The failure of March 1

by Firewoman Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:36

I respect them and sounded a bit too harsh on them in the article. Just one question though. Why do you have to pay to join?

by no Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:39

well said, actually.

the anarchies are embarassed so they defend their actions even more - too bad, they need some honest analysis - like yours

by Firewoman Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:41

Actually I would describe myself as one.

by no Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:45

but i though 'anarchy' meant working together for a common goal.

this action was irish splinterism at its worst

by person making a comment Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:50

The piece above is honest and straightforward, but I can't agree with your hostility to organisations. The Dublin march, and the various Shannon protests, didn't fall from the sky. Somebody had to put in the spade work. Regarding, the IAWM - I was never their biggest fan but after yesterday I respect them far more than GNAW.

by Firewoman Sun Mar 02, 2003 17:56

As a young person in Ireland it is Very hard to trust any organisation. Between the churches, goverment, the backbiting lefties, divided trade unions etc.

by Bronterre Sun Mar 02, 2003 18:09

Don't trust any organization. Coalesce with like-minded people on specific issues.

by Firewoman Sun Mar 02, 2003 18:14

I completely support DA when it will actually do something. I was deeply impessed by the Catholic Workers for example. The protest on Saturday proved nothing, did nothing and put a lot of people off.

by An IAWM member Sun Mar 02, 2003 18:20

Why do you have to pay to join the Irish Anti-War Movement? The anwer to that is a practical one. It's a way of raising much needed funds.

It costs 10 euro for people with a wage to join and 5 euro for the unwaged. Even that is flexible. The IAWM doesn't want to exclude anyone who can't afford to give that much money.

by billy - gnaw Sun Mar 02, 2003 19:14

Hey Firewoman,

I'm sorry that you got put off going to Shannon, I guess it was a bit bizarre, I hope you won't be put off getting involved in Anti War stuff in the future.
anyway I'll try and respond to some of your points:

GNAW didn't hijack the IAWM protest, if I remember properly the Cork Peace Alliance (some of whom are in the GNAW) called for a direct action on March 1st. The rest of the network supported the call and tried to get other people to support it. The IAWM did so but later pulled out because of the direct action (in fairness they say they didn't know there was supposed to be direct action). PANA, Labour, Sinn Fein etc all decided not to attend.

We were also in Dublin on Feb15th and gave out a few thousand leaflets, considering the size of the crowd it's not surprising that you missed us. Obviously the turnout was amazing, like you said "The people of Ireland who [are] againt the war, against the war planes landing in Shannon". Despite public opinion though the government are still allowing those planes to land. At this stage three out of four companies have stopped flying into shannon, we think that the reason for this is the direct action taken by Eoin Dubsky, Mary Kelly and the Catholic Workers'. We totally supported those actions (We were supposed to Meet one of the CW's in Limerick on our way to Shannon but becuase the police raided the place he was staying he had to return to Dublin). We planned to take down the fence because this would be a further breach of security and could drive the final company out of Ireland.

Obviously we didn't get the fence down, but we did show that any US plane landing in Shannon isn't safe, that there are people willing to breach security. I think we also showed that we weren' some bunch of crazed lunatics and hopefully people won't be put off coming to our next demo.
Finally not everyone in the GNAW would consider themselves to be anarchist!

hope that answers some of your points

billy

ok, heres some more info on the GNAW and GG.

GNAW is the Grassroots Network Against War, formed at the third Grassroots Gathering (in Belfast, september 2002). If you want to know a bit more about the GG you can check out the webpage below, but in short its basically a network of different groups and individuals who want to work together for change and who agree on a couple of basic principles. (people should control their own lives, we work together without a division into leaders or led etc, check out the webpage).

The Grassroots Gathering itself is basically a weekend of workshops and discussions that takes place around the country, the first was in Dublin, then Cork, Belfast and the next will be in Limerick.

For the first gg (Dublin, held in the Teachers Club and Spacecraft)we basically had discussions on :
"Who are we and why have we come here", "The what, why and when of bottom up organisation" and
"What can we do together in the future". We also decided to hold a protest in Shannon.

