FEIC Activist Arrested at Raytheon

by Jim Keys - Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign Mon Aug 11, 2008 00:17

Where is good to wear your badges
FEIC activist Jim Keys just had a visit from his Dublin cousin Debra and her two children Adam and Emma are big black shamrock fans. He interviewed Adam on the subject.
Jim: Why do you like the black shamrock campaign?

Adam: I do ‘Tae kwon do’ which is self-defense and black shamrock campaign is about trying to defend the innocent people who are being bombed.

Jim: You said you want to say something about where to where the badges, what do you want to say?

Adam: Black shamrock badges work well on your trousers, at the side of your knee, on your t-shirt, on your shoulder or on your chest.

Jim: How many do you like to wear at a time?

Adam: Five is good.

Jim: I agree, where shouldn't you wear them?

Adam: Not on your knee but wait a second, it would work well on a hat wouldn't it? Yes very well. If you are protesting it would work exceptionally well!

Jim: Do you think its enough to wear the badge or do you have to do anything else to protest at the use of Shannon for refueling?

Adam: Yes I do think its enough but you can do more if you want.
The Adam Interview

Jim: Have you any ideas about what we could do?

Adam: You could make your own badges or stuff.

Jim: That's a cool idea. We always though that the bought badges were just to inspire other people to make badges or paint black shamrocks in places.

Adam: I've had another idea, you could get a plain t-shirt and paint a black shamrock on it, not plain black though.

Jim: Funny enough we made some black shamrock t-shirts to sell and raise money and they were all black t-shirts but we painted a white circle with the centre of the circle left blank in the shape of a shamrock.

Adam: Ok I need to go now and make some more smileys.

Jim: Thanks Adam. Thanks for supporting the campaign and also for getting involved in Mercedes' "infect the world with smiles campaign" as well. So if any of you meet someone without a smile, give them one of yours!

Adam being interviewed about his interest in the Black Shamrock

Adam Smiling

Emma demonstrating the cause! Her mum making smileys

by Jimbob Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:41

Not only is it quite nice artwork, but an inspiring symbol.
We are not mere animals willing to do what is needed for the next meal or creature comfort.
People like Jim and his fellow FEICers remind us that we have morals and moral duties and we oppose the killing of the innocent, which, as usual is done for profit and geo-political motives.

Long live the black shamrock. People of Ireland, North & South, get your stencils ready....

by lulu Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:32

Best wishes to Jim & all the campaigners.

by Justin Morahan Mon Aug 11, 2008 11:45

"Criminal damage" indeed! The artwork is beautiful and in my opinion fits in nicely with its surrounds. The flowers on the shamrock reflect and complement the adjoining flower patch (symbolic grave?). The whole is a peaceful, non-violent yet firm reminder of the dark, foreboding presence of the killing machine called Raytheon that lurks nearby. The criminal murder machine.

It's great to see the spirit that inspired the brave Nine to challenge Raytheon alive and vibrant in the town we all love so well.

Keep up the great work my good friends.

by lulu Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:53

Black daffodil, black rose, black thistle anyone? The war machine is running throughout the Isles.

by Davy McAuley - Derry Anti-War Coalition/IAAM Mon Aug 11, 2008 14:26 resistderry at aol dot com 07973 528772

From Davy, Derry Anti-War Coalition

The arrest of Jim Keys at the Raytheon plant on Friday is an outrage.

There is a stark contrast between the treatment of people taking part in peaceful protest outside Raytheon and the treatment of Raytheon itself. A court in Belfast found in June that the Raytheon 9 were reasonable in their belief that this company aided and abetted Israel in committing war crimes, including the killing of children.

But the only legal action taken since in relation to Raytheon is the arrest of Jim Keys of FEIC!

It adds to the outrage that Jim’s “offence” was to renew the Black Shamrock sign on the pavement outside Raytheon. In the five years since the DAWC first produced the Black Shamrock---initially as home-made cardboard cut-outs!---we have seen it adopted by the anti-war movement and other campaigning groups across Ireland, as well as by Irish anti-war campaigners abroad. DAWC supporters in San Francisco and New York distributed the Back Shamrock badge at these cities’ St. Patrick’s Day marches this year. We are now organising to ensure that this practice will have spread by next march 17th.

