Shannon - at the end of a long road

Tuesday April 15, 2003 13:52

by Joe

Report and photos from Saturdays demonstration along with reflections on the failure of the anti-war movements. More photos at the URL in the report.

Although for many it must have seemed that the
US/Iraq war was almost over Saturday 12th April
saw another anti-war demonstration at Shannon
airport in Ireland. The airport has been used to
re-fuel hundreds of US war planes en route to
the Gulf. According to Phoenix magazine "many
flights have been carrying substantial
quantities of depleted uranium (DU) warheads".

This protest was organised by the 'Irish Anti
War Movement' which despite the name is not an
umbrella group for all anti-war groups in
Ireland. The IAWM opposes direct action at
Shannon; its chairman Richard Boyd-Barrett has
used his access to the media to attack anti-war
groups who have carried out such actions. The
IAWM's strength is in organising large marches
and similar demonstrations. The largest of these
saw around 100,000 take part in Feb 15th in
Dublin but since that date number have fallen
off considerably. The Shannon demonstration was
only attended by about 470 people, many of these
being from the political parties that make up
the IAWM.

Libertarian attendance at the demonstration was
the smallest of any Shannon demonstration since
December 2001. There were three anarchist flags,
the Cork Peace Alliance banner and perhaps 20 or
so activists from Grassroots Network Against War
(GNAW). This can partly be explained by the
number of libertarian activists arrested at
previous protests at the airport and the
subsequent banning of some of these from
Shannon. But this is only part of the story, as
importantly was a feeling that the demonstration
was pointless as nothing was likely to happen
beyond the usual march to the terminal and
speeches from the same old cabal of minor
political leaders. Note that not all of us felt
this way (which is why 20 were there).

Pic: Riot and mounted gardai with the march in
the background [see web version of report at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/news/2003/shannonAPR.html

The level of Gardai harassment had if anything
intensified since previous protests. One of us
actually counted 298 individual Gardai on duty,
at least 36 of whom were wearing riot gear. This
huge presence would have made any effective
action beyond a blockade (and there was no
traffic) very limited indeed. As well as the
riot cops there were also dog and mounted units,
a helicopter over head and at least three water
cannon on duty. The 200 or so army personnel
also meant to be guarding the airport were
nowhere to be seen, and its probably the case
that there were even more Gardai out of sight
waiting to be deployed when they were needed.

Both individual cars and buses travelling to the
protest were stopped at Gardai roadblocks and
searched. It's hard to see any point to this
beyond straightforward harassment as a can of
spray paint is about the most exciting thing
they ever could have found en route to any of
the demonstrations. The point was rubbed home on
arrival in the carpark when a secret police
(Special Branch) man was seen sending two
uniformed cops over to check the driving license
of one GNAW activist. They seemed to be mostly
interested in checking if the address on the
license was still his home address. Given the
secret police raids on the homes of other people
involved in GNAW earlier in the year this was
obviously intended to be intimidating as was the
personal escort provided by a couple of secret
police men for that individual throughout the
day.

Pic: Happy Gardai thinking of the overtime

Now an overwhelming percentage of the population
actually agrees with the anti-war movements and
opposes refuelling at Shannon - this has been
shown in several polls. So what we have is not
only the government refusing to follow the will
of the majority, it is actually spending
millions harassing and intimidating those who
dare to continue to protest. These Gardai who so
eagerly check the boots of cars for spray paint
are the same ones who have refused to check the
huge military planes landing under their noises.
Well no surprise there for an anarchists, what
is surprising is that the liberal and left anti-
war movements seem to be simply accepting this.

Saturday was another example of this acceptance.
On their way up the SWP contingent was nosily
chanting 'One solution, revolution', setting off
flares (on quiet bits of the road) and at times
breaking into a run. On arrival at the terminal
along with everyone else they obediently marched
into a protest pen. This pen, quite a bit back
from the terminal, had obviously been pre-agreed
with the organisers as the sound equipment was
set up there when we arrived. This form of
corralling protest is very common in the US but
new in Ireland, yet outside of a few making
sheep noises no protest was made as we were
herded in.

