Martyn – Martyn Lowe

Come Join The Urgent Protest

I keep saying this, but wonder just how few people think the same.

The larger the number of people attending a protest event the less inclined I am to attend it, while if it is going to just attract a few people I’m much more likely to take part in it.

This comes from the experience of being on too many pickets of 2 to 5 people, and knowing just how much a couple more people attending will make.

At the same time I keep being told that protesters at the DRS depots, Springfields, Capenhust, or Whitehaven are just too far away to attend them.

Yet the very same people will urge me to attend national demonstrations which attraction vaste numbers, or that really are both difficult and expensive to attend.

That is why I will not be going to protest at Lakenheath, but will be going back to Whitehaven in June.

As some of you will know I am involved Information for Social Change [ ISC ] which is ‘ An activist organisation that examines issues of censorship, freedom and ethics amongst library and information workers…’

Over the years I have writted a lot which has been published in ISC.

The following are pieces which I think are still very relevent to what is happening right now/

In ISC 15

After the Organisation: A guide for Activists &Information workers.

         Introduction.

There are many manuals that are aimed at political organisers, which cover how to successfully organisea campaign, yet none of these ever go into how one might efficiently close down a campaigning body.

https://dn790001.ca.archive.org/0/items/information_for_social_change/ISC%2015%20Whole%20Issue%20fixed.pdf

In ISC 16.

        Going Through the Raid.

Why this article?

As I think many of you might already know , I have an interest in both the radical media and clandestine publishing. Librarians and radicals have an interest in alternative publishing and free speech. Yet there are very few radical Librarians that have had any direct experience of this kind of work. I think that I am also one of the few individuals within the radical Library world that has any direct experience of beingi nvolved with periodicals that have been raided.

https://dn790001.ca.archive.org/0/items/information_for_social_change/ISC%2016%20Whole%20Issue.pdf

Dave Dane

 About Dave

Dave Dane was an activist within Greenpeace [ London ] which is how I got to know him.

He had attained a degree in Organic Chemistry, becaming a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and went on to teach at a further education college in Haringey.

He was also a key figure within the London Anarchist Forum, active in his trade union, and within the IWW [ Industrial Workers of the World ].

The Most Well Read Individual

Something which Dave said on a regular basis was: “ I’ve read about that”.

That was a reflection of his wide ranging knowledge upon aspects of ancient history, radical history, aspects of science, trade unionism, and coins.

For a long time I was trying to persuade him to write a history of the ancient world via an examination of the various coins of the period. He was the only person I ever met who might have been able to do so.

His other great interest was playing chess which he continued to do
until very recently.

Sayings and Slogans

Dave had a wonderful way of making various political points via his slogans and posterboard on demonstrations.

Here are just two of my favourites

Outside of Australia House upon a demonstration about the building of the Franklin Dam –

‘ Damn the Dam’

Then while outside the French Embassy on the subject of Nukiller Bomb Tests at Muraora Atoll –

‘ No more banging in the Pacific.’

Outing Bob

Having known spycop Bob Lambert as Bob Robinson while he infiltrated Greenpeace [ London ] Dave joined a group of activists who outed him at a conference which was being held at the TUC building in Bloomsbury.

He was part of the group which distributed leaflets to those who attended the event.

It was only very recently that I learnt that it was Dave who distributed the leaflets to everyone who was on the speakers platform. That included Bob, who looked him in the eyes as he did so.

The Last Eight Years

Eight years ago Dave became a paraplegic and landed up in a care home due to medical negligence for which he took out a court case that he won.

Even then he continued a lot of his reading, while playing chess online and as part of a chess club.

During this period I would chat with him almost every day on the phone.

    Dave Dane

 March 7th 1951  - January 9th 2025

Getting Older And Collective Memory

There is something which increasingly comes to my mind.

The background being that one looses a lot of old friends as they become deceased, while others become so infirmed that one might only be able to chat with them on the phone from time to time.

Then there are all the people we loose of have lots contact with over the years. Some of them might just of moved on, but they might also be dead. It is sometimes very difficult to find out just which it is.

Yet there is something else which happens and most younger people don’t think about this, and that is how one might loose collective memory.

Some aspects of the spycops inquiry have really shown to me just why we need to keep good archives and keep in touch with old friends and comrades.

It all ties up with a sense of isolation.

Please keep this in mind over the coming years.

Though it is not helping if you like me have lived and worked in a lot of different places over a lifetime.

Bob Lambert Bob Robinson in His Different Personalities.

The different faces of Bob Lambert.

In his evidence Bob Lambert has referred to his undercover persona Bob Robinson in the Third Person.

He has also been trying to display himself as being very frail and forgetful, to which many people have said he is just telling lies.

This is not the only time he has reinvented himself as a public persona.

He did it when he became a well known academic.

It was certainly a shock to him when we exposed him as being a former spycop nearly a decade and a half ago.

Yet what if he has been doing this kind of thing so many times that now he lives with a multiple personality disorder ?

That might explain some of the way he reacts right now.

The whole performance he displays does remind me of a Shakespearean tragedy.

It would also make it very difficult for him to now try to write his autobiography.

The question is just what else will he come up with?

Be all this as it may, we still have to bring him to account for the way in which he has caused so much damage over the years.

Bob Lambert Spycop Evidence

The evidence given by Bob Lambert this week is very perturbing indeed.

Though getting any information from him is a very difficult process.

What upset me was what he said on Tuesday.

See: –

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MavZNV451qs

That was how and why he used me to become friends as a part of his undercover spycop cover persona.

