Sam Land - Holding out the Cross at Pine Gap 2006

I first met Sam Land when he came to Alice Springs in October 2006, where he joined in one part of the trial process of the Pine Gap 4.  Here’s a story about the trial from our legal advisor – solicitor and Barrister Russell goldflam.

The “Citizens’ Inspection” of Pine Gap was carried out in December 2005.  It contained elements of property damage that stopped short of “ploughshares” actions.    

The Pine Gap 4 cut through fences to gain entry, allegations were made about the “illegal” activities supported by Pine Gap, and we were pleased to disrupt the normal activities of the base by sending it into “lock=down” – but the focus of the action was disclosure/information for public discourse, not disabling weapons systems.

Ciaron at Pine Gap 2006

Giving evidence at the Waihopai ploughshares trial in Wellington in March 2010, Sam described the 2006 Pine Gap experience as a key element in forming his own determination to carry out a ploughshares action (which physically disables a weapons system in active use, in witness to the prophecy of Isaiah). He also met Ciaron O’reilly there, a powerful advocate of ploughshares actions.

Sam’s decision to move further into physically disabling weapons systems led him to deflating the dome at Waihopai Spy Base around ANZAC Day 2008, with his friends and colleagues Adi Leason and Peter Murnane.

It is also the reason that Sam, Adi, and Peter were acquitted of all charges, whereas the Pine Gap 4 were convicted of wilful damage charges under the Commonwealth Crimes Act.  (The Pine Gap 4 had some convictions quashed on appeal and replaced by acquittals, but they were under a different piece of legislation which has been subsequently amended by Parliament).

Sam and Adi pray while the dome deflates 2008

Some of the legal issues in the Waihopai and Pine Gap trials were the same.  In each case the defence admitted all facts relevant to behaviour which damaged property.  Events were not disputed.  In each case the defence attempted to raise claims of “Excuse” OR “Justification” to avoid culpability for the behaviour which would otherwise clearly be criminal.

These defences say that the property damage in question was committed in order to preserve a life or property from loss or damage that was real and foreseeable.  (Also referred to as the “Greater Good” defence).

The defence must prove a direct link between the damage being prosecuted, and the threat to life, limb and property being averted.

CONSERVATIVE JUDGES

Judge thomas in Alice Springs, and Judge Harrop in Wellington both ruled that the peace activists concerned were unable to establish that Pine Gap or Waihopai were directly involved in acts of aggressive war, rendition, torture, or other crimes against humanity.

In each case the judges referred to the secrecy involved in the bases’ operations, and how the secrecy made establishing the actions of the base very unlikely, let alone the consequences of the actions.  When considering the burden of evidence required for legal purposes, the current public knowledge was too general and speculative to substantiate the claim that Pine Gap and Waihopai are active links in a chain of death and destruction.

One at the Bar table, two in the dock, 2010

The Seeds of Peace Ploughshares (England), and the Pit-stop Ploughshares (Ireland) (both acquitted by juries allowed to consider the necessity defence) both addressed military aircraft heading for a theatre of active military operations, and each proved the link between those particular aircraft and the dire consequences for life and limb of civilians in East Timor and Iraq.

REVOLUTIONARY JUDGES?

Judge Harrop

Judges Thomas and harrop seem to be saying that, for a defence of necessity or defence of another to be successfully raised:

1/            The damage done by activists has to be sufficient, if successful, to put the piece of equipment out of action, or majorly impair it.

2/            The piece of equipment addressed must be demonstrated to play a direct material role in the killing and maiming that activists seek to avert.

PLOUGHSHARES

By moving into the terrain of physical damage to weapons systems, the Waihopai ploughshares effectively satisfied the first of these. 

They failed on the second because of the secret nature of military ELINT (electronic intelligence) collection and use.

By choosing targets such as airplanes, ships, tanks etc (less secret, more direct weapons systems/components), and by majorly disabling said piece of equipment, it may yet be possible to get a necessity defence in front of an Australian or New Zealand jury.  At a high risk of repression.

