[Announce] Fw: "Counter Terrorist Cops, Special Branch and Paradigm Shifts on the Road to St. Brigiid's Well" by Ciaron O'Reilly, long time international Catholic Worker, nonviolent resister and plowshares activist

[Robert Waldrop]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Cordaro" <frank.cordaro at gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: "Counter Terrorist Cops, Special 
Branch and Paradigm Shifts on the Road to St. 
Brigiid's Well" by Ciaron O'Reilly, long time 
international Catholic Worker, nonviolent resister 
and plowshares activist


>
> (Folks; As Federal Prosecutors in Tucson AZ seek 
> misdemeanor
> conspiracy charges for anyone organizing 
> nonviolent civil disobedience
> witnesses, long time international Catholic 
> Worker, nonviolent
> resister and plowshares activist Ciaron O'Reilly 
> reflects berlow on
> what he sees as a  paradigm shift in how 
> nonviolent demonstrators are
> being treated in Ireland and England these days. 
> FC )
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Ciaron OReilly <ciaronx at yahoo.com>
> Date: Jan 29, 2008
>
> > Counter Terrorist Cops, Special Branch and 
> > Paradigm Shifts on the Road
> to St. Brigid's Well!
>
> by Ciaron O'Reilly
>
>
>
> This past Saturday, a van load of pilgrims en 
> route to the Festival of
> St Brigid in Kildare were stopped by the Irish 
> Special Branch. We were
> questioned under Section 31 of the Offenses 
> Against the State Act and
> a detective accused me of being a terrorist. The 
> paradigm shifts
> evident in this event are of concern and worth 
> consideration.
>
>
> I have had dealings with the Special Branch for 
> 30 years now. It's
> historically interesting that the original name 
> was the "Special Irish
> Branch", I guess when they opened a franchise in 
> Ireland the middle
> word became redundant. In post WW2 U.S., the FBI 
> went through a period
> of heavily recruiting "over compensating more 
> patriotic than thou"
> Irish American diaspora to such an extent - the 
> joke was FBI stood for
> "Foreign Born Irish". In the '60's along came 
> the Berrigans, the draft
> board raids and "the Catholic Left" to such an 
> extent that Irish
> Catholics lost their recently gained status as 
> FBI recruitment fodder
> flavor of the month and the story goes that 
> recruitment switched to
> targeting Mormons
>
>
> In Queensland (Australia) in the '70's, we had 
> an enormous Special
> Branch for the small size of the population
> http://bushtelegraph.wordpress.com/2006/10/28/not-guilty/ . 
> They were
> mostly corrupt Irish Catholics servicing a 
> corrupt Calvinist Premier
> Bjelke Petersen. The deal was the cops could 
> run, or get a take on,
> the drug, brothel, illegal casino action if the 
> cops were willing to
> be used on the streets to deal with dissent. The 
> politicians took
> their take from a more elevated trough, in terms 
> of bribes and shares
> from Japanese & US. transnational corporations 
> devouring the raw
> materials and carving up the real estate.
>
>
> During my last year of high school in '77, all 
> demonstrations were
> banned in Queensland for the  next 3 years. In 
> this period, I got to
> meet Special Branch as they would photograph me, 
> photograph people
> talking to me, follow me, beat me up, fit me up, 
> raid my house and
> detain me.  For me, this harassment peaked in 
> '83 following a riot at
> the local prison. Instead of looking into the 
> inhumane squalid
> conditions that caused the riot, a meeting of 
> the Special Branch and
> prison riot squad concluded that an exotic 
> alliance of lefty groups
> had conspired to call the shots and instruct the 
> lifers to riot.
> Groups named were a weird collection of hybrids 
> like the "Marxist
> Leninist Anarchists", nonexistent entities the 
> "Circle A Gang", old
> dependables for a fit up Ananda Marga, the 
> Sparticus and the Brisbane
> Catholic Worker community. It reminds one of 
> Abbie Hoffman's response
> to the Prosecutor during the Chicago 8 
> Conspiracy Trial (coming to a
> movie theatre near you real soon 
> http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/
> Chicago_Seven )
>
>
> Prosecutor "Did you conspire with these seven 
> others to riot in Chicago?"
> Hoffman (looking at his co defendants, many who 
> didn't like his
> politics too much) responded "Conspire? We 
> couldn't agree on lunch!"
>
>
> A week after the Special Branch/Riot Squad 
> findings, the state (in
> order to take squalid prison conditions off the 
> front page) claimed
> they had recieved a letter threatening the 
> release of "foot and mouth"
> disease amongst the state's cattle if prison 
> demands weren't met.
> Three houses were raided, two single Prison 
> Action Group guys and the
> Catholic Worker hospitality house with warrants 
> for animal pathogen,
> correspondence, typewriter etc.  The State 
> cabinet met, raised the
> penalty for the offense to 20 years and 
> announced their main suspect
> had recently moved to Melbourne, was in the jail 
> for a short period
> the previous year and house had just been 
> raided. It looked like I
> (temporarily in Melbourne) was being fitted up 
> and we took practive
> action. The fact that the Catholic Worker were 
> all vegetarians and
> didn't have any intention of eating a cow let 
> alone torturing herds
> with foot and mouth disease didn't seem to stop 
> their fantasy. Quite a
> bit of effort was put into mobilizing the 
> Catholic community, bishop,
> nuns, priests to provide protection from a frame 
> up. The cops backed
> off.
