https://youtu.be/Z9131H9pYj0

The EDL are a well informed reasonable bunch compared to this lot. What a disturbed and disturbing mob...

This reminds me of tales of China's cultural revolution, these people believe Ciaron is guilty of thought crimes and have allowed a fanatical level of hatred to grow based on frankly ludicrous grounds , They ostensibly decry transphobia and attack a benefit gig for a transgender prisoner (Ciaron is of course transphobic despite his outspoken support and activism for chelsea manning because as we all know homophobes regularly devote their time to supporting and organising fundraisers for prominent gays, and racists try and hide their racism by doing benefits and spending years picketing in support of prominent black and asian dissidents...).

The fact that this nonsense has escalated to such an extent that they would attack a fundraiser beggars belief.

M : "I remember Ciaron O'Reilly from the Ploughshares time on Merseyside when those four wonderful women smashed up the Hawk trainer jet bound for Indonesia. He was an inspiration and organised many events in support of the women.
As I understand it he even helped them with their non violent resistance training."

CIARON : I was in Australia (having been deported from U.S. in 93) living at Greg Shackelton House (named after one of the journalists murdered at Balibo/ East Timor) working on East Timor solidarity - when the Jan '96 ploughshares action took place at BAe Warton. One of the participants Andrea Needham was living at Dorothy Day House in D.C. when we did the B52 ploughshares action on the eve of the Gulf War 1/1/91.

I was unaware that the BAe action was going to take place. They used one of the hammers we used on the B52,. I later used the same hammer at Shannon Airport on a U/S/ war plane in Feb 03.

I had no role in prep for the BAe action......
I came to Europe approx. May 96 to
1) attend a plowshares conference in Germany
2) attend the East Timor related ploughshares trial that was moved from Preston to Liverpool.
(I, with three U.S. plowshare activists, was outside a pre-trial hearing where it seemed to us they were short on local support).
3) to see family in England/Ireland I had not seen in 17 years.

The BAe/ "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares" action was a feminist action and I was reluctantly deployed by the support group to do local organising in Liverpool pre-trial.
Like the Assange/ Manning solidarity work I have been doing for the last 3 years this is not a position I desired. But there were very few people with the skill set and availability to do this work"'

The Liverpool acquittal of the Seeds of Hope was the first one in (the then) 16 year history of ploughshares.
Seeds of Hope Ploughshares trial video (25 mins)
 http://tinyurl.com/og2nou9

Two of our people have received 18 year sentences for such action in U.S., some 8 year sentences. Most 2-3 years.

M met me at the Liverpool trial and probably assumed I was involved in pre-planning. Plowshares/ ploughshares commnities are nonviolent and worked on a "need to know basis". (If you don't need to know, you don't ask. If someone does not need to know, you don't tell.)
If Manning had worked this way and not chatted to F.B.I. informant Lamo, he may not be presently imprisoned.

Once a community is arrested the rest of themovement mobilises to accompany them through trial and prison. We presently have the Transofrm Now plowshares being denied bail awaiting sentencing in Tennessee, USA. they are looking at heavy time convicted of sabotage.
 http://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/
Transform Now Plowshares. People with various skill sets play a variety of solidarity roles. I have been a key local organiser in 8 Plowshares trials ( I have played a support role in others including non plowshares nv disarmament actions such as EDO 9 Raytheon 9.)

The skills I have picked up in these settings I have applied to the last 3 years of Manning/ Assange solidarity on-the-street organsing. They are skills of working with minimal resources with people from a variety of faith/non-faith/cultural;/political backgrounds.
The work around Manning/ Assange has been the most difficult I have done in a political vacuum where citizenry is disengaged fomr the wars their government is waging.


M : " he was jailed for his activities."

CIARON : I have spent 2 years all up in jail in U.S., OZ & Ireland. I was bashed & raided regularly in my teens when all demonstrations were banned in the state of Queensland (birthplace of Julian Assange/ home of his mother Christine).

I am probably suffering from some sort of PTSD from these experiences and am beginning to deal with it - with a Jesuit spiritual director (who has background as a mental health nurse). I assume that some of the people who attacked us on Sat also maybe suffering from PTSD from their own traumas.
I could be wrong.


M : "OK Ciaron may have made some sexist remarks that he shouldn't have done."

CIARON: I am not sure I have. I can be (like most Australians) obnoxious (especially when being attacked) - but I think I am pretty gender neutral in that!


M: "But if he said those things in the heat of the moment and if they were said just when someone had just ripped up his Julian Assange posters, then he should be forgiven."

CIARON: Due to the free speech/ civil liberties/ "right to march" struggles I was involved in in my teens - free expression is very important to me. To quote Churchill (in this case) "jaw jaw is better than war war."


M: "The other charge is that he refuses to call Chelsea Manning, Chelsea and refers to her using her previous name of Bradley. Ciaron does this, no doubt out of his Catholic sensibilities and this is a difficult one."

CIARON: I do not refuse to use the name Chelsea (even tho as a Man U fan this can be distressing!). I have been one of the few people in England trying to raise the name of "Bradley Manning" for the last 3 years. It is hardly surprising that I slip up and use the name I have been using for 3 years.

Names are very significant.
I changed the spelling of my own name from anglicised Kieran to Ciaron after Bloody Sunday when I was 11 years old.
Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali, those who first knew him as Clay probably took a while to get used to it.
My position presently is not to use the first name (Bradley or Chelsea) as it creates confusion (some people think there are both a Chelsea and a Bradley Manning).
If you write to a Chelsea Manning at Ft. Leavenworth the letter won't be delivered by the US. post office, because the name has not been changed by deed poll.

In my 8 years of Christian Brothers education and 2 years of imprisonment I was rarely addressed by my first name, I assume this is the same in the military for PFC Manning.
Manning is doing 35 years in jail for exposing our war crimes in Iraq not for being transgender. I think the issue is a distraction, that's why the photo of the blonde wig shot was promoted by media following the sentencing to distract our memories from the mass murder images of collateral murder footage. (A similar strategy seemed to be pursued in the Edward Snowden case as the media went with the "Bourne" style pursuit rather than what the Snowden revelations told us about the nature of the state and the loss of our privacy).


M: "Now some of them may have difficulty with say a women's right to choose, so are we going to say, that despite their good work in other areas, that everything they've ever done is undermined and rendered absolutely worthless by their views on that subject?

Muslims in our movement will have similar concerns so do we boycott events they organise?"

CIARON; Not to mention the Sandanistas! Abortion to anti-war Catholics is a question of violence/ consistent life ethic not primarily a concern about sexuality. For pro-choicers it seems to be an ethical balance between life and autonomy similar to those who pursue armed struggle with collateral damage. Where the growing popularity of sex selected abortions leaves folks is anybody's guess.

The question is are such issues Assange case, abortion the word that cannot be spoken, the discussion that can no longer be had. Is this similar to the Guilford 4/ Birmingham 6/ Maguire 7 any questioning of the state case means (back then) you looked soft on putting bombs in pubs? Any scepticism over the Assange case means you are soft on rape. Where does this leave feminists like Amy Goodman, Naomi Wolf, Gareth Peirce, Vivienne Westwood, Yoko Ono? Why are they not attacked, while I am targeted?


M: "Have a number of anarchists decided already that Assange is guilty of the rape allegations he faces in Sweden and therefore that justifies ripping up Ciaron's Assange posters? Where's the justice in that?"