The second gg (Cork Autonomous Zone)was pretty much given over to workshops on things like: "Alternative economic organisations, Criminalisation of activists - you terrorist, me activist
- Animal rights - helping our fury and scaley friends
- Where to after Sept. 11th?
- Gender + activism - men are from mars..Women rather they'd stayed there!
- Drumming - community co-operation in practise!
- Yoga - do da twist baby!
- Meditation - in case you wanna catch some winks! AHEM..reach a higher level...
- Non-hierarchical orgs. - working practicalities, reclaiming our lives back from never-ending MEETINGS!
- Techniques of direct action, non violence - for No to War campaign, flag that plane down!

We also took art in the regular mass tresspass at the Old Head of Kinsale.

The third gg (Belfast, Giro's/Warzone) saw yet more workshops:
Direct Action against War
Collectives and Cooperatives
Students against Fees
Campaign against Sellafield
Workers' Control and Sectarianism
Media and Communication
European Social Consulta
Forest Gardening
Shannon Warport
Collectives and Social Centres
Arrest and Interrogation
Legal Issues
Reclaim the Streets!
Direct Democracy in the Russian Revolution
Radical Walking Tour of Belfast
People's Global Action
Gender Workshop
Direct Action

On the Friday we also had a Critical Mass, and on the Monday we went into town and did some street theatre and Food Not Bombs.It was also at this gg that we formed the GNAW. The GNAW has taken part in pretty much every protest in Shannon and Dublin, and people involved in the GNAW usually take part in whatever goes on in their hometown.

Who are the Grassroots Gathering?

Well you can find a list of the people who agreed with the idea of setting up the Grassroots Gathering here: http://grassrootsgathering.freeservers.com/endorse.html

by : : : : Sun Mar 02, 2003 19:28

You should come to a meeting of GNAW sometime. They're nice ppl and you won't feel left out. You can then make up your own mind.

by James Sun Mar 02, 2003 23:54

Tolerance of diversity of tactics will strenghten the movement. Solidarity not condemnation.

90% of the WSM were in the white block. One member arrested this time, one last year. They did not shirk.

Next time we need more people along, maybe vary the direct action tactics on the day.

This was a success. Continued success of direct action across Europe is slowing the drive to war, and causing the military to have to factor in extra costs.

Keep up the pressure.

by non-aligned peacenik Mon Mar 03, 2003 00:53

If GNAW members think that was a success I'd hate to see a failure. Diversity of tactics? GNAW's grasp of tactics needs a major overhaul. And stop comparing your "action" with the thoroughly effective actions taken by the CW5 etc.
For f***'s sake, cop on, and admit you messed up. I might have a bit more respect for youse if you did.

by Ant Mon Mar 03, 2003 02:06

Like Firewoman, I too am a member of no political group.
I believe in organisation because there's precious little that one can accomplish acting alone.
However I have yet to decide which political / social philosophy fits in best with my view of the world - a view which is still being formed as I learn more about society, economics and the practical application of political philosophies.
As such, I have not (yet) decided to join any seriously structured organisation. In the last couple of years, I have started to come to an understanding of the complexities of global events and since Autumn 2001 have become reasonably well read on the subject of American led warfare and the reasons behind it. I marched on several occasions against the war on Afghanistan but that was the height of my involvement. I figured the least that I could do was to get up off my ass and go into town for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon.

I first became aware of the Grassroots Network at the end of 2002 when a friend was helping organise a demonstration in Shannon on December 8th. I offered to hand out some fliers and put up
some posters in my locality. I also figured that it was about time that I started to do a bit more than just march in the city centre so I travelled down to Shannon and participated in the demonstration. I thought that it was a worthwhile exercise as at that time the general public (and most of my friends) did not realise that refuelling was taking place on Irish soil. At the demonstration, there was talk of direct action and some attempts at going through the fence but I personally didn't see any good reason for engaging in such behaviour.

In early 2003, the peace camp opened and the media suddenly realised that there was a story here. On January 18th, I marched on a protest organised by the IAWM which had roughly 3000 people in attendance. It was inspiring to see so many others care enough to travel down to Shannon to state their opposition to our participation in the war effort at the site of the refuelling. At that stage, I thought that the issue had been well and truly highlighted. Nobody in Ireland had any excuse to be ignorant of Shannon's use by the US military.

At the time, I also wondered why the Grassroots Network existed as a separate entity as there were already many anti-war groups active in the country. I discovered that their reason for organising separately was not superficial reasons like sectarianism, personality differences or that they thought that the other groups were ineffective but that one avenue of campaiging was being ignored: Direct Action.

