If you went down to the fence today

national | miscellaneous | news report

Sunday March 02, 2003 01:57

by seedot

There was no big surprise.

Personal observation of M1 Shannon mass trespass attempt.

On 26th February the Grassroots Network issued an invitation to take part in a mass trespass at Shannon Airport, site of US military transit landings. Going down i was aware of heated discussion in hte chattering classes of what was going to happen. But last December I went to report on anotyher protest billed as Direct Action. In the twilight I walked along the same fence as todays protest in a confiused, fairly good natured mix of guards and protestors. A few people spotted a gap and had a run at the fence and the Catholic Workers built quite an artistic shrine.

Today the crowd at the fence was bigger - more guards, more protestors and loads of expensive corporate AV equipment and its playmates. It wasn't F15 bigger, but there were new faces. This time there was a trumpet and a death figure but the petrol gennie from Cork and the coffins of neutrality didn't accompany their playmates. The guards kindly brought some horses and some even got dressed up in their manifestation costumes. But they were generally older, a few had very egalitarian plastic vests with Garda printed on them and in general they were tense but not stressed. They won the numbers game and I saw quite a few smiling along with the rest of us to those whose tactic is laughter.

The IAWM march passed by and it was loud and varied. Two guys argued a political point via megaphones, which made the whole thing feel continental and democratic. Food was passed out in the crowd, some arrests were made and the pictures were taken. There'll be some steely jaws in the photos but I think the calls for non-violence were heard by everyone at the fence.

Eoin Dubsky rang up and got arrested last October.

Mary Kelly faced arrest alone, followed by the five Catholic Workers.

On March 1st 10 people were arrested, this time under the public order act.

Ireland is maturing. The people arrested today stood in a crowd that held up sections of bunreacht na heaireann, the articles of our constitution that the protestors believe the government is in breach of. The openness displayed by publishing a call for non-violent, mass lawbeaking reduced the numbers in Shannon today. But if the tactic you choose opens others to risk, it is your civic duty to inform people of your plans. Today, due to the calm displayed by everyone at the fence, arrest was the main risk. Maybe ow we can look at the policy that, in increasing numbers our citizens are being arrested protesting against, and maybe even the bill that they are being charged under.

Because today was impressive. I went down to ring in updates on what was happening. But I saw democracy happening and someone gave me a bun. Good day overall, (thankfully) no big surprise.

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Comments (10 of 10)

oh b-jaysus

by noone

Thu Apr 24, 2003 00:32

Be the howeky!! Is that you Paul. A it is indeed! the fecking gobsheen who wouldnt shut the fuck up in the RTS section. Ah B-jaysus!! Still doin yer rantin and your ravin I see. Whats that you say about the Gardai?? No. You see, their (as in 'you', no doubt) arnt in fact doin their jobs. Ah shure, wasnt it only the other day that i was elbowed in the face, by some scumbag lookin for my phone. And for the rest of the night, didnt I never see a single An Garda Siochona personel. Great work they'd be doin....
ps..Your a borin cunt. Do ya know that Paul.?!!

Shannon workers

by Andrew

Thu Mar 06, 2003 14:02

I did a long interview during the direct action with Limerick FM and Clare FM on the question of the Shannon workers. What I feel and what the movements need to make clear is that the workers jobs and conditions should be protected if we manage to acheive the aim of driving out the military.

After all some 70-80% of the population oppose refueling of military planes. It seems reasonable, to say the least, that this means the stopping of the military landing should be compensated for from public funds. In reality the anti-war movements should be willing to act to back up this demand for compensation. Seeing as the unions are techically on board this is quite practical.

Did either of these stations actually broadcast any of this. Or are both continuing to pretend this is an issue we are ignoring?

Valid Question Paul

Thu Mar 06, 2003 13:26

This is a question that has also come up within the anti-war movement, especially amongst those who believe that the Shannon workers are the key to changing the government policy on Military tranist flights.

And i will admit that my mortgage payments do not depend on there being an airport in Shannon.

But what risk is there to the airport if the military flights do not refuel?
What percentage of turnover is due to these flights?
Has the build up of personnel in the middle east not been a short term boost to the revenues of the airport, which is unlikely to last - or do you see the prospect of continuing wars by the US (Iran next) as a long term survival plan for the airport?
Surely the security operations and large numbers of protestors eating in Supermacs and buying beer in Lidl have also contributed to the local economy?

