Reclaim Brixton protest. Flickr/Ben Windsor. Some rights reserved.Imagine waking up one morning and finding your name, face and personal details have been smeared across the media. Your first thought is that it feels horrible. Your social standing has been called into question, and your day is spent fielding calls and internet posts from both well-wishers and trolls.
That’s what happened when the Mail on Sunday charged us with the “crime” of bringing together locals and activists at a meeting in Hackney, to talk about the need for community-led protest. It was a public event organised by a grassroots political group Brick Lane Debates.
Once the initial shock subsides, you start to wonder: why did they single me out? And more importantly: are campaigners for civil rights and social justice fair game for undercover newspaper surveillance, desperate for fantasy narratives of violent underground cells?