Wellington District Court 2010

In the Waihopai case the judge ruled out “necessity” and “defence of another”, but left a 3^rd defence alive “claim of right”. 

Claim of Right is all about belief and intent.  If a person reasonably and genuinely believes they are lawfully entitled to damage property, then they are not criminally liable for doing so.  The belief can be mistaken, but it must be genuinely and reasonably held.

The Waihopai ploughshares defendents believed they had available a defence based on necessity and the greater good – a defence which had been successful in England and Ireland before they carried out their action.  Sam’s contact with Ciaron o’Reilly was a key part of their evidence.

They had also amassed a great deal of material about the alleged functions of the base, and the criminal behaviour it supports.

Even though the judge ruled that they were wrong in law, and the necessity defences were not available, it was still possible their (mistaken) belief was genuine.

During the defendents’ evidence the prosecutor had tried to undermine and negate Sam, Adi and Peter’s evidence on this:  “It was really about publicity, wasn’t it?”, “you never really believed you’d save a life”.  All three defendents were adamant they believed in the rightness of disarmament action.  The prosecutor failed to rule this defence out as a possibility.

Thus the state of belief of the Waihopai defendents became a matter of fact for the jury to determine.  The only matter of fact they were asked to decide. 

Once the judge rules that the defence can be considered by the jury, the standard of proof is “beyond reasonable doubt”.  If the jury thinks they might have believed in the necessity defence, the prosecution has failed to make its case.

Not Guilty

Judge Harrop told each member of the jury to answer the question “Am I sure that the accused DID NOT genuinely believe that his actions on 30 April 2008 were lawful”.

If you answer YES to that question the accused is guilty.  If you answer NO to that question the accused is not guilty.

Waihopai deflated 2008

It took only two hours for 11 jurors to decide unanimously about nine separate charges that Sam, Adi and Peter were NOT GUILTY of any criminal act when they deflated a dome at Waihopai Spy Base in april 2008.

There are lessons here.

I’ve got a new red tricycle to tool around on in Cairns (on account of how the nasty old Queensland government has suspended my drivers license – because I’m refusing to obey a court order that I should give $400 cash money to the ALP).  I love my new red tricycle!

I’m keen to participate in nonviolent interventions that are nationally significant, so I’ve been thinking about two major actions in planning for 2011.

1/Transform ANZAC Day by adding a new event and liturgy.  A lantern lit vigil at the Cenotaph from sunset on 24 April – in memory of ALL the victims of war.  We pack up and leave when the RSL starts arriving for their dawn service.

2/Frustrate and stop the joint Aus/US wargames talisman sabre 2011 in June (32,000 troops, a nuclear aircraft carrier battle group, a well-resourced team of PR professionals, to practice invading foreign countries.

Here you can find a detailed explanation about several bits of the puzzle, and how they might fit together.

Hey groovers,

After the trial of the Waihopai Ploughshares (March 2010), I attended a national gathering of Christian (and Buddhist) nonviolence activists over the ANZAC Day weekend (April 2010).  At the Australian Quaker Centre “Silver Wattle”, outside Canberra.

The ANZAC group wrote an epistle explaining how we see what happened that weekend.  I’ve put it up on my web-site.  http://www.cairnspeacebypeace.org/?p=340#more-340

The nub, for me, is the action plan:

“The group resolved to take forward the following issues:

A             To initiate a “White Poppy” program for ANZAC Day 2011 and to extend ANZAC Day forward with an evening vigil ceremony which commemorates all victims of war and envisions an end to war;

B             To identify opportunities and initiatives within the peace movement to assist with the healing of war veterans;

C             A recurring “Shoalwater Wilderness Pilgrimage”, containing and reflecting Christian Civil Disobedience to be developed and publicised for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2011, and subsequently;

D             Consideration by the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Australasia Regional Group of a proposal to form a Christian Peacemaker Team to visit West Papua;

E              To seek opportunities for cooperative peace-making initiatives between Australian and New Zealand activists.