So when the PSNI attack Jim for renewing the sign at Raytheon, they are taking on a very substantial body of opinion. The DAWC stand ready to back any protest action which Jim and FEIC decide on---and we will ensure with others that protests aren’t confined to Derry or Ireland.

We are pleased to note that others are now producing their own Black Shamrock badges, t-shirts etc. Everybody should feel free to do this. There is no “copyright” on the Black Shamrock sign. The more the merrier.

In the meantime, anyone who wants a supply of badges or t-shirts, contact the DAWC at resistderry@aol.com,. If your group has no money, we’ll supply them anyway (and come after you for the money later!)

by Lemuel Gulliver IV Mon Aug 11, 2008 17:37

Where do the PSNI and courts in Northern Ireland stand as regards the right to freedom of expression?

Please see the relevant article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

See also the following passages from the preamble to said declaration, which was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December, 1948:
"Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind ...
"Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law ...
"Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms ...
"Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations ... "

Notes:
"any media" - i.e. any medium of expression. Drawing pictures on the ground or on walls must be one of the oldest media known to humanity, second only to the spoken word. We have examples of graffiti from ancient civilisations, e.g. ancient Rome, and this medium is probably used to impart information and ideas in every culture in the world to this day. So this is a universal medium. And yet, it is under assault by states all over the world, not least in western Europe.

"barbarous acts" - might refer to the war in southern Lebanon, or to the bombing of the Shu'ale market in March 2003
"rebellion against tyranny and oppression" - might refer to entering a missile factory to prevent such barbarous acts
"universal respect for ... fundamental freedoms" - universal, that means everywhere - particularly relevant to a police force that needs to distance itself from the poor record of its predecessor, the RUC, by performing to a new, exemplary standard
"for all peoples and all nations" - including the peoples and/or nations of Ireland

We have no chance of bringing freedom to Iraq or Afghanistan if we don't understand and observe it at home.

by Ciaron O'Reily - Catholic Worker/Ploughshares Mon Aug 11, 2008 20:32

Yo Jim, that's suffering for your art alrighty. Banksy would be proud of you!

When the Black Shamrock was unleashed I was based in my hometown of Brisbane with Brian Cowen starring as the guest speaker around the St. Patricks Day event in our fair city. The symbol seemed a great response to the bowl of shamrocks Bertie Ahern was delivering likes some groveling imperial tithe to King George 2nd. at the White Housein that day. I did my best to download, copy and distribute black shamrocks to all my Briz Vegas comrades that day as they supped their green dyed beers, Guiness around the city and were Irish for the day. The Black Shamrock was in evidence at the packed Brisbane Irish club that day.

I was surprised to see a large grafitti (is that the right word given your present predictament, hope so!) with the word SHAME as underscore in an opening scene of the Oscar winning Scorcese film "The Departed" by year's end. The Derry crew should have won an Oscar for product placement and brand enhancement methunk! I know Scorcese has been a solid donor to the New York Catholic Worker for decades and Martin Sheen was in the film, but I've always wondered how the Black Shamrock made it to Hollywood so fast?

I've been a great fan of the Black Shamrock and always try to make sure I have a stockpile of badges. It was great to spot them on strangers in London earlier this year and a number of people at my workplace always wear them. It is a subtle and strong image. It always feels like an intimate gesture when someone asks about it, agrees with it and I take it off my t-shirt (about the extent of my fashion range) or bag and pin it on them.

At our weekly Monday GPO Catolic Worker anti-war vigil today I tagged Dunk on a brief sojourn home from Barcelona. FEIC's monthly vigil over the years is a great source of nourishment and hope for many of us who can't be there with you - likewise yesterday's monthly vigil at Shannon. It recalls Dan Berrigan's '60's maxim "Don't just do something, stand there!" in these short attention span, campaign surfing daze.

