Trial Date set for Ploughshares Activists - March 7th

by Dublin Catholic Worker Sat Oct 16, 2004 17:15 087 9184552

Ploughshares Trial Date - March 7th, 2005
Solidarity with the Pitstop Ploughshares

Damien Moran, Ciaron O'Reilly, Deirdre Clancy, Karen Fallon, and Nuin Dunlop are currently on bail, facing 10 years imprisonment if convicted for their nonviolent disarmament of a US Navy warplane at Shannon Airport on February 3rd, 2003. You are invited to show solidarity with the Pitstop Ploughshares as they continue their nonviolent journey through the Irish courts. The defendants appeared before Judge Hogan in Court 8 this morning at 10.30am. As was expected a trial date was set. Two years after preventing a U.S. Navy war plane from assisting the theatre of war in Iraq the anti-war activists were told this morning that their trial would take place on March 7th, in the first legal term of 2005.

Peace Vigil at Irish Aviation Authority

Dublin Catholic Worker will continue to vigil every Monday from 4-6pm at the Irish Aviation Authority, Burgh Quay, Dublin City Centre.

The Irish Aviation Authority (I.A.A.) is located on the Southside of the Liffey, just off D'Olier St. before O'Connell bridge, towards Tara DART station.

text/phone 087 9184552 or 087 9638398 / (01) 4549144 or email [email protected]



The I.A.A. have permitted 360,000 U.S. troops to pass through Shannon Airport in the past 3 years. 22,000 U.S. soldiers and various munitions of war passed through Shannon in September 2004, en route to the invasion, occupation & plunder of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.

SPEAKING TOUR OF IRELAND - U.S. ANTI-WAR ACTIVIST CARMEN TROTTA

Speaking Tour of Ireland - U.S. Catholic Worker & Anti-War activist Carmen Trotta, October 26th.- Nov.4th.

MUSIC FOR PEACE BENEFIT FOR PITSTOP PLOUGHSHARES
Mother Redcaps (near Christchurch), November 4th, 7.30pm

Guest Speakers & Musicians including Anti-War singer/songwriter Paul O'Toole

Carmen Trotta will reflects on U.S. Presidential Election results
Entrance by Donation

Update from Anti-War activists on trial (facing 10 years imprisonment) for their nonviolent disarmament of a U.S. Navy Warplane at Shannon Airport on February 3rd, 2003
www.ploughsharesireland.org

Bar open until 11.30pm, Music stops at 11.30pm

CARMEN TROTTA

-Italian/Irish-American from New York City.

-has lived and worked at the CW homeless shelter & soup kitchen on the lower east side of Manhatten since 1988.

-also lived and worked at Jonah House nonviolent resistance community in Baltimore (www.jonahhouse.org)

-in 2001 was working full time as an organiser for the War Resisters League (WRL) in New York City

-from the roof of the WRL he saw the second World Trade Centre tower fall

-CW homeless shelter & soup kitchen where he lives located in the militarised zone that was set up after the 911 attack.

-was a key organiser in the peace movement's 2002 memorial for victims of the 911 attack.

Carmen Trotta has been involved in civil disobedience & nonviolent resistance to

-U.S.nuclear war preparations

-U.S.wars on Latin America

-the School of the Americas (www.soaw.org)

-U.N. initiated/U.S.enforced sanctions on Iraq.

-"zero tolerance" attacks & criminalistation of the homeless in New York City.

-unlawful killings by the NYPD

Carmen has been on peace movement delegations to

-Colombia

-Cuba

-Rikers Island

Carmen is an excellent spaker and has a fine singing voice. He performs Phil Ochs/Johnny Cash/Elvis

There will be public meetings & performances with Carmen Trotta in

DUBLIN - Oct. 26th, Teachers Club, 7.30pm

DUBLIN - November 4th, Mother Redcaps, 7.30pm

CORK - November 1st/2nd - University Campus (Details will be announced soon)

Shannon Airport (Return to Shannon Event, October 31st, 1pm). - News report will be posted soon.

Download Flyer: - Go to http://www.allotherplaces.org/etc/cw5/

- Right Click 'samhain-flyer2.pdf'

- Click on 'Save Target as'

- Save in 'Desktop'

- Open and Print 'samhain-flyer2.pdf' from Desktop

More info. - www.ploughsharesireland.org, (087) 9184552.

by ???????????? Sat Oct 16, 2004 18:33

i thought that ciaron spent a very short time in prison and that the others came out gradually after that until deirdre/nuin/karen (can't remember which one), who came out after three months????
also the quote sounds like ciarons and not from the rest of the accused, why do we not here more from the others or are they not allowed to talk????

by Ciaron Sat Oct 16, 2004 19:09

The questioned quote above comes from a press release written in a rush by two of the defendants after being released from court on Friday at midday and leaving our support debrief at 1.30pm. The deadline for a press release, we estimate, at appox at 3 pm. Hopefully in lead up to trial we will have a media collective set up so defendants can concentrate on the defense.