Agreed by all present:

 For further information, contact Helen:

Email:  aqc@quakers.org.au

Phone 02 6238 0588 or Mobile 0422 138 991

Web: www.aqc.quakers.org.au

Read the epistle at http://www.cairnspeacebypeace.org/?p=340#more-340 for its full flavour.  It’s hard to describe the optimism with which folk addressed the tasks of transforming ANZAC Day and ending war.

In the goals above, I’ve highlighted those elements I’m going to be active in.  There is movement in each that I’d like you all to think about.

1/            PEACE CONVERGENCE                   Many individuals, groups, and affinity groups have already declared an interest in resisting the joint US/AUS military war-games TALISMAN SABRE  (30,000 troops, a nuclear Aircraft carrier Battle Group and a professional PR apparatus, practicing to invade).

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115709255120251&v=wall

The Peace Convergence is planning an event that builds on all that’s been learned at TS05, TS07, and TS09. 

http://www.peaceconvergence.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sMsniEwA3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVXJTb_zO6k&NR=1

Robin Taubenfeld is organising a Peace Convergence presence next month supporting the NAIDOC Day and Rally on June 11 in Rockhampton.  Graham Dunstan will be there workshopping and making banners and lanterns with locals for the Parade and Showground.  I’m going down for a week to support, to network, and to further survey the infrastructure of our military security state (around Rockhampton and Shoalwater Bay).  I’ll share White Poppies.

http://www.peacebus.com/

http://www.peacebus.com/PeaceConvergence/index2009.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNWBCe4Rca4

I’m hoping to do some developmental work during this time with Graham and others about lantern design for our ANZAC Peace Project. .. and speculate on how we might tie that project to the TS11 resistance.  (Graham has a vision of 10,000 lanterns, each produced for ANZAC Day events in 15 capitals and regional centres, maybe including the NAIDOC lanterns.  Painted paper and candle-light.  What could be more fun than that?)

I’m also going to look around for a solution to my needs for a living and organising space for TS11.

2/            FAITH BASED NONVIOLENCE      There has also been high levels of consent and commitment from Christian nonviolence activists for an interventionary program (which includes, but is not limited to, the conduct of a “Shoalwater Wilderness Pilgrimage”).

Simon Moyle,  Jessica Morrison, Simon Reeves and Jacob Bolton in Melbourne are extending the operation and scope of the Bonhoefer group, with an ongoing trespass intervention into the SAS training/intelligence base on Swan Island near Geelong.  They have involved several Christian communities in Melbourne, and are escalating that action with a Court hearing and further direct action on Wednesday 16 April 2010.  I’m going for that too.  I’ll share White Poppies.  Simon M and Jessica have expressed interest in extending their action leadership at TS11. 

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/11677

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/44046

http://newmatilda.com/2010/04/08/switching-war

Margaret Pestorius is pursuing engagement and commitment from senior spiritual counsellors to play a pastoral role for those who come to TS11 for Christian or Gandhian nonviolent action.  Margaret will continue to think about liturgy and planning for the Wilderness Pilgrimage.  David Johnson from Ravenshoe  and  Jenny Sterling from Townsville are considering.

Everyone who comes to TS11  chooses their own level of commitment and risk.  For example Moana Cole will be visiting from New Zealand and will confine herself to an educational role.  Moana is a Catholic Worker, Mother and Barrister who has experience of Australian, New Zealand, and US Catholic Worker stories and dynamics.  Moana spent 12 months in a US prison for taking part in the ANZAC Ploughshares in 1991, and will talk about what she’s learned over 22 years of action and reflection.

There will also be trespass actions designed to frustrate the military exercise, including the live-firing programmes.  This will include an element of personal risk as affinity groups enter into the live-fire zones and publicise their presence.   I want to trespass again.  I want to re-form the Jagerstaetter 3 and make a shrine to him outside the base, and in.  Maybe the Jagersaetter 4.  Jim Dowling and Culley Palmer, are you listening?

