Donegal (possible national?) anti-war gathering MARCH 1

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday February 21, 2003 11:38 by Ruairi - Donegal Alliance Against War muscailt at yahoo dot com

We invite other towns and cities to join us

"Never doubt the ability of a small group of people to change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has" - Margaret Mead PEACE VIGIL SAT. MARCH 1ST, 2-4PM In solidarity with the Iraqi people and the direct action at Shannon 'warport' Come along and show the war-mongers that you don't support a war that will cause untold suffering and destruction and will lead to the ongoing global domination by capitalist fundamentalists. Bring banners, pictures, family, flowers, art, food to share, music, instruments, songs, poems, your dancing shoes, prayers, action plans, info to share and whatever else you want. Bring your granny, drag your boss, spread the word and cause a fuss. It's now or never folks! GET ORGANISING!!! - Public planning meeting Donegal Town next Thursday 27th 087 9672549 - Poster attached. Leaflets/posters available via Simple Simon stores in Donegal town and Letterkenny + Health shop in

DONEGAL ANTI-WAR ALLIANCE: 21/02/03

On Saturday March 1st from 2pm to 4pm, people from all over Ireland and from all walks of life, are invited to hold a COMMUNITY PEACE VIGIL in their village, town or city.

The various branchs of the Donegal Alliance Against War from Bundoran, Ballyshannon and Letterkenny, will be holding their vigil in the market square in Donegal Town. They will be inviting local TDs and politicians, the media, church groups, students, workers, the unemployed and anyone that really wants to get out and make a stand for peace.

The vigil will mark the unnecessary destruction that war brings to Iraq and the globe while displaying publicly that the Irish people do not support a war that could cause endless suffering. The vigil will also be in solidarity with the Donegal protesters who will join the Grassroots Gathering in a day of nonviolent direct action targetting the U.S warport at Shannon.

To do nothing is not an option. Bush promises an 'endless war' and his 'administration' has a list of up to 35 target countries. Bush and his cronies are behaving like terrorists and are certainly creating them. The world stands on the brink of a disaster (in humanitarian and ecological terms) unlike any the world has ever seen. Each individual has a responsibility to act (in whatever way they can) to prevent this madness.

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Letterkenny:
074 25168
[email protected]

Donegal Town:
087 9672549
[email protected]

Falcarragh:
074 35533
[email protected]

Ballyshannon:
072 42513
[email protected]

Sligo:
071 68699
087-2470802
[email protected]

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Turn off that propaganda box and tune in to alternative radical media via the net

Tune in to www.indymedia.ie for up to date Irish and Global news and www.irishantiwar.org for the latest protest news in Ireland.

www.antiwar.com has all the latest reports from across the globe and www.infowars.com + www.globalresearch.ca has some deeper perspectives.
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Non Violent Direct Action at Shannon

The Grassroots Gathering has called a direct action protest at Shannon for March 1st, meeting under the arhway at 2pm. The form of the action is yet to be finalised but it will be some form of mass non-violent civil disobedence. There will also be a march for those who don't want to play a direct part in the action.
Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gg-antiwar/files/March1/shannon-poster-march1.pdf
Email: [email protected]

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Protest if war begins

If war begins we must move quickly to build large protests everywhere. Protests are already planned across the country and across the world.

Please take note and spread the word, as we will have very little time to organise once war starts. Local anti-war groups should begin to plan for these protests now.

On the Evening of an attack at 6pm. Protests in every City, Town and Village across the country. In Dublin 6pm at the US Embassy, Ballsbridge
The day following the attack. Midday. 10 minute work stoppage. . Bring the country to a standstill. (Stop work, walk out of class, lectures, protest where you are . wear a white ribbon or arm band).
On the Saturday following the start of the war. Mass protests in every major city and town.

