Talking Zeds

Andrew Bartlett talks with life-long anti-war & justice activist Ciaron O'Reilly, exploring his activism from he was a schoolboy in Brisbane to the present day, covering a range of issues, protests, direct actions, arrests and jailings in various parts of Australia, the USA, East Timor, England and Ireland. The conversation covers street march, free speech, land rights and anti-uranium protests in the Bjelke-Petersen era and community support work and lifestyle in 1980s West End, to his direct action activites disabling war planes in the USA which landed him in jail numerous times. We explore the religious, nonviolent philosphy which has driven him in working with homeless people and showing his commitment to opposing war by working with others as part of the Ploughshares Movement, entering miltary bases to physical disable weapons of war, and particularly his part in the Pitstop Ploughshares, who disabled a USA plane which used an airport in Ireland as a 'pitstop' on the way to support US attacks on Iraq in 2003. The story of their action and trial is covered in the book Hammered by the Irish, by Harry Browne. The conversation also covers Ciaron's actions supporting Julian Assange, and his reflection on how to do activism in the face of the threats and dangers in the current era.