A St. Patrick's Day call from Ireland

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday March 12, 2003 13:20 by The St. Patrick's Day Peace Group

The St. Patrick's Day Peace Group is a diverse group of Irish peace activists who include Eamonn Crudden, Deirdre de Burca, Joe Sheehan, Ciaran Moore, Graham Caswell, Pearse Stokes, Red JaDe, the Mid-West Alliance against Military Aggression (MAMA) and others. Join this group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdaywarresistance and please spread the word!

******BEGINS******

On the eve of St. Patrick's Day, our national holiday, and as the 'St Patrick's Day Deadline' approaches we, the people of Ireland who seek to avoid war in Iraq, call for a peaceful resolution to the current crisis and for non-violent methods of conflict resolution to be employed.

We believe that our own peace process, which ended years of violence on this island, can be used as a model for conflict resolution in the Middle East and elsewhere. The American and British contribution to the Irish peace process has been valuable and we call on these nations to approach the Iraqi crisis in the same spirit and with the same committment to political rather than violent means.

As a practical gesture of support for these aims we call upon people in Ireland, in America, in Britian, in Australia and around the world to wear and display symbols of peace and of opposition to violence on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, our national holiday. In particular we ask that you wear white shamrocks, white ribbons, white armbands, white flags and other creative symbols of peace and of opposition to violence and to otherwise make known your desire for a peaceful resolution to this conflict.

Let this St. Patrick's Day be not only a celebration of Irishness but a celebration of peace.

Please spread this message as widely as you can.

******ENDS******