Mass demonstration at Shannon Warport

by Andrew Mon Jan 20, 2003 15:27

There is a listing of protests internationally up at http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/01/18/4179025 and some discussion of these similar to the discussion that is going on here in Ireland

by somebody Mon Jan 20, 2003 15:56

Is this all the pictures you have of Saturday or is this really a bit of single-minded reporting?

by Ray Mon Jan 20, 2003 15:58

Full report and pictures continue at http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2003/shannonJAN.html

by Andrew Mon Jan 20, 2003 17:42

H'mm well as a lone cameraman not only am I single minded (you have an auxillay brain! How do I get one) but I can also only be in one place at one time. And I reckoned what was happining on the roof was more interesting then getting yet another picture of Joe Higgins, Patricia McKenna etc, etc. (I have several pics of both speaking at demos already, if it helps I could post one. Probably nobody could tell the difference!)

More seriously though what is with all this dismissive 'kids on the roof' shit that sections of the left are now spouting about Shannon. It seems that its OK for young people to turn up to march behind your banner and hold one of your mass produced placards. In that case of course they aren't 'kids' the're 'youth', a far more repectable audience that can be organised and lectured. But if, as on Saturday, they use a bit of imagination and do their own thing they become 'kids' who need to be put in their place by their 'elders and betters'!

Incidentally some of those 'kids' were the wrong side of thirty which I guess goes to show that you are only as old as you feel. Or maybe you think they should 'grow up'!

by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein Mon Jan 20, 2003 19:11 maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

Possibly Andrew, these young people needed to be harnessed, their energies controlled and released in carefully co-ordinated and pre-approved outbursts of 'spontaneous' action while remaining under the control of a centralised power structure at all times and concious of their duties to adhere strictly to regulations.

It's Revolution Jim, but not as we know it.

by King Mob Mon Jan 20, 2003 20:44

We all know how your mates like to harness that energy Justin

"It's the queens shilling, but not as we know it"

by As do many many other ghosts Mon Jan 20, 2003 22:25

And no offence meant . . . . but it just struck me you are the only self identified Sinn Fein member on IMC . . . why is that ?

by Cian Mon Jan 20, 2003 22:47

I can't quite understand how some of the people standing around on the ground doing noting much, are giving out about the kids on the roof achieving nothing.

Of course been on the roof wasn't the most incredible action that these activists could have engaged in. But its a start. And I bet more of them will come back next time, rather than getting disillusioned by the same old speeches and the same old routine protest.

Anything that makes the protest more visible and more diverse and that comes within non-violent direct action is to be welcomed. If that means marching along with a party placard or dancing to some music or reciting poetry, or standing on the roof, than so be it.

by raymond of the rooftops. - being a poem by paul durcan Mon Jan 20, 2003 23:01 in which he berates his beloved for lack of support.

jedi of the rooftops.
they didn´t get banged up to rights did they?
they decided to go up on to the roof and they were jedi.
milk on the guards?
this reminds me of a chapter of the Quran.
well it would.
now the arabic word for evolution is
nai´xa
with glotal stop between the sylables.
very pretty word.
the arabic for evoloving revolution is beautiful to write and see on the walls.
and so it has been placed on the walls.
the writing is on the wall.
leave it there.
i will not tell you what the arabic for "evolving revolution" is because that would place me in these dark times in echelon files i prefer not to touch.
i may write nai´xa without alarm bells ringing on a computer but not the other.
The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) treated much on milk.
and not unusually, we must remember that the land of Canaan was termed in the Torah as the land of milk and honey.
Milk and honey were central to ancient civilisations ideas of plenty, prosperity and wealth.
The ancient gaelic and goidelic texts that provide the basis of our understanding of the legend of Maedhbh and the Taín list the cows of both Maedhbh and her rival in Ulaidh.
Also listed are the vats of honey.

When the soldiers of both Maedhbh and Ulaidh fought their silly battle it was not only for the bull, it was for the milk and honey.
No milk ever came from a bull.

There are many jedi.
some were on the roof.
some were berating like raymond of the rooftops the beloved long suffering partner.
Jedi are easy to spot.
the others less so.
nai´xa
has anyone taken an interest in the illuminated sufi poet of Baghdad yet?
and has anyone taken an interest in the hopeful succesors to Saddam Hussein?
your window of energy is short.
make use of it wisely.
so less of that "directing energy talk" or satire of our most wonderful anarchic texts which as most know are heavy on the paratactic prose and light on the humour.

They were jedi
they will never forget being jedi

i am
mafiosa d.
has anyone yet counted my name?

by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein Tue Jan 21, 2003 11:03 maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

No idea. I know other Sinn Féin members use the site, though more to read it than post to it come to think of it. I identify myself because I think people shouldn't hide behind aliases.

by mafiosa D Tue Jan 21, 2003 12:15

mafiosa D.
mafiosa camardadia
are registered anagrams of the
iosaf mac diarmada
the MC is reserved for special filing boxes.
ah go on Justin you don´t hide behind an alias because you can´t.
nor can I for that matter.
But if all the contributors stopped multiplying their names.
"jedi of the countless"
we´d be better able to judge the veracity of young fine gael.

by jedi of the good long read. Tue Jan 21, 2003 12:52

have a read. great stories.
not as described in the link the oldest in europe. Finland rivals that claim but still very old literary tradition.
And i need correct my arabic. Evolution is na´xa.
no idea what the other was. Sorry for that. live and learn. Illumination is "anara". The Catalan for "to go" is "anar".
For the joycean twist the writer would like to consider the irregular plurals that afflict both Irish and many other languages. So we see "naw´" which means "class" or "species" or "type" become in the plural "anwá".
"Nur" which means light becomes "anwár".
Arabic is a lovely language but very difficult to write in western script. It might be worth considering that the Taín, of which there were many were also written in a different script.
Milan Kundera goes on about the little lost letters of Europe a lot. His particular problem is with the little hat on the czech "c".
Irish forms of many names are also interesting, many of our names were anglicised then re-gaelicised, and the older spellings were often using letters that had different sounds.
I´m rambling myself out of here for a while.
:-) = leave you all to that one.

by Nicholas - CPA, GP etc. Tue Jan 21, 2003 13:30

I don't see what anybody has against people getting onto the roof, although some people do find the masks aggressive and intimidating.

