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writing for godot

Two remarkable women of peace

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Written by Paul O'Hanlon   
Saturday, 17 May 2014 21:59

The Media love their wars, it’s often said there is no profit in peace. In the build-up to a war the media and the government tend to speak with one voice which is the drum beat for a war which we are invariably told is “a war which none of us want”. If none of us want it then how does it happen? Because the people who matter, the so-called faceless ones want it.

Hermann Göring, the leader of the Nazi Luftwaffe was interviewed by American psychologist Gustave Gilbert in 1946 during the Nuremberg trials about the support of the German people for the Nazis in the Second World War.

Göring: “Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”

Gustave Gilbert: “There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.”

Göring: “Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

Peace campaigners are usually negatively portrayed in the media, for example they are often contemptuously called `Peaceniks` - there is no equivalent for those who want war being called `Warniks`.

While the mainstream media fall over themselves to interview the politicians, generals and `experts` who want to warn us of the dangers posed by some (usually small) country like say Iraq, Libya, Iran or North Korea they virtually ignore anyone who offers the opposite point of view. Even the supposedly liberal and fair-minded BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) only gave the anti-war majority about 2% of the airtime of the coverage in the build up to the 2003 attack on Iraq.

There are two anti-war women protesters who have devoted their lives and their own personal safety to lengthy campaigns against the insanity of nuclear weapons and illegal wars. One is the `President’s Neighbour` Spanish born Concepcion Picciotto who has been on an anti-nuclear vigil outside the White House since 1981 - an astonishing 33 years. The other is an Australian born campaigner called Barbara Grace Tucker who lived 24/7 opposite the British Houses of Parliament in London for over 7 years during which time she was arrested dozens of times – usually on a charge of `unauthorised demonstration` - a remarkable charge to make against anyone living in a so-called democratic state with freedom of speech.


Concepcion or `Connie` was born in Vigo, North Western Spain and immigrated to the United States at the age of 18. She became inspired by the founder of the White House Peace camp William Thomas who had started his anti-war vigil in June 1981. Concepcion joined the protest in August of that year – the early days of the Reagan Presidency - and has been there ever since. The camp is in Lafayette Square, just north of the White House and is moved on once every four years for the inauguration of the new American President. Connie has hoped to meet a President – her vigil has lasted through five Presidencies, Ronald Reagan, George H W Bush, Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama; yet not one of them has seemed interested in speaking to her.

She receives very little media coverage – an article in the Washington Post magazine of May 2013 – more than 30 years in to her vigil and a brief mention in Michael Moore’s film `Fahrenheit 9/11`. She had a fleeting mention in a BBC report which on a `slow news day` was concerned about the cold weather in Washington DC – hardly a news story as the United States capital generally has a cold January with the reflecting pool by the Washington Monument and the Potomac River frequently freezing over. The reporter rather condescendingly said “You won’t have heard of Concepcion Picciotto.” Yes, and why is a highly committed and lengthy vigil like hers not worthy of some news coverage? He briefly showed her peace camp and her difficulty in surviving the bitterly cold weather but there was no interview about her beliefs or motivation in maintaining such a difficult and prolonged protest. Now in her late 70’s Concepcion goes on, she has a website: http://www.prop1.org/conchita/


On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean outside the centre of a once vast empire is the British Houses of Parliament in London. It was opposite this imposing building that a certain Brian William Haw, himself a native Londoner from Woodford Green in the North Eastern suburbs of the British Capital decided to start a 24/7 peace campaign in June 2001. He initially protested against the sanctions on Iraq which according to UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) had killed over half a million children and led to the resignations of long serving UN humanitarian coordinators Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck who went on to conduct media campaigns against the genocidal sanctions.

He continued to maintain his round the clock struggle though the period after the 9/11 attacks in New York which must have taken some nerve given that some 3,000 Westerners (including many British citizens) had been killed in the attacks. Brian slept in a small tent by the pavement (sidewalk) in Parliament Square surrounded by a huge collection of placards and banners which stretched the full width of the Square and were a constant reminder of the lies used to justify the attack on Iraq in 2003, `dodgy dossiers`, non-existent weapons of mass destructions etc. His very visible presence with the slogans on his posters proved such an embarrassment to the British Government that legislation was hastily drafted to get rid of him and his protest. The act SOCPA (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005) was brought in to ban all protest within 1 kilometre of the Houses of Parliament but Brian argued in October 2005 that the law did not apply to him as his protest predated the legislation and could not be applied retrospectively. He won his case and the `honourable ` Members of Parliament were furious.

In December 2005 Brian was joined by Australian born Barbara Grace Tucker from Melbourne who remained in the Square as a colleague until Brian’s tragic death from cancer, However in May 2006 the court of appeal reversed the earlier decision and Brian’s display came under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Police. In the early hours of May 23rd 2006 no less than 78 police came and removed nearly all of Brian’s display despite his and Barbara’s heartfelt protests. The operation cost a staggering £110,000. (US$185,000) and is a classic example of police `overkill`.


Brian and Barbara continued with their reduced display receiving almost no media coverage with the notable exception of Brian Haw being voted the "Most Inspiring Political Figure" of 2007 in a Channel 4 Television poll.

Brian Haw received a massive 54 per cent of all votes cast by the public for Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2007. General Sir Richard Dannatt, then head of the British Army, who had said that troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, came second with 18 per cent.