Plus there’ll be the veneration of saints and activists, worship in local churches.  Quite lawful wilderness acclimatisation walks.  And the full carnival of all the different creative peace-making that human beings are capable of.  The Peace Convergence and maybe even a C2C festival from the Byfield community again.

3/            ANZAC DAY and TS11     In its war liturgy for ANZAC Day the RSL uses a single line 13 of John 15 by itself – “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.  They use this isolated phrase as excuse to pretend that being killed while trying to kill one’s enemy is a Christian thing to do.  It is not, and never can be.

Line 12 of that very passage reads “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you.”  Line 14 reads “Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you”.  Christ expects us love our enemies, and to love them so strongly one is prepared to lay down one’s own life by following Jesus’ commandments and trusting in God.  That is what we must do to be Jesus’ friend. 

So one key point in our focus for ANZAC Day is to restore the full meaning of John 15 in public discourse on ANZAC Day.  It is also an appropriate passage to use for risk-taking trespass actions at Shoalwater Bay, to expose and discuss the military response to fear, and the Christian alternative.  Those going into the live fire zones/exercise area risk life and limb, but do not threaten any other person.  We respect the soldiers, and challenge the politicians who abuse them.

4/            ANZAC DAY        WHITE POPPIES                I’ve got a box of 100 white poppies, and supporting material, from the Peace Pledge Union.  They’ve been using White Poppies for the British Remembrance Day.  Graham wants to do workshops where communities make their own white poppies.  The white flower material is fabric, and consists of two pieces exactly the same (four petals), offset 45%, with a green circle centre saying PEACE.

I’d like to explore how they might best be manufactured/assembled easily in small groups – in sufficient numbers that we might get 10,000 of them in the first year.

If you’d like an actual physical white poppy to think about and plan around, e-mail me with a postal address.  I’ll send you one.

5/            NEW ZEALAND/AOTEAROA         I’m sending this to friends and colleagues in New Zealand, as well as Australia, and asking them to think about how we strengthen our cooperation in relation to both ANZAC Day and TS11.

I was introduced to the White Poppy by Edwina Hughes of Peace Movement Aotearoa.

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/poppy09.htm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/national/3603333/Rival-poppy-campaign-angers-veterans/

So we can now use the White Poppy as  ANZAC Peacemakers, and coordinate action and public relations.

Of course my main purpose in New Zealand was supporting the Waihopai Ploughshares (Adi Leason, Peter Murnane, Sam Land) who were acquitted at their trial 8 – 17 March 2010.

http://ploughshares.org.nz/

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/plupdate.htm

http://www.cairnspeacebypeace.org/?page_id=223

I’m encouraging all principled nonviolence activists in Aotearoa to think about:

Whether you’d like to visit Shoalwater Bay in June 2011 and be part of this vibrant resistance to war, or;

What kinds of solidarity and educational events you might like to organise in your home town, as ANZAC Peacemakers, around Talisman Sabre and the US military doctrine for the western Pacific region.

Anzac Day Weekend Workshop

Silver Wattle Quaker Retreat and Study Centre

23-26 April 2010

Open Letter from the Gathering

Dear friends and peace-workers,

On ANZAC Day weekend 23-26 April 2010, at the Australian Quaker Centre at Silver Wattle, Bungendore near Canberra, 17 Christians and 2 Buddhists gathered from the east coast of Australia to respond to the growing militarisation of both Anzac Day and Australian society and to consider ways of putting an end to war.

In the grace of Silver Wattle and the grandeur of its outlook over Weereewa (Lake George) and in the joy, good humour, dedication and inspiration of companionship, participants felt ‘the hand of God’ moving them. Participants were, in the main, people with deep experience of peace and social justice organising over the past 40 years.  Even though we were few and the challenges ahead enormous, our meditation seemed to be some kind of turning point in the tides of war and peace in this land – and beyond.

