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M26 LONDON-@dvice Free Manning! End the War! Save Billions! Spend it on Useful $tuff!
 international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
 Saturday March 26, 2011 07:40 by Ciaron O'Reilly
Bradley is in Jail for Us, We're on the Loose and on the Streets for HIm!
How can you incite people to resist the exploitative war making state, when you haven't looked after the ones who you incited last time and are presently being tortured and facing possible execution or a probable life time in jail??????? Good fkn question, I reckon? End the War! Free Julian Assange and Bradley Manning! Cut the Crap! Miliband really?? As we say in OZ, "Labor Party, same shit different flies!" Catholic Workers and friends will be on the streets of London today, reaching out for solidarity with Bradley Manning. Bradley was 14 and living with his mother in Wales when you lot marched in such numbers last time Feb '03,
I was ensconsed in Limerick Prison at the time... but I got the live feed into my cell..and there looked like a lot of you. Lead up the right channels by the Labour Party (who were simultaneously running the war and the peace movement....ya got have a certain admiration for the gall of that!) serviced by their Trot water carriers into an ineffective opposition to the war. You were happy to be treated like a herd shuffled out to make a morally superior statement and ushered home in time for "Match of the Day".
The people who took you seriously and moved from passive protest..."We'll let you have your protest, if you let us have our war!" is the dance in which the state (Labour or Con Dem) calls the tune. ...into nonviolent resistance to the war, ended up before the courts and jailed with minimal acknowlegement and no support from your anti-war organisations. Of course, they put out their press releases desperate for association after the acquittals of the Pit Stop Ploughshares 5, Raytheon 9, B52 lads and lasses at Fairford and EDO 9.........but "they only sing when they're winning".
...and offered no real pre-trial or prison support.
They will see today as they say the 2003 war - a great marketing opportunity for their left sects, cottage industry careers runnning the moderate organisations - the first line of policing for the state against any real movement from below - or their huge global corporations (can you hear me Amensty and Greenpeace?).
I did the rounds with the Manning solidarity flyer of some of their offices this past week. They don't give a fuck about Manning presently being tortured in Quantico for a war they incited a 14 year old to resist! Their paid movement bureaucrats are for the most part timid and scared, couldn't believe I had invaded their space by ringing a bell or knocking on their door. Pretty unfriendly bunch, with minimal social or hospitality skills... if they're scared of me, could you imagine them at a police station with 3 demons (aboriginal slang for plainclothes detectives) screaming in their ear.
They are scared of us for the same reason the Guardian public shool liberals are terrified of Assange....they see themselves as the high priests of access and people like us self-evidently don't need their elitest skills...we pull the rug from under them as we get on with our day, self activity and direct democracy.
Are you really going to stand there today and be treated like an extra on Miliband's set? Is your memory that short? Are your desires that limited? Bring a soapbox and start up a debate in the middle or the edge of the crowd. (do it without a soapbox. it's like skateboarding - you may fall off but ya'll get better at it... get folks talking to each other, rather than listening to Ed and whoever else has been cleared as safe to "speak to the masses" (Caroline Lucas from the Green Party has been banned from the platform... so you don't have to be too rad to be beyond the pale with these folks!)
Q. WHY IS ISN'T THERE MUCH RESISTANCE TO THE WAR OR THE CUTS???
A. BECAUSE THERE'S NOT MUCH SOLIDARITY!
IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
I truly believe if 1% of the people who marched against this war in '03 had gone into nonviolent resistance in the spirit of Gandhi, MLK and the "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares" women and the other 99% didn't just retreat home but were engaged in proactive solidarity with the nonviolent resistance, we could have (WE STILL CAN DO) stopped this war. That would have meant 20,000 anti-war resisters in jail (radicalising the jails for a start) and the rest of the 2 million feeding the cat, dealing with the hysterical parents (see the Pink Floyd kid), and what else needs to be doing for the prisoner.
To cut a long story short. IF YA SERIOUS (ARE YOU SERIOUS?)
AND YA NOT DOING RESISTANCE,
YA NEED TO BE DOING PROACTIVE SOLIDARITY!
