Day 305 - 25 Nov 96 - Page 45
1 acted as a party with somebody else, or they acted as our
2 agents in specific things which would result in the
3 distribution of the fact sheet, or did.
4
5 As regards the things that we have heard about not having
6 people in positions of authority in the group, this was not
7 something that was by default; this is not something where
8 just by chance the Plaintiffs cannot prove their case
9 because there just did not happen to be any structure which
10 could show that kind of unincorporated association or
11 higher that would have a legal entity -- which they are
12 effectively arguing for, even though they recognise it did
13 not exist -- but the point I am making is that it was not
14 there by default; it was a positive conscious feature of
15 London Greenpeace meetings that there were no leaders,
16 representatives and people in positions of authority,
17 because the group, amongst other things, had an anarchist
18 culture, if you like, or the individuals that attended had
19 that kind of approach.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you agree with Ms. Steel's description of
22 "anarchism" with the references we have here?
23
24 MS. STEEL: It was not actually a description of "anarchism".
25 It was just in terms of the effect it would have on
26 associations.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The whole reason why I asked about it is that
29 if you ask various people, certainly if you had asked
30 someone in classical Greece and someone in Russia at the
31 beginning of this century I am quite sure you would have
32 got totally different answers as to what it meant, and that
33 is why I said no one has told me what it means when it
34 appears in, for instance, any of the documents I have in
35 this case, if it matters. Do you agree with what Ms. Steel
36 said or not? That is all I am asking.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: I did try and check it up in the dictionary over
39 the weekend, and the Collins' Dictionary, which I have
40 which is a fairly substantial one, I think it was, had
41 something to the effect of "a harmonious system of society,
42 in which a government is unnecessary". It seemed to be
43 pretty OK, really. I was going to also refer to the
44 fact sheet itself on this subject.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: It says "Who made this leaflet" -- this is the
49 bottom of the fact sheet. "London Greenpeace Group has
50 existed for many years as an independent group of activists
51 with no involvement in any particular political party. The
52 people - not 'members' -" -- so this is a recognition in
53 the actual document itself that there is no membership --
54 "who come to the weekly open meetings share a concern for
55 the oppression in our lives and the destruction of our
56 environment", and then it goes on. In that part which
57 refers to "come to weekly open meetings", that emphasises
58 what has been heard in evidence that, basically, it is
59 based upon attendance and active involvement.
60