To vigil is to stay awake! In this case, in a time where the war esclates and expands and Irish society remains complicit and largely disengaged. As the late Utah Philips taught us, "Mother Earth isn't dying, she's being killed. And those killers have names and addresses!" One of those addresses is surely Raytheon, Derry. It's reassuring that y'all and the black shamrock have come to call at that address.

by Rose Kelly - FEIC Mon Aug 11, 2008 23:26

Every month FEIC re-dedicate the 'grave' outside the Raytheon plant. The name on the marker varies. This month it read'Peace'. Having witnessed the bizarre arrest of Jim and heard his account of his treatment while detained , 'Civil Liberties' sounds like a good option for next month. If a piece of pavement art depicting a flower passes as criminal damage then what do you call the damage caused by a Raytheon missile and why aren't the police doing something about that?
Aquit the Blackshamrock 1!!!

by Maura Harrington - S2S; Davitt League Tue Aug 12, 2008 15:57

All the best Jim from all down here - we can empathise!

by Richard Moore Tue Aug 12, 2008 16:53

It's simply hard to believe that a peace campaigner like Jim is being arrested for topping up a very powerful, artistic symbol, when you consider what's going on inside Raytheon and noone has even been questioned there yet for their criminal damage.

by Jim Keys Wed Aug 13, 2008 17:27 jimkeys51 at googlemail dot com

As well as posting the report on indymedia I sent it to The Derry Journal, The Irish News, The Sentinal, The Derry News, the Belfast Telegraph and Radio Foyle. My ego had me check the papers on Tuesday and I didn't find a word about it. To be fair to Radio Foyle they mentioned it on their Monday lunchtime news bulletin along the lines 'A 53 year old man was arrested for criminal damage on Friday. The alleged incident took place outside the Raytheon premises on the Branch Road. '

Eamonn McCann spoke about the same issue regarding the acquittal of the Raythoen 9. That was a major local story and it got little or no coverage and what coverage there was, was hidden deep in the local papers well off the front pages. So it looks like Raytheon/supportive business interests have tightened their grip on the local media. We will see what happens as we go forward. FEIC has yet to meet with our next creative move. But ideas are already flowing.

If anyone did find any coverage I'd appreciate it if you'd correct or amend this posting. All the feedback I've been getting has been beautiful and it all came as a result of this website so thanks comrades. ANOTHER WORLD IS HERE, but its good to have interventions like indymedia to connect it up.

Jim Keys

by feicer Wed Aug 13, 2008 23:58

..waste of public resources, not to mention an offence against civil liberties.

A young woman was horribly murdered in the city less than two weeks ago. When the police were accused of failing to follow up on information in the case, they deflected that criticism with the old cliche that they only had so many officers and so much time (laughable in a part of the world which spends a huge proportion of its GDP on 'security')

Would it not have fitted the six or so police officers involved in this farce better if they had spent the time and energy involved in trying to track down violent offenders? Will the politicians who regularly argue for even greater resources for the police tackle this particular waste of time? Hands up anyone who thinks they will....nope, didn't think so. Anyone for a raising it en masse at the next public meeting of the Derry District Policing Partnership? This is as much a policy issue as it is an operational decision taken on the ground.

The law has been constructed to as to allow a great deal of arbitrary power to the police who (surprise, surprise) then fail to exercise it in a restrained manner. (Isn't it interesting, by the way, that state power is only ever exercised against those who critique and protest against those in power.)

There is absolutely NO prospect of a charge of criminal damage succeeding in a court in this case and the officers involved in this debacle must surely have known as much. (For anyone who doubts this, try looking up the definition of criminal damage.) There was more chance of convicting Caker Casey on a similar charge when he graffittied Free Derry Corner in 1969 - something which has now acquired iconic status, if not (yet) listed building protection.

