Dear Earth First!ers,
Due to its effective use of creative direct action tactics in recent decades, Earth First! has consistently been a target of state repression and excessive police tactics. Now we are making a film with other environmental activists who have been targeted by undercover police, with the goal of exposing these abusive repression tactics.
"Spied Upon" is an internationally made full-length documentary that uses the outing of former UK undercover cop Mark Kennedy as it's starting point. Kennedy had begun his international operation by targeting Earth First! in the UK in 2003, and had worked across Europe as well as for the FBI for seven-years before being outed by his unknowing activist girlfriend and her circle of Nottingham friends in 2010. Now this woman and a number of other women are suing police bosses in the UK for what has been exposed as a regular undercover police tactic of duping activist women into long-term relationships. Spied Upon is working with some of these women to support them and help them have their story told.
Mark Kennedy turned private in 2010 and started his own security firm as well as saying that he was working for Global Open, a private security firm known to target animal rights activists on behalf of pharmaceutical company clients. It appears as though that is exactly what Kennedy was doing when he went to Italy to spy on an animal liberation gathering in the summer of 2010. He even tried to strengthen his credibility by saying he was an important Earth First! activist, see the video clip here we shot with Italian activists who tell about when they were unknowing targets of Kennedy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx38iZ14nc
State repression has long featured the use of undercover police, but a lesser known use of undercover tactics has been those used by private security firms on behalf of private corporations. These practices construe an intense invasion of privacy that is not even allowed for state undercover police, and this scandal needs to be exposed! We have also uncovered illegal collusion between private and state security forces. This collusion is a key focus of the film Spied Upon, which we are also making as a tool that activists can use to highlight the current problems environmental groups face today.
We plan to release Spied Upon internationally in 2014. However, to do this, we need your support to make this film happen. Our film crew comes from grassroots activism, and we are turning to the grassroots, meaning you, to seek funding. Please take a look at our crowdfunding web-site and teaser video at Indiegogo, and take action to help us please by making a donation if you support our work: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/spied-upon
In solidarity,
The crew at Spied Upon
PS. Lots more info at: www.spiedupon.com