CIARON: You get better justice from the British state in my experience (eg right to examine evidence, cross examine witnesses). This is a lynch mob approach that will lead us to barbarism. Once you get to barbarism, people will choose fascism or authoritarianism eg. Sharia Courts in Somalia, early Taliban (seminarian) response to the rapist war lord agenda, Provo community policing in West Belfast - all had a popular base as the alternative appeared to be barbarism.


M: "Does it justify verbally attacking and physically threatening fellow activists going into a meeting to raise funds for Chelsea Manning's family?

"And what of the bigger picture here? That the main purpose of last Saturday's fund raiser was to raise money for Chelsea's family not whether Ciaron refers to Chelsea as Chelsea or Bradley?

"I don't know what the female anarchist comrades expected to achieve by their picket on Saturday or how they justified it? It seems to have been a wrecking exercise, pure and simple.

"If they didn't like Ciaron's event, then rather than calling for it to be boycotted perhaps they ought to have organised their own event. Wouldn't that have been a more positive thing to do?

"Given what they did are they not now absolutely duty bound to raise funds for Chelsea's family? Let's see if they do?


CIARON: I believe a better process is a restorative justice approach. Rather than calling the cops (there were assaults/ "crimes" committed on Sat night), blacklisting, escalated conflict, cyber bullying.

I assume that there is a state agent involved in this provocation (We were well infiltrated in Liverpool 96-99- that was revealed by the Sunday Times Sgt Alaister/aka "Alan Fossey" was placed with us for 3 years, facilitated rumour mongering and eviction
 http://www.evel.nl/spinwatch/TRReport.htm

after former policewoman Janet Lovelace exposed the Lancashire Special Branch first approach following the 96 Liverpool acquittal..
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/programmes/true_spies/transcripts/truespies_prog3.txt

there were 6 spies in CAAT, why has there never been a public inquiry by CAAT?
Mark Thomas on his friend Martin the spy
 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/04/bae.armstrade

The London Met has spent £4 million quid on circling Assange for the last 500 days in Knightsbridge - they and the Americans (and others) have no shortage of cash and personnel, Assange & Sarah Harrison got Snowden out of Hong Kong (the Guardian would have left him hung out to dry there).
The empire is now even more pissed at Assange (Greenwald; Greenwald's partner; Sarah & others) than they were before Hong Kong.
These people need our solidarity

Pathetic and embarassing and so dissheartening to those genuinely trying to make some difference.. Fucking traitors!!

Fuck single issue and I mentality bollocks. Who cares what we have done, its what we do and are going to do and what we need to do that is the issue and we need to be talking about this reality very much so at this moment. ps The non violent proponents amongst us should understand that violence of some degree is neccessary/maybe involved!!!!! If you disagree Ciaron please let me/us know why!

Onwards and upwards folks..

It is well known that an attack was planned on the CASA for a number of weeks. This was planned by the following people after the attack on Ciaron O Reilly at the anarchist bookfair. They have a long history of protesting outside of the CASA club. The CASA club is run by the ex Liverpool Dockers and it is safe to say that the dockers have had enough of this sort of behaviour.

On the night of the attack, Adam Ford announced the presence of an activist in the CASA club and summoned everyone he could get. However it would matter not who was in that bar, as the intention was already there to violently attack the bar, mainly because of Ciarons presence.

These people have a long history of attacking activists and their favourite tool is the LibCom website, they have on two occasions published attacks on activists via that website, One from Liverpool and the other from London.

These vicious attacks on the characters of these men was done with no evidence to back up some of the accusation they were making.

When you consider that Rhiannon Lowton only last night was putting out the story that she was assaulted and numerous other lies, one would wonder who is behind this outfit. This article should be the death nail for the Angry Women of Liverpool and SOLFED.

Lastly, Mandy Vere from News from Nowhere bookshop in Liverpool can not wash her hands of part responsibilty for this assault, when you consider what she did with the poster prior to the event.

This can not be ignored.

These people are now known to spin, lie and manipulate activism to suit their own agenda and to split our whole movement

Adam Ford,  https://twitter.com/neon_black1871 who was not at the attack on The Casa tweeted afterwards:

"In my tweets on the behaviour of Seamus Colgan, I used the term 'non-violent' to describe the actions of certain people. This was not to fetishise non-violence, or to take away from anyone who uses violence. It was a statement that people were assertively challenging the many problematic attitudes and behaviours of event organisers Ciaron O'Reilly and Seamus Colgan, the latter of whom responded with violence. This was in particular intended as a warning to activists in Wrexham tonight, and wherever else Ciaron O'Reilly takes his Assange-apologist, misogynist, transphobic roadshow. People in those places need to know what to prepare for. Oppression must always be challenged by whatever means the oppressed believe are necessary and justified."

 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396978974892785664
 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396979266384322560
 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396979735986978816
 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396980116871729152
 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396980428290396160
 https://twitter.com/neon_black1871/status/396980565070868480

There are many problems with this, not least being that the physical assults and verbal abuse only came from one side, the "activists" who conducted the attacks on The Casa - Adam Ford is telling lies, he clearly can't be trusted.

Furthermore he has made it clear that he supports the violent assults on peace activists at The Casa and is calling for more of the same, which event will he encourage physical attacks at next?

The Chelsea Manning fundraiser was a peaceful, respectful event which featured none of the content that Adam Ford asserted it had, "Assange-apologist, misogynist, transphobic roadshow", there is a good write up of it here:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/11/513518.html

Ciaron put it well in a comment above: "This is a lynch mob approach that will lead us to barbarism."

The attack on Ciaron, Seamus and the bar was planned was back in October

and what has any of this got to do with the Solfed?

These people have used SolFed and the wider anarchist movement as a flag of convenience, on top of their lies, violent attacks these group of people have a hold over gatekeepers within the wider activist community.

They have specifically used a number of collectives to issue statements about activists without a shred of evidence. They have endangered people's lives, created massive division in the movement and one would wonder who these people are working for and what agenda are they pushing. So it's got everything to do with SolFed, Here is a picture of Jay Moffett and Helen with the Liverpool SOLFED banner, they were two of the most violent in this group both inside and outside the venue. Helen launched a pint glass and narrowly missed Ciaron.

She was also kicking the shins of another activist, and used the same tactic against Ciaron at the Anarchist bookfair. Obviously to get a reaction so she could then claim to be the victim of 'male brutality'

Liverpool SolFed,  https://twitter.com/liverpoolsolfed tweeted on 24th October:

"Ciaron O’Reilly, Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning and making a choice  http://bit.ly/1c07lnT via @I_Am_Jay_O_Doom"

 https://twitter.com/liverpoolsolfed/status/393392043466059777

The article they linked to, presumably because they agreed with it, can be read here:

 https://anarchobastard.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/ciaron-oreilly-julian-assange-chelsea-manning-and-making-a-choice/

And also on Libcom, here:

 http://www.libcom.org/blog/ciaron-o%E2%80%99reilly-julian-assange-chelsea-manning-making-choice-25102013

There seems to be little doubt that Liverpool SolFed encouraged the attack, what is less clear is the extent to which they participated in the violence...

@I_Am_Jay_O_Doom" is the twitter account of Jay Moffett


BINGO!!!!