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Don't forget: their actions paved the way for our voices

A protester from Shannon airport was this week found guilty
of spray painting a US airplane which was at the base last
September. The punishment was a 1,000 euro fine and a six
month suspended prison sentence. The protester is
appealing-donations to the appeal fund would be greatly
appreciated: Cheques payable to Eoin Dubsky, Whitewalls,
Ballymoney, Gorey, Co. Wexford, Ireland.

Five catholic workers who were arrested doing a
ploughshares action at Shannon airport at the beginning of
the month are still on remand. Letters of support can be
sent to them c/o Br. Anthony, Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, Co.
Limerick. http://slack.redbrick.dcu.ie

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Friday 21st FEBRUARY 2003, Issue 393

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! MAKE YOUR BED NOT WAR!
SchNEWS

PEACE SOUP

"The fracturing of the Western alliance over Iraq and the huge anti-war demonstrations around the world this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the
planet: the United States and world public opinion." - New York Times, February 2003.

The biggest anti-war movement the world has ever seen has only a few weeks left to stop the first world war of the 21st century. Bush and his corporate backers are intent on re-carving the map of the Middle East to ensure US dominance
over world oil supplies for decades ahead. If they get their way, the peoples of the Middle East, from Palestine to Kurdistan, will face more war, more poverty, and more repression so that the unsustainable gas-guzzling of countries like the United States and Britain can continue
for a few more years.

But Britain is the weak link in the attack plans. Tony Blair is acting like Bush's shiny-suited lawyer, desperately digging up pseudo-legal and very pseudo-moral justifications for an invasion of Iraq. But unfortunately for US interests,
Blair has very little support in Britain for his actions and if he is toppled it would be a major blow to Bush. While Blair represents the corporations, the millions who took to
the streets of cities across the world last week represent the majority of world opinion. In Britain, the majority of people oppose Blair's war, and oppose it actively - the London march was the biggest in British history and actions
and protests are taking place across the country.

Weapons of Mass Dissent

But marches on their own are not enough. We need to do more. In the words of one of Saturday's speakers, we need to "turn up the heat". Civil disobedience on a vast scale, involving
thousands of new activists in direct action, is the only reasonable response to Blair's war plans. We need to target high profile government events, the Labour Party's Swansea conference on the 28th of February for instance, and stop
them from taking place. Government ministers should be harassed wherever they go. We need to be ready to stage mass walk-outs and stay-aways from work, blockade city centres if war starts, and culminate our actions in the already-planned
massive occupation of Whitehall. We need to make sure that the police don't have a veto on what sort of protests we are going to carry out. In short, we need to stop business as usual for the government of this country until it is forced
to listen to the people and dump the warmongers.

The anti-war movement is incredibly united around the need for action - there is little room for Judean People's Front style bickering - and people are determined to be listened to. A typical example of the new unity that is taking root in the anti-war movement is Brighton-based group Sussex Action for Peace. The group includes direct action veterans, left wing activists, local union organisers and dozens of individuals from all sorts of backgrounds. Meetings are
large and practical, organising everything from stalls to banner drops in shopping centres to non-violent direct action training sessions to crèches. People understand that we are not going to affect this war if we stand around slagging off each other's diverse tactics.

They understand that direct action goes hand in hand with leafleting the
high street - that the people breaking into air bases and the people putting posters through letterboxes are in this
together.

Groups like Sussex Action for Peace exist up and down the country, so if the bombs start to drop, phone in sick and join in the mass civil disobedience planned across the country. To find out what's happening in your area see
www.schnews.org.uk/stopwar

Statutes of Liberty?

All demonstrations in Manhattan have been banned since September 11th, and unsurprisingly, a New York judge made no exception for the February 15th anti-war march planned in the city, citing supposed "security" fears. Still, half a
million people turned out to voice their opinion on Bush and his quest to rule the world. The cops allowed a rally, but then helpfully closed off streets so that people couldn't
get to it. At one point, 200 baton-wielding police attacked a group of 100 protestors. The provocation? Not staying on the pavement. The police claim there were only 50 arrests,
but other sources, including the National Lawyers Guild, reckon that as many as 400 people were handcuffed and locked in freezing buses all day before being released without charge. Lawyers were not allowed access to their clients for
up to 12 hours, during which police interrogated arrestees and asked them about their political affiliations. Congratulations Mr. Bush, Saddam would have been proud!