Sessions were led by participants and the group, with much sharing, focussed on:

-        The teaching of Jesus about the Kingdom of God, and the prophetic and priestly      requirements of our times;

-        Contemporary Christian Nonviolent Action in Australia;

-        Personal war witness and truth-telling (Baghdad, Bougainville, Gaza, Palestine);

-        Christian Peacemaker Teams internationally, and scope for CPT in our region;

-        The ideological roots of Anzac Day, its spiritual dimensions and contemporary         practice;

-        War Tax Refusal.

At each point, participants reflected on and shared personal experiences, along with hopes, fears, and desires about war, peace and Anzac Day.  Recurring themes were the direction and next steps for faith-based peace-making in Australia, and how we might engage with Anzac Day in this pursuit.  It is apparent that all of us are deeply touched by the stories and events of war and its impacts on family and society on all sides and in all places.

There were points of consensus:

• The centrality of the principle to love one another, and the call to be willing to die rather than kill;
• Gratitude to Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds for their timely book on the contemporary politics of Anzac Day in Australia, What’s Wrong with Anzac? The Militarisation of Australian history, UNSW Press, April 2010, Paperback, 192 pp;
• Concern about both the growing militarisation of Anzac Day, along with the exclusion of other perspectives on Australia’s national formation and role in the world;
• The hunger of Australians for authentic and meaningful values and experiences, which is the need behind the growth of participation in Anzac Day ceremonies;
• The political use of Anzac Day to militarise Australian culture and validate engagement in foreign wars, thereby narrowing the public discussion of history and virtue and failing to acknowledge the full multicultural range of grief and losses;
• The control of the RSL over Anzac ceremonies and their content;
• The failure of churches to provide Christian witness and perspective in Anzac Day commemorations;
• The racism explicit in the historical Anzac engagement and implicit in today’s remembrance of sacrifice in foreign wars only, with no mention of the frontier war against Aboriginals or the loss and suffering in war by Australian citizens of non-Anglo ethnicity;
• The need to bring forth the stories of the Anzacs themselves and those who have fought in wars since, and to focus on the lessons they have identified for us from their experiences;
• The need for ceremony to grieve for all those who died or whose lives were broken by war, including all sides and civilian victims, and to recognise the impact of their loss on families and community, especially women and children who bear the brunt with devastating consequences;
• The need to broaden Anzac Day into remembrance of the ongoing blight of war and to reclaim it as a people’s peacemaking day;
• The need to transform the energies of Anzac Day into effective peace-making.

We rejoiced in singing the song:

Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream[1] 

The group resolved to take forward the following issues:

ü  To initiate a “White Poppy” program for ANZAC Day 2011 and to extend ANZAC Day forward with an evening vigil ceremony which commemorates all victims of war and envisions an end to war;

ü  To identify opportunities and initiatives within the peace movement to assist with the healing of war veterans;

ü  A recurring “Shoalwater Wilderness Pilgrimage”, containing and reflecting Christian Civil Disobedience to be developed and publicised for Exercise Talisman Sabre 2011, and subsequently;

ü  Consideration by the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) Australasia Regional Group of a proposal to form a Christian Peacemaker Team to visit West Papua;

ü  To seek opportunities for cooperative peace-making initiatives between Australian and New Zealand activists.

Agreed by all present:

For further information, contact Helen:

Email:  aqc@quakers.org.au

Phone 02 6238 0588 or Mobile 0422 138 991

Web: www.aqc.quakers.org.au

TRO-©1950,1951 & 1955 Almanac Music, Inc. New York, N.Y. Copyrights renewed. Used by permission.

[2] Added verse written for this event by Helen Bayes

of Media Reports of the Waihopi Ploughshares trial and verdict

they’re chronological, from Press, TV, Radio and social media.

I reckon they tell a story about the kind of media coverage and public discourse brought about by creative and committed direct action – like the Waihopai Ploughshares. 

For a perspective on where media coverage fits in the spectrum of NVDA outcomes, read this piece from a nonviolence discussion list which discusses media strategy.

17 March 4.15 pm. In the foyer of Court 3. The Jury's Out. What will they say?

There are 43 stories, several with substantial links and/or discussion threads. 

