Proposal for Anti-War Picket of EU meeting in Galway: Thursday 15th January 2004

by Anti-war campaigner Thu Jan 01, 2004 16:30

What time will it start?

by Orla Ni Chomhrai Thu Jan 01, 2004 20:43 nichomhrai at eircom dot net

Hi Dominic,
We will be organising something in Galway. If people could hang-on before making any decisions I will be posting up something in a day or two about the protests which we are planning in Galway.

I am not sure about the dates for the ministerial meeting as I keep seeing the 15-17th or 16-17th depending on where i look. Where did you get those dates? This would affect the date of the protest. I do have information on venues which is relevant.

Friday/Saturday protests might be more likely for various reasons. This will not just be anti-war put also anti-privatisation and various other issues. (still to be confirmed). Once we have dates, times and venues of protest organised I will be announcing it here and elsewhere.


Do you think that Finatn could come up for the protest?

We are having a meeting in Galway next week see:

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=62785

by iosaf - guilty as good conscience allows. Thu Jan 01, 2004 22:36

how many employed are there in Europe?
How many employed are there in the €U?
Big event for Galway means, the person responsible in each member state of the €uropean Union for social security policies and payments and job creation will be a guest of the Irish State for an informal (therefore not technically necessary) conference.
That means 15 ministers.
and 15 assistants.
There will also be interpreters, because they don't all speak English yet.
But of course there will be gaeilge at least the cupla focail.
And sea food.
Galway is very famous for it's sea food and we really ought never lose an opportunity to offer well paid ministers of employment the people resonsible in our modern tippy toppy Europe for the continuing presence of €urope's unemployed free Galwegian Sea Food.

¿How many _unemployed_ are there in the €uropean Union?

= ask them!

by Dominic Carroll Fri Jan 02, 2004 12:26

Thanks for the response, Orla. We're suggesting the Thursday because it's likely to be the day of best media coverage, being the opening day. Also, the closing day (Saturday) could be all over before we get there (as these EU spongers rarely do a full day's work!) Obviously, attendance will be affected, but we need maximum media coverage, and a smaller protest on a Thursday could be more effective than a (probably) slightly bigger one on Saturday.

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker Fri Jan 02, 2004 15:19

Today's Irish Times indicates the Pentagon hopes to pull off a complete rotation of troops within the next 5 months. One of the biggest airlift gigs in Pentagon history etc.

One can assume Shannon will be most active as a pit stop for the U.S war machine in this period.

Maybe a theme could be Shannon as Europes Gateway to Iraq for the U.S. War Machine etc.

Many thanx for this proposal of solidarity with us before the courts. Shannon should be the geo-focus (IAWM's March 20 proposal to march in ever decreasing numbers in ever-decreasing circles in Dublin is a wate of time and energy designed to service opportunist elements - agenda of recruitment & policing resistance, using the war as a marketing opportunity etc.).

This meeting sounds like a good focus along with supporting folks moving from protest to nonviolent resistance against this ongoing war.
Much solidarity
Ciaron

by Sauron Fri Jan 02, 2004 15:45

This is according to latest polls. It looks like we won't have to change our signs for at least 5 more years.

by IAWM supporter Fri Jan 02, 2004 16:28

But CIaran is talking rubbish when he suggests that 20 March proposal originates with the IAWM. The call for 20 March day of action (that being the 1st anniversary of the invasion of Iraq), originated with the anti war movement in the US. The European Social Forum which met in Paris last November supported the call that it be made an international day of action against the war.

by Badman Fri Jan 02, 2004 16:43

In ireland the proposal did obviously originate with the IAWM (or more accurately with the SWP). Especially the idea to have a 'day of action' that involved just another march around Dublin which was certainly not imposed from outside (well maybe from the SWP HQ in London). The ESF did not support anything - it can't by definition as it is a forum, not a decision making body. Which US anti-war movement originated the call for March 20th? There is no single anti-war movement over there. There are a bunch of fronts, but no unified movement. Face it, we all know that it was decided by the SWP. They like marches in Dublin, they hate actions at Shannon.

by Bollox Sat Jan 03, 2004 09:30

A US group did indeed called for an international "day of action". See link in SWP website. The IAWM (i.e. the SWP clique that controls it) then decided that the kind of action that was needed in Ireland was a stroll in Dublin complete with chants "one solution revolution", megaphone wielding Richard Boyd Barrett rallying the crowd and Patricia McKenna, Kieran Allen, and Michael D Higgins telling for the hundreth time why they are so outraged with war and occupation.
If they think that there are many people around who'll subject themselves to that they are in for an unpleasant surprise.

by Orla Ni Chomhrai Sun Jan 04, 2004 02:56 nichomhrai at eircom dot net

It was decided to go with a protest on the Friday evening, the 16th of January, meeting at Eyre Square at 5pm and marching to the Radisson.

The ministerial meeting will be during the day on Friday so some groups may wish to protest outside of this meeting, which will be at the Corrib Great Southern, near the GMIT.


