|
|
Blog Feeds
Anti-Empire
The SakerA bird's eye view of the vineyard
Public InquiryInterested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland |
Some Reflections & Consequences of Saturday - A Beautiful Day national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Tuesday February 18, 2003 13:22 by Anonymous - Left-Wing / Humanitarian
 . What an incredible day is all I can say about Saturday in Dublin and all around the globe. The organisers were only expecting about 20,000 ya? I thought it would only be between 10 & 20,000. It totally took me and everyone else I knew by surprise. In a world so full of evil, hate, poverty & war, it felt like such a reprieval. At last the ordinary people of the world were coming out in their masses and expressing their disgust for what is going on in the world. There was such a great atmosphere and an incredible, palpable feeling of goodwill. It gave me some hope for the future of humanity. And I felt there might be some "chance" this might stop the war, and others I were with thought it really would. But alas, back comes the awfulness of humanity again, as usual, and from all reports, it looks like this will not stop it. I would still say 80% to 90% chance of the Americans (et. al.) going in, and soon. I was watching all the news channels for hours on Sunday, including several American ones, and it does not look like Saturday is going to stop it. The Americans are going to use the excuse that to stop at this stage would be to send out all the wrong signals to all the other "dodgy" nations around the world, like North Korea etc. They will play more on the card, that this is what the Iraqi people want, like I saw the secretary of state for Northern Ireland argue vehemently for yesterday. They have invested too much in this, their vested interests are too huge, Bush & Rumsfeld are too lunatic, etc. etc. to stop now. Germany, Russia and France have backed down about Turkey. Watching the midnight court on Sunday night, it didn't look like anything majorly had changed. It really disgusted me how nearly all the panelists were afraid to say the words "anti-American". And I have seen this all over the place as well. No-one is anti-american per say, but they should have been screaming, roaring from the roof tops, how anti American administration & establishment they are. If Saturday cannot give the confidence for people to say this, then it worries and gravely disappoints me. Did anyone see the Kissinger programme on Network 2 earlier on, on Sunday? I know most of it all already and I'm sure a lot of people here do - but how disgusting and obscene was it and is it? Words cannot describe the awfulness and absolute horror of what Kissinger, Forde & Nixon and so many others did during those years. And now we have Bush & Rumsfeld to continue to fly the American flag and perform equally horrific acts. And obviously in the Western/Capitalist world, the U.S. is not the only nation of terror. I think it only came out very recently exactly how close we were to Nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis. Listening to Chomsky on Radio 1 on Sunday, he certainly emphasized how unbelievably close it actually was. And when asked would Saturday make any difference, he just did not know. But I think it will make a difference. It has to. The question is how much of a difference? It certainly has strengthened the hand of all those governments who are trying to stop the war. And even if it does not ultimately stop the war, the ordinary people of the world have finally been mobilized. Finally its not just the “few” people who log onto this site and are involved in left-wing and humanitarian movements. Ordinary people have finally actively engaged themselves in world affairs. The world is beginning to “wake up” to the horrors of America (& other western nations), and to capitalism in general. Finally, the importance of oil in the gulf, is explicitly demonstrating the linkage between capitalism & war & poverty etc. What for so long, the Americans, the British and others have been able to keep covert from the ordinary people of the world is now slowly beginning to come out in the open, and Saturday was a big stepping stone to that effect. But as I alluded to earlier, the evilness in humanity and the deception of ordinary people, especially the American people, is still very strong. Saturday on its own will probably not stop the war, but if the world wide anti war movement continues, and continues to gain in momentum then it is just possible. And I’ve said even if it doesn’t, the war on Iraq is not the only horror in the world. There are countless numbers of them. And the anti-war movement is helping to galvanize the whole world to counteract all the other present and future horrors of the world, that it is being subjected to primarily by capitalism, globalization and imperialism. My unending congratulations to all the organizers of that amazing day on Saturday. Hopefully war in Iraq can be averted and all future wars and poverty in the world etc. eliminated. It was "A Beautiful Day". |
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Clearly Bush et al are not going to listen to world opinion and it is
becoming evident to many now that the naked face of capitalism has
been exposed, of the real threats we face.
The US is going for broke to impose global domination and all of this is
very much tied up with the Anti-Capitalist/Anti-Globalisation protests.