The list is more representative than exhaustive (for example there are several blogs, and the bigger ones carried one or two stories most days).  There are more daily papers than surveyed here.  In some fields my selection is arbitrary, based on what was easiest to do. 

Towards the bottom you’ll find my final Report for Scoop, through which you can find links to all my Court reports.  Sarah, a documentary film-maker, plus me were the only recorders who stayed to cover the whole public part of the trial.

Please notice the extensive public discussion, in several movements, started by the trial and the verdict.

Throughout the process there has been jubilation (and clarity) from the defendents, and their supporters.

Initially there was accurate factual reporting from journalists who witnessed at least part of the evidence directly.  There was a lot of media in court for the final day of closing arguments, and the Judge’s directions to the jury.

For getting the actual defendents’ words out, radio provided opportunity in depth, while TV carried the headlines.  TV broke first with comments from the defendents.  Radio broke first with accurate legal reporting.

I’m afraid that, apart from the Otago Daily times, and a minority of good coverage in the NZ Herald, the NZ press disgraced itself with a slew of ignorance and speculation that it tried to pass off as news.

They said "Not Guilty" on all counts."

The hollow commentariat of the Tea-Party right made a clarion call to confusion, bigotry and prejudice to replace that left-wing pinko invention – the jury trial.  Talk-back loved it, and the PM followed his Solicitor and attorney Generals in calling for the verdict and the law itself to be questioned (without wanting to make specific comments).

Now we’re in the third movement, and serious commentary (including from Adi and Peter) has re-emerged with gravitas. 

I’m tidying up and organising my notes on the trial and what it can mean for the peace movement.  I’ll post them here as they emerge.

The Jury went out to consider its verdict at 3.45 pm Wellington time on Wed 17 march 2010.  The returned to deliver their verdict just two hours later.

Not Guilty for all defendents on all charges.

The judge thanked the jury for doing their duty and discharged them.  The court was packed, and when the defendents were allowed to leave the dock, the public gallery erupted into vigorous applause.  The same applause was given the jury after they were discharged and leaving the court.

It would be fair to say that everyone in the Court, from the Judge on down, felt this verdict was a worthy example of the Jury’s power to decide on the facts.

I published this report with scoop just before the verdict was reached.  It tells about the prosecution’s closing address, which we no see failed in its objective.

After the verdict  I went to the celebration Party at the Leason farm outside Otaki.

The following day I filed this report on the closings, and Judge’s directions. 

My full complement of Court reports can be found through that link, or on the trial pages of this Blog, in the “Waihopi” nest.

District Court no 3 in Wellington’s Ballance St has been closed to the public for one day and a half.  Judge Harrop has been hearing argument from Counsel, and has made his decisions aboutthe shape and scope of the trial.  In just over half an hour he will tell the jury and the public what those decisions are, and any remaining evidence will resume.

After all the evidence is given, the Prosecution and defence Counsel will give their closing address.

Then the judge “sums up” the case (by going through all the evidence in summary form, being careful to include all key elements), and then gives his directions (instructs the jury on what things the law requires them to consider and decide upon in coming to their verdict).

Finally the jury is sent out to deliberate, and if all goes well return a verdict.

If the jury convicts, there is a sentencing process to follow.

The trial will most likely take up the rest of this week, and may spill into next.

I’ll report on the Judge’s decisions this evening, and my feeling is they will be significant – both for the defendents, and for the processes of law in this country.

For gamblers, I’m still prepared to bet against a conviction.  Any takers?

Adi Leason and Sam land pray as the dome comes down

From your correspondent in Christchurch.

My first report for scoop can be found here.

There’s a web-based news service in Aotearoa called Scoop www.scoop.co.nz

Alastair Thompson asked me if I’d assist them to report the trial, and he wrote a measured letter to Judge Harrop asking for me to be allowed to do so, subject to editorial surety that I would be informed about, and abide by NZ court reporting rules.