I will do a report back of Wednesdays meeting and give a more detailed rundown of any protest plans again.

by Michael Sun Jan 04, 2004 14:24

There's some confusion here. Orla Ni Chomhrai has announced that '"It was decided to go with a protest on the Friday evening, the 16th of January, meeting at Eyre Square at 5pm and marching to the Radisson." What's the Raddison and, more importantly, who does Orla Ni Chomhrai actually represent? She doesn't say (neither here of elsewhere when she announced a meeting in Galway). It would help if she was a little more transparent. It would also be helpful if people in Galway actually communicated with groups elsewhere in the country (Cork, for instance, who seem to have come up with an idea for a protest on the Thursday). 5pm on Friday is ludicrous. It's too late in the day for the media and for people who would hope to travel to Galway (and hope to get home before public transport closes down). And what's all this march business about? The crowd that can be assembled at short notice, in Galway, on a weekday (with a hostile IAWM to boot) will inevitably be modest; a march will be self-defeating. Just picket the goddamn hotel where these vultures are meeting. And all at the same time, please, rather than some sort of a la carte rolling protest. Let's get real and let's get democratic.

by Dominic Carroll - Cork Anti-War Campaign (personal capacity) Sun Jan 04, 2004 14:36

I’m not sure who Michael is but I know he doesn’t speak for the Cork group on this proposal. In fact, no-one does, since we’ve yet to meet and discuss the proposal made by myself and John Jeffries. However, it is true about the confusion. When exactly is the ministerial meeting taking place? I do agree that a protest earlier in the day might be more effective, but perhaps somebody from Galway could provide more information about why this time was chosen and the format and objective of the protest.

by Orla Ni Chomhrai Sun Jan 04, 2004 19:33 nichomhrai at eircom dot net

Hi all,
That was just a quick note last night as I was wrecked after doing various bits and pieces for the meeting and protest. We had a meeting yesterday (Saturday) which included Greens, SWP, one person from Labour Youth, anarchists, artists, anti-war activists, environmental activists, people who are active in fair trade and debt issues, refugee issues, health issues, and probably other things I don't know of. Many people are involved in a few things, of course. Some people couldn't make the meeting as they were away, and I also could not get a hold of some people because of the Christmas break, and I have to admit I forgot to tell some people about it. This meeting was to get people together and advertise the meeting on Wednesday and also to discuss anything else that needed to be done. There was a bit of a discussion as to what the best option was. Just because we decided to build for a protest on the Friday (I will explain this decision in a minute) doesn't mean that nothing else will be happening that week, or that no other group can organise something, though we want varied groups to come on Friday and would hope that this would be a focus for people.

This is a better run down on what is going on in Galway (this is from the local press, offical website and talking to people).

The ministers will be arriving in in dribs and drabs from the 14th. On Thursday night they will be having a social evening in the Ardilaun Hotel. This is not an ideal location for a protest, and it will probably be impossible to get near it. That is not to say that some people won't give it a go that night, and good luck to them, but it is too risky to go with this as a main protest, and there is not enough space outside the hotel to hold a decent sized protest.

On Friday during the day the ministers will be having a conference type meeting at the Corrib Great Southern. This is right beside the GMIT so hopefully the students will organise a daytime protest (they are not back until the 12th). Other groups are probably going to protest at some point of the day here but it was decided to let each group organise themselves to get there at whatever time suits them. There might be a change in this idea from disucssions on the Wednesday meeting, or maybe some groups will already have decided what time they want to do something so will announce it at the meeting. I will be announcing any events people want me to.

The Friday night is going to be a big social night for the ministers. The Radisson is right beside Eyre Square and the bus/train station, and easy for everyone to get to. It is about 2 minutes walk from Eyre Square which is why we are meeting there. I also think (I forgot to mention this yesterday, so this represents my own opinion only) it is a good sympbolic gesture as there is a plan to cut down trees in Eyre Square in spite of many objections. The corporation decided to leave this work until after the ministerial visit. EU money was be used to do this, though there has been a complaint made by the Galway Environmental Alliance and this might cause the funding to be withdrawn until the council examine an alternative plan for Eyre Square. (An Award winning landscape gardener has made a plan up but the corporation refused to consider this. There are major issues over the lack of democratic process in how the whole thing was dealth with, and I might mention more about that again.). Macnas are preforming on the Friday night. Macnas started off as a community arts thing but have moved away from that to some extent. Many people want to protest outside of the event they are preforming at to show that there is an opposition. The Friday night protest will probably go one for at least 2 hours.

On Saturday the ministers are going for a tour of Conemara.

We are going to be contacting groups around the country about what we are doing, and posting information here. I had to wait until after yesterdays meeting to announce anything, as nothing had been decided. We did not get some of the specific details of the ministerial meetings until this week, so couldn't decide anything before then, though we had been discusscing it amongst ourselves.

by JJ Mon Jan 05, 2004 14:23

Who does Orla represent? What organisation is calling this march? Is this an anti-war protest or anti-globalisation?

by Galway Anarchist Mon Jan 05, 2004 17:19

Orla said she was posting information which came out of a meeting between some community activists on saturday.

Does it have to be a formal organisation or political party for it to be legitimate in your view?

And as for whether we're anti-war or anti-globalisation, it's only technical stuff for the protest that was being planned, not a doctrine.

by Another anarchist Tue Jan 06, 2004 13:37

Don't pretend that this is some kind of organic offering from Galway, my anarchist friend. Unless you believe it, in which case the SWP has performed better than expected. "Another Europe is Possible" is the latest SWP recruiting front.