Stand With Palestine Events and Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day

"The CW5's 2 main statutory defences to the charges were ruled out as 'inadmissible' this morning by Judge Donagh McDonagh, who was then rather suddenly forced to 'pull the plug' and send the jury home after his relationship with a certain Mr. Bush was revealed to the Court by defence counsel."

With the above words the Anon Court Reporter starts this, his 9th and last for this round, court report. Since it seems the judge forgot to order that the reasons for the collapse of the case be kept out of the media (as was done when the first trial collapsed) all the gory details are included in full. Also included below are links to Anon Court Reporter's exemplary day by day blow by blow reporting of the case

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Days 6 & 7
• Day 8 report
• Feedback: Jury would probably have found CW5 not guilty

Background Links & Info You can read full details of this story on the following websites: June 10th, 2005: GlobalMobileVision.com: Employee 'detained' and staff 'underpaid' at IT company June 10th, 2005: Reprinted Village Magazine article about GlobalMobileVision.com: Employee 'detained' and staff 'underpaid' at IT company June 11th, 2005: Global Mobile Vision: UPDATE Media Coverage & Contact Details for GMV June 11th, 2005: Global Mobile Vision: Update After Ex- Employee Meeting June 12th, 2005: Global Mobile Vision: An 'Official' Response from Alex Fitzgerald June 12th, 2005: Global Mobile Vision: Open letter to Mr. Alex Fitzgerald/GMV management June 14th, 2005: GlobalMobileVision.com: BBC World Confirms Business Connection with GMV June 15th, 2005: Global Mobile Vision: Being Investigated by Irish Government June 16th, 2005: Employees setup blogs to show they’re happy campers More Investigating Blogging at: RunningWithBulls.com

A Dublin "technology" company with links to Christian religious groups in America has been accused of intimidating staff, of failing to pay salaries, and sexual harrassment. Its work practices are bizarre. Fire escapes are locked. Management deny the allegations.

A number of staff members were fired for various reasons. Some staff went without pay for up to 10 weeks. If the ex-staff members did receive P45s a number were duplicated, with different information. Some of these people suspect they were fired for asking two many questions.

Global Mobile Vision was incorporated in the UK in August 2004 and has had offices in Nangor road business park in Clondalkin since November 2004. The company is run by David Crownborn, his wife, Esther Crownborn, his brother, Matthew Crownborn and the latter’s wife Deborah King.

The company’s main contacts are with American Evangelist groups, staff said. It has recently being involved in contacts in the US with evangelist media organisations about collaborating in business ventures.

Up to last Wednesday, Global Mobile Vision employed between approx. 60 staff at its offices in Clondalkin, north Dublin. GMV supposedly develops software for audio and video streaming technologies for 3G phones. Yet, a search of Vodafone, O2, Hutchinson, and other 2G and 3G mobile operators turn up a big zero for any partnerships. A search for "Global Mobile Vision" and other related search terms shows up nothing. Zero. Nil. No inbound, or outbound links anywhere. Very strange for a "high technology company with valuable intellectual property". Its so "high technology" that no one know what they "do". One would be forgiven for classifying this as "snakeoil". Current and former staff said that they did almost no work at the company, they received few orders, no conrete work (other than "go search the Internet for a while"). One ex-staff member said "after one week, I eventually got a computer but it had no software. I had to use my own software - I told them I would use until I got me some official legal software but it never arrived."

This was commonplace.

John Bates, an employee who is currently suspended from work, was detained last Wednesday 8th June as he tried to leave the office. He was accused by management of stealing IP ('Intellectual Property') from the company. No evidence was given. He was surrounded by a large number of people (including staff from Crimeforce Ireland, a security guard company), and until the Gardaí were called, he was held against his will in the GMV offices. After the Gardaí advised GMV to either a) make an allegation, or b) let Mr. Bates go, Mr. Bates left the offices accompanied by Finian McGrath, TD (Independent) for North Dublin, the Gardaí, and a number of journalists. You can read the full details of Mr. Bates account here and here.

Mr. Bates believes the reason he was singled out was becuase he was organizing staff in getting their due pay, and finding out the problems in GMV.

It was a cold, wet April evening when a small group of us gathered by the canal in order to open the Dolphin's Barn Community Garden. It had been a dull day, and by the time we made our way into the garden, the full moon was hanging overhead. On the bank of the canal opposite the public library, close to the bridge at Dolphin's Barn, behind the walls of a factory, stood a disused area of grass. This area contained three billboards, 6,000 square metres of grass, and very little else.

At the recent Grassroots Gathering workshop it was decided to take over the space to plant trees and vegetables rather than to see it wasted. And so, on April 12th, in co-operation with a week-long 'tree walk', through Dublin city, we made our way down the canal in the rain, armed with hazel trees to plant in our new garden.  

Why are we doing this? Well, there are several of us involved, each for our own reasons, but I suppose the idea is centred around the two ideas of environment and community. The project is an attempt to address the lack of green spaces in our city.   We are using the garden to grow food. We intend to engage with the local community. The garden is also a social space, giving us a chance to engage with other like-minded people. Some of us have a vision of an unbroken greenway through Dublin City, encompassing the two canals, the Botanic Gardens, and the Phoenix Park. The idea of the garden is not an original idea: there are community gardens in Cork, and in Belfast , and around the world. This garden fits into a bigger picture of community activists trying to improve the urban experience.  

By the end of that first evening my socks were wet through and my trousers were filthy, but we had planted three hazel trees and two willow trees, and the community garden was underway. Now, three weeks later, we have planted another three hazels and some apple trees, and we have cleared a large space of earth, planting four rows of herbs, seeds, vegetables and flowers, including potatoes, garlic, onions, celery, parsley, rosemary, and fuchsia. We also made initial contact with the local community, survived a visit from the Garda , made several useful external contacts (including in the city council), and each of us has made new friends.

From the Newswire: "After 2 months of media hysteria and hard work on the part of the organisers, the Mayday weekend kicked off with a Critical Mass which was large, vibrant, good humoured and, of course, completely peaceful. Although it's difficult to estimate the numbers of people on cycle-protests, educated guesses from experienced massers ranged from 400 to 700. What's for sure is that it was the biggest critical mass ever to take place in Dublin. It is also certain that it was carried out entirely in a light-hearted atmosphere. Policing was low-key and there were no tensions.

The route took the crowd down O'Connell St, down Dame St, past Christ Church, down the hill to the river, back down the north quays, up O'Connell St and finally around Parnell Square to Mountjoy prison, where a rally was held to demand the release of Polly Murphy - in prison since last Tuesday for the crime of trespass. Cries of 'Our passion for freedom is stronger than your prisons' and 'homes not jails' ran around the crowd."

Indymedia Ireland Mayday Critical Mass Video
Dublin Hosting Biggest Ever Cycle Campaigners Conference on Mayday
Video Clip from 'IMC Travelling Circus' (500K, mpg)
Clip Two from our 'Circus' Friends (800K, mpg)
Some previous Critical Mass reports: September 2003 * Reclaim The Streets '03 * Dublin Cycling Campaign * Dominick St. protest * Belfast "Bikes Not Bombs"
From the archives: Critical Mass and RTS for MayDay 2002

More Pictures and Video at the 'Feature Continues' Link Below . . .