Your queries & misinformation seems to have a divisive cop agenda-but to give you the benefit of the doubt.-all Pit Stop Ploughshares can, have and do speak for themselves. in a variety of mediums and a variety of events to a variety of audiences.

If you do consider yourself part of the peace movement, you really have to move from the position of passive consumer as though our witness/predicament/resistance/forthcoming is some kind of soap opera manufactrured for your entertainment.

Consider, getting your ass to the Aviation Building Mondays 4pm-6pm and you can query along during the vigil. Consider getting your ass to Shannon Airport Sunday Oct 31st 1 pm. The Irish peace movement has been to Shannon only once this year as the troops go through and the war rages on. It took the President of the USA to attract them (not the monthly 10,000 cannon fodder...could be a class issue here?)

Lots of good research and revelation work contiues by a handful of activists in the Shannon/Limerick area. But it becomes more obvious that the most serious nonviolent resistance to this war is coming out of the British and US militaries not the western peace movement. Most recently the National Guard platoon who were arrested after going on strike against "suicidal" orders form their commanding officer. So if the peace movement no longer has the will or the capability to resist this war, and Irish complicity in it- it should at least stand in pro-active solidarity with those who have last year (Mary Kell, Ulla Roder, Fairford 5, Pit Stop Ploughshares et.al) and those within the military who are presently resisting the war.

Many thanx for all those folks who have carried us through the past 18 months since the disarmament action...with your company, transport, hospitality, music, donations. I'm personally looking forward to trial on my 45th. birthday - March 7th. 2004. And hoping formore nonviolent resistance to this war.

by Paula Sat Oct 16, 2004 20:22

Change the tone, Ciaron. Why do you always have to come off like some rhetoric-giving teenager? And that persecution/inferiority complex needs a rest too. Not everybody who finds you annoying is out to 'get' you or is working for the Man.

I FULLY support you, but find you irritating nevertheless. Less of the millenarian (scuse my spelling) stuff, pleeze.

by Elaine Sun Oct 17, 2004 02:48

Well done guys for a powerful act. Hope you are vindicated in March.
Regarding the above post from Paula, opinions are like assholes... everybody's got one.
I FULLY support your entitlement to express yours but I won't waste anybody's time by posting a personal opinion about your style of relating here. I don't see the point of attacking someone in a personal and apparently vindictive way ... and it might be considered 'off-topic'.

by Ciaron - Ploughshares/Catholic Worker Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:14

When I was a teenager, there was an anti-war movement that gave the US imperial project problems prosecuting their war in Vietnam. When I began my 20's there was an anit-nuke movement that stopped any more nukes being built in the US (up to this point), in my mid-20's there was anti-nuclear weapons movement that was dynamic, nonviolent and confrontational. There were solidarity movements with Nicaragua etc.

Then came the '91 Gulf War, a large movement mobilised quickly against it. The numbers were only parraleled by the anti-Vietnam War movement after 10.000 US casualties. The movement chanted "No More Vietnams!" (Meaning we don't want to die-53,000 americans- rather than we don't want to kill -2 1/2 million Indonchinese)

On the eve of the Gulf War George Bush Sr. got up and stated "I agree with the peace movement, their won't be another Vietnam!"
Bush delivered the equivalent of 8 Hiroshimas, the peace movement collapsed 3 weeks into the '91 bombing campaign. I went to jail for 13 months (hardly a short time implied in the first posting), 400 members of the US military who had resisted the war were sentenced to 6 months-6 years after court martials where they went alone after the largely middle class peace movement had packed up and gone home. Stayed at home as the Bush/Clinton decade killed over a million Iraqi children under the age of 5 with oppostion coming only from a prophetic minority (bit like here and now really!)

So Paula, the rhetoric is hardly teenaged, it's angry with an Irish peace movement (lead by those who saw it as a great marketing opportunity for their sects,Richie or as a springboard for their Labor Party pre-selection,Roger), with an Irish peace movement that allows 10,000+ US military to pass through Shannon monthly on its way to the invasion, occupation and plunder of Iraq with hardly a murmur.