Pic: Some SWP members have been complaining that
I never include photos of them. Here they are
looking dynamic.

The 'important' bit of the day followed. The
speeches from our political leaders! And yet
again Richard Boyd Barrett, Kieran Allen, Joe
Higgins and Patricia McKenna got up to give us a
speech about how outraged they were about the
war. At least Sinn Fein have the decency to
occasionally rotate who is doing the speaking
amongst their TD's, not worth a lot though from
the party happy to shake Bush's hand as the
bombs rained down on Iraq. To underline the
impotency of it all, over the heads of the crowd
we could see an enormous military charted cargo
plane taxing for take off. Not one of the
speakers even pointed it out. To add a bit of
interest the organisers had broken up the
speeches with songs after every couple.

I wandered over to the barrier to chat to
another 'direct action' activist. Amusingly the
top cop on spotting us sent four more cops down
the inside of the barrier to stand either side
of us. He must have been worried that we were
going to do a solo run across the barrier and
through the line of uniformed Gardai and two
lines of riot police between us and the
terminal! Behind us someone started spraying
painting something about Fianna Fail and the
PD's on the footpath and a couple of Gardai were
sent over to take the spray can off them. A row
ensued in which it emerged that it may not be an
offence to spray roads or footpaths after all,
the cops kept the can but no one got arrested.

Pic: The huge plane in the background is an
Atlas cargo charter used by the US military to
transport supplies

We left soon after this and walked back down
along the enormous line of Gardai that stretched
from the terminal to the gate. As four of us
walked down we were followed by a Gardai
community relations van which we had earlier
noticed ferrying the secret police types around.
It stayed about 50m back though so we couldn't
see the passengers. There were two moments of
light relief. One cops mobile phone went off and
we were amused that his ring tone of choice was
the theme tune of the 'Itchy and Scratchy Show'
from the Simpson's. We thought of asking him
what he made of Chief Wigam but thought the
better of it. Right at the end there was a large
clump of cops across the footpath. As we
approached they all turned to us and watched as
we passed through them. One spoke up and said
'thanks for the overtime', rubbing his thumb
across his fingers in the familiar gesture for
cash. I think he meant it as well!

It seems quite likely that, at least for now,
that will be the end of the IAWM. So the
movement that could mobilise 100,000 ends up
leading 467 (I counted) into a protest pen at
Shannon as in the background military flights
taxi for take off. The speakers told us of
course that this was 'not the end'.

At this stage it looks like the government won
the battle of Shannon, at least for now. Up to
now Irish aid to US wars has been a dirty little
secret. During the Afghan war the government was
trying to deny there was any military materials
or men bound for that war coming through
Shannon. The US Marines in desert camouflage
spotted during the December 15 2001 protest we
were told were coming back for Christmas from
West German bases, as we all know these are
surround by extensive deserts. Through the
dedicated work of the anti-war plane spotters
and the Dubsky court case the reality was blown
wide open for the Iraq war. We knew tens of
thousands of troops were pouring through
Shannon.

Pic: Water cannon crewed by SIPTU members at
Shannon

But getting this out in the open was never more
then a first step. The point was to stop it. And
here is where the government's victory lies. If
we had failed to mobilise anyone because, for
instance, the media refused to cover the story
then there would be hope for the future. But the
movements managed the February 15th march when
some 100,000 marched through the streets of
Dublin, This was in the context of a series of
militant direct actions at the airport which saw
over a hundred trespassing and three separate
attacks on military planes.

On February 16th the state must have been
worried. Its worst nightmare of massive
mobilisations against refuelling had happened.
Polls where showing an overwhelming majority
opposed the war. A small minority had already
decided to defy the law and take direct action
at the airport to stop refuelling.