However, despite the fact that many of us have heard the speeches before, and are not usually that interested any more, a huge number of people who were there, were interested in hearing the speeches and should be accommodated. I don't think it is necessarily boring to listen to speeches.

This shouldn't become a confrontational debate. There was room for different kinds of action of Saturday, and all are worthwhile.

by Andrew Tue Jan 21, 2003 14:09

I think speech making at protests does indeed have a role to play but the problem in Shannon (and it's a problems of just about every demo here) is that 'Speeches is it'. This added to the fact that 70-90% of those giving the speech will be the same people as you saw giving a speech at the last demo mean the novelty (and education value) quickly wears off.

Now at Shannon probably 50% hadn't been on any of the previous demos (so to them the speeches were a novelty) and 20%+ have been to five or more anti-war demos in the last year, with 30% have been to more then one but less then five. It's obvious that at least 20% of the crowd are not going to find much of interest in 70%+ of the speeches.

The is a problem common to most major marches and one that could be tackled, even if only by having some of the lesser lights in the various political parties speaking rather then the identikit leadership line up whatever the issue. With a bit of imagination you could stick in a couple of relevant songs from a band, a comedian or whatever as well.

BUT Shannon is different because as we stand there listening to the speeches planes less then 200m away are loading and unloading troops destined for the war. It has been shown on several occasions that it is not that difficult to do something about this. The problem with the IAWM events at Shannon is not only that speeches are the exclusive focus but that anyone trying to 'do something then and there' about the military use of the airport is seen as a nuscience or a wrecker or a bit of both. This is standing things on their head as far as I'm concerned.

by em Tue Jan 21, 2003 14:53 emmacha at online dot ie

I was there on saturday, but i stood back from the speeches - I always do, because i usually have small kids with me, and also i find it can get a bit boring - not that people don't have valid things to say, but sometimes there can be too many catchphrases and slogans.
I'm happy just to be there, make the march, give my energy...
Anyway, I was kinda in between both groups - I saw people getting up on the roofs (the police were actually very slow to respond.)
Anyway, I didn't think it was any way a bad thing when people started to climb the staircase.
It seemed to me that people were having some fun, and doing no harm.
i wasn't aware that police dogs had bitten people.

I thought the energy and spirits were great - from my vantage point it seemed that you could go listen to the speeches and the serious side of it, or you could go join the party that started
up.

This is a very important point to me, and something I felt was missing from other protests I have attended - I mean the element of fun.

I am opposed to war because it is anti-life. Having fun and a bit of a party/carnival atmosphere is making a statement about what you want instead of war/the war machine/industrial wage-slave economy (which are all heads of the same monster).

It seemed to me that this demo was the best I have been at yet, because despite the police presence, and the terrible seriousness of the issues, the party/carnival atmosphere was a strong vibrant proclamation of Life and enjoyment of life. It seems to me that one of the fundamental reasons we oppose war is because we want to live, and we want others to live - to live joyful, happy fulfilling dignified lives without desperate want or suffering etc.

I also thought it was great to see so many children and young people there - this is their world we are making a stand for - and if they (and all those eternal youths out there - including myself!!!) want to get up on a roof and throw milk at the police in order to stake their claim and proclaim their rights to that future -
Well Fair Play To THEM!!!

There is a need for serious talks and discussions, but please don't forget that life and living are the most important thing.
All work and no play.......

BB

em

by fergus - free thinker Tue Jan 21, 2003 19:17 fergusrobson at hotmail dot com

20 of my friends and I,all between 14 and 20 came to shannon on the 18 of January.I've been to all of them there so far and this time i managed to get together a decent group.The one before this was so boring for my friends that they nearly didnt come again(it wasnt for my brother and i but thats a different story)This time we were on the roof (the ones with the home made anarchy flag)and we were all dancing and then we tried to break through the barricade.We count that as a day when we got something done.We didnt stand around listening to conventional wisdom that,to tell the truth, people were there because they already knew most of that.We demonstrated to our rulers that we are willing to do more than say stop.We can make them stop,we prevented 6 people from being arrested by sitting and standing in the way of police cars.That is achieving something not telling people what they already know. Fergus

by Alhazerad Tue Jan 21, 2003 22:28

Ehhh, sorry to ruin your buzz, i know what your saying in your post, and i agree, but i was(presuming your talking abut the 6 people who broke though the police lines and were briefly arrested) one of those people and the gardai had already decided to let us go prior to the sit-down protest.....

by nessie Wed Jan 22, 2003 15:12

If you want our rulers to heed your pleas, fall on your knees first and worship them like gods. Lick their boots, and grovel like a whipped cur. Never, never, never stoop to the level of violence. Don't throw tea into the harbor. Don't drive the money changers from the temple with a whip. And if a bunch of redcoats come to grab your guns, don't shoot back. Hand them over promptly, while singing "God Save the King" (or "My Country Tis of Thee" or "Heil Dir in Seigerkranz" or whatever they call it where you live).