Shannon J21 Pics (Redeux)

by Ciaron O'Reilly - Pit Stop Ploughshares Thu Jun 26, 2003 07:48

J21-24 Pit Stop Ploughshares Peace Walk - Shannon Arport-Brigid's Well-Dáil

12 noon, Saturday June 21 st. saw the Pit Stop Ploughshares defendants gather on the Limerick/Clare border in an anti-war vigil.

Deirdre, Damien, Nuin & Ciaron occupied a traffic island and strung anti-war banners and posters in a vsual statement against the continued use of Shannon Airport by the U.S. military. As the
afternoon progressed we were joined by other peace activists who have also been banned from County Clare as a result of their nonviolent resistance at Shannon Airport. Passing traffic were largely supportive and a few sympathisers stop to converse with the activists. Members of the Traveller community parked opposite the
vigil were curious and came over to dialogue. By days end the Travellers had pasted an anti-war/Shannon poster to their caravan.
So the border vigil has become permanent!

Meanwhile at the airport, 35 folks gathered introduced themselves and heard from Nuria - a member of the Iraqi community based in
Ireland. Former Commandant Ed Horgan (25 years IDF service) who had recently taken the Irish Government to court over the betrayal of the Irish Constitution and the undermining of neutrality also spoke. "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares" Andrea Needham, who in 1996 was
acquitted of £1.5 million of "criminal damage" to a British Aerospace Hawk fighter set for export to the genocidal regime in Indonesia also addressed those gathered. The gards had blocked
folks gathering near the entrance of the airport. A shrine to the Iraqi dead, consisting of flowers & photos of wounded Iraqi
children was constructed and left at the scene.

The 35 walked to Shannon town where they were met by approx. 150 people gtathering in response to a call by the Cork Anti-War Group. Six folks continued the walk to the border, while others headed back to the airport with the Cork crew.

The Garda erected barricades and deployed riot police. 10 people, including Nuria and her husband, were arrested as the nonviolent
confrontation ensued - with folks staging a sit-down blockade of the access road ot the airport A vigil was maintained outside Shannon Garda station while those arrested were processed. The walk reached the border at 6 p.m. and was joined by those vigilling and continued into Limerick. Throughout the day, the "Food Not Bombs" crew
catered like crazy for all & sundry.

On reaching Limerick, Ruaidhri from Dublin provided the music for the
gathering. A prison triology of Johnny Cash's "Folsum Prison Blues", Billy Bragg's "Rotting on Remand" and a particularly
courageous acoustic version of ACDC's "Jailbreak" prepared the Pit Stop Crew forpossibly next stage of our adventure.

J21 was a great day of community celebration, solidarity and sustained resistance to Shannon Airport as a pit stop for the U.S. war machine. Four U.S. military flights landed at Shannon in the course of that afternoon. This may be the beginning of a working model for sustained resistance at Shannon. It is obvious that a
number of comiitted Irish people have not turned off with the end of 24 hour media coverage, acknowledge that the war on Iraq continues
and are taking the U.S. military's use of Ireland seriously. It is obvious that the Irish state takes the nonviolent direct action movement seriously. We have to take ourselves seriously as an emerging community and network ofnonviolent resistance to the militarisation of Shannon Airport. The elements of nonviolent resistance, post-arrest solidarity, vigilling, inclusive ritual, significant voices & exprience to be heard from, hospitality, national networking, celebration, media & legal skills are all there to be refined and expanded.

We took Sunday J22 as a day of rest and after our daily signing on at our specified Dublin Garda stations, Nuin, Owen and I headed for
Kildare. There we were given hospitality by the Brigidene sisters,keepers of Brigid's flame. We caught the tailend of some music in the Square celebrating the Special Olympics and headed for
bed.

Monday June 23rd., the Brigidenes took us to Brigid's Well a significant pagan & Christian pilgimage site. We prayed for the dead and dying of the ongoing war on Iraq and began to walk. We
carried a sign looped over my shoulders made by Marie announcing our peace walk from Shannon Airport-Brigid's Well- the Dail. Brigid's
Well is siginificant in the creation story of our Ploughshares Community. It was there at the Brigid's Festival, a week before our Feb. 3rd. disarmamaent, that we headr from Kathy Kelly. Kathy had been present in Iraq throughout the first Gulf War, initially camped on the Kuwait/Iraq border. She stayed on in Iraq for 6 months after the 1991 U.S, bombing campaign and then returned to Chicago to initiate the sanction-busting "Voices in the Wilderness" movement.
Kathy was flying out to Baghdad and to the oncoming war on Iraq that weekend. We began our journey to Shannon Airport,disarmament,imprisonment, trial shorty after.

Nuin, Owen & I hit the road,walking, reflecting, praying. By the days end we had reahed Naas after moving through Newbridge who were hosting the Japanese Special Olympic team. We thought of the
Nipponzon Myohoji Buddhists who we hope we lead a walk to our trial later in the year. Naas was hosting the Kwis from and we thought of our friends in New Zealand preparing vigils at the Irish Consulate in Auckland and the U.S. military base in Harewood, Christchurch. After reaching Naas we piled we drove back to Dublin to (yes you
guessed it) sign on daily at our specified Garda stations.

Tuesday J24, our original date for trial in Kilrush, began on the road at Naas towards Dublin. Avigil was being set up at the GPO,
O'Connel St. where we have maintained a weekly peace presence since August 2002. As the day progressed, Deirdre Damian and others moved the vigil to the Dail, which was in session. As we walked the road we thought of friends vigilling in solidarity in Perth/Australia,Brisbane/Australia, Auckland, New Zealand Irish Consulate, Christchurch/New Zealand, Harewood USAF Base, Chicago Federal BUilding/ USA, New York City/USAIrish Consulate, Philadelphia Federal Building/USA. Houston Federal Building/USA, Washington DC/USA Irish Embassy, Los Angeles Federal Building/USA, Vancouver/Canada Irish Consulate, El Salvador/Archbishop Romero's Tomb, Dublin/ GPO O'Connel St., BelfastCity Hall/north of Ireland, Derry Raytheon Plant/north of Ireland, Kilrush Court House/County Clare London/England Irish Embassy, Sweden/Irish Embassy, Austria/Irish Embassy, Amsterdam/Netherlands, Brussels Irish Embassy/Belgium, Slovakia/Irish Embassy, Sofia/Bulgaria, Glasgow/Scotland, Auxen Provence/France, Oxford/England, Norwich/England, Liverpool/England, Berlin/Germany Irish Embassy.

On arriving at the Dáil we maintained a vigil through the night gathered around a new banner depicting the disarmamaent and the fruits of war with a quote from John the Baptist about putting the axe to the tree that does not bear good fruit (Matt 3). J24 was the Feast of John the Baptist another person who was not given a fair trial after speaking truth to power. We had some interesting engagenments with poiticians from across the spectrum. We concluded at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 25th. with prayer and construction of a shrine to the Iraqi dead - which we left at the entrance to the Dáil.

by Sylvia Pankhurst - Ecology Society Thu Jun 26, 2003 20:27

But where's the handsome young man in the glowing yellow stewards bib???