Exposing the Covert Surveillance: The Greenham Common Women's Peace Campaign Infiltration

The Greenham Common women's peace campaign, a prominent feminist movement in recent history, has been the subject of a public inquiry that has uncovered a disturbing revelation. Campaigners have testified that the long-running infiltration of their movement by an undercover police unit was a "ridiculous waste of money and an outrageous intrusion" into their peaceful activism.

Uncovering the Covert Surveillance: A Betrayal of Trust

The Infiltration of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Campaign

The public inquiry has heard that the Metropolitan Police sent an undercover officer, using the fake name of Lee Bonser, to spy on the peace campaigners for three years. Bonser gathered personal information about the campaigners, including details of their jobs, relationships, and living arrangements, and reported them to her superiors. This surveillance was allegedly carried out at the request of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who wanted to know what the "Greenham women were doing."

The Lambeth Women for Peace: A Targeted Group

The inquiry has also revealed that between 1983 and 1986, Bonser joined a group called Lambeth Women for Peace (LWP) in south London, whose membership averaged about a dozen. She regularly compiled secret reports on their activities, including fundraising events such as a jumble sale and a disco. Bonser's reports to her superiors contained personal details of the LWP campaigners, such as their physical appearances, jobs, a car owned by one of them, the decision of three members to move into a squat, and their sexuality.

The Covert Scotland Yard Unit: Infiltrating Leftist and Progressive Campaigns

Bonser was part of a covert Scotland Yard unit, the Special Demonstration Squad, which spent four decades infiltrating mainly leftist and progressive campaigners. Her reports were routinely passed to MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic security service. The surveillance took place during a period when anti-nuclear campaigners were mounting widespread non-violent protests against the Thatcher government's plans to deploy more nuclear weapons, with millions fearing an all-out nuclear war with the Soviet Union.

The Justification for Surveillance: Balancing Security and Civil Liberties

The public inquiry is now exploring whether the police were justified in using undercover officers to spy on anti-nuclear campaigners who were using non-violent direct action, such as cutting the fence at the Greenham Common airbase, to further their aims. Sir John Mitting, the retired judge leading the inquiry, has acknowledged this as one of the key issues to be examined.

The Campaigners' Perspective: A Betrayal of Trust and Waste of Public Funds

Hilary Moore, a former member of Lambeth Women for Peace, has described the activities of Bonser as "an outrageous intrusion, and ridiculous waste of money." Jane Hickman, another LWP member, testified that Bonser's deployment was "entirely unjustified ... it was a betrayal that is all the worse because it was completely unnecessary. I also feel deep disappointment at how much public funds were wasted when there were so many more calls on public expenditure."

The Undercover Officer's Perspective: Balancing Peaceful Protest and Public Order

Bonser, the undercover officer, has stated that she had "some sympathy" for the Greenham women's campaign, but she believed the LWP campaigners were "always peaceful, but ... they may be disruptive to public order and the members were likely to undertake a 'sit-in' or 'sit-down' protest which could cause disruption." She claimed that the "only criminality in the group was in their attempts to break into the base at Greenham Common."The public inquiry into the infiltration of the Greenham Common women's peace campaign by an undercover police unit has uncovered a complex and controversial issue, raising questions about the balance between national security and civil liberties, and the appropriate use of covert surveillance tactics against peaceful protest movements.