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Affected by undercover policing? We need your help to help others who might soon find out they have been infiltrated.
We are people who have ourselves been closely affected by undercover police infiltration. We are putting together a printed and online resource to share our experiences and those of others, to help people who are newly finding out that they too were targeted.
We would like to hear about your experiences of discovering that someone you knew was an undercover policeman. We want to hear from people who had relationships with undercover officers, were friends, or comrades.
How can you I contribute to this resource?
You could share this info with us in a number of ways
• We can interview you over the phone or face to face
• You can record audio of you speaking, or having a conversation with someone else
• You can write things down and send them to us.
What experiences are we looking for?
We have collated together a list of questions(below) – you can answer as many or as few of these as you would like.
Will you get to ok your contribution before its included?
If you do an interview or a recording, we will send you a transcript, so you can edit it before we put any of it into the resource.
Will your contribution be identifiable?
We will anonymise all contributions unless you specifically ask us not to. Please consider how you want to be identified – what name should we call you by (for example, community activist, Jane from London etc)
How can you get in touch?
You can get in touch by email: supportingpeople(AT)riseup.net
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
HOW WERE YOU AFFECTED?
- In what way were you affected by undercover policing?
e.g. friends/housemate/intimate relationship with a UCO, part of a political group targeted by a UCO, supporting loved ones targeted by UCOs
This question will help us to group responses and make editing the interviews into a coherent resource easier. We will not divulge specific information that will make people identifiable without their permission.
FEELINGS
- How did it feel when you found out?
- Were their feelings you had that were particularly unexpected or hard to deal with?
- How have things changed over time?
- How did it affect your life?
- Is there anything you found particularly difficult or significant?
e.g.
Reading about it in the press (this can happen at unexpected times and trigger difficult emotions)
Anonymity – reasons to be anonymous, limitations of anonymity.
Telling your friends, families, workmates…
Speaking out in public
Talking to the Press
Taking legal action or not
Political responses
- Did you find any strategies or experiences that helped you deal with the impact?
e.g.
making contact with other people who had the same or similar experiences
taking action about it;
recognising how hard it is
taking to care for yourself;
taking distance from the story and getting on with life….
WORKING IN GROUPS
- Were you part of a political or action group that was infiltrated, or feared infiltration? What impact did it have on the group?
- Are there any strategies that helped you deal with it as a group?
SUPPORTING OTHERS
- Looking back, what would you say to someone who has a similar story to yours and is just starting to go through some of the things you went through?
- Have you supported anyone through any of these issues? What have you learnt that you could share with others? Were there things that were good, or any pitfalls?
- Are there any support resources you would recommend?
e.g. Support groups, counselling services, forms of therapy or activities that you would recommend.
Thank you for your time!
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