23rd May 2016 6:30pm-8:30pm
The Old Courtroom
Hosted as part of the Brighton Festival with Hydrocracker and Blast Theory
What is the state justified in doing to protect its citizens? In particular, to what extent is it justified in getting its agents – the police and security services – to lie in order to do their job? And what is the role of the public in relation to such practices? These issues will be debated by a panel of speakers before opening up to general discussion.
Chaired by Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, the panel will also feature Policy Officer at Liberty, Silkie Carlo; Reader in Security at the University of Leicester, Dr. Jon Moran ; Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Brighton, Dr. Chris Cocking and; Blast Theory artist and co-creator of Operation Black Antler, Matt Adams.
Polly Toynbee, Guardian
Polly is a former BBC Social Affairs Editor. She has won two national press awards as Commentator of the Year and the George Orwell prize. Her books include, A Working Life, Hospital, Lost Children and Hard Work, Life in Low Pay Britain. With David Walker, other books include Unjust Rewards, The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain? Unjust Rewards and Cameron’s Coup.
Silkie Carlo, Liberty
Silkie Carlo is one of Liberty’s Policy Officers, specialising in technology and surveillance. Since joining in November 2015, she has focused on the Investigatory Powers Bill (Snooper’s Charter), contributing to legal, policy and technical analysis and promoting surveillance powers that are human rights compliant. Before joining Liberty, Silkie provided technical training to journalists and lawyers at risk and worked for Edward Snowden’s official defence fund.
Dr. Jon Moran, University of Leicester
Jon’s research interests lie in the area of security studies, which grew from work on political development and democratisation. He is interested in the continuing power of the state in the international system and specifically in the role of the state military and intelligence agencies both domestically and internationally. His last book was From Northern Ireland to Iraq: British Military Intelligence Operations, Ethics and Human Rights which covered the role of army intelligence and special forces since the 1970s.
Dr. Chris Cocking, University of Brighton
Chris has had links with the University of Brighton since 2000, when he did a Pre-Registration Diploma in Mental Health Nursing. His area of clinical expertise is Young Person's Mental Health and he has experience of working in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in-patient environments.
He also has a PhD in Social Psychology (gained from the University of Surrey in 1999), and a background in research and teaching social psychology. His current research interests include the psychology of crowd behaviour in relation to protest and demonstrations.
Matt Adams, Blast Theory
Matt is a co-founder of artist group Blast Theory who, since 1991, have been making interactive art that invites audiences to question their place in society and explores the dangerous territory between political realities and popular culture. Over the last three years Blast Theory have been collaborating with Hydrocracker to create Operation Black Antler, an immersive theatre piece that invites audience members to enter the murky world of undercover surveillance and question the morality of state-sanctioned spying.