The planned fundraising event for News From Nowhere has just been cancelled in the CASA, they will not be welcome back because of their involvement in this attack. Mandy Vere supported those who planned to attack the Manning event. Despite being given an opportunity to back down she put this notice up on a poster to promote the event. All those involved, including Liverpool SolFed, Angry Women of Liverpool and anyone else connected with this group are all barred from the CASA. Before the day is out Mandy Vere may also be barred from the CASA

Seems like people on both sides of this need to calm down a bit. Both sides are madly demonising well-respected activists on the other side. It's clear there is more than one side to the story.

It's worth remembering that one tactic of the State is to deliberately encourage division and in-fighting. Let me be clear: I am *not* accusing everyone who is acting unhelpfully of being a state agent! I am simply pointing out that a massive unnecessary split in the Liverpool activist scene does not help the movement, but serves our enemies well.

How about the main people involved sit down calmly and discuss what happened, starting with a committment not to interrupt each other, to make an effort to listen to each other, and to concede that their experience of events is valid, but may not be the same as other people's (equally valid) experience of events?

Or at the very least stop slagging each other off in public, posting people's names and identities online etc.

The Liverpool Social centre "Our Aims & Principles" contains the statement that "violence will not be tolerated"  http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/index.php/our-aims-principles

There is also the "Safer Spaces Policy"  http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/index.php/saferspaces-intro which has a section on violence:

"Violence and threat of violence: A deliberate action that is likely to cause somebody physical pain, or the threat of such action, made verbally or implied physically."

 http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/index.php/saferspaces-intro/saferspaces-policy#violence

The activist community in Liverpool would do well to support these principles and policies - they were clearly breached in the violent attack on The Casa.

Anon

thanks for your comment, totally agree with what you are saying, however this has went on for over 16 to 18 months. This group has tried to destroy the lives of at least three people within activism and attacked many others, they have put the lives of others in danger and this in addition to violently attacking others activists and collectives. It can now longer linger in the dark, the best way to deal with this is to shine some light on it.

Unfortunately it does play into the hands of the state therefore we need to ask who are pulling their strings.

Last night, I am led to believe an offer was made, an olive branch if you will and it was refused. Instead of realising when they sobered up that what they have done is very wrong, they continued to tell lies and threaten more of the same, ie violence towards activists and events.

@ W Morris

Next to Nowhere allows their premises for meeting of AWOL, AWOL have had a central role in this attack and the attack on Ciaron O Reilly, will they not be stopped from using the venue in the future?

So, some people seem to think that because some women acted angrily, a local group called Angry Women must have totally organised the "attack" (as opposed to being one of several local activist networks through which concerns about the event were raised). And somehow everyone involved in that group has been barred from the Casa, even though the Casa has no way of knowing who everyone in that group is. Interesting.

An argument in a bar on a Saturday night got physical, and the venue made some of the individuals involved leave and barred them. Kind of like a safer spaces policy: not tolerating physical violence. Sounds like things worked completely as they should in terms of the venue's actions really.

Totally agree - it would be great for activist groups and spaces across Liverpool (and beyond!) to adopt a safer spaces policy like Next To Nowhere's.

Your minimizing of this attack is astonishing, but to see you sign it as anangrywoman is no surprise. We know the names of everyone involved in the attack on Ciaron at the anarchist bookfair and the event on saturday night. AWOL, SOLFED and the AF have a long history of attacking people. You have duped people long enough. It's now time to stop

The staff and committee of the CASA have more ears to the ground than you could every imagine. In addition to that you all have signed the following statement, therefore identifying most of the people who need to be barred from the CASA. It's been passed on.

 http://angrywomen.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/awol-statement-on-sexual-harassment-in-activist-spaces/

The dockers are taking the approach that an attack on one, is an attack on all. It time that you and like were exposed for the violent destructive drunken behaviour that you have displayed over the last 18 months

as they say

Ya Basta

Are you local to Liverpool Squirrel? Cos, for someOne so concerned about state infiltration, you're sure doing your best to divide & denigrate the Liverpool activist community. I'm appalled by the standard of comments on this thread. And incredulous that they're being posted under the guise of trying to help.

Can you point to the hearsay and gossip and I will contact indymedia and have them take it down?

The  https://twitter.com/i_am_jay_o_doom account appears to have been deleted.

The  https://twitter.com/neon_black1871 account has had it's tweets hidden.

These threats remain:

"I don't agree with kicking Seamus in the shins - you should aim for his knees, he's had ops there"

 https://twitter.com/theblacklamp/status/397415728242241536

"to be clear, i never physically attacked anyone, i only defended myself from a dickhead waving a stick at my throat."

 https://twitter.com/ViolentAnarchy/status/397405933992554496

"that said, hear the bastard got what he deserved later on and well, thats your own fault really, aint it mate."

 https://twitter.com/ViolentAnarchy/status/397406218093740032

"So is anyone in London going to do anything about Seamus Colligan or are you going to sit on your fucking hands while he touts?"

 https://twitter.com/MournfulCries/status/397419982855761920

"You've been shown the way this weekend. He doesn't like a dig. He's a massive shithouse. Fucking get rid."

 https://twitter.com/MournfulCries/status/397420138334404609

"This dickhead is your problem. A blog post on libcom isn't efuckingnough."

 https://twitter.com/MournfulCries/status/397420776640348160

"Or are the scousers gonna have to come down there and show you how we do it up here?"

 https://twitter.com/MournfulCries/status/397421008409206784

"Seriously London. Get your fucking act together about Colligan. You've got a massive problem and you're not dealing with it."

 https://twitter.com/MournfulCries/status/397425154252230657

We had a similar problem with splitters in the 90's trying to divide a growing movement. Just remember, whoever pays you, sticks and stones break bones but names can never destroy psychopathic tendencies. There is a thing in bourgeois society called the presumption of innocence. How can you support 'victims' with violence?

@MournfulCries is James Moffett, used to work at TASKERs in Liverpool was sacked for stalking someone, he is the guy who shouted about losing his job.

Well done on the screen shots

Son, please stop talking to yourself and pretending to be other people on the internet, you're embarrassing me in front of all my fellow dead murderers down here in Hell.

Also, it was you who started with all the death threats in the first place, this can has gone way too far..

 http://blacbloc.tumblr.com/

"AWOL, SOLFED and the AF have a long history of attacking people..."

That's a ridiculously wideranging and generalised accusation, considering the number of people involved in those 3 groups.

"... In addition to that you all have signed the following statement, therefore identifying most of the people who need to be barred from the CASA. "

So any group supporting a statement outing someone for sexual harrassment - based on numerous plausible testimonies - deserves to have all their members barred from CASA?

Gotta agree with that other commenter above - for someone who says they want to avoid divisive infighting your behaviour is very unhelpful and polarising.

The last comment before this shows the mentality of these people, you can also see that there is an anti Irish Republican element to the attacks that have been directed towards me from 'activists' or state players throughout these difficult 18 months.

It is important to out the attackers within 'the left' and name and shame.

this was violence. there is no justification.

I am not an anarchist so I will say it, because others are too timid: have them arrested.

if the situation was reversed, no one would complain.

Unless I missed a meeting,
when I joined the anarchist movement in late 1978. I understood we were clear on at least 3 things
- free expression for all (even for those you disagree with ... you attempt to debate your opponent not censor them ... this is what distinguished anarchists formt he authoritarian left in the "civil liberties/ free speech/ right to march" struggles of the late 70's/ early 80's in the police state of Queenlsnd Australia - the birthplace of Julian Assange, the home of his mother Christine, my home)

- abolish prisons - learn from the Maori nonviolent techiniques of restorative justice not a blank cheque for lynch mobs with no understanding or respect for due process. As defendant & former (probably future) prisoner I appreciate this and have experienced more justice form the British state thus far than this section of the self declared ( what appears to be heavily infiltrated) British "anarchist movement"

- oppose all wars. Kropotkin seemed to lose the plot on WW1, but hey the guy was elderly!

