by Will Potter / Green is the New Red
The story of Mark Kennedy, the undercover cop who targeted social activists throughout Europe, was shocking to activists and the general public alike — among them Kennedy’s former friend Jason Kirkpatrick. Now, Kirkpatrick is creating a documentary about Kennedy’s spy ops. He’ll be in New York City and San Francisco this month to preview clips fromSpied Upon.
I caught up with director Jason Kirkpatrick him in advance of this to talk about his work:
Q. While the scandal surrounding former British undercover policeman Mark Kennedyis well known in the UK and Europe, it’s not commonly known about in the USA. Why is the Kennedy case important for North American activists?
A. Kennedy went deep undercover starting in 2003 in England, targeting Earth First!, which has been a main focus of FBI repression since the late 1980′s. Kennedy spent an incredible 7 years spying on various environmental and social justice movements across Europe, and also in the USA. He worked under contract for the FBI, and his story has received some coverage in Rolling Stone and the New York Times even, although this story has not broken much in activist circles for some reason.
Read the rest of the interview at Green is the New Red