I was not damaged as much as many other spycop victims, but I do find it upsetting.

It’s the way he treated some of the women who he targeted that are being focused upon in the press reports, but there is very little about the grief and pain they are still going through.

Dealing with this whole process does add to the deep sadness which effects me from time to time.

Pension Crisis

While a lot of fuss is being made about the winter fuel payment being snatched away from pensioners, and the triple lock, there is something which is not being considered.

For those of us who are of the Real Generation Rent, the most important issue to consider is rent inflation.

That is why pension increases should be based upon yearly rent inflation.

Meanwhile the 25% reduction in council tax needs rethinking as it discriminates again single pensioners.

Long term it should be viewed in relationship to the ongoing housing crisis, and the curtailment of social care/ social housing options for older people.

Spycops Inquiry Update

The spycops public inquiry has this week reached Tranch Two Part Two.

There is now a lot of evidence emerging about just what damage they inflicted upon many individuals.

They were also responsible for many miscarriages of justice, and adversely effected our political campaigning.

Here is an example of just what Bob Lambert who I knew as Bob Robinson got up to

I will be giving evidence about him in early November..

Whitehaven

STATEMENT FROM PEACE NEWS TRUSTEES – 3 SEPTEMBER 2024

The staff of Peace News have printed an issue of PN which includes eight pages under the headline
“Peace News To Close”.

The pages are biased and false in so many ways that we are unable to rebut every misrepresentation, correct every inaccuracy, or fill in every omission. Much of it is so extreme, personal and potentially libellous that it would be foolish to reply without legal advice. We are not going to sink to their level
of personal attacks and abuse.

Suffice to say that there are two sides to every argument.

There are several points we do feel able to make.

Peace News is published by Peace News Ltd (PNL), itself wholly owned by Peace News Trustees Ltd (PNT). Both companies are not-for-profits, whose directors are all unpaid. The staff are paid employees of PNL. Peace News is financially dependent on PNT’s subsidy of £20,000 or more a year, without which the £2 cover price would have to quadruple.

The staff have frequently overstepped their role as employees. To announce the “closure” of PN is the latest example. Peace News is not theirs to close.

They resigned on 14 August. The resignations were accepted, and they were kept on in good faith for their two-month notice period, to produce their last edition.

PNL’s directors said the issue should contain a joint statement agreed by PNT and staff; and staff could write a personal statement to readers, subject to directors’ approval. Instead, the staff published this issue secretly and unilaterally, having had no prior discussion with or agreement by their
employers, let alone space to comment.

As directors of Peace News Trustees, and company members and directors of Peace News Ltd, we are successors of the people who founded the paper in 1936. It is our responsibility to work to their objectives, to build the paper’s effectiveness in promoting peace and nonviolence, and hand over to our successors in turn. The individuals named – and abused – by PN staff have long-time commitments to PN and the peace movement. They have integrity and good sense. They have not
suddenly turned into monsters.

Peace News was in a long-term descent of ever-declining subscriptions, readership, and influence. It
was locked-in to being a paper publication in the age of digital media. PNT tried to institute structures to review its purpose, strategy, content, and marketing, but at every turn these efforts were resisted by staff.
Staff refused to share and discuss editorial policy (if there was any). It turned out that they had been developing a plan for the future – but kept this secret for six months from the very people they expected to fund it! Another six months on, they have never revealed what this plan might actually
be.

This was just one example from of a year of acting in bad faith. They contradicted their own claims to openness and consensual decision-making with secretiveness, lies, dissembling, procrastination, breaches of confidence, and manipulation. Given the history, the directors now feel naive to have
trusted them to produce this latest edition.

Staff claimed autonomy. As owners, funders and stewards of Peace News, PNT naturally expected
accountability. When PNT placed two Trustees onto PNL’s Board of seven (mirroring the two PNL people who were on the PNT Board), this was described as an “attack on PNL’s autonomy”. And here is their response to a request from PNT for quarterly editorial reports: “We see this as a breach of PN’s editorial independence”. The first quote is from 2024. The second dates back ten years, to 2014.
Their intransigence was permanent and absolute; and the gap could not be bridged.

It is fitting that their last act was to publish eight whole pages of inaccurate and self-evidently biased vitriol directed against Peace News Trustees (who pay them), and against named individuals (who aren’t paid at all). Staff did this clandestinely, and allowed no space for a different view. They published a leaked email without the author’s knowledge or consent, and a private email address without notice or permission. It was not just terrible journalistic ethics, but an outrageous abuse of power designed to do maximum damage to Peace News before their departure.

To repeat, Peace News does not belong to the staff who were employed to produce it. It cannot be staff who are ultimately responsible for PN. It is their employers Peace News Ltd, and through PNL, the owners and stewards – Peace News Trustees.

When these issues are resolved, we will be consulting widely on the future direction of Peace News.

Albert Beale, Glyn Carter, Marwan Darweish, Ian Dixon, Carol Rank, Andrew Rigby (Peace News Trustees).

This statement is supported by board and company members of Peace News Ltd:

Albert Beale, Glyn Carter, Sally Dean, Ian Dixon, Martyn Lowe, Ruth Overy, Carol Rank, Andrew Rigby,
Diana Shelley.

Notes:

A fuller history has been compiled by Andrew Rigby in a personal capacity. Albert Beale has also issued a
personal response.

Both can be seen at https://PeaceNewsTrustees.my.canva.site/

Recipients are welcome to republish this statement from PNT, and to share links to
and extracts from the two personal texts, providing the wordings are not changed

Author: Martyn