In a somewhat martyr-like fashion, Stefano Bonino grumbles about the ink he spilled writing an earlier article defending the employment of former police spy Bob Lambert in a university environment (¡°Hunting the wrong witch¡±, Letters, 7 January). In that previous article, Bonino acknowledged that the Special Demonstration Squad, which Lambert rose to lead, infiltrated ¡°legitimate and peaceful protests¡± and engaged in ¡°a series of unethical and possibly illegal activities¡±. But in his latest letter, Bonino says that the infiltrated groups were ¡°posing a threat of public disorder and/or political violence¡±. This revised description is clearly untrue for many of the infiltrated groups, and SDS member-turned-whistleblower Peter Francis has stated that the SDS spied on several unions, including the National Union of Students, the National Union of Teachers and Unison.

Bonino¡¯s own sympathies are revealed in the language he uses. If you criticise or protest against academics for things they have done or said, you are apparently engaged in a ¡°mob-style attack¡±. It is this kind of paranoia about people exercising their democratic rights that leads to the kinds of police abuses under discussion.

Bonino¡¯s letter continues with a scornful and disgraceful reference to ¡°former Guantanamo Bay detainees being heralded as human rights champions¡±, the clear implication being that people held without charge for years by a state that led an illegal war and engaged in torture (facilitated by the American Psychological Association) must nonetheless be guilty of something. Bonino¡¯s implied contempt for a basic principle of justice is breathtaking.

Bonino is entitled to his opinion that Lambert deserves a position in the university sector. However, he undermines his own authority on the matter by resorting to self-contradicting inaccuracies and slurs against innocent victims of the West¡¯s so-called War on Terror.

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David Hardman
Secretary, London region University and College Union
Secretary, UCU at London Metropolitan University

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