Reclaiming Heaven

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday June 09, 2003 14:27 by Catherine Quinlisk - freelance journalist Tipperary

Catherine Quinlisk talks to one of the organisers of S.O.S.

C – So, who are you, Nico?

N – Well, I’d say I’m a messenger.

C – Oh, really? And what’s the message?

N – The message is S.O.S.

C – Could you explain that a bit?

N – Well, the expression S.O.S. is of military origin, I believe. It was a distress signal, which meant “Save our Ship”. There can be no doubt that our spaceship earth is in need of saving at the moment. This is largely because of the huge military presence everywhere, which prevents people from living a good life because they’re too busy dying a horrible death. Our response to this so far, has been to make placards and march with megaphones and chants, declaring what we don’t want. And we’ve seen how quickly protesters burn out on that kind of thing – as soon as the television war ended, all such activity ground to a halt. I feel that what we need to do, now more than ever, is build on the positive rather than attacking the negative; to focus on what we do want rather that what we don’t. We need a big celebration to recharge everyone who’s burnt themself out fighting war. Or who just wants to party. The aim is to include rather than exclude.

C – What about the other events that are planned for Shannon on the same date?

N – They are separate events, but not conflicting in any way. In fact, Fintan (C.A.W.C.) and I co-ordinated on the date. My idea for S.O.S. was always to have an event that was a total departure from the traditional anti-war protest, but Fintan felt that S. O.S. would exclude the sort of protester who prefers to express him (or her) self with placards and megaphones. Our compromise was for him to declare a national demo on the same day as S. O. S. and to keep them as separate (but hopefully symbiotic) events.

C – And the Catholic Workers event?

N – I only found out about that event after the fact, but I see no reason why we can’t feed each other. Actually I understand Food not Bombs will be feeding both of us.

C – Do you anticipate trouble with the guards?

N – Well, I think I can safely say that the people who’ll be attending this event want peace, so really the only possible source of trouble is the guards themselves. However, participants are being urged to bring cameras, and as long as there are lots of cameras around, the guards should be on good behaviour. Also I expect our numbers to be such that we’ll be left to do our thing simply because it would require far too much energy to disperse us.

C – Well, I wish you luck. Thanks for your time.

N – Hey, anytime.

C – Slán

N - Slán