‘Wrong man in the dock’? – Media and War

On Friday 16th November, Haringey Magistrates Court was the inconspicuous location for the trial of David Lawley-Wakelin. Mr Lawley-Wakelin memorably interrupted Tony Blair with cries of “This man should be arrested for war crimes” while the former Prime Minster was giving evidence at the Leveson enquiry. Following the combined efforts of two policemen he was arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act.

On the morning of the hearing, approximately 30 stop the war protestors along with members of the press, gathered outside the court to support Mr Lawley-Wakelin and once again protest the ongoing repercussions of the Iraq war. There was a cynical suggestion that such a small court was selected to decrease the platform for publicity. To further compound this, the case was initially to be heard in a court with space for 6 members of the public. After some gentle persuasion (and the mild threat of a sit-in) the case was moved to a larger court.

Throughout the proceedings the prosecutor called two witnesses Superintendent Sean Walters and PC Mark Seckham whilst Mr Wakelin himself was the only witness for the defence. In summary, on 28th May 2012 Mr Wakelin planned to protest Mr Blair’s alleged war crimes on a public platform during the Leveson enquiry. Having failed to enter by the front door, he used the back entrance reserved for Judge Leveson and court staff. The corridor leading up to this door was not guarded and the door was unlocked. He then walked in and loudly stated “Excuse me, this man should be arrested for war crimes” as well as claiming that Tony Blair was personally profiting financially from the war. PC Mark Seckham and then SI Sean Walters struggled to restrain Mr Wakelin. Once they had removed him from the room, he soon calmed down and told officers “I have done what I came here to do and I will not be any more trouble”. Following transfer to Belgravia Police Station, Mr Wakelin was detained until 2.35pm (by which time Mr Blair had stepped down from the witness stand) and his file was marked ‘Not for Action’. This was later overturned and he was summoned to Haringey Magistrates court.

Mr Wakelin was charged under Section 5 of the Public Order Act; the relevant sections are as follows:

1. A person is guilty of an offenceif he-

a) Uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour

3. It is a defence for the accusedto prove-

a) That he had no reason to believethat there was any person within hearing or sight who was likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, or

c) That his conduct was reasonable

This must be balanced with article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights which grants everyone the freedom of expression subject to restrictions as ascribed by law. This negotiation led to some comical debate about whether people at the enquiry looked shocked/alarmed/surprised/amused on the video clip of the main event as well as whether being described as a ‘war criminal’ would cause alarm or distress.

After three hours of deliberation, the judge decided Mr Wakelin’s behaviour had been disordered and was likely to have caused alarm or distress. Given his unemployment (and a previous caution for throwing urine at police officers in 2003), he was fined £100 and asked to pay contributions of £250 and a surcharge of £15 at a rate of £20 per week. Following the judgement, Mr Lawley-Wakelin gave a small speech to the few members of the press who were present and read out an email of support from Reverend Desmond Tutu himself.

As well as providing some amusing asides, this case provided another opportunity to examine the accusations against Tony Blair. Over the last decade, Blair has been dogged by allegations of misleading the country into an illegal war alongside George Bush. This is further compounded by the unstable situation in Iraq today which is now home to the largest US embassy in the world and many more armed private contractors than there ever were soldiers.

The hierarchal structure of large media companies render journalists powerless to challenge the established position

The case is another in a growing trend of high profile individual protests such as Jonathan May-Bowles’ pie attack on Rupert Murdoch at a Commons committee hearing and even more controversially, Trenton Oldfield’s interruption of the annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race. The timing was particularly relevant for Stop the War Coalition who hosted a conference the following day entitled ‘Media and War – Challenging the consensus’ (at Goldsmiths – obviously). Throughout the day, journalists and activists ran discussions on the failings (and successes) of reporting on the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – with Lord Ashdown quoted that morning as saying “The only rational policy now is to leave quickly, in good order and in the company of our allies. This is the only cause for which further lives should be risked’. Given the escalation in violence recently, the standard of reporting of the Palestine Israel conflict was also discussed. One journalist for the financial times highlighted their own headline that day as an example of reporting bias (“Gaza rocket fired at Jerusalem”).

The first discussion of the day was entitled ‘Serving the military or the public? Covering the war on terror’. One of the panellists, Michelle Stanistreet, General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, put forward suggestions for independent regulation of the media in order to prevent monopolies and ensure a high quality of press. In 2007, she led the NUJ chapel when the Daily Star tried to print ‘The Daily Fatwa’ – their crass impression of what the esteemed paper would look like if the UK were an Islamic state. The hierarchal structure of large media companies render journalists powerless to challenge the established position of large papers, for example until 2002 it has been reported that the Guardian had a policy that ‘protests are not news’; this was publicly revoked following the 2 million strong protest to the Iraq war.

The conference aimed to provide concrete suggestions for moving forwarded; these ranged from simply having discussions with those around you, to writing for traditional media outlets as well as ‘alternative’ media sources, contacting MPs and continuing the protests on the streets. This advice was put into action this weekend at the jointly organised protest in support of Gaza. Amongst others, Stop the War coalition, the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and the British Muslim Initiative came together with an estimated 10,000 supporters to march from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy in support of Gaza and to protest the siege and blockade by Israel. The atmosphere was charged and emotive with speeches by Tony Benn, Lindsey German, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Andy Slaughter MP as well as Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian ambassador. The success of the event was hardly reflected in the main stream media but the spirit was defiant and hopeful that there will be a brighter future for Palestine.