But Bertie and co kept their nerve. They gambled
that they could split the movement by attacking
the direct action wing as 'violent' and
demanding that the respectable wing distance
themselves from it. The Green Party had already
revealed it was vulnerable to this sort of
pressure when Trevor Sergeant had gone on air to
attack Mary Kelly after she had disarmed a US
Navy jet. The secret police were presumably
telling McDowell that they reckoned that even
those trotskyists whom he so hated were unlikely
to actually do anything.

Pic: Peace flags

They gambled and won. For the most part the
anti-war movements reacted to the government
ignoring the huge Feb 15 march and the fine
speeches by organising more marches and more
speeches. When a small minority in Grassroots
Network Against War took the only logical route
and called for mass civil disobedience at
Shannon things went like a dream for the
government. They played the violence card and
won big time, not only did the NGO's and
respectable parties queue up with the bishops to
denounce the planned 'violence' so too did
McDowells trotskyists. Gleeful laughs must have
echoed around government buildings on the last
day of February when the news came through that
Sinn Fein was telling people to stay away from
Shannon the next day for fear of violence.

All that was left for them was the show of force
that awaited us on March 1st. Lines of riot
police and rolls of razor wire were a show not
for the 300 who turned up to take part in the
action, nor even for the 800 or so who marched
past for the speeches at the terminal. It was
for the 100,000 who marched in Dublin. On the
one hand 'there is no smoke without fire' - a
naked show of state preparation for violence
simply adds to the idea that there is violence
planned. But on the other it showed just what
the state had waiting in the wings for those who
might feel frustrated and inclined to act.

Pic: A repressive line up

Personally after March 1st I began to feel that
we had lost. The state had called our bluff. The
IAWM had shown it was unwilling to take even the
mildest form of direct action - what a fuss
about a fence. And it was clear that the state
was now mobilising at a level that GNAW could
not hope to counteract in the short term. There
were problems with GNAW which will be discussed
in the period to come but our chief problem was
that we were too few, too late and on our own
were not capable of convincing and organising
the numbers required.

In advance of the war there was a lot of 'look
at how big the demonstrations are before the
war' talk that was intended to imply that the
outbreak of war would make them bigger. I
reckoned this was unlikely. The demonstrations
before the 1991 Gulf War in the US were bigger
then those during it. Before the First World War
millions demonstrated, it took three years of
horrendous bloodshed before opposition once more
reached the pre-war peak. This isn't surprising,
when war breaks out all those who opposed it
because they reckoned it was bad for the
national interest will end up backing 'our
troops'. As it is many of the 100,000 who
marched on F15 will wonder why they bothered.
They marched, the government ignored them and
that was that. The (wrong) lesson that manyt
may take is that marching is a waste of time.

Pic: The 'dear leader' rallies the troops

The disruption that could be caused by
demonstrations was another possibility even if
it was clear that the IAWM was not going to
organise it. I hoped, and argued with other
people within GNAW, that the revolutionary
groups might finally act and at least block
roads on the day itself. In the end that was
another humiliation as we were marched up to
block the road at the British embassy to the
familiar chants of 'One solution, revolution'
only to discover that it had already been
arranged to have the Gardai divert the traffic.
Later in the week a blockade of the Dail would
turn out to have been arranged to end a few
minutes before the TD's were actually due to
leave.

We could have called the governments bluff. All
we had to do was show them that allowing
refuelling to continue was going to meet with
actual resistance (rather then something
designed to look like resistance). Out of the
initial arrests at Shannon last year there were
no charges - obviously the state hoped the issue
was just going to go away. They were then
willing to arrest and process ten or so at a
time, probably aware that this was a good
percentage of those who had declared a
willingness to act. But could they have survived
arresting 100's or even 1000's in order to allow
refuelling to continue. We have not only let a
real opportunity slip through our fingers, the
government has also managed to bring refuelling
into the public sphere. It is perhaps fitting
that the last GNAW action at Shannon to date was
based on finally burying the well rotten corpse
of Irish neutrality.