Yet the cops chose to proceed to arrest Jim Keys: ask yourselves, what was this really about? This is about an ongoing attempt by the state and its minions to close down public protest and to create a climate where people are discouraged from engaging in peaceful and artistic demonstrations against the evils of the arms trade. Draw parallels with the criminalising of peaceful, legitimate public protest in certain areas in london, outside arms trade fairs and so on. Resist the closing down of public space! Power to the Black Shamrock One..... ;-)

by Kevin Cassidy - Peace People Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:08

Well done Jim for your protest at Raytheon.
Belfast thrives on a tourist industry which includes tours of the various murals throughout the city. Maybe the black shamrock could be included on some new murals ?
I wonder what St Patrick would make of it all? He used the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Jim used the black shamrock to explain the ever growing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I hope Jim's and FEIC's message will spread throughout the world.

by Margaret Devine - member of the human race Thu Aug 14, 2008 18:04

I was saddened to learn that the PSNI used public funds and resources for arresting my brother Jim Keys who I know poses no threat to society unless its a threat to make the world a better place .
According to definition criminal damages constitues a permanent or temporary impairment of value or usefulness I fail to see how Jim's symbol of peace has done this to the pavement outside Rayethon.
Like Jim I expected to see some coverage in the Derry Journal or other local papers and was surprised and saddened to find no coverage of what to me is a violation of his human rights.
I grew up in Derry during the troubles and often found myself frightened to speak out about the situation for fear of reprisal. I would like to believe Derry has changed and people there can express their thoughts and opinions now without fear. Free Derry should mean freedom of expression.

by DavyD Mon Aug 18, 2008 09:48

There was no wine flowing in Qana, only blood, when the Israeli bombers came calling on July 30th 2006.

I was reminded of this on Friday a week ago when Jim Keys was arrested outside the Raytheon plant in Springtown for dabbing paint on a few faded spots on a Black Shamrock logo painted on the pavement two years ago. Jim was taken to Strand Road barracks, where he was photographed and had hairs plucked out for DNA analysis before being charged with criminal damage (to a pavement!).

There is an obvious stark contrast between the treatment of people like Jim taking part in a peaceful protest outside Raytheon and the treatment of Raytheon itself. A court in Belfast found in June that the Raytheon 9 were genuine in their belief and had reasonable evidence on which to base their belief that Raytheon had aided and abetted Israel in committing war crimes, and that the Derry plant was complicit in aiding and abetting these war crimes.

But the only legal action taken since in relation to Raytheon is the arrest of Jim Keys of FEIC!

The Black Shamrock, initially produced five years ago by the Derry Anti-War Coalition, has been adopted by the broad anti-war movement across Ireland, as well as by Irish anti-war campaigners internationally. When the Raytheon 9 visited Qana on the anniversary of the bombing last year, we distributed Black Shamrocks at the ceremony in which we laid a memorial stone to the 28 people of the village, including 16 children, who had died in the atrocity. We had brought the stone from home to make clear to the people of the village that, while the company which made the bomb which inflicted such suffering on them had a plant in our town, not all the people of Derry endorsed or welcomed its presence. Part of the inscription on the stone was taken from Patti Smith’s lyric, “Qana”:

There's no-one in the village
not a human nor a stone
there's no one
in the village
children are gone
and a mother rocks
herself to sleep
let it come down
let her weep

the dead lay in strange shapes

Some stay buried
others crawl free
baby didn't make it
screaming debris
and a mother rocks
herself to sleep
let it come down
let her weep

the dead lay in strange shapes

Limp little dolls
caked in mud
small, small hands
found in the road
they’re talking about
war aims
what a phrase
bombs that fall
American made
the new Middle East
the Rice woman squeaks

the dead lay in strange shapes

Little bodies little bodies
tied head and feet
wrapped in plastic
laid out in the street
the new Middle East
the Rice woman squeaks

the dead lay in strange shapes

Water to wine
wine to blood
ahh Qana
the miracle
is love.

Some might consider that it’s a perverse miracle, too, that the company which knowingly supplied the device which blasted and choked the life from the little bodies, little bodies, tied head and feet, is still made welcome in our town by some who claim to be motivated by moral considerations, even by a hatred of oppression.

