Lindis Percy (born 1941, Leeds) is a peace activist in the United Kingdom and founding member and joint coordinator of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases. Reporting for The Guardian, journalist Rob Evans claimed that "there must surely be few Britons who have been arrested in political protests as many times as [Lindis Percy] has".[1] She is a trained nurse, midwife and health visitor and has worked for the National Health Service her entire working life.[2][3]
Lindis Percy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941 (age 82–83) Leeds, England |
| Alma mater | University of Bradford |
| Occupation(s) | Nurse, midwife and health visitor |
| Employer | National Health Service |
| Known for | Peace activism |
Methods
editPercy attended the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford in the late 1980s.[4] As an activist, she uses non-violent direct action and civil disobedience.
Additionally, Ms. Percy also uses legal challenges, often assisted by solicitor Mark Stephens and barrister, Keir Starmer QC and sometimes acts as a litigant in person to make her protests.[5][6][7][8][9]
Activism
editLindis Percy has been active since 1979, when cruise missiles were to be deployed at Greenham Common.
Legal cases arose from her actions in "uncovering and lawfully exercising ancient rights of way and the right to roam"[10] across United States' NSA intelligence-gathering bases, such as Menwith Hill & Fylingdales located near her Yorkshire home, and further afield at RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath which, she claims, are actually USAF bases situated in the United Kingdom flagged to the RAF.[11]
In June 1994, the newspapers reported[1] that a series of meetings took place between representatives of the US and British governments "to discuss continuing incursions at US bases and how to deal with on-going US military concerns", as a result of Percy's persistent incursions into American and British bases and her campaigns in general.
The campaign against the Menwith Hill base was documented by Duncan Campbell in the Channel 4 documentary The Hill.
Policy Influence
editIn 2001, Percy submitted a memorandum to the House of Commons about an expansion of jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), which she opposed on several grounds, including what she denoted as an "extension of the jurisdiction of the MDP into areas not naturally within their stated role", thus essentially exposing "the citizen .... to a police force".[12]
In 2002, Percy submitted for information held about her by the government under the Data Protection Act 1998. The MDP admitted that it held a "considerable amount of data" on Percy, but also that it was "so much" and scattered around its filing cabinets, that it would take "too much effort to dig it out". They suggested that she could identify specific incidents to narrow down their search for documents. She did so, but again the MDP refused to retrieve the information, arguing that the documents on her were exempted from release, as they contained "sensitive information" to help in the "prevention and detection of crime".[1]
In 2002, Percy spoke at Levellers Day.[13] She was a speaker at the Global Network 2008 conference,[14] and the European Humanist Conference.[15]
In 2008, Percy gave evidence to a Parliamentary inquiry into police tactics.[16][17] She subsequently stated "It is becoming increasingly difficult to get satisfaction through the formal processes of our democracy."[18]
She rallied support for the hunger strike of Czech activist Jan Tamas who, along with Jan Bednar, were protesting the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense facility at Brdy.[19]
Percy was a supporter of and participant in the 2009 World March for Peace and Non-Violence.[20]
Personal life
editLindis Percy is married, with three grown children and six grandchildren. She lives with her husband Christopher, a retired chaplain, in Harrogate, Yorkshire, where her father once worked as a Church of England scout master.[21] She is a Quaker.
Percy was cast in The Mythologist,[22] a film about Habib "Henry" Azadehdel, aka Dr Armen Victorian, a UFO conspiracy theorist.[23]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "Base invader", The Guardian, 7 September 2002
- ^ "My Yorkshire: Lindis Percy". Yorkshire Post. 2008.
- ^ Lazenby, Peter (2020). "Police arrest 78-year-old peace campaigner again". morningstaronline.co.uk.
- ^ Michael Randle (2002). "Preface". Challenge to nonviolence. University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies. ISBN 1-85143-189-6.
- ^ Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions, QBD, [1995] 3 All ER 124 [1995] 1WLR 1382, 159 JP 337, [1995] Crim LR 714
- ^ R -v- Pateley Bridge Justices Ex p. Percy [1994] C.O.D. 453, R v Pateley Bridge Justices ex parte Percy; R v Same ex parte Same, QBD (Crown Office List), CO/962/93
- ^ Percy and Another v Hall and Others, COA, (Civil Division), [1996] 4 All ER 523, [1997] QB 924, [1997] 3 WLR 573, 10.5.96
- ^ Percy v Moore, QBC (Crown Office List), CO/3422/96
- ^ Percy -v- Hall [1997] Q.B. 924; [1997] 3 W.L.R. 573; [1996] 4 All E.R. 523; (1996) 160 J.P. Rep. 788; [1996] N.P.C. 74; (1996) 93(23) L.S.G. 36; (1996) 140 S.J.L.B. 130
- ^ British comedian Mark Steel wrote about Lindis Percy asking "Do you thinking we achieved anything today? Or are we wasting everybody's time?" on p. 174 of his book What's Going On? The Meanderings of a Comic Mind in Confusion (2008) ISBN 978-1-84737-281-9
- ^ "Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases". CAAB. 26 November 1999. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ^ "Appendix 19: Memorandum submitted by Lindis Percy", Select Committee on Armed Forces, House of PCommons, March 2001
- ^ "Space: For Peace or War?" Levelers.org.uk Archived 8 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Conference Speakers list, 11–13 April 2008, Omaha, Nebraska, US, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
- ^ "The strength of non-violence"[permanent dead link], European Humanist Forum, Milan, Italy
- ^ Carl Gavaghan (28 October 2008). "MPs' pleas over RAF protests". The Whitby Gazette.
- ^ "Memorandum submitted by the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases" Human Rights Joint Committee, House of Commons website, March 2001
- ^ "Evidence given to JHCR on Policing and Protest", UK Liberty website, October 2008
- ^ "Lindis Percy and Laila Packer" - CAAB" Archived 11 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Europe for Peace website
- ^ Bulletin, January 2009 of World March for Peace and Non-Violence
- ^ "Peace but no quiet as campaign goes on for Lindis", Yorkshire Post, 7 February 2007
- ^ The Mythologist, dir. by John Lundberg: official website
- ^ "The Armen Victorian Tapes" Archived 23 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Open Minds Forum, 25 August 2007
Sources
edit- "Britain's role in the new cold war", Matthew Holehouse, The New Statesman, 30 August 2007
- "US imposing its values through its global military presence", interview of Lindis Percy to Ramin Etesami, WordPress, 23 July 2008
- "Woman stages palace gates protest", BBC, 18 November 2003