I've spent 2 years in jail for primariily nonviolent anti-war resistance also some for free speech, (I'm from Queensland in the '70's, ya really couldn't avoid it, and solidarity with aboriginal Australian and East Timorese struggles). I'm presently not before the courts or jailed, that's why I'm doing proactive sollidarity for Manning and Assange!
SO MANNING AND ASSANGE ARE THE TWO LADS LOOKING AT A LIFE TIME IN JAIL FOR RESISTING THE WAR OF OUR GENERATION.
War sucks up lives (3 members of the "Royal Irish Regiment" were killed in Afghanistan this past week along along with uncounted Afghanis, 10% of the Brit prison population are military veterans, more U.S. Vietnam and Falklands veterans commited suicide then were killed in those wars, not to speak of the homicide and domestic violence carried post traumatic stresses out by vets who we dehumansised in basic training, sent to kill and be killed and have abandoned on their return).
War costs billions that could be going to useful stuff like hospitals, schools, public transport. Again, it's not rocket science!
You can bet every member of the U.S., Australian, British and Kiwi military who is aware of the Manning case and is considering their own resistance or non-cooperation is NOW looking closely at how much solidarity Manning is receiving from our movement that called upon him to resist.
IT'S PRETTY FKN MINIMAL AT THE MOMENT.
I'LL BE ON THE STREETS TODAY...I LOOK AND WILL BE DRESSED LIKE THIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_QcSBGj_-8
...IF YA WANT TO HELP BRAD MANNING AND STOP THIS WAR, APPROACH ME FOR A CHAT. Take a break from listenin to Miliband, let ya hair down and let ya curiousity get the better of ya.
We will also have a crew in Cardiff for Bradley Manning outside the Wales V England match. Manning is Welsh/American! We gonna be telling Welsh football fans that the F.B.I. has been to Bradley's mother's small Welsh village hassling his mother (who had suffered a couple of strokes just prior to their arrival.) We're counting on Welsh football fans not being too pleased with this state of affairs and embracing Bradley as the Welsh hero that he is (are you listening Craig Bellamy?)
We will be passively (not forcing them on folks who are going to discard them) distributing these flyers....we ran off 5,000 for 80 quid, not a bad deal... but if ya wanna make a donation towards that, it will be gratefully accepted.
One side of the flyer shows you how to support Bradley Manning wherever you are in the world. The other side is for our April 17 gig in Harringay with Gareth Peirce, musicians and speakers from the countries in this mess: Iraq, Afghanistan, Britain, U.S. Australia, New Zealand.
This is our flyer for Brad Manning.....
Flyer Side 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertigogen/5534779826/
Flyer Side 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertigogen/5534780720/
Above flyer can be downloaded
from there in various sizes:
Open picture, click 'actions' above picture, then 'view all sizes' to
download size of choice.
Some of us will be wearing hi-visual yellow smocks with "Bradley Manning Solodarity".
Here's a song for Brad...take it away "Lovers Electric"...thanx RadFax
F5 2011 YOUTUBE (3 mins 48 secs) - "Lovers Electric" perform a song for Bradley Manning at Giuseppe Conlon House" London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqDmxPd30UQ
Brad's in jail accused of releasing this footage, they want to put Julian inside for circulating it!
http://www.collateralmurder.com/
BRADLEY MANNING IS IN JAIL BEING TORTURED FOR US,
WE'RE ON THE LOOSE, SPEAKING OUT AND ACTING UP FOR HIM!!!!
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Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2HEALTH WARNING THIS IS GONZO JOURNALISM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzo_%28journalism%29
GUARDIAN M26 photos
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/mar/26/tho...dex=0
Our M26 "No Cuts Day" started pretty well. We have a lot of "Free Bradley Manning" visuals left over from the U..S embassy gig last week & have them stored (if ya need to borrow them?) at our Bradley Manning shrine/ art installation at Giuseppe Conlon House (GCH). It displays and desciribes Brad's present prison conditions and daily routine, always could be improved if there's anyone out there is artistically inclined?