No-one in the village, not a human, not a stone.

by Lemuel Tue Aug 19, 2008 16:16

Jim, you wrote:
"As well as posting the report on indymedia I sent it to The Derry Journal, The Irish News, The Sentinal, The Derry News, the Belfast Telegraph and Radio Foyle. My ego had me check the papers on Tuesday and I didn't find a word about it."

Can you provide more detail, please? As follows:
Did you send your report by snail mail or e-mail? If e-mail, what did you write in the subject header?
Did you send it to individually named reporters / editors / researchers / presenters / producers, or to anonymous titles and/or e-mail addresses?
Did you follow up with phone calls to ask whether anybody had read it? (Did you get any indication at all that anybody had read it?)

In my experience, the following approaches are the most effective in getting coverage:
A. Snail mail sent to named individuals with a known interest in the area. (May be too slow if the story is breaking fast.)
B. E-mail followed up by phone calls. It often takes several phone calls to any given paper or show before you can find somebody who agrees to read your message, and then they may not be able to find it because somebody has deleted it, and you may have to send it a couple more times and phone in between to make sure they read it and even CONSIDER covering the story.

I have met many activists who think that every e-mail message sent is read, but this is definitely not true. It is possible that most press releases are deleted unread, because the journalists are very busy, and the editors are even busier. But that is not to say you can't get coverage if you do the elbow work.

Of course, if you've just been arrested, it may be good to have somebody else to lend a hand and make those phone calls for you! Fortunately, that person doesn't have to be living in the same city, or even the same country.

by Jim Keys - FEIC Wed Aug 20, 2008 00:39 jimkeys51 at googlemail dot com

Hi Lemeul

Point taken, Yes of course you are right, letters are good addressed to a specific journalist you know and if its e-mail a follow up call makes the difference but it was holiday time here and the FEICers were scattered. I sent the e-mail to specific journalists I knew but didn't have time/energy to follow it up with a phone call so I am probably bitching about nothing. It was a failure of organisation really, both individual and collective but I am not giving myself a hard time over it but will be sure to bring it up at the next meeting.

Also, I did discover that the Derry Journal did cover it in their Foyle News title and Eamonn's piece published above was in the Sunday Journal just passed.

by Mercedes Soca Gil Wed Aug 20, 2008 01:30 07807827537

Some of the comments to this article regret the police attitude like Margaret Devine, Jim’s sister saying ‘I was saddened to learn that the PSNI used public funds and resources for arresting my brother Jim Keys who I know poses no threat to society unless its a threat to make the world a better place.’ There are other hard comments. This is why I decided to give my impression on the facts.

As a person who was raised under the Quaker testimonies, I am against any war and violence, as well what feeds and resources war and violence. Thus, I believe in working for truth and justice not by breaking the law but by using it creatively.

Therefore, to be fair and truthful, Juan and I had the impression that not all the police on the ground were agreed with the arrest; they were not aggressive, but appeared to be following orders. I think this puts a different perspective on the facts, and it brings even a positive note about the police and must be said.

In addition, I would like to assure you that the black shamrock symbol was on the pavement before Jim refreshed it that day.

At the beginning, we were not afraid of the police because of our understanding that we were not breaking any law. I started to feel insecure when Jim was arrested and our names taken, but still the police on the ground gave us the impression they thought it would be no bigger a deal than filling in a form. However, it was worse than that as later, at the station, our happiness for his release vanished when Jim told us he was really charged for criminal damage. I couldn’t believe what was happening to him and neither to us (our names would now be associated with a crime). It is from our concern about war and violence that we are about peace, love and understanding among people of different points of view, cultures and beliefs. So we think it is important to join forces for everybody’s sake and the future, including for those who are police.

A festival of love it is what we have in mind, not of hate, not of old resentments but all the eyes looking at the future. This is a time where more than ever we need to work together with a ‘peace-mind’, caring behaviour to everybody, concern for our nations development, security and better lives for all. Cubans separated by just 90 miles and standing facing each other on two neighbouring shores have this challenge too.

