Saturday, 17 August 2024 — NetPol

The history of police monitoring in the UK is inextricably bound up with anti-racist organising and community campaigns against racist violence.

Community fight back against the far-right and the police’s inability to keep people safe in the 70s and 80s merged to create strong movements which fought back against police violence, racism and organised to raise awareness of people’s rights.

With the government promising more funding for the police in the wake of the August riots, we know that more money for policing is not the answer. It’s disingenuous to present the violent racist attacks on mosques, community centres and asylum centres as “protest”, and more surveillance and controls on protest as the answer.

In the latest episode of “Unlawful Killing”, a podcast by INQUEST, Netpol’s Kevin Blowe looks at the history of police monitoring groups emerging in the wake of community organising, the killing by police of Blair Peach in 1979 at a demonstration against the National Front, and what copwatch groups today can learn from these experiences.

You can listen to the episode for free now on on Acast, or find it on your own podcast player here.

To learn more about the rich history of community resistance, we’d recommend this thread of resources on anti-fascist and anti-racist organising from the Institute of Race Relations.

Listen now

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