VID (26 mins) East Timor/ Seeds of Hope Ploughshares documentary, 1996

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Thursday June 27, 2013 08:17 by Ciaron

VID (26 mins) East Timor/ Seeds of Hope Ploughshares documentary, 1996
http://tinyurl.com/og2nou9

This 1996 documentary made following the trial and acquittal of the Seeds of Hope Ploughshares
has contemporary relevance to us for a number of reasons & themes

- it was the first acquittal of a plowshares group (others have received sentences of 1-18 years)
- the interface between the U.S. faith based ploughshares activist tradition and more populist British
Ghandian influenced traditions.
- trial solidarity organising, interface between out of town activists and local activists
- nonviolent resistance to ongoing British arms industry
- John Pilger expert witness/ advocate, Gareth Peirce solicitor, Ciaron O'Reilly activist/ organiser
have all been involved in responding to the ongoing persecution of Wikileaks & Julian Assange
- Energy from the acquittal was subsequently harnessed to kickstart the Trident Plougshares 2000
campaign focussed on British nuclear weapons

- the establishment of the first activist Catholic Worker community in England
- Liverpool Catholic Worker were joined by East Timorese activist exiles & continued to sustain
nonviolent resistance/ local organsing at British Aerospace, Warton over the following period.
- The Catholic Worker was targeted & infiltrated by Special Branch & a BAe operative
(later exposed by the Sunday Times) who played a significant role in the community's eventual
eviction & collapse.
Standard practice by the London Metropolitan Police SDS and privatised versions working for BAe & corporates