How many nations in the world have been living for generations under the dark shadow of pointless conflicts? Who should decide to make stop this human butchery? People of all nations should face each other, no matter if it’s from distant shores, or next door, but for the same cause, and say in one loud voice that will echo throughout the Galaxy: Enough!

There is no other way in my opinion, even if hard times are heavy on our shoulders and old wounds still are bleeding.

Recently at the Quaker Yearly Meeting in Britain, the children said to us adults: ‘We propose a campaign to infest the world with smiles, to go for a global smiling infection’. They gave each of us at the meeting lovely smiling faces painted by them, and I gathered some from others later. I took their proposal seriously like my own with respect for the children and my smiling Cuban idiosyncrasy; but of course they were talking about sincere smiles and not unpredictable petrified masks!

My participation at the campaign started in London, in the underground, very early on a cold morning. There was only one person there, a woman, sitting alone and spontaneously but with a timid smile I said, ‘Good Morning’…she growled at me but at least I got an answer. It was a good beginning for both of us.

Once in Derry, I gave four of the smiley faces to an Irish family; what did I get from the children and their parents? One hundred smiling faces back! I did a mistake, they were already (see Adam’s photo above) infested!

Maybe smiling is an ancient infection and the remains can still be found in some people and nations, or even next door! Or is smiling just our true nature consciously repressed in some people by themselves, and in others by force; but kept safe by some in parts of the world.

Might it be assumed that Irish blood carries the smiling infection they never lost; one of the type that can go over fears and sadness and look forward to a fruitful common future!

Let’s go, the smiling people together, to infest forever the whole planet again!

‘You must be the change you want to see in the world.’
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

by Tim Howard - Kotare Trust Thu Aug 21, 2008 08:05 farmer.howard at gmail dot com

Reading your story, Jim and FEIC, just now - put on to it by an Irish friend in Auckland NZ this afternoon, as we are leaving here to visit Ireland - the Republic and the North - in a few days. The Raytheon Nine, and your recent arrest, are stories that hadn't reached media here (surprise!). This is just a message of international solidarity - and acknowledgment of your solidarity with the victims of Raytheon's money and technical malice.
A luta continua - Ka whawhai tonu tatou! The struggle continues.
tim and carol

by Jed Fri Aug 22, 2008 02:17

My God Jim!
They'll be naming you as an enemy of the State after your heneous war crime!
How could you...you fiend!

LMAO. Nice one big man. Keep the faith.

by Bernadette Mc Ginley - Black Shamrock 1 supporter Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:02

A peacemaker is one who seeks to bring harmony and does what they can to prevent wars. The Blackshamrock 1 , a peacemaker was arrested for what the police have termed as criminal damage because he touched up the painting of a black shamrock which was already on the pavement near Raytheon.

Fact - the shamrock symbol has been there for a number of years.
Fact - it is there as a reminder that the Raytheon Plant which came into Derry like a Trojan horse bringing gifts of jobs – is involved in creating the software which is responsible for the deaths of many.
Fact - in any case of criminal damage there is the consideration of the intention of recklessness. Was the “damage” done without lawful excuse?

Knowing what Raytheon creates ask yourself this : Did Jim Keys touch up the painting without lawful excuse?

Consider this - criminal damage is not criminal damage if a person is trying to save their own or someone else’s life. It is not criminal damage if they have to break down a door or a window to rescue someone – after such an event there would be no charges of criminal damage – the person would be seen as a hero.

The Blackshamrock 1 is a hero – he is making the public aware of the Trojan Horse within our midst!

by Paul - Pensioner for Peace Mon Aug 25, 2008 14:22

Initially you are ignored by Raytheon and the police - in the hope that you’ll go away.
Then the police try intimidation by threatening to arrest you for asking motorists to bump their horns!
Next they threatened to stop and arrest motorists who bumped their horns!
Now they arrest you for highlighting a piece of pavement art...
What next?
Who’s next?
You and your monthly vigils are making a difference.
“Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.” (Orison Swett Marden)
Keep up the good work!

Committed Horn Bumper