What We Do
We offer help and advise to protestors and activists for legal issues around protest.
Our work is split into several main categories, each looked after by a collective:
Training
The GBC Trainings Collective develops and delivers trainings, producing resources as needed. Training is in two areas: Know Your Rights (protestor rights) and Legal Observing.
You can book for all upcoming trainings on our events page
Please note that there is currently a high demand for trainings, so partner organisations are delivering Know Your Rights training.
If you have a request for some training, or are interested in helping to deliver trainings, please email gbctrainings@protonmail.com.
Resources
GBC Resources Collective develops resources that are used by us all in our support work. This includes maintaining the web site (greenandblackcross.org), printing bustcards, developing and printing booklets, maintaining the e-bustcard android app, social media, and developing for new media formats, etc.
If you would like to help with this work please email gbcresources@protonmail.com
Legal Observers
The Independent Legal Observer Network (ILON) support the work of Legal Observers. They send call outs for legal observers that have been requested for actions and demonstrations.
If you are a trained legal observer and would like to be on our call out list, or if you are planning an action and would like legal observers to be there, please email legal-observer-network@protonmail.com or call the legal support helpline on 07946 541511. Please note that if you request legal observers for an action we will put out a call, but cannot guarantee that people will be available. Also please give us as much notice as possible.
Phone helpline
Our telephone protestor helpline and advice service is run by the phone collective. It aims to have people answering the phone 24/7.
If you have knowledge of protestors’ legal rights and would like to be part of the team answering the phone, then please email gbcresources@protonmail.com
Note: If you have an urgent question about your rights while protesting or taking direct action, please call the legal helpline on 07946 541511. Alternatively, see the guides section of our website guides on protest law
Or get in contact with one of our recommended solicitors for legal advice. Netpol maintains a list of solicitors
Post Arrest and Court Support
Support for people who have been arrested, have been charged or have court hearings is done by the Activist Court Aid Brigade. As courts only sit during working hours, people offering court support need to have some free time during the week. If you would like to help with this work then please email courtsupport@protonmail.com. No experience or knowledge is necessary, new people will be buddied and there are people always on hand to answer legal questions.
Get Involved!
Legal support work has always been important to empower people to take political action and protect them while doing so. The legal support crew is quite small, made up entirely of volunteers, and (as always) we are looking for more people to get involved in the work we do.
We are excited to go forward and we invite you to join us.
A little recent history of GBC
In May 2019 GBC took a break from all outward facing activities, including delivering training workshops and coordinating legal observers. For the last couple of years GBC had been run by 5-10 people, handling an unsustainable workload. We had long exceeded our organisational capacity and we knew something had to change. At a strategy weekend, we decided to move to a new structure based on our original approach – this applies both to our organisation and to the work we do. The result is the structure of collectives and work described above.
We are really pleased to say that all aspects of our work are now active again, enabled by the wealth of experience and knowledge of long term members now joined by new people bringing new skills and knowledge to our work. But we always need more people to be involved….
Elsewhere
