Shannon airport mass trespass - report and pictures

by Andrew Mon Oct 14, 2002 14:18

Just got this in my mail from another activist

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Below is a brief news article from IOL Breaking News (http://www.iol.ie/) about the protest at Shannon Airport yesterday.

Gardai arrest Shannon protestors
12/10/2002 - 18:27:49

Gardai have made several arrests at Shannon airport after protestors charged the perimeter fence.

As 400 people involved in the protest today left the area, approximately 200 of them broke from the group and charged the airport security fencing.

They tore down 100 metres of fencing. They reached the edge of the taxi runway before being apprehended by gardai.

A file is now being sent to the Director of Public Prosecution.

Several people have been taken into custody by local gardai for questioning.

Members of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance as well as the Anti-War Movement met at the airport today to challenge the Government to stop allowing US military planes landing at Shannon

by Petra Mon Oct 14, 2002 16:15

Come on let's have it why was a democratic debate opposed and ultimately prvented by the SWP/IAWM on Saturdays demo?

by Paul O'Donnell Mon Oct 14, 2002 16:18

Instead of the Midas touch they have the Shiteass touch. Everything they touch turns to shite! They are professional splitters! They even managed to split themselves last Saturday (along class lines!) when the action started. Where was RBB?

by jamesy Mon Oct 14, 2002 16:29

Just a small correction Andrew the bus from Cork was actually organised by the Cork Peace Alliance

by Andrew Mon Oct 14, 2002 16:33

Sorry about the bus mistake which I actually knew but had forgotten. Will be corrected when the site is next updated

by D. mite Mon Oct 14, 2002 16:45

Andrew

why are you apologising when the article was written by Joe Black?

by Pier Paolo - Galway Mon Oct 14, 2002 17:09

Hi,
I usually find the reports that you post on indymedia quite interesting, but this time your remarks on the speeches are rather silly (sorry lads). There was an open mike and this, in itself, was a huge step forward from the demo in Dublin. Plus quite a few of the speeches, including the one by Nuria, a muslim woman living in Galway, were not by official representatives of the IAWM or by left parties' cadres. I think that this was definitely one good thing about the demo and hopefully the next time we won't go back to the old format.

by Sarah Duffy - none Mon Oct 14, 2002 17:23

In relation to the mass meeting that the Anti-Trots seem to be complaining about, on reading through the articles about the mass meeting, Aoife said what the IAWM had decided on a sit down protest outside the terminal and a symbolic protest at the fence, and quite clearly she said that no one was going to be told what to do. Now when the march took off, you guys didn't have to go along did you, no one is your master? Could you not have amassed the libertarian forces and had your meeting? Once again who is your master?
Surely not everything is the fault of the SWP?
Seriously you are like kids complaining when you don't get your way.

SD

by mal Mon Oct 14, 2002 17:33

sarah its all about the democracy of me, myself and i. It's curious that they hid themselves in the body of the march and then made a break for it. a decision is made by them and then they hide and sumerge themselves and won't take resposability for their actions. Their democracy their way ie who shouts the loudest.

by E Mon Oct 14, 2002 17:43

One issue coming out of what happened at Shannon is that the Cork Peace Alliance actually fully affiliate with the Irish Anti War Movement and attend all the organizing meetings in Dublin where stuff is being discussed on a national-wide level. It is their decision of course.

Aoife clearly stated the intentions of the IAWM for the Saturday demo and made no suggestion that any direct actions would be stopped I think if you read back on her comments from earlier in the week. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

by kahootz Mon Oct 14, 2002 17:44

Maybe we could organise better into affinity groups/ blocs the next time - reds with reds, pinks with pinks etc. Why was the meeting b4 not given time to go ahead by stewards? Also the SWP tactic of handing out numerous placards with socialist worker on them on order to visually hijack the march worked yet again.

Pinkies we need to unite, more drums (there was only 3) and costumes...and better circles to focus rainbow energies. The dogs and horses seemed disturbed by all the nrg... Full respect to the arrestee on lying the ground from the Peoples Republic of Cork. He made friends with the alsatian on top of him...it then turned on its handler....wasn't used to love.

so lets raise some pink flags!

'Love Changes Everything': Venus

related link: www.wombles.org.uk/lessons.htm

by Nicholas McMurry - Many - see above Mon Oct 14, 2002 18:00

The main issue is this:

People present at the demo were not given the opportunity in advance to air their own ideas of what should happen at the demo. They were therefore not aware in advance of what other people intended to do. People were unaware of what the "leaders" of the march intended to do as well as what other individuals intended to do.

