Like “never cross a picket line”, the principle that we “look out for each other” should become ingrained in the ways we organise.
But too often the way campaigners talk about security is all or nothing.
- either everything to the maximum and suspicion of everything, and often of everyone, or
- “security” just means vouching for each other as “committed activists” (a course of action that has enabled infiltration of groups by undercover officers, journalists and abusers for decades).
Make a plan
Rather than muddling though and hoping everything will work out – make a plan that everyone agrees to.
Security culture means managing the risks you face by taking decisions to limit to the level of harm to members of your group.
The potential harms from the police may include surveillance, disruption of your activities and arrests. However, managing these risks also involves balancing them against the need to engage with the public and encourage participation – in other words, to effectively campaign.
A plan cannot work without collective agreement: if some people ignore risks, they become risks themselves and undermine the trust that are essential for working together. So start by talking and agreeing on ways to limit harm to your group and its members.
Examples of levels of risk
| Low risk – public information |
| Campaign messages, public event details, social media posts |
| Medium risk – internal only |
| Private event details, strategies and discussions, minutes of meetings, training content |
| High risk – limited access |
| Details of actions, legally privileged information, people’s personal data (e.g. sign-up sheets, contact lists) |
See also https://teamsammut.com/scf/
Identifying risk
It may seem that most risks look like they are ‘medium’ – but this does at least recognise that only one part of campaigning is public-facing.
Medium risks need extra care: so for instance, sharing minutes of meetings or training materials on platforms intended for low risks like social media or public Google Docs is actively careless.
High risks, however, need higher security: secure storage, limited availability, with personal accountability for those managing the additional risk.
What will help to reduce risk is having different people responsible for media and public messaging, for internal organising and for anything needing limited access – so you avoid mistakes.
Once you have a plan, make sure everyone knows about and make sure you review it regularly.
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