All this turmoil is a distraction to me, like others I have important work to do. Sarah Harrison, who I know personally, appears to now be in exile from her English homeland - due to her role in keeping Edward Snowden out of solitary confinement for life, Read her statement made yesterday here
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/11/513553.html

There is a growing list of people in serious jeopardy Grenwaod, Snowden, Harrison, Assange
etc I know form my own experiences of jeopardy with the state, the significance of the smallest but of solidarity to those in jeopardy. I also know the state works hard to isolate such people. They hope they will take the Aaron Swartz  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz option and fall on their sword. Like the supposedly liberal left (are theyreallyor do they just know a market whent heys see one?) Guardian this section of the Eng;ish "anarchist" movement (remnant/ subculture, I dunno is it a movement you tell me?) is doing the work of the state parroting the state line

As the WSM told me in Dublin "people have the right to associate and disassociate".

If CASA wishes to disasoociate from those who attacked their bar staff on Sat night that sounds reasonable.
If CASA sense that" News form Nowhere" played an incitement role in this attack it seems reasonable to cancel their gig on a venue that was attacked.
"News form Nowhere" are economically fragile, it would be a shame to see them go down the plug hole over this incident. there were attempts to censor me when Alex Cox  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Cox launched my book on East Timor solidarity in 2001 and i do respect there were people who stood up to that (BAe inspired) lynch mob and defended Alex Cox launch of my book.

If people don't want to listen to me soap box speak 20 metres from the entrance to to the London Anarchist Bookfair, they can walk away. Better still they can set up their own soap box and explain why they support the U.S. British Australian Swedish state line on Julian Assange.

I'm hoping a Speakers Corner at the London Anarchist Bookfair 2014 is one of the good things that can come out of the events there this year. Ian Bone are you listening, drop the megaphone and get a soapbox!

I am hoping a larger (with or without me, because hey believe it or not..it's not all about me! %:) ) at the CASA in support of the Manning Family Prison Visit Fund  http://manningfamilyfund.org/ is one of the good things that come out of last sat night ( a gig we lost over 100 quid on! ...even tho the CASA were kind enough to host us for free)

People - whether they call themselves "anarchists" or not have no right to try and censor me. they have no right to attack an event. That they are English and I am Irish and the event on Sat night at the CASA had a heavy Irish participation is not insignificant. Bloody Sunday is still a live issue for us. No one has been charged with the British killings of Irish people trying to express an opinion about their civil rights. these were not the only traumas triggered by the attack on Sat night some of us there have been bashed and threatened many times before, some grew up in war zones. Often we don't know what we are dealing with when we introduce violence and the threat of violence into the mix. You never know how far the violence will go,
As the old American saying goes "It's like the guy who brought a knife to a gun fight!"
See here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anEuw8F8cpE

"Angry Women of Liverpool" Have no monopoly on being angry, on women or on Liverpool or living under the threat of rape. For a prisoner the threat of rape is constant as a management technique. Some people can be angry and rational, the people who attacked us on Saturday night were angry and irrational and I believe infiltrated by the state.

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE ECUADORIAN EMBASSY
Yesterday I stood in solidarity vigil with Nobel Peace Prize winner Mariead Corrigan Maguire
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mairead_Maguire We joined what have become the mainstays of this long 500+ daily solidarity vigil outside the window of Julian Assange. the vigil is carried by a Chilean woman who lived through the coup, whose husband was arrested and tortured at the time. A Portugese woman who grew up under the dictatorship and a Colombian woman
that comes out of that U.S. generated war against the Colombian poor. Maybe because these women come form the fringe of empire they can recognise a fit up when they see one. I dunno? Maybe those who come from the centre of empire (whether they call themselves "anarchists" or not) can't recognise a fit up?

As dark fell, we were then joined by 20 Colombian solidarity activists who had turned up to protest last saturday's assassination of Campesino & community leader Cesar Garcia. he was shot in front of his children, because he was considered an obstacle to some British mining company digging for gold  http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/

We had no problem with these folks, we had a sense of mutuality and solidarity. We had no problem with the working class folks turning up tot eh Wales v USA Rugby League game last Sunday in Wrexham.

I really prefer relating to ordinary people rather than elite subcultural hipsters. I am willing to sit down with anyone, if time permits and talk these conflicts through. Like Winston Churchill I believe "jaw jaw (not anonymous internet hyperactivity) is better than war war".

Yes and I do think I could have behaved better when the Assange pathiest ostcards were ripped up at the bookfair 2012 and I was drowned out on the sopabox As one HSG er said I thought you were supposed ot be a Chritstian" well I did turn the other butt cheek when I was kicked in the ass, but I could have done better in my repsonses. Always room for improvement.

you're human so don't let your actions get you down. these people took advantage of your good nature. don't think you should be so forgiving but then again I'm not a very good catholic!

Although British anarchists seem to know little about solidarity, it appears a WikiLeaks English woman does know - how Sarah Harrison is now in hiding and exile.....

Now they have to hide themselves. Escape from the assistant has become the hunted one. In Berlin, she has found shelter. Of a return to her native Britain from her lawyers advised her, because she is there possibly prosecuted.

Wikileaks woman seeks protection in Berlin
Sarah Harrison - Angel of whistleblower
ARTICLE.......
 http://tinyurl.com/nyduekv

 http://hesmackeditbro.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/background-to-recent-events/

Divide and Rule  http://wp.me/p11UBA-dg #AnarchistBookfair #ChelseaManning #Occupy #Anonymous #Activism #London

'Stubbing out progress where seeds are sewn,
Killing off anything that's not quite known,
Sitting around in a nice safe home...' :The Mob

It's heartening to see these incidents get this level of exposure and hence debate on Indymedia. The grotesque intolerance and narcissistic self-righteousness exhibited during these disgraceful attacks in Liverpool and at the Bookfair are, admittedly and thankfully, extreme manifestations of a broader problem; namely a tendency among Western Anarchists to exclude and indeed shun any ideas, groups and individuals who do not demonstrate absolute conformity to a precise sets of beliefs, ideas and modes of behaviour. This has led to a political scene which often feels like it exists more as a cult in isolation of the wider world where purity of thought takes precedence over engagement with wider society thereby making any real hope of change futile.

In these recent attacks this tendency has resulted in witch-hunts by groups against what they percieved to be isolated individuals. For these groups Ciaron O Reilly made an ideal target: a White Male Catholic campaigning for Julian Assange (ignoring Ciaron's decades of other activism). As with all political purges/witch hunts this was all they needed to know, or more importantly wanted to know, about O Reilly.

A Crucial question must be asked about what the most important factor was in driving the attacks on Ciaron as opposed to another group or individual:

Was it his support for Assange?- was it his 'transphobia' ? -both of which his attackers claim are the reasons - or was it the fact that he appeared to his attackers to be on the fringes of their movement, a one man activist unit, unique (to them) in his openly Catholic faith amongst a political tendency where mocking of all religions and those who believe in them is de rigeur?