The Grassroots Network organised themselves to fill that gap. Not to be in opposition to marches
and other types of campaigning. Campaigning methods carried out by anti-war groups are not
exclusive to each other. Different tactics suit different participants and different situations. eg. Someone who is new to campaigning is unlikely to be comfortable with anything more serious than a march which has had clearance from the authorities.

In the meantime, World Airlines pulled out of Shannon and the army was ordered to reinforce the
police at the airport. In the process, they (ironically) justified the actions of Mary Kelly and the Catholic Worker 5. It showed that the US military cared about the security of Shannon as a refuelling facility for their planes and that direct actions had achieved a result. Since then, I have been won over by the effectiveness of direct action.

I started to go along to Grassroots meetings in Dublin when my friend told me that they were planning a mass direct action. The beauty of the Grassroots network is that one need not be a member of a political partyin order to have a say in what decisions are made or how they are to be carried out. It's a non-hierarchial organisation so you need only be able to think clearly and rationally to take part in meetings. One does not need to be an experienced member of an NGO or political organisation to be taken seriously. Your level of influence depends purely on the credibility of your ideas and your ability to communicate the worth of those ideas.

I have also attended a couple of local IAWM meetings which were worthwhile for raising local
awareness of plans for anti-war activity but didn't offer a non-aligned individual the same ability to influence the decisions or policy of the organisation on a national level. From what I can see, it's the steering group (which is made up of representatives of established organisations) which make the important decisions.

To answer some of Firewoman's worries:

> It seemed that the protest had been hijacked or something

It was a grassroots group which first decided to demonstrate on March 1st.
We in the Dublin group were at the time only too happy to have the IAWM agree to demonstrate at
the same time and place as solidarity is always appreciated. One need not take part in an action or even be in complete agreement regarding the worth of that action in order to show solidarity.

> However it seemed even to my inexperienced eyes, that the people attending the [Feb 15th] march were not the types to take risks

Our plan only needed a small fraction of the 100,000 in order to succeed. Also, the risk to the individual decreased in proportion to the number of participants.

> GNAW and all the rest of the wierdness that happened confused people, they stopped thinking of it as their protest, their movement. It seemed out of our hands.

I can only say one thing: Get involved and take part. Within, the Grassroots your opinion counts.
That way it stays within your hands.

> It seemed like if you went you would have to conform to someones "plan" whether it was GNAW
or the IAWM

Campaigns only work if people act together. If circumstances don't allow you to participate in the planning of a demonstration, then you just have to decide for yourself which tactic you think will be the most effective. Or if given alternatives, decide which demonstration you would rather take part in. eg. The grassroots plan included a provision (stay with the pink flags) for those who didn't or couldn't afford to take any risks.

> It didn't seem open anymore.

I have yet to hear of any other openly publicised plan for a direct action in this country.
As far as I know, this is unprecedented and to give credit to the mainstream media, the details were widely published so it wasn't just the usual politically aware Indymedia readers who knew about it.

by told you so! Mon Mar 03, 2003 11:56

The Anarchists totally failed and they showed to the whole country that they are failures. They were more concerned with the ideology of Anarchism than actually building up the Anti-war movement and building opposition to the war.

WSM/GNAW are the sectarians, they are the ideologues, they are out of touch. This is a great time now to lay the boot into anarchism, the failed ideas of anarchism and their undemocratic method is exposed.

Now is the time to rid Anarchism from the Anti-War movement!

by !os ouy dlot Mon Mar 03, 2003 12:09

PANA totally failed, with their pathetic demonstration of 150 people in Dublin on Saturday!
The IAWM also totally failed, as they were able to bring out less than 1% of the numbers from February 15th to their demonstration. Obviously everyone has gotten bored listening to their speeches.
The only people to come out of the weekend with any credit were GNAW, who massively increased the numbers of people willing to undertake direct action at Shannon, and remained peaceful and organised in the face of massive numbers of Gardai. Bring on the next demonstration!

by me - in a personal capacity Mon Mar 03, 2003 16:34

"Now is the time to rid Anarchism from the Anti-War movement!"