As far as I am concerned the other issues are secondary.

The Irish Anti-War Movement does not want mass arrests at its actions. I happen to think they are wrong - that mass arrests would highlight the issue like nothing else and stretch police resources. However, if the IAWM suddenly decided that it did want mass arrests, would it tell the people in advance that intended to get them into a situation where they would be arrested?

I know there are some great people in the IAWM but why do all those who represent the organisation publicly, as stewards, and at the head of the march belong to one political party?

by Harry Pollitt Mon Oct 14, 2002 18:57

Very minor point Andrew but as you said you were changing it anyways, there was two buses from Galway - one organised by Galway Alliance against the War (not sure what their relationship to IAWM is) and one by SWSS. Also one bus from Sligo.

by an open mike after 2 hours of Tue Oct 15, 2002 03:21

...and this just in . . . .a prediction . . .KA will be booed next time he speaks in public

by Ray Tue Oct 15, 2002 09:21

-Aoife said what the IAWM had decided on a sit down protest outside the terminal and a symbolic protest at the fence, and quite clearly she said that no one was going to be told what to do.

She also said that the stewards would "give people space to facilitate whatever different groups/individuals want to do"

What actually happened was that as soon as people started trying to organise a mass meeting, the stweards started the march and told everyone to move off.

- Now when the march took off, you guys didn't have to go along did you, no one is your master? Could you not have amassed the libertarian forces and had your meeting?

Of course (and that's what happened at the terminal). But by starting the march when they did the stewards stopped a wider discussion from going ahead. The people who were already in favour of direct action didn't get a chance to talk to anyone else. The people who were against direct action didn't get a chance to put their case.

- Surely not everything is the fault of the SWP?

Not everything is, but this certainly is. Sadly, "SWP stifle debate" is no longer shocking.

- Aoife clearly stated the intentions of the IAWM for the Saturday demo and made no suggestion that any direct actions would be stopped I think if you read back on her comments from earlier in the week.

The problem with this is very simple. Many of the people at Shannon weren't members of the IAWM. Even some of the affiliated organisations (the ones not from Dublin) weren't at the meeting that decided what to do.

Clearly, the most democratic thing to do would be to hold a mass meeting at the beginning of the demo, so that people could argue for particular types of action, and divide themselves into groups based on the actions they wanted to do. This would have satisfied both the direct action and anti-direct action people. This is what happened at the previous Shannon demonstration. But when people started to organise that meeting the stewards started the march.

So much for democracy.

by Joe Black Tue Oct 15, 2002 10:24

Piere what I wrote about the speeches was "There was a stand off there for a while as the (SWP*) stewards tried to get people to move on so we could 'listen to the speeches'. Apparently this was very important to 'explain why we were there'. After a while they got everyone to sit down instead and so we got to listen to many speeches quite similar to the ones we had heard on other anti-war demonstrations. There was one exception when an Iraqi women spoke about her feelings about the war but otherwise even the speaker line up was almost remarkably similar to the last anti-war demonstration in Dublin, all of two weeks ago."
My complaint was not so much that there were speeches but that _FOR_THE_MOST_PART they were the same speeches by the same people as the ones most of us heard in Dublin two weeks back. As you will see I exclude the person whom I presume you are also referring to from that list. I didn't travel to Shannon to be told why war was bad and given the long distance travelled by most at the demonstration I suspect neither did they.

The second problem was that the 'need' to listen to the speeches was prioritised above the need to have a discussion about taking some sort of action at Shannon (in fact at a certain level they were used to block or delay such a dicussion). This as we already know caused subsequent problems when the direct action happened. A debate in advance of this would not have avoided all these problems (Those who were strongly anti direct action would presumably have remained so). It would at least have meant people were aware that something was going to happen (obvious enough to any indymedia reader in advance of the protest).

by Tony Tue Oct 15, 2002 10:34

If the Cork Peace Alliance affiliates to IAWM it will be the end of the CPA. Anyone in Cork who remembers the 1990 Gulf War will remember the shenanigans that the SWM got up to. We started out with 400 people at a public meeting and ended up with a group of 40 which decided to split in two. The IAWM is the SWP - they haven't gone away you know!

by Pier Paolo Tue Oct 15, 2002 13:08

My point was that as far as I understood anyone could speak and so the reason why the speeches were mostly the same (but with more than just 1 exception) was that others (myself included, to be sure) didn't ask to speak. You can hardly blame the organisers for this. That's all.

by Eoin Dubsky - Refueling Peace Tue Oct 15, 2002 21:40 info at refuelingpeace dot org

I've just been to Andrew's page on the WSM website about the Shannon demo. Wow -- I wish I could have been there!