Judge Harrop agreed to this, and I am now an accredited scoop reporter for the trial.  I’m allowed to sit at the media table and take notes.  Who’da thunkit?  A new career at my time of life.

I’ll file from now on with scoop, and after they’ve published I’ll update this blog.

The defendents have all finished giving evidence and being cross-examined.  I’m exhausted and going off for a big sleep, so start looking for my coverage of today’s proceedings in about 24 hours.  Meanwhile the scoop reporter from Wednesday wrote a pretty cool and sympathetic background piece here.

I’m ordered by the Court to cease reporting on this trial.

This morning I was called into the closed Court by Judge Harrop and shown an extract of my blog from Day 2.  The extract contained a photo of Adi Leason that I captured from a TV3 broadcast, and a paragraph that I wrote saying that legal argument had taken place.

Judge Harrop never mentioned the photo, but he said that the mention of things which happened in the absence of the jury was against the court reporting rules in New Zealand.

He ordered me “to desist from any further reporting of this trial until after it is finished” and he reminded me of his powers to find me in contempt and imprison me for the duration if I disobeyed his order.

Upon my request he allowed me to publish his order, and explain the sudden absence of reports on this site about the trial.

I WILL OBEY the Judge’s orders, because I agree with him that no-one wants to see this trial aborted.  Indeed, I have gone further and removed the offending paragraph.

 The freedom of speech around court hearings is an important part of democracy, and one I will take up after this trial is over – but it is not the central issue just now.  The central issue is the conscience, action and trial of Adi, Peter and Sam.

You can read a report about Day 4 of the trial (which is NOT written by me) here:

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/95966?author_name=Letitia&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=false#comment265974

Yesterday was a short day in Court, and concluded with a very successful public meeting at St John’s Presbyterian Church that evening.

Faith

In Court, Adi Leason re-commenced his testimony where it’d been interrupted by the power failure on Tuesday. His Counsel Mike Knowles by asking him “When and how you decided the work of Waihopai base was so important to you that you had to address it?”

Adi re-stated the importance in his life of a deep and strong Christian faith.  “Everything I know, and everything I’ve read in the Bible can be boiled down into two things” he said.

“Loving the Lord God with all your heart, soul, conscious and spirit”

and following Jesus’ commandment to “Love your neighbour as yourself”

And these two principles lead to a way of life:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

“War is the opposite of that!”

Hope and Despair

He then went on to tell the story of that period after he’d returned from Thailand and moved to the farm at Otaki.  His mother became terminall ill, so she moved into Adi’s house where he (with community nursing assistance) cared for her through the process of dying.  His mother died at home surrounded by family.  Weeks later a child was born in the same bed.  As he tended his garden and watched the seasons roll on in the established pattern he reflected on how important family was to human life.

Around this time he saw a TV interview with an Iraqi grandfather who was holding the body of a dead grand-child, and who, according to this BBC report, had just lost every living member of his family in a US bomb attack.  “That man just looked so desolate” Adi said.  “The bomb that killed his family would have been sent there by ELINT collected at bases like Waihopai that were part of the Echelon network”.

“At that time I started to feel a knot in my stomach, and I knew I couldn’t carry on JUST praying.  I mean prayer is great, and our family begins every day with it, but it was becoming clear to me that more was needed”.

Then came the images of Abu Graihb prison and the torture that was going on there.  Adi was struck by “the wrongness of that:  the immorality of that.”

A possible way forward

“I couldn’t avoid reflecting on various ploughshares actions around the world”.  He cited the ANZAC Ploughshares at Griffis Airforce Base conducted by Ciaron O’Reilly and Moana Cole (friends of his).  The Liverpool based Seeds of Peace Ploughshares.  The Pitstop Ploughshares at Shannon Airforce Base,  The Christians Against ALL Terrorism at Pine Gap in Australia.

He described “a growing sense that this was a possible opportunity for me to act on my belief”!

