Good Friday Resistance at Shannon

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday April 18, 2003 04:47 by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker

4.45 - over an hour on the runway undetected at this point

4.45 a.m. Jenny and Martin have been on the runway at Shannon for over an hour without being detected.

** RESISTANCE IS FERTILE **

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 17, 2003

CONTACTS:
Ciaron: (087) 918 4552
Jenny Hannon (when released from custody) 087 261 9938

RESISTANCE CONTINUES, GOOD FRIDAY PEACE ACTIVISTS ENTER SHANNON AIRPORT
3am Libation completed at edge of runway in peace

Two members of the radical anti-war Catholic Worker Movement (see
www.catholicworker.org) were arrested inside Shannon Airport in the
early hours of Good Friday. Jenny Hannon of Dublin and Martin McGowan of
Sligo were detained by airport security and police after making their
way into the airfield.

They had constructed a shrine to the Iraqis slain in the recent U.S.
military assault, conducted the Catholic Office of the Dead and
planted a bed of potatoes. By 3.45am they were still airside, where they
continued their libation at the edge of the runway in peace.

Jenny Hannon stated,
"We come to Shannon Airport on Good Friday to recognise the ongoing
crucifixion of the people of Iraq. Our airports have been complicit in
the decade-long enforcement of genocidal sanctions, and now the past
month of intensified bombing in Iraqi towns and villages.

"By allowing refueling of U.S. military flights at Shannon, Ireland is
now co-operating with a huge armed robbery of Iraqi resources to be
plundered. The entire infrastructure of Iraqi society - deliberately destroyed by U.S./U.K. bombs in the Gulf Wars - faces privatisation by
U.S. corporations - water, roads, hospitals, etc.

"We remember the dead and dying, and plant potatoes as a symbol of new
life, returning the land occupied by Shannon Airport to a proper
relationship with a God of Life and Love." (see www.refuelingpeace.org)

Martin McGowan continued, "This is a continuation of the ploughshares prophesy unleashed at Shannon in February. The prophet Micah (Ch. 4:4) promises a vision of economic justice as the flipside to nonviolent disarmament - where "we shall sit under our vine and fig tree, next to our potato patch, in peace and unafraid. It is traditional in the west of Ireland to plant potatos on Good Friday. The spade is mightier than the sword!"

In early February five other members of the Catholic Worker Movement
were arrested after disarming a U.S. Navy warplane at Shannon Airport.
Karen Fallon will accept bail later today, joining the other four bailed
awaiting trial. (see www.ploughsharesireland.org)