Everyone involved -- TWO THUMBS UP !!

The photos look like something from a movie... for weeks people were talking about something like this -- and you did it! Well done everyone!

by hs - sp Wed Oct 16, 2002 11:45

Brialliant action well done everyone, one little tip though. If they're are speakers I don't want to listen and wander off and have a chat with someone. No one has a gun to your head.
Being all activity without any politics can be just as bad as the opposite sometimes. People need to know the facts for when they are talking with friends and workmates. And not everyone is as red up as our anarchist friends. Anyway if you don't want to listen simply don't know one is forcing anything. Well done on the invasion though, this is an excellent tactic, the only one really, wish I was there.

by Ciaron O'Reilly - DCW Wed Oct 16, 2002 12:02 ciaronx at hotmail dot com

Great action, good article, just one problem.........the rhetorical dismissal of other people's resistance as "martyrdom" (assuming this to be mean a negative death fixation rather than those who live life to the full and face the consequences) is a little tryte.

Resistance to this war will take many forms and defining the recent solo spraypainting of a plane at Shannon out of existaence is unhelpful.......it might not be my or your approach but it's still demnading of our solidarity. Pluralism has been the strength of the recent anti-capitalist movement and should be embraced in this one.

by Andrew Wed Oct 16, 2002 14:24

Hi Ciaran

My comment was not meant as a "rhetorical dismissal of other people's resistance as "martyrdom" (assuming this to be mean a negative death fixation)". Rather it was a political description of the idea that ALL that is needed/permissable is the individual sacrifice/heroism of the few as opposed to the mass action of the many. In the Irish political context "martyrdom" isn't much of an insult after all, huge amounts of kudos are linked, even on the left, to the "martyrdom" of Bobby Sands or James Connolly.

As I said the individual actions taken in stuff like spray painting the plane have been very valuable in building the anti-war movement here. BUT we need to go beyond these to mass action - Shannon was a start to doing this (if a rather messy start).

by John Joe Thu Oct 17, 2002 20:04

Congratulations to the Irish Anti War Movement for organising another good protest.
Keep up the good work!

by les Sat Oct 26, 2002 16:34

Got round to sending this eventually.
Whilst leaving the Shannon Demo., walking in front of a siren wailing Garda car and eventually moving out of the way to let it pass, one Gard shouted out of his window, 'There are other people in this world apart from yourselves, you know'.
I think we already knew this.

by Lawerence - College Republicians--University of California-Berkley Fri Nov 08, 2002 17:23 lagnel at aol dot com

Friends,
while i value your opinions, they are simply inaccurate. IN reards to IRaq, WAKE up and realize that Saddam Hussein started all of this. It was HUSSEIN that invaded Kuwait in the early 90's....The United States did not initiate this decade long struggle.
Secondly, Saddam could have ended these sanctions a long time ago if he simply complied with the things he agreed to after his surrender in the first Gulf War.
Thirdly, there has been mass confusion over these sanctions in IRaq. Why do none of you address the fact that Saddam spends millions upon Millions of Oil for food dollars on more palaces??? You complain about the harmful sanctions, but yet you overlook blatant abuses of power by Saddam himself. Ousting him from power would END these sanctions and create stability in the region. You all champion freedom, yet you turn a blind eye when addressing the oppression experienced in iraq by its citizens on a daily basis. It seems as if you are so caught up in opposing the majority that you have ignored the cries of th eminority who would champion any effort to free themselves from the OPPRESSIVE rule of Saddam Hussein..
WIth dignity and respect,
Lawerence

by SW Wed Feb 26, 2003 10:15

If US troops were landing in Dublin Airport - would you be trying to close it with equal effort?

As a resident and worker in Shannon, what will any of you, or even Saddam Hussein give me when I lose my job and house?

by D. John McCarthy Sun Mar 02, 2003 02:33 djohnmccarthy at mac dot com Massachusetts USA

I was just watching CNN program, “Capital Gang”, Outrange of the Week segment and Kate O’Beirne commented about the protest. She advocated a boycott of travel to Ireland for St.Patrick's day. I think she had her facts wrong after reading the account of the protest. Sounds like a couple hundred socialists that should be protesting the conditions of the Iraq people, and the failure of the toothless UN to enforce it’s resolutions, but not necessarily a reason for me to cancel my travel plans to Ireland.

by dsf - dsfds Fri Jul 18, 2003 01:47 fdsdf dsfd

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