If the answer was that the issue was Ciaron's support for Assange, then why did the chanting mob of 'feminists' not picket the prominent Global Womens Strike Stall at the Bookfair, i'm sure there were other groupings and plenty of individuals there who held simliar views, (Ciaron was speaking on prisoner support generally outside before they arrived) ? Equally it is painfully obvious that they would not have picketed any of the prominent and popular lefties (Pilger, Chomsky, Jello Biafra, Naomi Wolf, Naomi Klein) who have condemned the treatment of Assange were they to have been speaking at the bookfair. It is clearly not therefore his support for Assange which has lead to this witch hunt.

(i use inverted commas on 'feminists' as one cannot be a feminist if one expects exceptional and indeed privileged treatment based on your gender, i.e. if you want to abuse and assault an individual and then expect to retire unhindered to a 'Safe Space', i.e. if you want to throw a glass at someone's face in the sure knowledge that because of your gender no-one is going to put a glass in your own face)

Secondly : Was it his 'transphobia'? This accusation is idiotic and could only make sense in the eyes of the fanatic. It is based on the fact that Ciaron, having spent 3 years campaigning, street Speaking, and fundraising for Bradley Manning, has on occasion used the name he used almost daily for years Bradley - which was Private Manning's name until very recently- when referring to the newly named Chelsea, Ciaron, in the eyes of the fanatics, is therefore clearly a transphobe. That the people who have levelled these accusations have done damn all to help Manning -when she was Bradley or Chelsea- and have even set out to succesfully sabotage fundraising for Chelsea Manning's family (through destroying the gig they effectively took Hundreds of pounds from the Manning family fund, perhaps an airfare for a family member to visit) , yet in their twisted logic their actions make them the true supporters of Chelsea Manning!

Finally the third possibility, the fact that they perceived him as an easy target, and a mob mentality has taken hold as a witch hunt has developed? Most of the secondary accusations against Ciaron are based on his responses to the chanting at the bookfair, How exactly should one respond to a group of people who chant the same terms of abuse repeatedly?

This is where, for me, it is difficult to understand this without questioning whether issues of class and indeed colonial hangovers are not a factor. There is an extraordinary assumption of privilege and entitlement involved in chanting, abusing and attacking an individual with the expectation that you yourself will not have to endure similar behaviour being reciprocated. That one should then express outrage and shock at any abuse being returned and seek to portray oneself as the wronged party is a quintessential imperial mentality, one that often derives from privilege. I'm aware that at least one of the feminist bloggers has sought to affirm that she is indeed a victim of multi-faceted class, racial and patriarchal oppression and that all those who do not privilege her voice are merely another manifestation of that oppression but such assertions merely betray a deeper narcissism: essentially others must listen to and respect them even as they shout us down, abuse and even attack us. The McCarthyite mob mentality exhibited at the bookfair and in Liverpool ,if left unchallenged and allowed to continue will prove utterly poisonous to Britain's tiny Anarchist movement in future.

Assange raped a woman in Sweden - starting unprotected sex with her while she slept, despite the fact he knew she was anxious about not using a condom. He then refused to take an std test. He has never denied any of these accusations in public. Nor has he made any attempt to quell the sexist shite some of his supporters on the internet spout, or affirm that yes, feminism is important and rape is as wrong as imperialism or war. So why are people supporting this asshole and holding him up as some kind of hero? Manning, sure that makes sense! But Assange? Treating him as a hero now means telling the women of our movement that their rights are not important - or at least, not as important as all the pressing issues we have to protest about. It means saying to them that if they are abused by one of the important men within the movement, then they'd better put up with it - exposing them would mean getting ignored, sidelined, and accused of helping the state.

Ciaron is one of his supporters. He lambasts the anarchist anarchist movement for not supporting Assange (despite the fact that most anarchists do a fucton of activism and organising around other issues, and put a lot of work into supporting prisoners who aren't rapists), and was deliberately provocative of them at the bookfair. For him, the struggle against patriarchy clearly isn't as important as his anti-war campaigning. His uncritical support for Assange has made people feel unsafe, and is undermining the work of feminists to make the anarchist movement a welcoming and safe-space for women. Is it any wonder that Ciaron is getting attacked for going into a pro-feminist space and telling everyone to hero-worship a known rapist? Not really.

From the sound of things, the fundraiser the other night was also attended by Seamus - an attempted rapist, who has used abuse & violence against women (see  http://www.soundthealarm.org.uk/seamus-colligan/ ). It may well be his presence that caused people to kick off too, I don't know. But the fact that he seems to be one of Ciaron's key allies in this whole affair should be enough to discredit him.

It is a shame that all this is going to have an adverse effect on Chelsea Manning's family. The fact that she has been so vocally supported by Ciaron will have put many people off. This is the effect that male-domination has on our movement - big male egos take charge and then push people away, crippling our effectiveness. They then reinforce this by saying that anyone who challenges them is harming the movement - despite the fact that they created the situation in the first place! When patriarchy wins, so does the state. Hopefully anyone reading this who has spare energy will put some independent effort into fundraising for Chelsea's family and supporting her. Ciaron's monopolisation of Manning solidarity has gone on long enough...

(oh, and another thing - just because anarchists think rape is bad doesn't mean we are parroting the state's line on Assange! What happens to a rapist should be the decision of the *survivor*, not the state. We aren't saying he should go to trial or face jail in spite of the survivor's wishes - just that we don't want to support him and we don't think he has any place in our movement at the moment)

Now that @blacbloc has been making death threats, giving the women's addresses out, and encouraging randoms on the internet to harm the people who did this, including a ridiculous call out to "All Irish Republicans", will people now realise that no matter what the cause, a woman beating harrasser is not a good addition to any campaign, no matter how noble.

Although I draw the line at throwing glasses (whut?) women have a right to confront their oppressors & abusers.

After the LAB, I was concerned this would lead to violence due to the abusive & upsetting nature of the behaviour of the "anons" that day, including the disruption of a rape survivor safe space.

I'm must say I expected a lot more than this, so in a way I'm glad this is *all*that has happened. I expected much more violent retribution, from more people, so in a way I am proud the anarchist community as a whole has shown such restraint, and only one incident of this nature has happened.

Anon could you please rebut this sequence of events. Where is the rape?
I O'Reilly & others perceive there is no evidence for a rape - aren't they rape DENIERS
rather than rape APOLOGISTS?

The WikiLeaks, Julian Assange Diplomatic Standoff - animated youtube
 https://www.youtube.com/embed/PZ0UgJRPhxw

There maybe a variety of definitions of rape? In Dubai, English tourists are finding out that consenting sex can be a crime, (possibly broadly defined as a "form of rape"). Possibly Anon, Australia, Dubai & Sweden (where the Guardian argues "feminism has seized a degree of state power") there are differing definitions of "rape" - where consent is not a central issue or that it can be withdrawn retrospectively?

Polls indicate that most Australians feel Assange has been fitted up by the Swedes, Brits and Yanks. It appears that most liberal left Brits (and this would include the "British Anarchist movement" which at their best are merely "liberal-left", at their worse cultists like those who attacked the Casa and are more likely to be "bohemian status obsessed conservative individualist with a hipper dress sense" ) led by the nose by the Guardian (their Pravda) believe this is all about Assange dodging a rape charge in Sweden.

Assange, Ecuador & Amensty International's position is that if Sweden will guarantee "no forward extradition" to the U.S. - Assange will return to Sweden. Sweden without explanation refuses to do this. When Anon and others parrot the state line on this site they do not acknowledge this. This would indictae they are either idiots or state agents trolling this site.

