Undercover in East Dulwich

The latest undercover police officer exposed for infiltrating activist movements was seemingly prepared to go to the lengths of living in East Dulwich as part of his deep entry into Reclaim the Streets. Oh and eventually marrying and having kids with one of the people he met during his time organising streets parties and carnivals against capital.

According to the Guardian tonight, 'By February 2000, Laura says, the pair moved into a flat in East Dulwich, which they adorned with Celtic and African patterned throws'. Her suspicions were only briefly aroused by the meticulous way he cleaned his walking boots!

I recognise Jim Sutton (or to give him his real name Jim Boyling) from my time in those circles, perhaps thanks to him there's a record somewhere in the secret files of my meticulous planning of the children's play area on the 1998 Brixton Reclaim the Streets party. No doubt that's why he was commended for 'outstanding devotion' to combating 'serious crime'. Wonder whether he spotted that the (now closed) cafe in Grace & Favour in North Cross Road (SE22) donated a batch of pastries to the party, as a result of which anybody who has bought a scented candle in there since is on a database of the dangerous? Maybe he was deployed to East Dulwich as a result, to keep a close eye on subversive currents among the emerging movement of mumsnetters and coffee enthusiasts.

People involved in activist scenes shouldn't get too paranoid about this. Of course they should always assume they're under surveillance but in the mean time those infiltrating have to work very hard to maintain their cover - looks like half the people driving vans and transporting radicals round the country were spooks, a service kindly funded by the secret state. Thanks guys!

Jim Sutton/Boyling - see Guardian article

In his 1926 study of police agent provocateurs in the Russia, Victor Serge noted that thousands of police agents didn't stop the overthrow of the Tsar. His advice to 'revolutionaries' would equally apply to 'activists' today: 'Be on your guard against conspiracy mania, against posing, adopting airs of mystery, dramatising simple events, or “conspiratorial” attitudes. The greatest virtue in a revolutionary is simplicity, and scorn for all poses ... including “revolutionary” and especially conspiratorial poses'.