We are at a stage now in history, where we the people either make the push
forward for a better world, or we will be crushed. The defining moments
are now, today. To succeed, there will have to be many more demonstrations
like last Saturdays all over the world. The system will resist as copiously
illustrated many times in the way the media have ignored the issues and the
way protestors have been viciously attacked. To make a difference we must
deepen our resolve and be brave and everyone will have to get involved.
If not we will pay the price.
See "The Liberals, The Realists and Bush the Liberator" in related link for
a good summary of the current situation.
I totally agree with everything you've stated above protestor. And nice one for the link. The worldwide anti-capitalist, anti-globalisation, anti-imperialist & anti-war movement has been growing rapidly for the last 4 years (since Seattle in '99). The capitalist establishment is worried. The Irish government like all international capitalist governments are worried, and are trying to crack down on left-wing movments like the SWP in Ireland.
But as you say, things need to grow even more rapidly for there to be big success. More protests, more demonstrations, more work.
All hands to the pump!
What about more action?
Direct action is our only chance of stopping this war and we don't have long.
March 1st, Shannon warport, direct action against the war machine.
goddess love all ye hooligans! i'm reading from india and am so excited by all the goings on at home. can't wait to see all of ye again! keep up the good work and BIG LOVE!!!!!
Ref. "Stray Cork Anarchist" - Yup I can tell you, things are happening here at home. Saturday in Dublin was simply incredible. The WHOLE city was just plastered with protestors. Cork even got 300 - would have been way more but the Cork organisers directed everyone to the main event in Dublin. Hope your stirring up all those Indians!!
Ref. Direct Action:-
I am totally in favour of non-violent direct action. And I agree, this is probably vitally needed to force our voice home.
However regarding violent direct action, where violence includes physically damaging planes etc. I am very uncertain. My instinct says violence is violence is violence. And this is what we totally stand against. The genearl public have been mobilized now and this has been done largely by non-violent actions, so why get violent now?
But I am not sure on this. And how the general public would react to direct violence is difficult to judge. I would like to see more & clear debate on this issue on this site.
Obviously damaging a plane is not a mega violent action and maybe the public would be happy to see this happening if the government refuses to do nothing. I don't know but as I said my instinct says no.
I'd say that given the current situation, anybody who had the opportunity to do so would be morally obliged to do what they could to disable a US military plane.
Most of us don't have the courage to follow through on this since we would very likely have to face serious consequences (as Eoin Dubsky, Mary Kelly and the CW 5 are experiencing). However, if enough of us do it we have to be much less courageous and face far fewer consequences. This is why we need MASS direct action to kick the US warplanes out of Shannon. We've already had the biggest demonstration the world has ever seen against this war and our rulers have all but totally ignored us. The anti-war movement needs to put our money where our mouth is and do what we can to physically obstruct the flood of arms and troops through Shannon.
March 1st can be the day when we make a difference. Although it is very unlikely that anybody will make an attempt to reach any of the planes, a mass blockade or an attempt to dismantle the fence or other such acts of civil disobedience would force the government to sit up and take notice and would be very hard for anybody reasonable to portray as violent. This will only succeed if enough people come down to Shannon to take part or just come down to support it with their presence.
The government only get away with it because we let them, let's wash the blood off our hands.
For some arguments about the necessity of direct action see:
http://struggle.ws/wsm/shannon.html
http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2003/FEB15.html
You make some very good points there Badman. Its hard to disagree with nearly everything you've said.
I am certainly in favour of mass blocades etc.
And I suppose the more I think of it, now that the public (in general) has been mobilized, they may well support more "violent" forms of direct action, if they feel their voice is not being listened to. So maybe it is the right thing to do.
But, as you say, very few will have the courage to do it even if it is the right thing to do. So hopefully if it is done, it will be done en mass.
Listening to Rothwiler there on Prime Time last night would make you sick. He completely refused to answer the question what the government would do if the US went in unilateraly. And he felt totally justified not to answer this question until it actually happened and then it would be "debated" and then they would decide. And he was getting angry at the interviewer, Conor O'Cleary for persisting with the question.
I had to turn channels. It was too nausiating. I certainly felt last night that violent (in terms of tearing down fences and damaging planes) was the only way guy's like he & Bertie et. al. were going to listen to the people they are supposed to be serving.