The week after Assange was dealt with by the British Supreme Court, feminist U.S. V.P. Hillary Clinton (probably the next President of the United States), made an historic visit feminist Sweden during the feminist war on the people of Afghanistan.

A war on Afghanistan that has not been actively opposed by the feminist movement of the imperial centres US/UK - to any degree like the feminist anti-war resistance of the 1980's. Like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Socialism, liberal feminism has been co-opted to market the continued war on the poor - why should we be surprised when feminism is hijacked to attack anti-war activists like Assange & O'Reilly.

Rape is sex without consent - you can't consent if you're asleep (or "half-asleep", really). Rape is also doing things during sex that the other person hasn't consented to. Not only did the person in this case not consent to unprotected sex, she specifically told Assange she didn't want it. We can argue semantics all day - maybe this fits some legalistic definition of "rape" that you've come up with, maybe not. But it's blatantly fucked up behavoir, either way. Maybe you aren't using this as an excuse to minimise rape, but many Assange's online supporters are. If he's such a great guy, then why doesn't he rebut them? Why didn't he take an STD test? Clearly he sees the woman he raped as less important than him. This whole situation was an abuse of his position and celebrity status as head of wikileaks. If he cared about anti-war work at all, he would have resigned that position as soon as this came up. If he'd done that then wikileaks would have a lot more support today - and if this is all part of a CIA plot to discredit the organisation, resigning would have made that fail.

"Assange, Ecuador & Amensty International's position is that if Sweden will guarantee 'no forward extradition' to the U.S. - Assange will return to Sweden. Sweden without explanation refuses to do this." Don't lie about what I said. Unless the survivors have specifically requested it, I don't care if Assange goes to trial. I don't care if he doesn't go to Sweden. Blatantly the state is paying attention to a crime they too-often ignore because they don't like Assange. Be that as it may, I don't want to hero-worship an unapologetic rapist (or even an apologetic rapist, really). People coming in to a pro-feminist space and lambasting others for not doing so should expect anger. That's what this is all about.

"A war on Afghanistan that has not been actively opposed by the feminist movement" Maybe if there were less male egos in the movement, and less rapists, anarcha-feminists would have time to resist war under the feminist banner? As it is, I'm sure you'll find many of the people actively resisting the war are feminists. But you can't criticise people for not taking part in a movement that tries to intimidate them and that they are excluded from.

And why is it that everyone who is pro-feminism here gets called a liberal? That's just stupid.

Let me get this straight, Anon.

You have judged Assange's behaviour as unacceptable.
You don't care about any legal process, you just want him out of the way.

The fact that he hasn't given up his work at WikiLeaks proves he doesn't care about anti-war work (uh?) whereas you care but don't have time to do it because you're too busy dealing with people like Assange (*see below).

If Assange had left WikiLeaks, then the CIA would have left WikiLeaks alone, presumably because the CIA is much more interested in the bedroom behaviour of an individual than an organisation that exposes the state. Yeah, right.

You don't want to hero-worship someone you consider to be a rapist. Cool. My advice is don't hero-worship anyone.

You're angry that people you consider to be pro-feminists are being called liberals. Maybe they're being called liberals because they are liberals. You might disagree. That's fine. Everyone's entitled to their opinions.

You say: "People coming in to a pro-feminist space and lambasting others for not doing so [hero-worshipping someone you consider to be a rapist] should expect anger. That's what this is all about."

Are you talking about the bookfair? If I recall rightly, the anger started with an angry attack by anarcha-fems on someone not in the space at all but well outside it exercising his right to free speech. Angry attacks have a habit of triggering reactions. I've no idea where your 'hero-worship' idea has come from. I've met very few people who hero worship Assange, including among his supporters. Seems to me that you're slapping this label on anyone who doesn't publicly decry him.

*Anarcha-fems haven't had time to do much anti-war work because they've been far too busy dealing with male egos and rapists and even if they did have time, they couldn't because the anti-war movement would stop them with intimidation and exclusion. Big victim mentality there, Anon. The anti-war movement is tiny. Plenty of room to get on and do your own thing. Go for it. Do something for Chelsea Manning while you're at it. Might be more satisfying than all that angry destructive stuff that that's going on.

You seem very concerned with the timeline of the twitter account @blacbloc. You claim that is me, infact I was arrested and the same allegation was put to me by the police. Interesting that you to are putting the same allegation to me. The police were never able to establish that, as unlike your fellow travellers I know how to keep my mouth shut

In the same police interview, there were other allegations put to me, they are as following

- That I carried out an arson attack in Belfast against a car showroom. Resulting in a couple of millon £s of damage, The attack I believe was carried out by members of a republican organisation

- That I carried out an arson attack on a premises in North London.

- That I hacked one (Name redacted) and mined information from his computer.

There were over 15 pages of police statements, do you know who made those statements? So called activists in London. I will not name them. These people have been supported by a couple of high profile activists and at least one anarchist. Other than to say that I have written about it  http://hesmackeditbro.wordpress.com/ extensively, you say there is a personal vendetta against me, A vendetta there certainly is, and it has consequences that are very real.


So take a moment to reflect on that and dont lecture me about snitching.

Seamus

What has come to the fore for me this week is the lies that have been said about what happened outside and inside the CASA and previously at the Anarchist Bookfair. These people can not be trusted to tell the truth and its for that reason the bullshit articles about Paul Cunliffe, Ciaron O Reilly and me need to come down.

When I was first informed that Ciaron was attacked I was able to identify his attackers before my friend confirmed who there were.

Now why is that? Because the same people have been involved in attacks on me and many others.

They have used the same strategy against Assange, Cunliffe, O Reilly, myself, if people dont put a stop to this, then one of you may be next.

Liverpool Solfed put an article up regarding me as a 'tout'. now this wasnt for an English audience and it was written to put my life in danger. As a result of this article I have not visited my mother at her home since July 2012.

This article was reposted by ALARM. Now when you consider some members of ALARM have resentment towards me because I called them on their bullshit. I stood up for the truth when the statement was released about Paul Cunliffe and I will continue to stand for anyone who is bullied by this group.

There is this constant bulllshit about me being a snitch, let me tell you something, the first time I was arrested was at the early age of 15, and it was for no parking offence. As an Irish republican from a young age I was trained to deal with situations like that. Those who have stood side by side with me here and in other places know this to be bullshit. Your only making yourself stupid repeating it.

I have been arrested over 30 times since I arrived in London, with various activists. In none of those situations has there ever been a complaint of snitching, and I continue to work with activsts, who actually leave the house and are not what I would term 'keyboard commandos'

In the course of the last 18 months I have been accused of being in the EDL, being a snitch, a rapist, and who knows what else.

Being in the EDL I find especially distasteful as I walked behind more coffins than you could count of members of my community who were murdered by fascists. Oh and proud feminist? they were run by the very state you belong to.

Find out who your real enemy is...

Seamus

When you are all on the high horse about how great you are and how you want to work for safer spaces, have a reflection on the fact that one of you are pretending to be my dead father on this thread, you lost this argument a long time ago.

Is the public internet really the only place to share these personal details? I could be anyone, police or fash.

@observers if there was agreement to remove personal details from *all* the site related to this dispute then it would be fair to ask indymedia to remove details. Asking for the details of the people who have been carrying out violent attacks on activists to have their details protected while their victims details are on other sites is clearly not a reasonable request.