I hoofed up to the tube with agnostic G who had crashed at GCH. We got on the tube and an American feminist sat down next to us who works for Caged Prisoners http://www.cageprisoners.com/ How random is that? Living near NYC she had heard of Catholic Worker, gave her a flyer on Bradley Manning and Gareth Perice speaking at the event at GCH on April 17th. and tried to recruit her for our weekly anarcho refugee football game on Saturday morinings in Funsbury Park.
Flyer Side 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertigogen/5534779826/
Flyer Side 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertigogen/5534780720/
Got off tube and set up on steps of Martin-in-the-Fields, there was a memorial lecture about to start inside for assasinated Salvadoran Bishop Romero on the social gospel, so I knew some of the folks headng in and gave them Manning flyers. Did a repetitive short rap on Manning while passivley offering flyers - so folks passing by had to proactively reach out and take them. Didn't want flyers discarded. We weren't going to be the only show in town and folks who've been on these big marches have understandably/unfortunately developed an aversion to taking literature. The chugger (charity mugger) plague doesn't help lots of folks think ya trying to sign them up and take their life savigs! Like many other marginalised campaigns we know a good target audience when we see one! Peace News folks rolled up. We split up and I headed down to Whitehall to set up a visual for Manning where the march would be passing,
LCW Henrietta soon joined me. As we were etablishing our presence, a guy with a mike approached me and said "Where are you from?" The guy behind him produced a camera and started filming.
I reponded, "Is this an interview?"
He nodded and the other guy kept filming.
I had the sense he was trying to cah me out.
"Uh, Harringey!"
He smiled. "What are you doing here? This is not an anti-war march?"
I said "The government is spending money on wars they could be spending on meeting human needs etc. Manning is facing life in prison or execution for exposing their war crimes in Iraq etc etc...."
When he finished, I said, "Where are you from?"
"Channel 4!"
"Rightio, ya tried to catch me out there, better luck nex time!"
We set up 10 metres in front of a guy dressed in a hi vis jacket with "senior steward" on the back who was directing folks to take a left hand turn as they approached Trafalgar Square. Not sure what the junior stewards were doing, something more menial I assume?
I started a repetitive rap as people passed,
"This, and the previous government, would rather go to other people countries
and detroy their schools and hospitals rather fund schools and hospitals here!
Bradley Manning was only 14, living in Wales, when this war started,
He faces spending a life time in jail for exposing their war crimes in Iraq.
Bradley needs to be hearing from us NOW!"....google him, send him a postcard"
Some of the MiliBrand supporters weren't impressed, but we experienced no aggro from the rank and file. We stuck up some images of Bradley on a red phone box....declared it a Bradley Manning Embassy and kept flyering. An SWP paper seller positioned himself next to us roaring out "Who will buy..." chorus, adopted from Oliver but without the sweet tones.
These cultist clowns have tried drowning me out at many other events (but they usually deploy a wo/man with a megaphone)...he fkd off eventually. I think they are a bit short staffed these daze after their RESPECT split and there StWC/COUNTERFIRE expulsions. So many movements/ popular fronts to screw up on behalf of the state, so little time/membership!
We experienced no aggro from the rank and file......some folks familiar with the Manning case were deeply moved to see us to see someone somewhere doing some for Bradley. Some got emtional. One guy thrust 25 quid into my hands (65 quid to go to break even on the 5,000 flyers we've produced..and I only thought such spontaneous philantrhopy existed in America!)
Others applauded us and many reached out to take a flyer (we were to run out of our 1500 flyers from folks proactivey reaching out for one.) All was dandy until the "senior steward" made his move. For no reason (maybe it was a directive from the Central Committee meeting in emergency session?, maybe it was his own authoritairan impulses?, maybe he's just an asshole? who knows? who cares?) , he walked 10 metres in front of us (20 metres from where he was positioned) to steer the march away from us and our phone box installation.
