Day 275 - 08 Jul 96 - Page 27
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They start on page 22?
3 A. Page 22. Yes, sorry. Just on page 23, I think a lot
4 of the conversation that is reported is things where one
5 person is saying something and it has kind of come down as
6 though, you know, that was a general agreement in the
7 group, or that was the general -- I don't know, almost like
8 it was a decision sort of thing -- whereas, for example,
9 with the IMF, the IMF campaign had been running for a
10 couple of years. I mean, in fact, I think it started up in
11 1988. I remember that I went to Berlin in 1988 when the
12 IMF was holding its conference. I went and attended.
13 There was like a counter-congress organised by protestors
14 over there and there were various demonstrations, and I
15 attended that.
16
17 I remember that that year London Greenpeace had a
18 picket at the Bank of England as a protest against the
19 International Monetary Fund, so it was an on-going
20 campaign. Obviously, some people in the group, myself
21 included, were saying that we should have more focus on the
22 International Monetary Fund, but that would not mean that
23 everybody was going to get involved with it. It is true of
24 all the campaigns, all the campaigns done under the name of
25 London Greenpeace, that it was always the case that some
26 people would be involved with them and other people would
27 not.
28
29 The next one I want refer to is page 27, which is 22nd
30 November 1989. Mr. Pocklington. Just the reference in the
31 third paragraph. It was said that the person who wrote the
32 original leaflet is no longer with the group. That is
33 basically what I was saying earlier. I heard that on a
34 number of occasions, I heard that being said.
35
36 On page 43 of the notes, which is 7th December 1989,
37 Mr. Pocklington again. In about the middle of the page he
38 is talking about a meeting in January 1990 to discuss the
39 future of the group and any plans anyone may have. "One of
40 the subjects to be discussed would be the next year's
41 anti-McDonald's fayre. It was suggested by Mo that next
42 year's events be the final national anti-McDonald's fayre
43 and that this event should be inviting representatives of
44 other groups nationwide". It is my recollection that this
45 was sort of like a compromise position put forward by Mo in
46 a way. I mean, that is probably not the best phrase, but I
47 in particular had been saying that I did not think that
48 there should be another fayre, because even if you did not
49 get involved in organising it you always got dragged in on
50 the day because they were always short of people to help
51 and, for example, I end up helping out on the creche for
52 several hours, and that I felt that it took up too much of
53 people's energy and that there should not be another
54 fayre. I think that was why Mo was putting forward the
55 suggestion that the next year's one should be the final one
56 because I think Paul, for example, was, and other people,
57 some other people were, still keen on doing more, and Mo
58 suggested that if it was made the final one then it could
59 be taken up by other groups around the country and that way
60 it would not require London Greenpeace to put in a lot of
