Direct Action In Dublin ''...Theologian John Robinson, who did a similar occupation of the same building previously, had decided that his conscience was calling him to do so once more. He was ultimately joined by six like-minded people, including Iraqi peace activist Nuria Mustafa (who will appear in Shannon District Court on November 20th along with several others on charges of obstructing traffic near the airport on June 21st). Nuria, who is currently fasting for Ramadan, prayed with John and others for the casualties of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, in what was a truly ecumenical act of civil disobedience. The seven constructed a shrine to the Iraqi dead, recited the Office of the Dead and chanted Muslim prayers, as they nonviolently confronted the Aviation Authority on its complicity in the ongoing war and occupation of Iraq.'' - Deirdre Clancy, of the Catholic Worker

Top Oil Picketed In Galway ''A group of peace protesters gathered on Monday to picket the Galway Oil Company offices. Galway Oil being the local distributers of Top Oil, the company which provides pit stop services to the U.S. military at Shannon, including re-fueling. They then went and leafleted Shop Street - main street in Galway, asking people to boycott Top Oil. Other local distributers of Top Oil include - Mid Western Oil Products and Ennistymon Oil in Clare, John Dunne oil in Castlebar, Kelly Fuels in the North, and Ger Conway Oil in Kildare. The Top Oil Boycott Working Group within the Irish Anti-War Movement is currently developing plans for a rolling campaign against the company, with weekly actions in different parts of the country.'' - Kieran Cunnane, from Galway

Also... - More Top Oil Protests. - Military Overflights over Ireland are Continuing - Non-violent direct action plans coming from Limerick - Grassroots Gathering in Galway, this weekend! What Donald Rumsfeld really thinks: The Iraq war will be 'a Long, Hard Slog'

Mass Civil Disobedience Planned For Shannon Airport "It is worth remembering that on February 15th more than 100,000 people marched in Dublin against U.S. plans to invade Iraq and against Irish complicity with the American military. They were treated with contempt by the Irish government, which ignored the huge turnout and instead continued to assist the build up to war. Tens of thousands also marched in other urban centres and on Shannon airport itself, and they were similiarly treated with contempt by Fianna Fail and the PDs. This attitude persists and Shannon airport continues to be shamed by the presence of U.S. warplanes. In fact, the airport is openly assisting the occupations of both Iraq and Afghanistan. That is simply not acceptable." - Fintan Lane, on the upcoming December 6th Protest at Shannon Airport led by the Irish Anti-War Movement

"Stand in front of a bin truck and they may well jail you. Pocket millions, some of which would have otherwise gone to health or education, and they will ask you over for dinner."

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common,
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.

The poor and wretched don't escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back.

As the US/UK occupation of Iraq descends further into chaos, the recently reorganised Irish Anti-War Movement has announced a blockade of Shannon Airport to take place on Saturday 6th December. The Blockade is in protest at the ongoing use of the airport by the US Military. Almost 100,000 US Troops have passed through the airport on their way to the Middle-East since the beginning of the year.

Other Developments:

A group of peace activists have called a meeting in Limerick on Saturday 1st November aimed at establishing a non-party political group focusing on the use of non-violent direct action tactics to halt the use of the Airport by the US Military.

The IAWM have also issued an invitation to Legal Professionals to attend a meeting on 8th November in Dublin with a view to establishing an expert legal committee.

The Catholic Worker Five are due to appear in court in the very near future and activists in Galway and elsewhere are preparing solidarity actions for the occasion.

Useful Offsite Links:
Global Indymedia Feature on Iraq
Iraq Occupation Watch
Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq
Human Rights Watch on situation for civilians in Iraq

Mainstream News Commentary:
Robert Fisk in Counterpunch notes the high suicide rate among the troops, lack of official investigations and body counts of murdered Iraqi civilians, the sustained level of attacks and the schizophrenic perception of the situation by US officers. George Monbiot in the Guardian dismisses the three ostensible reasons for which Bliar and Co. went to war and points out the especial hypocrisy of US support for Uzbekistan's current regime. Meanwhile Bush is quoted on CNN as inadvertently linking "our progress" with civilian deaths:

"`There are terrorists in Iraq who are willing to kill anybody in order to stop our progress,' Bush said. `The more success we have on the ground, the more these killers will react -- and our job is to find them and bring them to justice.'"

The Socialist Workers Party is running a candidate for the post of Vice-President of SIPTU. The Election is to take place in January 04. Des Derwin, an unaligned socialist (and a previous election candidate for the position of General Secretary of SIPTU) who announced in October that he was running for the position published his reaction on Indymedia. Follow the link below the excerpt for the full text of his reaction.

"In over thirty years of political activity I cannot recall a more astonishing act of pure sectarianism on the socialist far left. They are running a candidate with no surface difference of policies to mine. As it is a trade union election they cannot run as an organisation. There can be no defensible reason for them standing a candidate against me. Not only have I worked with them in SIPTU and actively supported their member Carolann Duggan in four successive SIPTU elections, but also, as I detail below, they were instrumental in persuading me to run for General Secretary just last year. I might add that not only have I worked with the SWP in various campaigns and bodies, trade union and other, including the recent Socialist Alliance, down the years, but that I have been in recent times an increasingly isolated voice on the rest of the far left for working with and not writing off the SWP.

Now, when I am actually in a better position to run, having stood last year, I am not good enough and they put up a virtual unknown. The effect will be (particularly in the absence of a soft left candidate - though there's a whisper of one emerging) to split the left vote. To run against a radical socialist candidate in a general election (which the SWP did once against the Socialist Party) is bad enough. Seemingly identical organisations vying for votes is a scandal to ordinary workers. But to run a candidate against a long established, independent oppositional activist, with a thirty-year history of exactly similar ‘Rank and File-ist’ policies (i.e. myself) in a trade union election, where candidates are standing on trade union issues and trade union records, is sectarianism and sectism without any cover."

''What I am fighting here is a criminal government that has been involved in an illegal war. We have facilitated more than half the US troops that went to fight in an illegal war. Also they've turned our Constitution to shreds. They've not allowed our Gardai and security forces in Shannon to go on board these planes and even find out what was [in] them. They have had no regard for the safety of the citizens living [near] Shannon and it's been reported that there is a huge arsenal of weapons flying over at least Shannon and there is no concern for the safety of the citizens in that area.

So, I will be fighting this case vigorously, but as I say, I need support, very strongly I need support, and I call on anybody who might be free next Tuesday or whatever court dates are set in the future, to come and support, to come and picket outside, to write about it, to do media interviews, and to put the word [out] that Ireland has been complicit in an illegal war, despite the will of the Irish people.''
- Mary Kelly, 17 October 2003
MP3 interview streamed / download (2.8megs - 4:09 mins)

UPDATE: ReTrial date set for early February, 2004 (new photos)

Past Features on Civil Disobedience at Shannon Airport:
· Mary Kelly Trial: Hung Jury, Re-Trial Possible in October (Jul 4 2003)
· Good Friday Resistance at Shannon Airport (Apr 18 2003)
· Pit Stop Ploughshares 5 action at Shannon Airport (Feb 3 2003)
· Peace Activist vs. US Military Jet (Jan 29 2003)