|
Resistance To Ireland's
Support For War
A Voice From The Anti-War
Movement
by Eoin Dubsky (taken
from ZNET)
February 25, 2003
Many Irish people are
sick to the teeth of Ireland's
part in American armed
robbery in the Middle
East. On 15 February over
100,000 people marched
through Dublin city centre
against the war on Iraq,
and US military flights
refuelling in Shannon
Airport. It was the largest
ever demonstration in
Ireland against war, and
there had not been so
many people on the streets
since the tax protests
20 years ago.
Ongoing nonviolent direct
actions and court actions
have helped too, to expose
and disrupt Ireland's
participation in this
so-called "war on
terror". More than
twenty people are now
barred by the courts from
entering Shannon Airport
because of their extensive
military plane-spotting
and plane-stopping activities
there.
It takes effort to deny
what's going on: Shannon
Airport is used as a US
airbase and Ireland is
participating in America's
imperialist wars. Airport
officials say that over
30,000 US troops bound
for the Middle East have
passed through Shannon
Airport, on the west coast
of Ireland, since December
2002 alone. At present
the airport is patrolled
by the Irish Defence Forces
12th Infantry Battalion,
equipped with assault
rifles and armoured personnel
carriers mounted with
machineguns, to stop interference
from protesters in the
business of US military
flights refuelling there.
I even recall watching
George W. Bush say to
a beaming Irish Prime
Minister Bertie Ahern
in the White House on
St. Patrick's Day last
year that "Ireland
is a valued member of
the international coalition
against terrorism. Ireland
has allowed American military
planes to use its airports".
It couldn't be any clearer.
SUBSERVIENT WRETCHES
IN GOVERNMENT
In London Tony Blair
is still piping on about
the morality of war, and
pretending that the militarisation
of British civilian airports
is to protect us from
harmful terrorists. Nobody
believes that liar. Meanwhile
the Irish administration
make no pretence about
their intent to hang on
the coat tails of whatever
empire will fart in their
direction.
"On the current
dispute between the United
States and Iraq,"
spouted Minister of State
at the Department of Justice,
Willy O'Dea TD in the
Irish parliament January
30th, "I am unashamedly
on the side of the United
States which is led by
people who are human,
even though they may be
flawed." No shame
in making money, right?
Earlier in the same parliamentary
"debate" politicians
from opposition parties
had described the devastating
cost of sanctions and
war suffered by the people
of Iraq. As Ireland's
favourite American politician
once put it though, "it's
the economy, stupid".
PEACE MOVEMENT DIVERSITY
AND GROWTH
The peace movement in
Ireland has grown in numbers
and confidence since Autumn
2001 when the international
crimes of 11 September
were used as a pretext
for American crimes against
people in Afghanistan.
The Indymedia Ireland
website (www.indymedia.ie)
chronicles the anti-war
demonstrations and vigils,
talks and marches as they
grew in number and diversity
around the country and
Northern Ireland. Meanwhile
people were also writing
letters personally to
the police, to the government,
to the airport management,
and to the US Embassy
calling for a stop to
their lawlessness and
violence. The authorities
and guardians of the peace
just continued business
as usual though. By September
2002 I had to launch a
High Court action against
the State for assisting
America's attack on Afghanistan.
The hearing is finally
expected to be in late
March.
FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE
They're fighting for
"full spectrum dominance"
and they are doing so
with great fervour; our
half-hearted protests
alone won't cut it. Four
days before I took my
case to the High Court
I spray-painted a US Air
Force "Hercules"
warplane at Shannon Airport
in a symbolic act of disarmament.
In December I had a wonderful
trial hearing, including
legal arguments which
my lawyer and I stitched
together with help from
experts in International
humanitarian law, and
deeply human testimony
from an Iraqi doctor about
the horrific effects of
depleted uranium on children.
I have lodged an appeal
against the "guilty"
verdict I received on
13 February in Shannon
District Court for this
action, when the trial
hearing resumed. Peace
campaigner and mother
of four, Mary Kelly was
also there for a pre-trial
formality about a fence-climbing
charge against her from
a Shannon Airport demonstration
in August (small cheese
compared to her disarmament
action with an axe on
a US Navy aircraft in
January). Five members
of the anarchist-pacifist
Catholic Worker movement
in Ireland (Deirdre Clancy,
Karen Fallon, Damien Moran,
Nuin Dunlop and Ciaron
O'Reilly) are currently
on remand in prison following
their faith-based "ploughshares"
disarmament action at
Shannon Airport on 03
February.
Ploughshares acts of
nonviolent disarmament
were initiated by radical
priests Fr. Philip and
Daniel
Berrigan in the U.S.
in the 1980s. These nonviolent
actions have addressed
nuclear and conventional
weapon systems by enfleshing
the prophesy of Isaiah
Ch. 2. Some activists
have been acquitted of
all charges, others have
received prison sentences
of up to 18 years.
(See http://www.plowsharesactions.org/
).
"What put the issue
of Irish complicity in
this U.S. war on the front
burner," writes Ciaron
O'Reilly from Limerick
prison in his open letter
'From protest to resistance',
"was largely a number
of solo efforts (Tim [Hourigan]'s
plane-spotting, Eoin's
one man/one spray can/one
[lawyer] engagement of
a Hercules and an Irish
High Court, Mary's spontaneous
disarmament of a U.S.
navy plane) and a couple
of fragile collective
efforts (the 4-week Shannon
Peace Camp and us the
"Pit Stop Ploughshares"
lightening striking twice
on the very same/recently
repaired/security guaranteed
U.S. navy plane)."
People will continue
to resist the war through
creative and nonviolent
means. I hope that ever
more people will begin
engaging directly themselves
to stop the murderous
business as usual at Shannon
Airport and in the houses
of power elsewhere in
Ireland.
|