>
>
> During that decade there were many Special 
> Branch and police raids in
> our neighborhood (it was a time and a place 
> dealt with in the
> novel/play/movie "He Died with a Falafel in His 
> Hand". I was present
> in a police raid scene retold in the book, in 
> the movie the scene gets
> transfered to/set in Melbourne and someone gets 
> shot by the cops -
> which didn't happen in the book or real life!). 
> Whenever there was a
> raid on an activist house, those raided would 
> try to get the word out
> and comrades would come running or phoning or 
> announcements would be
> made on student radio, sympathetic lawyers 
> notified, and folks
> encouraged to get there.  This is before mobiles 
> and internet, so
> getting the initial word out was a bit more 
> problematic. So like the
> other day in Ireland, it has always been a 
> tactic when raided or
> detained to get the word out to make as many 
> friends aware as possible
> should the situation escalate etc.
>
>
> This state of affairs, and the old Queensland 
> Special Branch,
> unraveled in the late '80's with the Fitzgerald 
> Inquiry into police
> corruption. Four government ministers and the 
> Police Commissioner (14
> years) went to jail. Premier Bjelke Petersen 
> came close - his jury
> hung and his ass saved from incarceration by a 
> young member of his own
> party.
>
>
> Since then, due to my nonviolent faith based 
> anti-war activism, I've
> had my run ins with Queensland Counter Terrorist 
> cops, F.B.I, & U.S.
> Air Force Intelligence http://www.plowshar 
> esactions. org/webpages/
> ANZUSPEACEFORCEP LOWSHARES. htm
> British based private intelligence firm 
> servicing BAe
> http://sydney. indymedia. org.au/story/ 
> spies-caat- catholic-
> worker-bae- east-timor
> Australian Security Intelligence Organisation 
> http://www.indymedi
> a.ie/article/ 74114
>
>
>
>
> SO WHAT'S NEW?
>
> In the last couple of months it feels as though 
> there has been a
> paradigm shift!
>
>
> In Feb 2003 I and four others were arrested and 
> charged with $2 1/2
> million criminal damage to a U.S. navy war plane 
> at Shannon Airport
> www.peaceontrial.com  . In August 2006, after 
> three trials, I and my
> four co-defendants were acquitted at the Four 
> Courts of all charges of
> criminal damage on the basis that the by 
> damaging & disabling the U.S.
> war plane I and my four co-defendants had indeed 
> preserved life and
> property in Iraq.
>
>
> In the period from Feb 2003-2006 when I was 
> suspected and charged with
> a serious crime I had no problem entering and 
> exiting England or
> Ireland at any port or airport.
>
>
> This past November 07 the paradigm shifted and 
> things have changed.
>
>
> I returned to Ireland from Australia in late 
> October 07 to launch the
> documentary "Route Irish" at Seoma Spraoi and 
> also attend a Hedge
> School on the Rossport campaign in Mayo. After a 
> week I was to board a
> flight to London where I was taking up residence 
> at the London
> Catholic Worker community 
> www.londoncatholicworker.org
>
>
> As I was taking my bags to check in at Dublin 
> airport, I noticed a
> Garda nudge another and point in my direction. I 
> then noticed with all
> the haste of "I'm gonna tell mammy!" the Garda 
> on his radio. I thought
> I might get stopped and questioned at Dublin 
> airport - not a problem,
> didn't happen. What I forgot was mammy is still 
> Brittania whose lads
> were waiting for me when I landed at Luton. 
> Being grateful for small
> mercies at least it wasn't "Wait 'til your Uncle 
> Sam gets home!" and
> straught into those orange p.j.'s
> See report on being detained by count terrorist 
> cops at Luton Airport
> on link   http://www.indymedia.ie/article/ 84989
>
>
> Following a low key act of nonviolent civil 
> disobedience at Northwood
> HQ 28/12/07, the Catholic Worker farmhouse was 
> raided by six
> detectives with myself, another CW, 3 refugees 
> and 3 children in
> attendance, see link 
> http://www.indymedia.ie/article/ 85631
>
>
> Last Wednesday, I was flying back through Luton. 
> I was stopped by one
> of the British counter terrorist detectives who 
> had detained me at
> Luton in November.
>
>
> He took my boarding pass and passport and said 
> "Do you remember me?"
> I replied. "Yes!"
> He said "Have you been involved in any protests 
> lately!"
> I replied "Well it's a democracy isn't it? That 
> shouldn't be an issue,
> should it?"
>
>
> What I should have pointed out to him was at 
> that very moment there
> were 20,000 police marching on Parliament for 
> higher wages and asked
> him why was he here and not there?  Things got a 
> little tense as he
> indicated he could take me back to the secure 
> room. He eventually let
> me on my way.
