From Protest to Resistance

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday February 18, 2003 20:27 by Ciaron O'Reilly - Catholic Worker pitstop_ploughshares at hotmail dot com

Two weeks out from this major military escalation we must directly resist U.S. troop and munition movements through Ireland. We should be doing this or offering proactive, practical solidarity to those who step forward to resist

We have had the events of the past few daze beamed to us in prison through the questionable prism of Rupert Murdock’s Sky and Fox networks. This dodgy diet has been supplemented by steady support of hope and resistance for peace. the pluralism of the million plus London peace march-cultures, ages, faith, styles, humour-was a joy to behold, even through the medium of the Skyline feed. The march in Dublin surpassed all expectations-100,000 strong. Congradulations to all those who made these manifestations.
The next day the U.S administration had not missed a war drum beat. National Security honcho Condoleeza Rice laid out the game plan, U.S. troop deployments to Turkey escalated with out Turkey's permission, the N.A.T.O. hiccup being cured by George Robertson. The British Labour administration spinning like crazy-Blair playing the hurt victim, John Reed playing the tough cop, no apologies, power on. The Irish government falls back on the only damage control tactic they know-keep your head down, ass covered and mouth shut.
If truth be told,
What put the issue of Irish complicity in this U.S. war on the front burner was largely a number of solo efforts (Tim's planespotting, Eosin’s one man/one spray can/one barrister engagement of a Hercules and an Irish High Court, Mary’s spontaneous disarmament of a U.S. navy plane) and a couple of fragile collective efforts (the 4-week Shannon Peace Camp and us the "Pit Stop Ploughshares" lightening striking twice on the very same/recently repaired/security guaranteed U.S. navy plane). This is not to ignore the grassroots education and rallying work by S.W.P/I.A.W.M/Grassroots Network/W.S.M/Local peace groups-but it was really these acts of direct nonviolence resistance that took the game to the government. Surprise, surprise-none of these resisters were allowed to address the crowd at Saturdays rally in Dublin. The specter’s platform was grid locked by opportunists, careerists, church and political bureaucrats desperately attempting to lead/hijack the movement. We have created the space for these bureaucrats to operate, colonize the space and sell us out. The scripture (John 10: 12) refers to these folks as the "Hirelings”, their job is to control and manage dissent-channel it, contain it and kill it on behalf of the wolf.
The demonisation of our Ploughshares community by the state and attempted marginalisation of imprisoned resisters by the movement bureaucrats is a result of us breaking a "gentleman’s agreement” between the state and these "legitimate voices of dissent”. The Irish state decrees that” you can have your protests as long as we can have our war!” When we disarmed the U.S. navy plane at Shannon we moved from protest to resistance, breaking this agreement. The response (as predicted in mark13: 9) was arrest, criminalisation, prison, lies, slander, troop deployment, Air Rianta civil injunction, denunciation of friends, warm friends cooling and apparently censorship from the platform at Saturdays Dublin peace rally.
This isn’t a whinge, it's a political analysis of the dynamics between the state-radicals-moderates/liberal........just the way it is/has always been, acknowledge it, shed false expectations of solidarity from such quarters, celebrate the solidarity flowing our way form decent folks who see the war as something to resist rather than some kind of marketing opportunity...and move on! Move on to what? Solidarity and resistance!
We must not be seduced into slumber by the self-congratulatory rhetoric of those who wish to contain our movement...with nonviolent resistance the movement must always maintain the initiative. As a movement we must move rapidly from protest to nonviolent resistance joining 2,000 folks in England who have signed a "Pledge of Resistance" committed to direct action, the leader of the British Railway Union suggesting a general strike, the Austrian closure of borders to U.S. troop deployment, 3 Dominican nuns Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert and Jackie Hudson who in October disarmed a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in Colorado, the Australian navy personnel sent home for refusing anthrax injections, Barbara Smadema who last week disabled 3 satellite dishes at a N.A.T.O. airbase in the southern Netherlands........The hits keep coming.
This war against the Iraqi people and for Iraqi resources has spanned over two decades from sponsoring Sadam to the -91 Gulf massacre to 13 years of sanctions to present U.S. plans to invade, conquer and occupy. It has a cost over two million Iraqi lives. We are 2 weeks out from a major escalation of this war by the most dangerous U.S. administration in history. When questioned about our brothers and sisters who have travelled to Iraq to stand in nonviolent solidarity, a U.S. state department. bureaucrat responded "You might as well ask me why moths fly in to a flame !"They will be slain along with the Iraqis.
Two weeks out from this major military escalation we must directly resist U.S. troop and munition movements through Ireland. We should be doing this or offering proactive, practical solidarity to those who step forward to resist
March 1st at Shannon Airport.
Much Peace
Ciaron O Reilly