I was interviewed last week by my local neighbourhood Christian Athiest!
This may shine some more light on motives......
 http://tinyurl.com/pv2ua8q

There's an alternative account of these events here:
 https://angrywomen.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/statement-on-3rd-november-at-the-casa/

I didn't write it, and can't personally verify it, but I believe it's important people have access to all versions of events in order to make their own minds up. Interestingly, there is a fair amount of overlap between the various accounts.

There are a lot of problems with the "alternative account" on the Angry Women of Liverpool blog, which was also published on Adam Ford's blog, the main one being it contains lies, totally fabricated events that didn't take place and as such couldn't be published here as it is clearly inaccurate and this site hides "posts that are inaccurate or misleading".

The Angry Women of Liverpool say that they felt that "somebody unconnected to the event organisers needed to clarify what took place and the reasons for it", this gives the impressions that they are independant and un-biased, but this is far from the truth.

The person at the event with "a camera and voice recorder" was me, I arrived at the event as the staff were sweeping up the broken glass from the first attack. I only left the building once during the event, as I wrote above, I went to stand on the steps outside the door while another activist, whose statement is also above, had a smoke. While I was stood on the steps two of the women who attacked the event were poking their heads around the corner of the building, I walked through the gate of the venue and want around to them to see what they were up to and then returned to the steps. If I said anything to them it was something like "hello, what are you doing there?". While I was back on the steps they continued to poke their heads around the corner, Seamus then came out and I asked him if they were the same people that had attacked the event earlier and he went to see if they were. He walked around and saw that it was and then as he was walking back the others ran down the street and jumped him from behind. Seamus did not "shout abuse at them" — this is something they were doing. Their claim that I want to find them at a bus stop in an attempt to "intimidate and provoke them" is a total fabrication:

"They went to another pub for over an hour, and left in separate directions to go home. A few were left waiting for a bus at a stop around the corner from The Casa.

After they had been waiting for a few minutes, somebody who had been at The Casa – the activists are not sure whether this person was Casa staff or involved in organising the event – approached them at the bus stop with a camera and voice recorder and attempted to intimidate and provoke them. Having failed to do so, he returned to the venue. Shortly after this, O’Colgan approached them and began to shout abuse at them."

I didn't go to any bus stop, at this point in the evening I wouldn't have recognised any of them as I had never met any of them before in my life. The two women at the side of The Casa were clearly waiting to see when Seamus came out in order that they could then call on the others to join them and attack him. They made it extremely clear that they wanted to violently attack him as the audio posted illustrates, they were extremly threatening and they did in fact physically attack Seamus. I did not in any way "intimidate and provoke them" — I was simply asking them questions — listen to the audio, I was asking "why do you think that having a physical fight is going to help Chelsea Manning?".

They also made up another event, they claim that "The man who had approached them at the bus stop returned and took photos and voice recordings of them, which were later used on Indymedia", this whole incident lasted 5 or 10 mins at most, I never left and never returned, I was there the whole time and the audio and photos posted in the article above were all recorded after they jumped on Seamus.

Given that they have fabricated events I have no reason to believe their claims that they were attacked by Seamus inside the venue before I arrived.

They also claim that "Casa staff called the police, and the activists left.". No police turned up at the event, as far as I'm aware no police were called and they haven't been contacted about this event by anyone. Of course I'm only basing this on the fact that the police didn't come and that nobody mentioned or discussed calling the police in the conversations that I had and heard after the attack — it is possible that someone did contact the police, I don't have proof that they were not contacted, but equally the Angry Women of Liverpool don't have any proof of police involvement. Furthermore they give the impression that they left because the police were called, this isn't the case, they appear to have left as they realised their intimidation and violence wasn't fruitful — the event was going to continue.

"This sequence of events, from the protestors being approached at the bus stop to the police being called, lasted only a few minutes."

Their summury of the incident from being "approached at the bus stop", a total fabrication, to the "police being called", of which there is no evidence, shows how brazen they are with their lies, they claim it is "a factual account that has been denied space elsewhere", is a joke.

They claim they are the victims and that they were "treated appallingly not only by the event organisers and Casa staff ", this is utter crap, they treated the activist at the event and The Casa staff appallingly and them all being bared from the venue was a clearly appropriate decisions for the staff to take, the behaviour of The Casa staff was spot on, including the fact that, as far as I'm aware, didn't consider there to be a need to involve the police.

The writer of the "alternative account", says:

"I write this not only to give the perspective missing from Indymedia but to make these people aware of their recklessness. We do not and should never expose other activists and their families to danger for the sake of political differences or petty personal resentments."

These activists need to reflect on their reckless actions — using violence against other activists and telling lies about other activists is incompatible with trying to make the world a better place and I have no regrets about publishing a photo of them or the audio of their abuse (see above).

See also:

• Attack on The Casa
• Photos and audio from Chelsea Manning's Family Fundraiser in Liverpool

This if anything is an appeal to wider Liverpool activist community. The lies that have been exposed by those in indymedia and others who have witness the fabrication of stories to cover for violent behaviour. Only go to prove that this group of people can not be trusted and has done much to bully, intimidate and isolate activists. Using among other tools the internet and specifically twitter to cause problems within the wider activst networks.

This is not the first time they have written about other activists, they posted a blog on Libcom accusing me of being an informer/tout. and in June of 2012 a statement was released about an activist in Liverpool, deeming him to be a violent sex pest. When I first became aware of this statement, I reached out totwo women online, they are staunch feminists who I believed would tell me the truth, they who spoke to this person at least once a day, usually very late at night. My feeling was that if he was guilty of any of this behaviour he would have displayed it with these two women, I asked them two questions, 1) did they ever feel threatened by this person? 2) Was the person ever inappropriate with them? The answer to both questions was no. I believe those two women were telling me the truth.

Many of the statements that were written and published were in direct contradiction to the Next to Nowhere Safer spaces policy,  http://www.liverpoolsocialcentre.org/index.php/saferspaces-intro that is important as I believe the meeting that well held to make a decision about the various statements were done so in their premises.

It really is time for these various statements to be removed and a proper investigation into these groups and their friends is carried out.

The 'alternative' account from AWOL makes this claim about Indymedia uk:

"We have compiled this information because accounts of these events on Indymedia have been edited with a clear bias towards the organisers, members of whom are on the Indymedia editorial collective. Consequently, comments from their detractors have been deleted, while biased and misleading accounts, including individuals’ names, pictures and personal details, have been maintained and circulated."

What has been hidden are claims against named individuals from anonymous sources. None of the hidden comments refer to the dubious claims about a bus-stop, which appears to be a fabrication intended to justify the physical attack on Seamus.

If the authors of the article are unhappy that a named individual has posted claims about those who attacked the event, then how come they defend the right of anonymous posters to post unsubstantiated claims about named individuals? Where is the consistency in their argument?

If people are unhappy with Indymedia moderation, there is a public list where they can discuss their concerns. But at no time, afaik, have we been contacted via that list by the authors of the 'alternative' account. If people choose not to engage with the process then so be it. Indymedia will continue to hide anonymous attacks on named activists, along with other unsubstantiated claims, such as the one hidden which claims News from Nowhere was infiltrated by an undercover cop.