I'm sorry.....who's sectarian?????

by zzzzzzzzzzzz Mon Mar 03, 2003 20:43

They have joined the world of the virtual warriors. Long my they tear down their internet fences.

zzzzzzzzz...........

by zzzzzzzzzzz Mon Mar 03, 2003 23:02

Mass strike zzzzzzzzzzzz peaceful protest zzzzzzzzzzz comment zzzzzzzzzzz discuss zzzzzzzzzzz backbite zzzzzzzzzzzzz unity zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

by An American Tue Mar 04, 2003 13:58

Creating infighting was once the main tactic of the COINTELPRO secret operations. Don't let this bring you all down. If there is a group you like, join them. But don't condemn other groups working for the same goal. Concentrate more on the goal as well, more than the means. We Americans are greatful for the work the Irish have done in Shannon and the Train Stopping they are doing in Europe. Keep it up.

by Terry Tue Mar 04, 2003 14:03

Here, here, couldn't agree more (especially on the COINTELPRO stuff). Thank you.

I am glad to see that the actions here are an inspiration to you over there.

by An American Tue Mar 04, 2003 14:08

We are grateful even. ;) The Anarchists are right in their own way. So are the other groups. It is important to identify each of the different groups however. The mainstream media uses the "violence" or property destruction of the Anarchists against the entire protest movement to discount their validity. The Anarchists' point though is that we shouldn't let the mainstream media govern our pursuit of freedom as the media are part of the problem. So it is good to make each of your groups seperately identifiable. It looks good that way too showing that many groups with seperate beliefs all believe in one common thing, that this war is wrong, that all wars are wrong. It's time we the people of the world diminish the power of the leaders to act on their own and increase the power of the people to govern their leaders actions. Afterall, leaders, government, corporations, and media are nothing without our money and our labor keeping them going.

by Intransigent Tue Mar 04, 2003 17:08

"The only people to come out of the weekend with any credit were GNAW, who massively increased the numbers of people willing to undertake direct action at Shannon, and remained peaceful and organised in the face of massive numbers of Gardai. Bring on the next demonstration!"

There really is no reply to that 'think small' mentality. There were no winners on March 1st. Everyone lost. The GNAW tactics reduced the size of the IAWM march by providing media with fodder to attack with. PANA showed what they can actually do: nothing. IAWM came out on tops even though it was really a failure. They never expected to get 150000 people out at shannon. Neither did GNAW. But don't claim that it was a victory for GNAW because they grea from miniscule to tiny! Hey VIL! Do you remember Kronstadt?

by Ray Tue Mar 04, 2003 17:26

Have another look at the comment, then look at the comment above it, and then check the batteries in your sarcasm detector.

by cait Wed Mar 05, 2003 18:37

"PANA totally failed, with their pathetic demonstration of 150 people in Dublin on Saturday!"

yes, how absolutely pathetic of them to take the initiative and try to organise a demonstration against war in a peaceful, non-violent manner. the fact that 150 people showed up isn't a failure. 150 attended a vigil and expressed their opposition to war. i recall many MANY protests and actions organised by GNAW and the like, where less than that have attended. were these failures too? if so, should we have written them off back at that early stage aswell, or maybe just been obnoxoius and voiced our dissent on a website?

"The IAWM also totally failed, as they were able to bring out less than 1% of the numbers from February 15th to their demonstration. Obviously everyone has gotten bored listening to their speeches."

100,000 people attended the march on the 15th Feb because of, in part, forces outside of their control. the huge amount media coverage, the fact that it was an INTERNATIONAL day of protest and had the support of many groups outside the IAWM, etc. again, i point out that the attendance at the IAWM protest was still larger than attended loads of anarchist demo's. the point is, we're trying to stop a war, not build an army: 1,000 or 100,000, it all makes a difference.

"The only people to come out of the weekend with any credit were GNAW, who massively increased the numbers of people willing to undertake direct action at Shannon"

your elitist view is pathetic. if you really gave a fuck about stopping this war you'd be ready to accept that there is a place for every level of activism, every political opinion and every group within the anti-war movement, be it GNAW, SWP or even Labour. you're a terrible spokesperson for the GNAW as most of their member don't take this immature approach to the movement, and you seem far more like some juvenile kid playing with the concept of anarchy and the GNAW, and fighting the system for the sake of it, rather than making any kind of actual political or moral statement. you're free to do what you want, of course, but you should be aware of how pathetic your egotism and blind dedication to something you probably don't even understand sounds.

by cait (the real one) Thu Mar 06, 2003 14:39

who's the asshole who posted that retarded comment under my name? even i could have read that fucking sarcasm...not funny. not fucking funny. joe, i'm looking in your direction...