European Conference Marking Statewatch’s 25th Anniversary
STATEWATCHING EUROPE – European conference marking Statewatch’s 25th anniversary
Civil liberties, the state and the European Union
10:00 – 17:00, Saturday 25 June 2016
Resource for London, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 (map)
For 25 years Statewatch has been working to publish and promote investigative journalism and critical research in Europe in the fields of the state, justice and home affairs, civil liberties, accountability and openness. We invite you to join us in London on 25 June 2016 at our Conference where there will be:
Workshops and discussions on the refugee crisis in the Med and in the EU; mass surveillance; the EU’s crisis of legitimacy and accountability; the policing of protest and criminalisation of communities; racism, xenophobia and the far right; strategies of resistance and the defence of civil liberties.
PROGRAMME: PDF
Speakers
Ann Singleton (Co-Chair, Statewatch), Tony Bunyan (Director, Statewatch), Deirdre Curtin, (Professor of European Union Law, European University Institute), Steve Peers (Professor of Law, University of Essex), Emilio de Capitani (FREE Group), Ralf Bendrath, Frances Webber (Institute of Race Relations, UK), Stratos Georgoulas (Lesvos, Greece), Gus Hosein (Privacy International), Val Swain (Netpol, UK), Steve Wright (Leeds Beckett University), Eric Topfer (CILIP, Berlin), Ben Hayes, Amandine Bach, Liz Fekete (Director, Institute of Race Relations), Matthias Monroy (Berlin), Eveline Lubbers (Undercover Research Group), Heiner Busch (Solidarité sans frontières, Switzerland), Suresh Grover (The Monitoring Group), Deborah Coles (Inquest), Dave Whyte (Liverpool John Moores University), Gareth Pierce (lawyer), Aidan White (Ethical Journalism Network), Eric Kempson (Hope Centre, Lesvos, Greece), Jean Lambert MEP (Green/EFA group), Stafford Scott (The Monitoring Group), Courtenay Griffiths QC, Ska Keller MEP (Green/EFA group), Lorenzo Trucco (ASGI, Italy), Caroline Intrand (Migreurop), Philippe Wanneson (Passeurs d’hospitalités, Calais), Vassilis Karydis (Acting Ombudsman of Greece), Staffan Dahllöf (Denmark) .
Saturday 25 June 2016
09.45 – 10.15 Registration
10.15 – 11.00 Opening plenary
11-00 – 11.30 BREAK
11.30 – 13.00
Parallel workshops session 1: The EU in crisis
1. The crisis in legitimacy and accountability The EU faces simultaneous crises: the refugee crisis, counter-terrorism, the rise in racism and fascism and continuing austerity. At the same time there is widespread disillusionment with EU institutions – will the EU survive and if it does what kind of EU will it be?
2. The refugee crisis in the Med and in the EU There is a crisis in the Med with thousands dying and an almost complete failure of EU institutions and most EU governments to respond. Will we see Turkey do the EU’s “dirty work” by detaining refugees seeking to flee backed by a EU Border Force policing on land and sea – complemented by Eurosur and mass deportations?
3. Mass surveillance, technologies of control and unaccountable states The security and intelligence agencies have survived the “Snowden revelations” and are seeking to extend their powers. How are new technologies being developed and employed by the authorities? Can meaningful control be asserted over the security-industrial complex?
13.00-13.45 Lunch
13.45-15.15 Parallel workshops session 2: Challenges and strategies
4. Racism, xenophobia and the far right The right, the refugee crisis and the war on terror. Racists and fascists still on the streets and now in parliaments and government. And at the formal level the move from multiculturalism to monoculturalism amidst a growing authoritarianism and failing democracies. Is this inevitable?
5. Criminalising communities and policing protest Undercover policing undermining organised dissent backed by the surveillance of social media and marginalising protest. Suspect communities and resistance. What can be done to research and expose the activities of state agencies? 6. Defending civil liberties and strategies of resistance Campaigns in the streets, courts and communities: anti-deportation, deaths in custody, blacklisting workers, cover-ups and state crimes. Turning defending civil liberties into resistance – what can history tell us?
15.15-15.45 BREAK
15.45 – 17.00 Final Plenary