Bristol anti-war campaigner targetted with Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.


Bristol resident Dylan Thomas claims that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers have been used against him because of his anti-war campaigning. This interview discusses the alleged use of RIPA against this anti-war protestor and the sort of activities that gave rise to him being targetted with RIPA. It is not everyday that you get to interview a dead Welsh poet.


Mr. Thomas, you claim that you have been theh victim of use of the Regultion of Investigatory Powers Act. I understand that it is an offence for someone to tell you of a RIPA control order and there's a serious period of imprisonment involved. Assuming that nobody told you that you were targetted by RIPA, can you explain why you think that you have been subjected to this act, and what it actually means?

Yes of course. Well first off the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act is a very heavyweiht piece of legislation. It's one of Bliar's New Labour's serious heavy laws where the implications for the subject are very serious but there is deniability - everything's done the secret, unmentioned New Labour way so that there is no accountability.

So, RIPA means that they can interfere in any aspect of your life - say your solicitor. They can demand that your solicitor sends copies of all your documents that he holds and to never tell you. If he tells you, he commits a criminal offence and can be sent off to prison.

Like I said, the RIPA is heavyweight law - really powerful and it sort of sweeps lesser laws away with it's power. But it does have some problems because it clashes and conflicts with other laws because it's so heavyweight and powerful. Now where it clashes with other laws. That's where you can see the cracks. That's where you can see RIPA operating.

One part of RIPA, why it's so powerful and heavy and awkward is that nobody can be tried for carrying out actions under it's authority. The issues can simply never come to court.

Now from the documents I have, I am fairly certain that I had a RIPA order served on me between January and June or July 2003 and I may have had some since. I mean I know that my post is intercepted. The f***ers just steal it quite often and I just never see it. Legal documents even. They even steal legal documents sent to me. You see what happened is that at that time I was getting referred to New Deal every 2 weeks and I was appealling every one. So a sanction was getting imposed every two weeks. I've got twelve appeals in this period. That means twelve copies of documentation from the JobCentre referring me to New deal and me refusing, twelve copies from the Employment Service and twelve copies from the Appeals Service where I have lodged my appeals. Actually that's what I should have. It's not what I actually have.

Eh, Why not?

Well remember RIPA is heavyweight and clashes heavily with other laws. The trouble is that actions conducted under the authority of the act can never be tried in a court or tribunal. So what documntation have I got?. Once again, the RIPA does not sit well with repeated requests for appeals because appeals are like trials and actions under RIPA can never be tried. So the documentation is have is regualar documents, sometimes legal documents with gaps where RIPA is operating. Bingo!

Do you really have that. Really?

Well I think so. I reckon I can map what actions they took from the gaps in the documents. And i think that I have got more.

More?

Yes. Now the trouble is that it's not only the whole appeals that cannot be tried but certain aspects of them. So as these appeals progress you can study them to catch the issues that are raised but the Chairman cannot make a decision on. And when you make an administrative complaint. That's a laugh that is. It's because I'm a determined, stick-at-it little sod as well. It's only now these things are coming out.

So you mentioned administrative complaints. What happens there?

OK. so let me recap. I've got eleven New Deal appeals and one JobSeeker's Allowance appeal over the six months I was RIPAd. That should be twelve copies of documents from the Jobcentre, twelve copies from the Appeals Service and now they are starting to come through from the Social Security Commissioners. That's what finally gave it away actually.

So there are all these bundles of documents. But some documents are missing from bundles and the Decision Maker goes quiet for months. Not a sausage from him. He's been told to stop sanctioning me. Not have any contact because the appeals can't come before a tribunal or huge parts of them cannot. Because I'm pissed off with them all ignoring me, I start complaining. To the Jobcentre, to the Emplyment Service, to the Appeals Service. Many of them simply do not reply. They're not going to be used to this powerful Fascist New Labour New Laws so they hold off. Then the RIPA order runs out. They start taliking to me and I get some post briefly while there is not a RIPA order in force.

Complaints to the administrative section of the Appeals Service are weird. The Appeals Service is split into two parts. An administrative section is staffed by DWP staff. They support the 'judicial' side - Chairmen who make decisions like judges. Now the administrative side is the DWP, a public authority. I complain of bias or the refusal to send copies of directions. Unknown to me, I've hit a topic that can't be brought before any trial because of RIPA but because they're a public authority thay have to reply to my complaint. What can they do?

Obfuscation. No doubt this is an old civill service ploy. They have to go through the motions of responding to my complaint but the issues in my complaint cannot be addressed or judged. So they make it up. They respond to my complaint as if I had complained about something totally different and not covered by the RIPA action. So then I complain to the Parliamentary Ombudsman that the Appeals Service were crap and obstructive, did not adress my complaint. Then I have the Parliamentary Ombudsman dancing around the requirements of RIPA law in yet another different way. Compare and contrast.

I submitted some documents to be included in appeal documents. There was a big stack not copied to the appeal documents between January and June 2003. These documents cannot be put before a trial or tribunal. They cannot be judged. IT'S RIPA.

Why do you think you were put under RIPA and what effect does it have?

At the time remember. Look at the dates. It's January to June 2003. It's Bush and Blair preparing to go to war against Iraq. It's two million on the streets of London. I reckon that's two to three percent of the British population. I was at demos. Fairford when the gates were pulled open. The Bristol demos. London demos. But I was also active on the net. Now it's clear that I was RIPA'd politically because I was a critic of Bliar's over the Iraq war. I think that it's quite a complement in fact. That I was so effective that I was RIPA'd for politics.