Inferiority complex?,...first time I'Ve been accused of that!

Persecution, well we are facing a max of 10 years, we have been stuck here on bail for 18 months, a friend has been charged with serious weapon & aviation offences (later dropped) on the basis of a text from me, an inspector did debrief elite senior Garda officers on the Catholic Worker following May Day, the same inspector believes we should have been charged with "sedition" rather than "criminal damage" for our action at Shannon.

Catholic Worker communities I have lived in have been raided by Special Branch and the Counter Terrorist Squad (Brisbane) and we were infiltrated by an agent in Liverpool for 3 years (se Sunday Times Oct '03...Alan Fossey come on down)

Over the past 18 months cops and resentful people servicing the US/Irish state (consciously or unconsciously) have tried to split our community as we go to trial...this is the nature of the "Confused" posting. If you can't see that may be you should post under "Naieve"

So Paula, hope that clears things up! There maybe cultural issues at play in our communication. I'm Irish-Australian...we are pretty blunt direct people. (as in" life is short cut the bullshit!") I've lived a lot of places, but this ones gotta be the worse for posturing,doublespeak, evasiveness and "pissing on people and telling them it's raining".

So Paua come and check out my tone, question the maturity of my rhetoric at Speakers Corner each Sunday (not today off to the OZ v IRE footy). or come and stand at the vigil and we can talk there. Consdier protesting your government's ongoing complicity in this war.

by paul o toole Sun Oct 17, 2004 19:16

Glad to hear you have a date to finally tell a jury your story. Best of luck and hope it all goes well with yous all. Its good to see at least some people are still keeping the Shannon Issue alive while it is still being used to bring death to thousands of innocent Iraqi people and still aiding the imperialists to destroy their country. Does anyone else find it ironic that we in Ireland are still suffering from the effects of centuries of occupation and here are Fianna Fail the PD's and the 'opposition'(excuse me while I puke) help with the invasion of Iraq, -helping our invaders invade???
The truth will set you freaky!!!

by dublin catholic worker Mon Oct 18, 2004 07:50 087 9184552

Halloween Return to Shannon, October 31st

Be a part of the first demonstration initiated by any sector of the peace movement in 2004.
Be Creative, bring your own placards, banners, etc.
If you can make your own way to Shannon for the way please contact us if your willing to share your automobile with others going from your area.
This demo. will be a multi-faith/no faith/non-party political protest against the use of SHannon Airport by the U.S. Military. Peace Camp may be set up in the area. Contact mobile number for further details.
Encourage friends to come down.
Lets start building from the bottom-out in an attempt to nurture nonviolent resistance.
150,000 pairs of feet didn't work.
150,000 signatures won't work either.
The only time the U.S. Military have been taken out of Shannon was in the 3 month period after 2 disarmament actions at Shannon in January and February 2003.
The only piece of U.S. military hardware which passed through the West enroute to 'Operation Enduring Freedom/Occupation' not to assist the theatre of war and the spread of imperial cancer was the afore mentioned US Navy plane.

Halloween Return to Shannon, October 31st

by Deirdre - Pit Stop Ploughshares Tue Oct 19, 2004 18:05

I assure 'confused' (or whatever they called themselves), we can all speak for ourselves and are a diverse group wtih diverse opinions - we're not all even Catholic, and have at least one practicing pagan in our midst.

Ciaron just happens to be the person who is high-profile, for a variety of reasons to do with his activities before our action. I wish people would stop using this fact to try to imply that the rest of us can't speak for ourselves - as has been said, we have done in a variety of fora. However, we're not in the business of seeking out media coverage or exposure, particularly at a time when, legally, this is inadvisable. Our statement has been made, and should speak for itself.

I don't know why I even bother refuting these remarks time after time, when I could make a few good guesses as to who they're coming from...

My hope is that our up-coming trial will be a motivating factor in ensuring that the anti-war movement in Ireland resumes its focus on Shannon as a means of expressing its opposition to the invasion of Iraq, along with opposition to the various other abuses taking place in relation to the treatment of prisoners from across the Middle East. It is where our complicity in US economic imperialism is most starkly expressed. Of course, Shannon is not the whole story in terms of Irish complicity, but anyone who saw Martin Cullen on the RTE news last night crowing complacently over how 'good for business' US troops moving through Shannon were, can only wonder at the complacency of a government for whom Arab lives are so expendable that the economy of a small part of one county in Ireland takes precedence over them. How easily we forget our own history.