It would be pointless removing comments from the posts at this stage. Right at the beginning when we were contacted by News from Nowhere and a member of the (defunct?) Oxford Collective I made my position clear:

If you are against the use of the internet for personal attacks and
threats, then you should surely be against ANY personal attacks or
threats. It is because of other long standing threats and attacks that all
of this happened in the first place.

....

Have News from nowhere contacted libcom and blacbloc tumblr and the
twitter accounts of Iain Cognito eg TheJuneFaction and demanded that they
take stuff down? And what about the threats emananating from @TheBlackLamp
and @MournfulCries? And ALARM?"
 https://lists.indymedia.org.uk/pipermail/moderation/2013-November/001409.html

Nobody seems prepared to address the issue!

Hi Chris,

Thanks for highlighting the differences in the accounts.

The point about whether Casa called the police doesn't seem particularly significant to me, because it's quite plausible that they may have at least claimed to have called the police (in order to get people to leave). Just because you didn't overhear such a conversation doesn't mean it didn't happen.

The other discrepancies are more significant, and I've posted a comment on the AWOL blog asked for clarification - may take a while to appear while it goes through their moderation. In the meantime I hope indymedia mods will resist the urge to hide these last few comments while we try to get to the bottom of it. Cheers :)

let me get this straight seamus - you asked 2 of your female mates whether they had ever felt unsafe with this guy and they said no - therefore the 2 women who say they were harrassed by him (and those who compiled the statement who say there were 4 others also affected!) are ALL lying!?!?

thats really dodgy logic! it is possible for someone like that to behave differently towards different ppl, isn't it??!?

Besides which - so many different people see you as a dodgy figure that I just can't trust anything you say at this pointn anyway!

"Thank you for the response and this will be my last post/ word on the issue.Just a couple of points which I believe need to be made. People who were in the hostelry next door to the Casa and were outside in the alley way having a smoke, have captured, audio and visual, a couple of women in the alleyway , debating whether to ” bottle the bastard”"


 http://angrywomen.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/statement-on-3rd-november-at-the-casa/

Seamus - There really are no words to describe this, many lies have been told about me online and I may have at times reacted badly to those, but to threaten to 'bottle' someone. I think the credibility of this group is gone for good, if it ever existed in the first place. What we are seeing now is its pathetic attempts to justify these attacks with lie after lie.

If anyone would like to discuss anything, I will happily reply, but I will not be responding to anonymous posts.

The second comment by Martin Balmer, reposted above and which is at  https://angrywomen.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/statement-on-3rd-november-at-the-casa/#comment-275 sounds like hearsay, I didn't notice a "hostelry next door to the Casa" and the "audio and visual" sounds like a reference the the photos and audio I recorded.

The response to the comments by Martin Balmer from angrywomenguest indicates that she really believes that the violence was started by the people at the gig and the victims were those opposed to it, she really has swallowed a load of lies. The people at the gig and The Casa staff are the ones who acted in self defence and the attackers should be thankful that they recieved such a restrained response.

Regarding the comment from "me" above, "it's quite plausible that they may have at least claimed to have called the police (in order to get people to leave)" -- no it isn't, I have a full audio recording of the period and although it's bad quality in parts because of the high wind, at no point did anyone mention the police.

In terms of the suggestion that people might have been considering calling the police, "me" said, "Just because you didn't overhear such a conversation doesn't mean it didn't happen." But the thing is the activists at the gig didn't discuss this, I chatted with a lot of them following the attack, and I had a chat with the manager of The Casa straight after the incident and she didn't mention it and she was the member of staff who would have taken on the task of calling the police if they were called. I really don't think the police were called or that the attackers were threatened with the police, at no point did the staff of the people at the gig think it was necessary -- although the attackers were abusive, drunk and violent it wasnt something that couldn't be handled.

Unless anyone can produce any evidence of police involvement then we have to assume there wasn't any, the only claim that there was police involvement has come from the statement on the AWOL blog and since it is full of lies I see no reason to believe this part of it.

Chris

you are correct that it is hearsay at this stage, but worrying all the same, there is a entrance to hostelry at the side, you can see it from the picture.

Also would like to state that I don't know Martin Balmer and judging from his comments he certainly is no friend of mine.

It is quite plausible that someone in the hostelry videoed those at the side of the building and did overhear those comments. I am tending to lean towards a high possiblity that this was said. It certainly fits with their behaviour and other threats that were made on the night and since on forums such as twitter.

best

S

About 18 months ago some information appearing on a fascist website regarding an anarchist and close friend of the people involved on the attacks on me, he called the police and reported it. Personally I think that was a wise thing to do. I support that.

However, the hypocrisy of those involved in the violent attack on the CASA, their staff and activists never fails to amuse me. They seem to have a schizophrenic approach in dealing with police, apparently you should only contact the police when there is 'gendered assault' not sure what that means, If it means when a man attacks a women, does that therefore include an attack by a woman on a man?

In an ideal world it would nice to not have to deal with the police, I mean if someone drove into your car and then didnt run away but faced the problem and paid for the damage, or maybe if someone got murdered, would it be a good idea to go to the police or not? Should we hide the body and have a jazzy hands meeting?

I haven't made my mind up either way about the attack on me and the previous 18 months of hate that have been directed at me and my family, however the continued lies and threats have not helped. In fact some of you may be aware that I made a video which was directed at those behind the attacks, it was an olive branch, and it got an answer

"no means no and all death & rape threats will be passed directly to the police without replying."  http://thevenusenvy.wordpress.com/about/

Thanks for that image, I was clearly mistaken, there is a "hostelry next door to the Casa". The two women who organised the second attack were stood at the corner, at the bottom of the steps in the photo. The entrance to The Casa is by the two blokes in the photo. Clearly there is no bus stop here!

It seems possible they discussed if they should "bottle the bastard" given that one of them screamed "Bring him out, bring him the fuck out, I'll fuck him to bits, I'll fucking smash his face into this fucking kerb, smash his face...",  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2013/11//513487.mp3

It would be good to see some evidence from Martin Balmer.

There is a bus stop directly facing the CASA, it probably is where you got confused

I explained about their fabricated bus stop story in this comment,  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/11/513484.html?c=on#c298023 -- they were standing at the corner in the forground of the photo you have just posted,  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/11/513484.html?c=on#c298040 not at a bus stop.

I'm not confused, and I'm sure they are not either as they know they simply made up the story about me approaching them at a bus stop, angrywomenguest at  https://angrywomen.wordpress.com/ is clearly confused however as she appears to believe the lies she has been told.

There were two incidents before the first attack, one involved the bus stop

Just after 6pm a group of what I now know to be those who attacked the CASA walked up Hope Street on the opposite side of the road, in the direction of the cathedral. They stopped at the bus stop and looked over the direction of me. I recognised the heavy set guy with the blue hair. They were laughing, staring and talking among themselves.

Not much later when I was out having a cigarette the group has done a loop around and came back to the front of the CASA, at that point one of the members of the band had come out to get photographs of the front of the building for their own records and he was challenged by one of the group.

The person I now believe to be involved in the assault, followed the band member accross the road and I followed behind both of them. I noticed at that stage that the person was very intoxicated.

Now the one question I would ask, why did they feel the need to do recce on the building if their intentions were to be peaceful?

My belief is that it was never meant to be peaceful, had I not been there, I imagine they would have attacked Ciaron, I have never felt the need to go to a protest or direct action intoxicated, my only conclusion was that they go this drunk to give themselves courage to carry out serious disruption and assault.