The problem is that I was RIPA'd for political reasons. Blunkett who was home secretary at the time.
It should really be treated as another Blunkett scandal. RIPA is supposed to be used to investigte crime and threats to the economy or to security. It shouldn't be used to harass and spy on your political opponents or critics. That f***ing fascist Blunkett is caught out being a fascist again. Another point is that I've become aware of it because I had all these legal proceedings going on. How many other anti-war protestors have been subjected to New Labour's 'political' policing?

I'm not really all that familiar with RIPA. I do know that RIPA gives them the power to trawl through your life. They can demand info on you from anyone and nobody will tell you about it because they are all threatened with imprisonment if they do. Your doctor, your bank, your telephone company, your insurance company, your ISP. It's a huge invasion of privacy.

So you don't think RIPA was related to your benefit claims?

No. I know that the Decision Maker had info on me from covert surveillence. He mentioned some fact in a letter that he should not have known. What I think happened is the decision Maker fell on it. He was contacted and told to lay off for a while. At the time, I knew I was under surveillence. You get the local copper first. They have no idea. His plan was to show me that he was there watching me and hopefully I would not criticise Bliar & co. He tried to arrest me. He was so angry that I had dare criticise Bliar when he was sat in his van outside watching everything that went out on my net connection. I've got some stories about the last two and half years. The highs and lows. I could write a book.

What sort of things were you doing on the net?

Well, you've got to understand that there are a whole lot of opportunities on the net. When I first started I would just slag off Blair relly well on some messageboard. New Labour use scanners like the search engines' scanners to comb the web for references to them. It's part of their media management to be on top of trends emerging on the internet and twist and turn them to their own use or hide them with some other news item like a rabbit out of a hat. I've known them to even bring out three blocking stories once. And then there's all the lies before the war. Television news was just lies. You could hit it by monitoring the news. That's the most important thing. Monitor the news. Lose a night's sleep. When you're monitoring well, when you can see stories twist and turn and emerge into something else and the different shades to a story the world over, you can start anticipating and decide when to time your strike. Bang! You steal the news. There is no news today. Thumb-twiddling. "It's a bit overcast today..." They can't publish the news because you've proved it's lies before they've even transmitted it.

We are the news now. We are as much part of the news industry as newspapers or websites. We compete with newspapers and news companies as individuals except that we don't need to make much money. Commercial news providers are careful to try to match the quality of info provided on the net. It's not good for an established news provider to be caught out by a blogger.

Blogging is powerful because you can get the timing. I was doing something similar to blogging. Timing was important to me. Sometimes some really wierd times worked really well. I'm not really a blogger but I was fantastically impressed with them at the election. They really worked well. I'm sure they made one hell of a difference. I'm thinking especially of Tim Ireland at http//:www.backingblair.co.uk and his mates. Check those flash animations out. I have enough experience of political activism to know that it's the long term that counts. I wonder whether the bloggers are less experienced with political campaigns and are used to projects lasting a few days, weeks or months that end with an actual, tangible achievement. Blair is mortally wounded now and the bloggers played one hell of a part in that.

Hehe. i just remembered Alastair Campbell sneered just recently "We're not interested in what some blog might say"[from memory]. HaHa, you arse Campbell. you're not interested in what some blog might say. Haha ha. Not interested enough to impose RIPA, eh Campbell? Haha arse.

Wher can we see some of your work?

Hmm. this might seem a bit strange but I don't want to tell you. I'm not ashamed of any of my work. I stand by it. That's important be consistent. Be consistent, have a good argument and time it. Usenet is good for timing too. Another aspect of timing I used to go for was Labour Party Conferences. I used to love the idea of tormenting those poor little Blair-worshiping fascists. Imagine all the spin-doctos' mobbies going at the same time. Don't panic. Don't panic.

Yes. so like I'm not ashamed of my work. It's just that I never started doing it to be famous or worshipped like a celebrity. I did it for the people of Iraq and I did it for the people of the World. Because these fascists are incredibly dangerous bastards. So I like to think that I am just one campaigner amoung many. Maybe I've been particularly successful or lucky or maybe loads of friends I will never meet or know helped me along. Probably all these things and more. And then Murdoch says that they've missed how powerful the net has become.

So what are your plans at the moment?

Well I'm looking forward to the Labour conference. I've taken it a little easy after the election. I leave it too late before the conferences so I'm going to start up real soon and show solidarity with the G8 protestors, then carry on into the Labour conference. I'm thinking that if the Bliar survives the conference, it's worth thinking about bolishing Labour as an electoral farce before the next election. I mean surely the Bliar must go now that there is a real possibility that he will face the International Criminal Court. If Blair's not despatched now, Labour could find that he faces the courtbefore the next election.

Do you have any message for these New Labour politicians?

Well I'd like to tell that fat lardass of a Home Secretary to stop stealing my mail. Oh, and Blunkett. He said once something about using all the repressive state apparatus (apparatus is a RIPA term) and something like "you'll never work again". I hope there's room for you in that cell Bliar's headed for. You Neo-Con Labour fascists are on your way out. You'll never be prime minister you manic fuc**ng bastard. I'll see to that.

Do you write poetry?

Don't know if its prose or if it's rap. But it's usually pretty heavy crap.