BY JEFF POWERS
SEATTLE - "The first time I was arrested was when I was nine years old," Noel Cassidy told more than 30 people who attended the Militant Labor Forum here February 9. "I came from an Irish republican family and we were selling lilies to commemorate the Easter rising in 1916. We were charged with not having a permit."

Cassidy's talk was part of a four-day tour of Seattle and Portland, Oregon, where he had come to get support for his fight with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Cassidy, along with nine other Irish nationals who support the republican movement, face deportation by the U.S. government.

In 1978 Cassidy was arrested and spent 23 months in Long Kesh prison convicted for possession of a document. "A piece of paper with names and addresses of members of the British army was allegedly found in my coat pocket by British intelligence," Cassidy said. "It was not in my handwriting and it was not there when I was first arrested even though my lining was cut out.

"It was a laughable charge and a laughable sentence," Cassidy explained. Several times Cassidy was offered his freedom if only he would plead guilty but he would not do it. "I was innocent," he said.

Cassidy went "on the blanket" when he arrived at Long Kesh. This campaign, organized by Irish republicans, was aimed at rebutting the British government's attempts to criminalize the struggle for Irish freedom by changing the status of republican inmates from political to criminal status. As part of this protest they refused to wear prison uniforms.

"I lived 23 months of my life completely naked. I didn't wash. I didn't shave. I didn't comb my hair. I urinated on the floor. There was defecation smeared on the walls," Cassidy said. He explained that the only way to go to a toilet was to leave your cell. Any blanketman who did this was "severely beaten by the guards and subjected to cavity search of his rectum," Cassidy said.

To press for their demands the Irish republicans organized a hunger strike. "Ten people, including Bobby Sands, died during the hunger strike," Cassidy said.

In 1982, while the hunger strike was still going on, Cassidy was released from prison and he toured the United States to build support for the Irish prisoners' demands.

In the 1980s, Cassidy returned to Ireland but was unable to find work because of his politics. He immigrated here and is currently married to a U.S. citizen. He has a child here by a previous marriage.

In 1991, Cassidy was ordered deported by an immigration judge. "The British government put pressure on the U.S. There was a false Interpol report claiming I was in the IRA [Irish Republican Army]," Cassidy said.

In August of this year Cassidy will be back before an immigration judge fighting his conviction of illegal entry into the country.

"I believe that all ten of us facing deportation are being held hostage to the peace process in Ireland," Cassidy explained. "This is something we have no control over. If the negotiations do not go well, we will suffer."

Cassidy lives near Cleveland, Ohio, where he works as a painter and decorator. He also teaches Irish-language classes at a neighborhood community center, a local high school, and Oberlin College. "In some ways this is blessing," Cassidy said. "For the first time in years I have been able to go out and do what I like to do best - speak about politics."

From Seattle, Cassidy planned to go to Chicago and San Francisco. Supporters of his case can send donations to: Friends of Noel Cassidy, c/o Jack Kilroy, 2630 Joseph street, Avon, OH 44011.

Over $200 was raised for his defense at the Seattle Militant Labor Forum.

Jeff Powers is a member of the United Transportation Union Local 845.  
 
 
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