Then he described some of the history of legitimate protest against waihopai over 20 years, all of which failed to achieve anything more than “a total stonewall non-response”.  ”In January 2008 Sam (Land), Peter (Murnane) and I started seriously discussing an action to disable Waihopai Base”.

Moments of magic

Mr Knowles then took Adi through the action itself.

Adi has a laconic wit, and a terriffic sense of humour, so his testimony about the disarmament action was loaded with phrases like:

“40,000 Volts (the electrified security fence) is a significant deterrant”.

“There are certain laws of physics that meant the truck wasn’t getting out of the ditch”

“After we exposed the electric wires Sam and I gave the bolt-cutters to Peter (older, without a family)”

Despite the humour Adi showed himself to be dead serious about his act of disarmament.  At several points the crew had to overcome fear (of discovery, of injury and death) in order to proceed with their plan.

In a compelling moment explained that the thought he kept in his head during the danger and hardship was of his 3yo daughter.  He imagined another 3yo in iraq under threat, and asked himself “would I do this to save my daughter?  Yes I would”.  And so he acted to save the imaginary child across the seas.

So they got into the base undetected.  They cut through and deflated the dome undetected.  They built a shrine, hung banners, and began prayer – all undetected. Just before they sliced through the dome they prayed together “We disarm you in the name of Jesus Christ”.

Eventually security came.  The crew made sure that security personnel felt safe and, after inviting them to join in prayer, they surrendered all the sharp tools, along with the key to the now padlocked and chained front gate.  They waited calmly for Police and for the trial they are now undergoing.

I watched the jury members a fair bit during Adi’s testimony, and there’s no doubt he has their full attention.  I can’t tell what’s going on in the mind of a jury member, but I found it difficult at times not to cry during Adi’s testimony.  He is such a loving and thoughtful man, acting at great personal risk, but without rancour or self-righteousness.  Fortunately I get a chance to hug him each day while he’s still free, and I feel refreshed and inspired by his shining example.

The Emporer has new clothes!

Which is more than I can say for Mr Murray, the prosecutor, who I feel alternately sorry for, and a bit pissed off with.

The Prosecutor’s job is to tear down Adi’s tender concerns.  To ridicule and undermine him.  He started that at about mid- day yesterday and carried on for 45 minutes.

“Isn’t it true that you don’t know specifically what goes on at Waihopai?”  (It’s a secret base about which the government lies)

“So you get all your information from a book published in 1996?” (No, but the book remains accurate in any event)

“You didn’t spend much time taking inoffensive protest action about the base did you?” (others did for 20 years, none of which worked).

And the classic series of “Do you agree we live in a democracy, and the government acts correctly all the time, and you are free to waste as much time as you like collecting petitions that don’t work?” ( While the murder goes on.)

Sometimes i think Mr Murray is an agent paid by the Emporer to pretend the new clothes are both warm and beautiful.  I ask myself how he can stand the falsity and emptiness of performing his task.  Then I remember that the evil roots of the war system keep otherwise good folk away from truth.  away from a personal experience of power and goodness.  trapped in a shallow mire of consumerism.  I try then to forgive and love Mr Murray.

During the lunch adjournment a juror became ill, and Court was adjourned for the day.  Adi’s cross examination will continue today, and then we’ll hear testimony from Father Peter Murnane. I apologise for the absence of photos today, but yesterday was very full, and I have a little physical tiredness now.

The Public Meeting

Last night was a great public meeting where two traditional political activists (Murray Horton from the Anti-Bases Campaign, and Greens MP Keith Locke) spelled out clearly what the base is, and how limited is the process of Parliamentary accountability.

Then Moana Cole spoke powerfully and eloquently of the Ploughshares prophecy, philosophy, movement and hope.  I made a little slide presentation about Pine Gap, nonviolence, and the joy of powerful NVDA.  There were 120 or so at the meeting with a great feeling, and a spirit of determination.

That’s it for now.  I’m off to court again soon, and I’ll report back on this blog.

Your support and interest means a lot to the defendents.  keep the messages of support flowing.

Cheers
Bryan