Shannon airport has throughout it's history been a source of inventiveness and commercial experimentation. It cannot now be solely dependent on military use for its survival.

Oh BTW, my taxes paid for that fence as much as yours, and paid the overtime of the people who stood in front of it. But I, along with the majority of people in this country do not agree with this policy and I feel I have a duty and right as a citizen to say, in every way I can, NOT IN MY NAME.

Question from a concerned party who does NOT support your cause !!!

by Paul

Wed Mar 05, 2003 13:41

Is your intention to close Shannon Airport and as a direct result loose thousands of jobs in the mid west region while you get back on your buses and go back to your homes ???

Is so, fair play to you all, you're doing a fine job !

Fair enough if you do not agree with the way Shannon is used but you have made your points and people know where you stand. Can we now get on with people making a living so they can pay taxes to fund your the Gardai who protect us (and our property i.e. THE FENCE)from people like yourselves.

By TRYING to stop the war in Iraq by blocking the build up going through Shannon you are infact crippling the economy in the Mid West of IRELAND.

(It's no longer fashionable to protest, if you run away and back down from tearing down the fense cause you see too many Gardai. You obviously don't feel that strong about it !)

GET A GRIP !!!!

Intentions

by James

Mon Mar 03, 2003 12:10

If the intention of the march was to bring 1000s to shut the airport people should be told so in advance. That is only fair so people know what they are getting into. If some one of the anti-war groups wants to call such a demo I'll be there. No one has done it yet.

Do you think the media PANA etc would have reacted any differently than they did to the GNAW statement? What would that do for numbers?

A success?

by Sceptic from Mid-West

Sun Mar 02, 2003 20:48

James says this was a 'success'. Is he joking? We could have had tens of thousands at Shannon and closed down the fucking airport. How is a bit of messing at a fence, allied to a diminished march (less than the last time), actually a 'success'.

You know the story: you can't deal with the problem until you admit you've got one. Deal!

Success

by James - anarchist

Sun Mar 02, 2003 13:07

This was a success. Given the forces of the state on display it was going to be pretty impossible to take down the fence with our numbers. Nonetheless we cost the state a million and exposed exactly how far they'd go to defend the US childkillers and their planes.

More importantly the two protests co-existed with only minor acrimony. So we can employ different tactics without conflict.

Full credit to everyone for remaining restrained in the face of provocation and some violence from the Gardai.

Ten were arrested and I understand have been charged and released on bail with a no-entry to Clare condition. Fair dues to all of them. We are nearing 50 arrests, mostly in blocks of 10 or less, around the Shannon issue. Perhaps it is time we considered a mass blockade with the objective of forcing the state to arrest 100s.

We'll be back.

¿rhetorical question?

by ipsiphi iosaf o as if

Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:57

Can we spread this message peacefully to the ever increasing disgruntled masses?

as your presence at Shannon has proved that the message has peacefully been communicated to the ever disgruntled masses.

= and on, and on, and on.

evolving revolution.

Government provocation

by James McKenna

Sun Mar 02, 2003 11:18

What we witnessed at Shannon Mar 1 was attempted police provocation. The Guards themselves behaved correctly but the order to place so many lines of Garda , Riot Police , water cannon x3 (manned by civilian firemen?) horses , helicopters, crowd control fences, van loads of police , cameras and armed detectives was no more than and attempt by the fascist McDowell , PD minister for justice, to incite anger in the crowd. But the crowd too behaved impecably.

As a ploy to incite a violent reaction which would have been pounced on by the media and used to further divide and weaken the Mass Movement for peace, it failed miserably.

We will not be frightened off the streets. We will march and march again in ever increasing numbers despite all the tricks they will surely use to divide, confuse or discourage us. Now perhaps the Movement has had an exercise in how it can be split by media hype and lies, we at least will no longer believe their lies and manipulations of the truth.
Can we spread this message peacefully to the ever increasing disgruntled masses?

further

by nolympics

Sun Mar 02, 2003 05:29

excellent news

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If you went down to the fence today

Comments (10 of 10)