I went up to him and said "Are you trying to censor us?" He would not answer. (Must have thought I was an anglo and wouldn't make a scene, like Bob Crowe and Caroline Lucas banned from the Hyde Park platform sacrificed to the MilibRand? Maybe because we're christians, he assumes we are soft targets? BIG MISTAKE!) I got in his face, hands behind my back and said "Are you a Trot or a a Labor Party hack? He would not make eye contact. I demanded "Make eye contact and return to where you were postioned?" He would not make eye contact and kept trying to direct folks away from us and the Manning display. I asked him "If he was hoping to screw up this movement as they have screwed the anti-war movement?" (taking numbers down from 2 million on the streets to 5,000 /13 MP's voted for continuing to fund the wars last week, down from 18 who voted against it last time...if this was the private sector these paid bureaucrats would have been sacked long ago! Wouldn't they?
He tried to call in back up. I dealt with his radio. Back up came (more "senior steward" vests, still no sign of the "junior stewards"?). They must have a thing when they lose radio contact they come a running, we use to have one of those in a homeless wet shelter I worked in Dublin! The back up didn't engage me and eventually got him to retreat to his original position. Back in his box, Small victory for the libertarian movement to go with all our glorious defeats!
We eventually ran out of flyers. An Irish anarchist punk mate had passed by earlier heading up to the Uncut thang so we headed across Trafalger Square up toward Oxford Circus. But like the Aussie troops at Kahartoum, we turned up late and the anarchos heading back our way had been given different coloured cards. It was June 19 (or was it 18/) 1999 pre-Seattle all over again!
Heniretta had to go. LCW Martin was up at Hyde Park with flyers, but had enough of MiliBRand adulation he had ro split. Our local parish priest was in Hyde Park took a bunch of Manning flyers for his flock, He recently went to Turkey to accompany 150 banged up Kurds being railroaded at a court scene. And he once told his BAE parishoners, at a previous parish, not to put money on the plate because parish didn't want blood money. Might explain his transfer to our parish? He's the best thing to come out of Tipperary since Shane MacGowan and Martin Sheen sprung from Borrisokane!
Anyways I just wandered around the scene displaying my Brad Manning visuals as the anarcho kidz took Fortnum and Mason.
vid
http://london.indymedia.org/videos/8526
photos
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/8421
Eventually I climbed up and hung off a "Walk/ Don't Walk" sign to get a better a view of proceedings and display the Manning poster. A Belfast guy climbed up next to me. He had done a lot of serious rioting in his youth and was able to give me a running commentary on police tactics, the strengths and weakness of the masked up anarchs doing their thing. It was like having an ex pro footballer commentating on a match and I could ask him questions of clarification. Some of what was happening was visually inspiring, some counterproductive. I didn't see any serious violence from the anarchs, there were about 1,000 of us there.
My main problem with the blac block in the past, is that they end up conscripting folks not prepared for, dressed for, in agreement with, into a street battle. But this wasn't the case here, those who were happy to be part of the Labor Party led/ SWP serviced cattle drive to Hyde Park from A to B had gone. Those of us there as active participants or curious obsevers (like me) chose to be there. I respect the courage, the sense of community and creativity of blac block.
Not sure how good Blac Block are on looking after their casualties, prisoners and wounded? They are ambigious on violence, rules of engagement (what are their limits on violence and force dunno?...3 bank workers burnt to death in Greece, fire is uncontrolable!, in Brighton there was a report of a dart being thrown is that ok? I've seen their friendly fire casuaties in the past, is their a confusion there between the sound of breaking glass and rrrrrrrevolution...the fog of (the class) war is it???
But the Blac Block kidz are relatively harmelss compared to the British Labor Party that killed 1 million Iraqis (Lancett Report) while in power. Yup that be the same Labor Party controlling Saturday's A to B cattle drive to Hyde Park in the hope of a great photo op for their leader MilibRand. The same ones that airbrushed, muscled off the stage, Bob Crowe of the Transport Union and Caroline Lucas Gree Party MP. But they couldn't airbrush and muscle off these kidz.
Eventually the riot police got their act together, my Irish anarch punk mate turned up and led me down an alley and we got the tube back to Giusepe Conlon for further analysis and a few beers.
All in all a good day for the small "Free Bradley Manning" campaign, methinx!
There isn't much resistance in this society against these wars and the cuts because there isn't much solidarity in the mainstream, the left or the @ scene. We need to generate both to Free Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, end these wars and stop the killings.