Trinity College, 29 Nov, at event for Chelsea Manning
Gerry Conlon's speech in full, filmed by Dave Donnellan at Trinity College Dublin, in solidarity with Chelsea Manning and her family. With introductory song 'Giuseppe Conlon' by Joe Black.
Dave Donnellan writes:
"On the 29 November 2013 an event was held in Trinity College Dublin to mark the visit of the family of Chelsea Manning to Dublin. During the evening Gerard Conlon gave a speech that nobody who was there is ever likely to forget. It was Gerard Conlon at his best: fiery, courageous and compassionate. May he rest in peace."
To watch the video, follow the link to the full article
http://wp.me/p42I6Q-dL.
(couldn't get video embed to work on here)
Gerry speaks with anger and passion about the wrongful arrest, torture and imprisonment of the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven including his father Giuseppe who died in prison, the destruction of Carole Richardson who was unable to cope on her release, the corruption and cover up that took place at the highest levels and
I'll tell you what, I wish there had've been a Julian Assange, an Edward Snowden, a Bradley Manning around when we were in jail to get... the papers the government are holding and refusing to let the public see. [17:30]
What Bradley Manning did was to expose the horror of what governments expect children, their sons and daughters, to do on their behalf, the pretext of going to war to liberate people... we all need to be aware of what is being done in our name, because it's not my name they're doing it in. I didn't vote for a politician to take me to war or to take my country to war or to send young men and women to war to be blown up and shot, some of them coming back without limbs, some of them coming back so traumatised that they become outside of society... we have to stand up and.. tell them 'You represent us, not big business'... We need them to enrich our life, not destroy our lives. We need people to go into the army as a career, not because there's no jobs.
You know, at times like this people are sitting in cells across the world - Shaker Aamer in Guantanamo, Bradley Manning in Kansas - and they can't hear our voices, but if we talk about it and debate it and encourage others to become part of it, they will hear our voice and not only will they hear our voice but the politicians will hear our voice. It was people power that got the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six out of jail and it's been people power that's got everybody else out of jail.
Gerry addresses the Trinity meeting
Solidarity with Chelsea Manning at Saturday's Armed Forces Day
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 1 2Gerry Conlon obituary by Guilford 4 lawyer Gareth Peirce
http://tinyurl.com/lgq469x
Counterpunch - Gerry Conlon R.I.P. by Harry Browne
http://tinyurl.com/pllwt8a
Here:
http://manningfamilyfund.org/gerry-conlon-speaking-at-t...2013/
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