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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
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offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting Wed Dec 25, 2024 16:00 | James Alexander
Politics professor James Alexander has compiled a compendium of amusing laws ? Murphy's Law, Parkinson's Law and Cole's Law (thinly sliced cabbage) ? to give you a break from making polite conversation with your relatives.
The post Some Laws Relating to Speech Are Surprisingly Uplifting appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Warm Keir Starmer Just Looked Out? Wed Dec 25, 2024 11:00 | Henry Goodall
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offsite link Declined: Chapter One Wed Dec 25, 2024 09:00 | M. Zermansky
Introducing Declined: a dystopian satire about the emergence of a social credit system in the U.K. that's going to be published in serial?form?in?the Daily Sceptic. Read episode one here.
The post Declined: Chapter One appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill Wed Dec 25, 2024 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
The Climate and Nature Bill threatens to decimate the UK economy by turbo-charging Net Zero. But where did it come from? Charlotte Gill dives in and finds a glut of Left-wing activists working furiously behind the scenes.
The post The Lobbyists Behind the Climate and Nature Bill appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 25, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Direct Action and Defendant Support

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | feature author Sunday January 16, 2005 00:29author by Terry - NUIG Ecology Society/Organise/Anarchist Federation (personal capacity)author email room101ucg at yahoo dot co dot uk Report this post to the editors

Since the inception of Indymedia Ireland in late 2001 well over one hundred people have faced court actions, ranging from injunctions to imprisonment, for participation in movements reported on by this site. This has been the case with the anti-bin charges campaign, with Shannon, with Carrickmines, with Mayday2004 and with the May 2002 Reclaim the Streets.

There has been a long running controversial debate on Indymedia around allegations that Dublin Grassroots in particular has not successfully provided support for the Mayday 2004 defendants.

Meanwhile, longer articles have started to appear in left-wing journals and publications looking back at the Mayday 2004 weekend and the issues arising from the various internecine conflicts. The WSM have a feature in their "Red and Black Revolution" about the buildup, and "What Next?" has an article from a Marxist viewpoint critical on the Wombles (taking the ESF and their attitude in Dublin as discussion points).




Arrest and court is a process of intimidation, and needs to be met with a programme of counter-intimidation. This is actually especially relevant in regard to people done on relatively minor public order charges after random arrests at demonstrations, for the simple reason that this has the largest impact in terms of numbers. That is to say these cases have a bigger ‘it could have been me factor’, and hence greater intimidatory potential.

A counter-intimidation programme involves three aspects: legal support, defendant support and prisoner support.

Legal support meaning the supply of bust cards with a phone number to collate information on arrestees and, if possible, the provision of a decent solicitor, this is for the day itself. Later we have defendant support.

Defendant support needs to be defendant led but not necessarily defendant organised. Each defendant will have different priorities, some will just want it over as quickly as possible and to keep their heads down, some will want some support but not want to make a big deal of their cases, some will want to fight their way through the courts.
There are two crucial aspects to defendant support.
Firstly money: money for fines, money for solicitors, money to transport supporters and witnesses to court.
Secondly bodies: supporters in the court room, courts being designed to cut you down and make you feel small, the supporters presence there to do the opposite.

Prisoner support is beyond my personal direct experience but the two things which people principally seem to be doing are writing to prisoners and holding protests or vigils outside the prison, as has gone on Dublin with bin charges prisoners and in Limerick with Shannon prisoners, most likely from the same point of view as supporters turning up in court. It would be nice to see more embassy protests for international prisoners in Ireland.

Thus far only a small number of people from the anti-capitalist/anti-war movement have been sentenced to prison in Ireland, notably Fintan Lane of the Cork Anti-War Campaign, for 60 days for his part in the October 12th 2002 mass tresspass in Shannon, and some people from the bin charges struggle in Cork.
The impact of the of this support on defendants is a positive one.
What impact it has on the authorities is a bigger question, certainly people who have seen the inside of far more courts than I have feel that a good support network does inhibit heavier arresting and sentencing policies.
In the case of prisoners it is generally accepted that an influx of letters can improve their conditions.

What is needed to get to a healthy situation in regard to this issue is two fold. Firstly a cultural change where we begin to seriously prioritise this issue, personally I’m thinking that this has begun to happen, mostly cause with the regularity of court cases these days it is not easy to ignore.

Secondly serious committed organisation involving larger numbers of people, on the second point in that if we are to have libertarian networks people need to move away from the idea someone is going to do it for them, none of us are professionals. In regard to the first point these issues illustrate perfectly why ad hoc loose ‘organisation’ is just not good enough, defendant and prisoner support require long term planning and lasting organisation long after the dust has settled and the big day of protest is over.

On the immediate agenda is the trial of the Pitstop Ploughshares starting in the Four Courts on the 7th of March.
This is the trial of the five people who disarmed a U.S. military plane in Shannon on February 3rd 2002, an action which was a pivotal contribution to a series of actions which saw three of the private companies commuting U.S. troops to Iraq pull out of Shannon.
As I understand it they need fundraising and publicity (they have posters and leaflets made up) and infrastructural support for during the trial itself, e.g. people to provide accommodation, people to run some form of centre.
More details here
Ultimately the important thing to remember is defendant support isn’t an optional extra, it is an essential part of direct action and public protest, if the people who end up in court receive support, and other people see that and are confident of receiving support, we will collectively have more confidence and hence more actions.

 #   Title   Author   Date 
   Unclear conclusion     K. Harris    Fri Jan 14, 2005 18:53 
   Clarification of reference to Ploughshares Trial     Anthony G    Sat Jan 15, 2005 02:04 
   Prisoner Support/legal support     pc    Sat Jan 15, 2005 02:16 
   Point     Terry    Sat Jan 15, 2005 13:01 
   Prison numbers     richard    Tue Jan 18, 2005 14:47 
   Three peace activists arrested in boat at Shannon during Bush visit in Court-Ennis, Thurs Jan 27th.     Boat    Wed Jan 19, 2005 12:46 


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