Stop The Show Trial
Portsmouth Crown Court, Tuesday, 26th August, 9am
In Portsmouth, a terrible crime against freedom is about to be committed. This autumn, five alternative journalists could be imprisoned for ten years simply for reporting the news - or even just for knowing others that have or holding opinions that Hampshire's Thought Police disapprove of.
If the State’s successful with this Gandalf ('GA-aND-ALF') prosecution, it won’t be possible to tell the truth. Listing road protests or animal lib actions will be illegal, let alone comment on them. If Thought Police can bust people for writing -- even thinking -- about direct action, they can bust all those taking it as ‘conspirators’, even though it's often the only recourse available in a failing democracy.
Freedom of speech, association and conscience are supposedly guaranteed by the UN Declaration of Human Rights and should be fundamental to a free and democratic society. If these rights are denied the Gandalf defendants, they'll be denied YOU too. If the law applies equally to all, the Thought Police will be able to smash down YOUR door at dawn and ransack YOUR home, just as they have to 55 others already under Operation Washington. They'll be able to drag YOU off to prison for what you think, who you know or the way you choose to live your life, just as they are the Gandalf defendants now. This country will be no more democratic than Soviet Russia and apartheid South Africa, where similar laws once operated.
Like secret policemen in all such dictatorships, Hampshire's Thought Police don't want you to know your freedoms are being taken away - some evidence in this case is so secret it's protected by Public Interest Immunity Certificates, gagging orders turning the trial into a farce where not even the defendants and their lawyers are allowed to be present.
All the defendants want is a free, equal, compassionate world but even if you disagree, the Thought Police's 'cure' is clearly more threat to democracy than this 'malady'. They have contempt for the democracy they're supposed to be defending. At committal, the case against one defendant, ALF press officer Robin Webb, was thrown out because the Thought Police violated the very laws they were supposed to enforce. DS Desmond Thomas, leading Operation Washington, admitted then that the prosecution would collapse without Webb in the dock so why’s he still pressing on with it? Because the Thought Police are vindictive and out of control - and because successfully concluding this prosecution against the other five defendants will lay the foundation-stone for a police state in UK.
What You Can Do
* Join the national demo on the opening day of the trial
* Put this leaflet in your window to show your support
* Write letters of protest to newspapers
* Invite defence campaign speakers to your meetings
* Affiliate to the defence campaign (£10)
* Organise your own defence campaign group, leafleting, holding talks and demos in support of the defendants and selling mail order goods
Mail Order
The Gandalf Video (VHS, 15 minutes). £10
We Control The Zig-Zag cassette, squat rock compilation. £2.50
Don’t Get Caught cassette, with Crass live. £2.50
Burn The Cages & Other Poems anthology by Davey Garland, £1.50
SUPPORT THE GANDALF DEFENDANTS badge (1" round). 30p
Leaflets (per 100), £3
Just tick what you want and write how many. Cash or blank postal orders preferred. Cheques payable to 'Gandalf Defendants Campaign'. Add 10% postage and packing or 30% if overseas. Remind us if nothing's arrived after a month. We reserve the right to substitute items of equivalent value.
GANDALF Defendants Campaign,
PO BOX 66,
STEVENAGE SG1 2TR
AFFILIATES • Alder Valley Anarchists • ALF Supports Group • Anti-Authoritarians Anonymous • ARCNews • Arkangel • Anarcho-Primitivist Network • the Custodians • Demanarchie • Eco-Vegan • Friends Of MOVE • Kingston Left Greens • Lancaster Bomber • Open Eye • Mackating • Mid-Sussex Earth First! • Oxford Green Anarchists • Portsmouth University Animal Rights Society • Veggies • many private individuals