The July Meeting of the 17 Group will take place on Wednesday the 11th of July at 7 pm in unit 6 at 20 Drury St West End. It will be addressed by Ciaron O’Reilly on the importance of Wikileaks and the latest developments in the apparently international pursuit of its founder Julian Assange, who has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Ciaron, as many of you will know, has been a non-violent activist for many years and also, for many years and still, a member of the Catholic Worker Movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. He has been equally inspired by the Berrigan brothers and the Ploughshare anti-war movement, and as part of this has been responsible for the grounding of U.S. planes before both Gulf Wars. He is currently prominent in the support group around Julian Assange in London and, along with ex-SAS soldier Ben Griffin, has been responsible for Julian Assange’s security on the way into and out of the Supreme Court hearings. He brings with him a very well-informed and up-to-date perspective on this important contemporary issue.
Here is some useful background information on the issue and on the speaker, the first bit of which is about the attachment:
PHOTO taken at Julian’s 40th birthday party. Julian turns 41 in the Ecuadorian Embassy July 3rd. He was born on Magnetic Island, Queensland.
– Ben Griffin SAS veteran of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, the north of Ireland and former Yugoslavia. http://veteransforpeace.org.uk/
– Julian Assange
– Ciaron O’Reilly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaron_O%27Reilly Since November 2011, London Catholic Workers Ben Griffin and Ciaron O’Reilly have been responsible for Julian’s physical security in terms of getting him in and out of court (see you tubes below)
“If you marched against these wars in 2003, you implicitly incited me, Bradley Manning, Julian Assange and many others dragged before the courts and jailed to non-violently resist these wars. The way I see it, is that you are now obligated to proactively express solidarity with our brothers and sitsers you have incited – jailed, tortured and hunted down or you surrender to the warlords who have a vision of “war without end”.
– Ciaron O’Reilly, June 30th, Amberley Air Force Base where Australian soldiers are deployed, the dead are brought home and drone warfare is being prepared.
YOUTUBE (6 mins) ‘Assange Subterranean Homesick Blues’
ABC Radio (4mins 50secs) “The Present Persecution of Julian Assange” interview with Australian anti-war activist Ciaron O’Reilly
http://tinyurl.com/7e8cktk
30 years ago 1982, Ciaron O’Reilly and four others opened the doors to the homeless at a new Catholic Worker hospitality house in West End, Brisbane. The house emerged out of a Griffith Uni campus based radical Christian group “2 or 3 Gathered in His Name”, running the gauntlet from (’77-’82) of the entrenched corrupt & authoritarian Bjelke- Petersen Queensland government, our experiences with aboriginal people and to the backdrop of the ’82 Falklands War.
Since then, Ciaron has spent his adult life with the Catholic Worker movement trying to follow the trail left by Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Phil and Dan Berrigan. Approx half of the last 30 years, Ciaron has spent abroad pursuing the Catholic Worker vision and praxis of faith based nonviolent resistance in the U.S., England, Ireland and Aotearoa. As consequence, he has spent approx 2 years in a variety of prisons in a number of jurisdictions for nonviolent anti-war resistance.
For the last 2 years, he has helped to found, and been based at, the Giuseppe Conlon Catholic Worker House in Harringey, London
http://londoncatholicworker.org/ .
He has been a key organiser in both England and Ireland in generating solidarity for the imprisoned Bradley
Manninghttp://www.bradleymanning.org/and the persecuted Julian Assange http://justice4assange.com/Investigation.html
In trouble for exposing U.S. war crimes
ADDITIONAL LINKS……
– Accompanying Julian Assange of WikiLeaks with street solidarity as he is detained without charge (now for over 500 days!) and dragged through the British courts
Ongoing nonviolent resistance to the wars on the people of the Iraq and Afghanistan
http://tinyurl.com/cf3k9gr
– Acting as an adviser to British Iraq/ Afghan war veteran Ben Griffin in starting “Veterans for Peace UK”
http://veteransforpeace.org.uk/
– Nonviolent intervention in the London Riots following the police shooting of the unarmed Mark Duggan in our London borough.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100336
– Nonviolent intervention during the Queen and Commander in Chief President Obama’s 2011 visits to Dublin, Ireland.
http://tinyurl.com/bpyvymf
Active in the Occupy London Stock Exchange action near St. Paul’s Cathedral http://tinyurl.com/bnrus96
ALSO…………….
Limited success in kickstarting a career as a nonviolent bodyguard 
More successful career in directing music videos…………………
YOUTUBE (4 mins 37 secs)
“WAR IS OVER… if you want it!” – Merry Christmas from the London Catholic Worker
http://tinyurl.com/c22q94f
But will Leon be there, one hears you ask.
Can’t say. Here’s the text of a hurried telegram:
“No Moscow gold stop. Must choose stop. Would like help Julian stop. Checking relative prices Mexico City–Quito rail, Mexico City–Brisbane tramp steamer stop. If come prob late stop.” So you work it out. But come yourself.