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

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