any event was electorally irrelevant. The intelligence service, at the same time, used "anarchist" rhetoric about the irrelevance of elections altogether, to try to depress the dissenting vote. The test came on June 10th, when all waited to see how, if at all, the widespread public disgust with the Labour government of the day would find expression. Blair et. al. hoped fervently that the anti-government vote would be split to irrelevance between the LibDems, the Greens, with Respect an indifferent their player. ....
CONTINUE THE NARRATIVE, IF YOU CAN
Peter Piper