Ciaron O'Reilly

Ciaron O'Reilly
Born1960
Brisbane, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Websitehttp://ciaron.allotherplaces.org/

Ciaron O'Reilly (born 1960) is an Australian anti-war campaigner, peace protester, social justice campaigner and Catholic Worker, having been "engaged in ... protests, acts of civil disobedience and trials in England, Ireland, and his native Australia."[1] He has also become one of the most visible and active practical and theoretical exponents of the ideas of Christian anarchism, arguing that this "'is not an attempt to synthesise two systems of thought' that are hopelessly incompatible, but rather 'a realisation that the premise of anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the message of the Gospels.'"[2]

In a landmark case, on 5 July 2006 O'Reilly went to trial at Ireland's Four Courts for the third time for disarming a US navy warplane at (civil) Shannon Airport in the early hours of 3 February 2003:[3] this group action became known as the Pitstop Ploughshares.[4] Two earlier trials in 2005 had ended in mistrial; O'Reilly and four others (Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon and Damien Moran) were acquitted by an Irish jury on 25 July 2006.[5]

  1. ^ Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Christian Anarchism: a political commentary on the gospel, Imprint Academic, Exeter, 2011, p 33
  2. ^ Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Christian Anarchism: a political commentary on the gospel, Imprint Academic, Exeter, 2011, p 1; see also pp 33-34
  3. ^ "Aussie peace activist facing jail", The Age, 5 July 2006. Accessed 5 May 2007
  4. ^ Joshua Robertson, 'Australian anti-war activist among victims of alleged UK police hacking,' The Guardian 3 April 2017, accessed 8 November 2019
  5. ^ "Five not guilty of damaging US plane", RTÉ News, 25 July 2006