>
>
> On Saturday morning 26/1/08, I had arranged with 
> an Afri (Action from
> Ireland)worker to pick me up at Euston Statioin 
> for a lift to their
> Brigid's Festival in Kildare. I stood by the 
> side of the road opposite
> Euston from 9.30am waiting for the Afri van, 
> reading and smoking. At
> about 10am the Afri vehicle arrived and I got in 
> the rear door. There
> was the Afri guy driving, an older woman who has 
> worked in El Salvador
> for the past 25+ years and three young female 
> Afri interns from France
> & Italy.
>
>
> After our vehicle took the turn for Kildare at 
> the Red Cow pub, an
> unmarked car sounded its siren and motioned for 
> us to pull over.  Two
> plainclothes detectives came to the driver's 
> side and requested the
> driver's license. They walked back to their 
> vehicle, I said to the
> driver, "Those boys sound university educated!"
>
> The driver replied, "They seem like Special 
> Branch!"
>
> The detectives returned to our vehicle.
> One detective, "Are you going to protest at 
> Shannon?"
>
>
>
> This is a major paradigm shift that is occurring 
> during the war on
> terror. All protest is linked by the state to 
> criminality.
>
>
> Driver response: "No we're going to Kildare!"
> Detective: "I want the names of everyone in this 
> vehicle!"
> Me: "What gives you the right to take our 
> names?"
> Detective leaning through the second window: "So 
> we have a Mr.O'Reilly
> here, a self proclaimed eco terrorist!"
>
>
> 2nd. paradigm shift all nonviolent direct action 
> now branded as
> terrorist activity.
>
>
> Me: "Where have I ever self identified as that? 
> You know that's not true!"
> Detective: "In interviews with journalists! "
> Me "You know that's bullshit!
> We are going to a religious festival and you are 
> intimidating us!"
> Detective: "Who feels intimidated! "
> Me: "I feel intimidated and I don't intimidate 
> easy!
> What right do you have to take names?"
> Detective: "Under section 31 of the Offences 
> Against the State Act!"
>
>
> Van load of people on the way to St. Brigid's 
> Festival suspected of
> terrorist activity.
>
>
> By this stage the second cop has opened my door 
> leaning into me and
> stretching over my back to question intern in 
> 3rd. row of van. I
> suppress an impulse to push him and reclaim my 
> bodyspace with the
> thought this guy wants me to hit him. The other 
> guy is trying to
> provoke me verbally. Chill, keep the initiative.
>
>
> So there you go in '83 the Queensland Special 
> Branch have me down as
> an activist willing to sacrifice the ecology for 
> improved prison
> conditions and in 08 the Irish Special Branch 
> have got me down as an
> eco hero even though I just arrived on a cheap 
> Ryan Air Flight when I
> should have taken the train and the ferry.
>
>
>
> The paradigm shifts are interesting
> 1. All protest is associated as criminal
> 2. Nonviolent direct action is now defined as 
> terrorism
>
>
> Other observations
> 3. The Special Branch are sensitive around 
> Shannon. They are not
> responding to a domestic phenomenon. Today there 
> is minimal activism
> and organizing around the issue of U.S. troops 
> passing through Shannon
> to wage war on the people of Iraq.
>
>
> There is faithful remnant of activists at 
> Shannon..... but no
> movement. In all of 2007 there was no 
> mobilization at Shannon. There
> is none planned for 2008.
>
>
> At Afri's anti-war Brigid Festival, the word 
> "Shannon" was not uttered
> until I got up and made an intervention 
> following Briuce Kent's
> keynote speech outlining what had occurred on 
> the road to the
> festival. I heard "Shannon" uttered only once 
> again after that
> intervention.
>
>
> The Special Branch are responding to a paradigm 
> set by Mammy Brittania
> & Uncle Sam. The Irish Special Branch act true 
> to form as the product
> of that dysfunctional union....intimidating and 
> harassing pilgrims en
> route to the festival of St. Brigid in Kildare.
>
>
>
> 4. The Special Branch boys took our plowshares 
> actions at Shannon and
> the juries affirmation & unanimous acquittal 
> www.peaceontrial.com kind
> of personal. They should have taken the implicit 
> message from the jury
> and investigated the high crimes occurring at 
> Shannon. Instead from
> the flatfoots to the uni grad spooks they are 
> going to make life a
> little harder for those who question their 
> subservience to the
> imperial game that slaughters the children of 
> Iraq, Afghanistan and
> maybe soon Iran.
>
>
>
> 5. The Special Branch Counter Terrorist spooks 
> inflate, spin, lie
> about activists and present them as the reason 
> for their budgets,
> careers and promotions.
>
>
> Ciaron O'Reilly
> London Catholic Worker
> 16 De Beauvoir Rd,
> De Beauvoir Town
> London N1 5SU
> ENGLAND
>
> Landline 0207 249 0041
> From Overseas 0044 207 249 0041
>
> Mobile Calls & Text 0795 029 0857
> From Overseas +44 795 029 0857
>
> www.londoncatholicworker.org
> www.peaceontrial.com
>
> "The poor tell us who we are, The prophets tell 
> us who we could be, So
> we hide the poor, And kill the prophets."  Phil 
> Berrigan