In solidarity with BASE Bristol
The Cowley Club stands in solidarity with BASE social centre in Bristol following the news that they have been under surveillance by the National Security Division and South West Counter Terror Police (SWCTP).
This follows an investigation into our anarchist comrade Toby Shone that led to his recall to prison on 19th September 2023. Toby attended a letter-writing night and dinner held by Bristol Anti-Repression Campaign (BARC) at BASE on 30th August last year, during which extensive photographic evidence was taken of Toby's actions (holding leaflets and eating food!) and the activities in BASE during the event. Legal papers recently served on Toby also contain an extensive dossier of BASE campaigning materials compiled by a Counter-Terror Police digital analyst together with evidence of ongoing surveillance and monitoring by SWCTP as part of the security services’ attempts to fabricate a fiction of shadowy “anarchist terrorism” centred on the social centre, with Toby at the hub.
BASE is no more a centre of “anarchist terrorism” than the Cowley Club is. We may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you can certainly get a nice cuppa here without the fear of being groomed or radicalised, or that the 80p that you pay for the a cup goes to funding terrorism. The same goes for BASE.
A belief in anarchism is thankfully not yet a crime. Say no to the Thought Police.
We stand in solidarity with our comrades at BASE and with Toby Shone.
The State is the Terrorist!