And yet despite all this, many New Yorkers still managed to make the most of the day, including our personal favourites, GLAMericans for Peace, who held signs bearing such only-in-America slogans as "Makeup Not War", "Baby, I AM the
Bomb", and "War in Iraq is Wack". SchNEWS now reckons that Americans may actually have a sense of humour after all after reading about one sign addressed to Mr. Bush and painted with the message, "Eat Another Pretzel, Asshole."
www.nyc.indymedia.org

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The real story behind the proposed war on Iraq.
On Saturday 15th of January, millions of people went on demostrations in hundreds of cities throughout the World. They are protesting against the war which America is threatening against Iraq for not fully complying with UN resolution 1441 which requires Iraq to fully comply with UN weapons inspectors in their search for weapons of mass destruction which some sources claim still exist in Iraq.

Many of the peace protesters claim that the war is not about weapons of mass destruction but about oil. American's motivation for war is not based exclusively upon monopolising Iraq's oil, but the fact that America's own supplies/reserves of oil are in steep decline mean that it is desperate to secure another source of oil. Iraq is the second largest supply of crude oil in the whole world and America's determination to secure Iraq's oil proves beyond any reasonable doubt, that the World oil shortage is NOT a scientific theory anymore, but a scientific fact (see list of links at the bottom of this page for more information...)

And now here is my problem - What I can't understand is how the hundreds of millions of peace protesters (consumers) around the World, think that they are in no way responsible for the massive demand on an ever diminishing oil supply. Virtually all the peace protesters are consumers and virtually all of them buy and use products that depend upon vast quantities of oil that will soon be no longer available. Statistics show that between the years 2005 and 2010 the World's supply of oil will not be able to match demand and then the oil companies will be relying on reserves and as consumers of oil based products, so will the rest of us.

My main point is this: - Unless all the millions of so called peace protesters are prepared to completely change their lifestyles so that they are not so totally dependant on products made from oil, then how can they be justified in protesting against a war fought for oil? The peace protesters all try and paint George Bush et al as being evil because of their lust for oil, but without the public (including peace protesters) demand for oil based products, then there would be no profit at all to be made from supplying vast quantities of oil!!!

This is very similiar to the issue of banning fox hunting. It seems there is a very large majority of people in the United Kingdom who are opposed to fox hunting on the grounds that it is inhumane. On the face of it, this would seem reasonable for all these people to declare their opposition to an barbaric sport. However the fact remains that the vast majority of foxes killed in the UK are killed by motorists(100,000 annually). I would hate to think that any of the 100,000 foxes that die on Britain's roads each year were killed by motorists opposed to foxing hunting and yet statistically, this is inevitable.

How many of the people who support a ban on fox hunting(which kills 10,000 foxes annually) are prepared to give up driving a car? Probably none of them. If confronted on this point they might respond with 'our journey is more important thant the life of a fox'. Exactly, so their so called morality only exists as long as it is convenient. The moment their lifestyle is impinged upon, then their 'morality' flies out of the window...

This is exactly the same type of hypocracy that allows someone to think they have a right to protest about a war for oil on the one hand, and then take an active part as a consumer in a culture which depends very heavily on an ever diminishing oil supply.

Back to Reality Dawns 2003

There is an online forum for discussing the points raised in this website please feel free to participate.

Heres a series of truly shocking websites detailing the,Worldwide oil shortage. Fascinating, horrifying and reassuring depending on your point of view (highly recommended). http://www.runningonempty.org/oilcrash.htm
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/
http://mbendi.co.za/indy/oilg/p0070.htm#20

www.indymedia.ie