The actual political leaders amongst the nominees, Tony Blair (then Prime Minister) and David Cameron (then leader of the opposition and current Prime Minister), were backed by only eight and six per cent of the vote respectively. Other nominees were Aishah Azmi and the Archbishop of York.

Brian Haw said, "I would like to say a warm thank you to everyone who voted for me. This is a vote against this government's killing, maiming, torture, stealing. It's a vote for the children of Iraq and Afghanistan, for all our children - our future. For truth, justice, peace and democracy for all."


Brian sadly died from cancer in June 2011. He had lived to see his protest clock up a whole decade (2001 – 2011) and Barbara continued the campaign until 2013. It had become very difficult with constant harassment from police, heritage wardens and passing rowdies. She was arrested an astonishing 48 times – usually on a charge of `unauthorised demonstration`, come again, in a democracy?


Interestingly Barbara shares the name of the African American R and B and soul singer Barbara Tucker one of whose hits is a number called `I get lifted`. The Parliament Square Barbara Tucker thought this was amusing as `I get lifted` is British slang for `I get arrested` - something Australian Barbara has been many, many times.

The police under a Superintendent Peter Terry tried to have Barbara Tucker sectioned under the mental health act. In October 2006 Barbara had to attend Charing Cross police station, London as a bail condition relating to an alleged "obstructing an officer" charge. Having learned from her experiences of being detained for 23 hours, she decided to take her lawyer with her. This turned out to be a fortunate move, for after being thoroughly searched she was told by Inspector Terry that he was concerned about her mental health and ordered to submit to an assessment under the Act. If she refused to submit, he claimed, she could be forced to do so and held for up to 72 hours. After taking legal advice, she refused and, despite a mental health team being assembled at the station, the police backed down and settled for finally charging her with "obstructing a police officer".


Perhaps the likes of Tony Blair, George Bush, Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld et al should be sectioned under the mental health act on the grounds of their extreme violence.


On one occasion in 2010 she was arrested without a warrant which of course is illegal. In Westminster Magistrates Court situated at the time in Horseferry Road just a few hundred yards from Parliament Square her court case was heard. The prosecution hadn’t prepared their `case` properly and Barbara shouted angrily several times “Produce the warrant!” District Judge Caroline Tubbs said: “Leave the court, Miss Tucker.” Even then she had got Barbara’s name wrong as Barbara is Mrs Tucker not Miss Tucker. The prosecution had dropped the whole thing like the proverbial hot potato.


Despite consistently advocating non-violence she was arrested an average of about once every 7 weeks during her long vigil outside the `mother of all parliaments`. Many of these detentions merely involved being held for a few hours while meaningless paperwork was filled in followed by her release without charge. However, she was imprisoned for two short spells in London’s Holloway women’s prison.


On one occasion she was subjected to a frightening experience in Belgravia Police Station, London at the hands of the TSG (Territorial Support Group) who are a paramilitary style unit of the London Metropolitan Police.

Mrs Tucker sounded emotional when she recounted how six burly members of the so-called ‘flat caps’ (TSG) were brought in and who then used unlawful stress positions on a defenceless and peaceable lady. The TSG are a notorious section of the London Metropolitan police based at Paddington Green Police Station who were involved in the killing of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor who died during the 2009 G-20 summit protests. The American equivalent of the TSG would be the riot squad or maybe `the happiness boys`. The TSG did not give Barbara much happiness, in fact they nearly cost Barbara her life. Under a freedom of information act request by the Guardian newspaper it was revealed that there had been 5,000 complaints in four years about the TSG – only 9 of which had been upheld (about 0.2%). In other words 99.8% of all complaints about the `happiness boys` were rejected.


Conditions for Barbara in the Square got progressively more difficult, first of all she lived in a small tent until that was confiscated, then she slept on a chair until that too was impounded and then a green fishing tent which resembles an umbrella was also seized by the police. She was reduced to sleeping on the sidewalk. At the end of 2012 Barbara decided to go on a hunger strike to try and get her belongings back and to draw some attention to the peace campaign. The media, those great seekers after truth showed next to no interest. Despite prodding from myself the London Evening Standard could manage no more than a paragraph on page 32. The BBC, both local and national simply didn’t want to know, the Times Newspaper callously said “We don’t do hunger strikes.” I contacted several American news networks like NBC and the American ABC and CNN. Danny Schechter of Media Channel showed concern and mentioned Barbara in his blog and he asked “Where the hell is the BBC?” Remembering that Barbara is an Australian citizen by birth I contacted the Australian ABC who are located just a short distance from the Square. They were sympathetic and one of their reporters Emily Smith did go and speak to a near frozen to death Barbara and produced quite a good interview. Sadly, the big story in Australia that week was the raging bush fires and the interview was not shown on national ABC in Australia or even on the website as apparently they were short staffed that weekend. Iranian Press TV did an interview which was well produced but of course would not have been seen by that many as it is a minority channel.


Barbara came close to death, spending time on an intravenous drip and was treated for frostbite and exposure. Now no longer in Parliament Square she still campaigns for peace in other ways like maintaining the website started by the late Brian Haw – www.brianhaw.tv


The bravery of these two women should be recognised and should inspire all those who care about truth and peace which our political leaders and their accomplices in the lamestream (mainstream) media do not.

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