Despite a sustained anti-war effort and the opposition of the majority of
people in Ireland (a majority of whom are women) to the breach of the Irish
constitution, the government continues to allow US warplanes and troop
carriers to refuel at a civilian airport at Shannon, on the west coast.
Thus far, the Irish government has not even clarified its position on what the
rest of the world knows: that the case for going to war was based on a hastily
cooked dish of lies and half-truths, garnished with spin.
So another
demonstration took place on Saturday June 21st, called by a local anti-war
campaign based in Cork. Well over 100 people took part, smaller than the
demonstrations before war was declared but attended by a variety of sectors
of
the anti-war movement, including the Global Women's Strike. There were
women,
children and men, pensioners, students, people who support non-violent
direct action and those who prefer other tactics. A party to celebrate the summer
solstice was also planned. Hardly in evidence at all were the various
political parties that had joined the anti-war movement in Ireland, many of
which caved in all too readily once Bush announced 'victory', and voluntarily
cleared themselves and their pickets and blockades off of streets. Some
sectors of the anti-war movement followed suit. But grassroots people have
refused to end our pickets and actions - people in Iraq don't accept this
illegal occupation and continuing war against them as Normal, and neither do
we.
A rally was held before the march to support the five people from the
Catholic
Worker Movement, who will stand trial later this year for disarming a US
navy
warplane at Shannon. Andrea Needham, one of a number of women who undertook
a Ploughshares action to disarm a warplane in the UK bound for use by the
Indonesian military in East Timor and who was acquitted in court, spoke in
support of more direct actions in Ireland.
Hit by a car
When the march set off for the
airport, however, it soon became clear that the Gardai [Irish police]
intended to allow two lanes of traffic, coming from and going to the airport, to pass
by protestors. This meant that vehicles were coming right up behind
protestors within a few inches of us, some at great speed – a considerable
danger. This had not happened on previous marches. The road-wide banner of
the Global Women's Strike, expressing our demand, 'Women Say No War/Invest
in Caring Not Killing', used without problems on many previous occasions at
Shannon, now could not be carried without our being in the direct path of
oncoming traffic. Before we knew what was happening, Maggie from the Strike
was hit lightly by a car passing the march at speed, but she managed to stay
upright. We were then told by Gardai that a spokesman for Cork Anti-War
Campaign had agreed with them to confine the march to one lane and allow
traffic to pass in both directions because Gardai said that 'the airport is
busy this time of year'. We were astonished that not only had someone
agreed to this dangerous arrangement but that none of us from the Strike, nor many
others marching around us, had been consulted before this deal was struck.
Threatened &
harassed by the police
After this, Maggie, the same woman, was continually harassed, pushed and
shoved by one Garda, CL 129, every time a vehicle approached from behind.
She was threatened with arrest; on one occasion this seemed to be because she
presumed to 'talk back' to CL 129 in order to tell him to stop pushing her.
This occurred on the march up to the airport and on the way back down. But
despite his superior officer telling him to arrest her, CL 129 didn't do it.
He did refuse to give her any information on what he thought about the war
but spoke to her a couple of times about how the demonstration was not working.
When she demanded that he stop pushing her and being so aggressive, he
smirked and told her, 'I'm protecting you' and 'I'm saving your life' Other
grassroots people from Galway stepped in to try to end this harassment or
any further accidents. Despite people explaining that not everyone had agreed
to
the traffic arrangement and asking that the traffic behind us be stopped for
our safety, we were told by Gardai that this was 'unrealistic' for business
at the airport. CL 129 also refused to listen to a repeated request to just
tell people that there was traffic approaching rather than physically
pushing a woman continually.
Police lies
As we marched we also discovered that spokespersons from the group that
called
the demonstration had agreed that we would all march up a different road to
that normally taken. We found that once we got close to the site of the
former peace camp, still a considerable way from the airport terminal
itself, Gardai had corralled us into a narrow roadway. They then brought the march
to a standstill by means of two rows of barricades across our path, flanked by
a line of police and dogs. This also meant that the site of the solstice
party had to be abandoned. People became angry, since it is our right to march to
the terminal itself and we have always insisted on it from the very first
demonstrations against war in Afghanistan at Shannon. We were told that
Inspector Tom Kennedy, the commanding officer on the day, had lied to the
spokespersons telling them that if they agreed to the new march route, he
would 'allow' the demonstration to proceed to the airport but otherwise he
would order his forces to stop us. While there was still a considerable
police presence, it was obvious that the large numbers of uniformed and riot
police drafted in on previous occasions were not present this time and that
it had always been the police plan to halt the march.
Arrests
The word spread through the crowd that we would march back down to the
roundabouts on the road to the airport and block the traffic with banners
and sit-downs because our protest and planned rally at the terminal had been
illegitimately blocked. This we did with those not wishing to be part of
the blockade remaining on the verge. Some women from the Global Women's Strike
and others who marched with us remained on the verge holding the Strike
banner while other Strike women joined those who stood or sat down on the road as
part of the blockade. Suddenly the Gardai swooped on several of those in
the blockade and began dragging them towards a police van. The grabbing of
arrestees was fairly random and at least one person on the verge was also
arrested (who later reported that a policeman in riot gear apologised for
having to do this, while they were in the police van).
The Global Women's Strike used our megaphone to call for support for those
being arrested and to publicise any Garda violence we could see. Eight
people were arrested, women and men, two children and the parents of children - one
a very small child. So, the children of the arrested parents were left
unattended. When we announced this on the megaphone, one officer replied,
'we don't care! You lot can look after them.' How dare the Gardai, paid
handsomely in overtime and Aer Rianta food vouchers, decide for us and most
likely women as usual, that we will pick up the pieces from their handiwork?!
And of course we had to. Women later negotiated with Gardai to bring one
child into the Station to see her mother. After the melee of the arrests,
protestors proceeded to the town's police station where we held a picket
with drumming until all arrestees had been released. People from Food Not Bombs
fed everyone while we waited. No charges were pressed but files on the case
have been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, for someone 'higher
up' to make the decision. A decision that obviously has little or nothing to do
with legal matters and everything to do with whatever the US warmongers want
from their lackeys in Dail Eireann [Irish parliament].
Accountability to the
movement
The blockade at the end worked well and shows, together with the previous
non-violent direct actions at the airport, that it really isn't about having
to have large numbers of people in order to make opposition visible and
effective. Apart from the disgusting behaviour of Gardai yet again - their
continuing complicity in the illegal use of Shannon and in war crimes in
Iraq and Afghanistan - what also has to be taken from the day is the crying need
for consultation during anti-war actions. If people insist on stepping
forward and claiming to represent us to the State, then they must be
accountable to all of us for any agreements they make, not just to their own
organisation or group. This would have given people a choice about whether
we wanted to put ourselves in harm's way. This has nothing to do with
leadership and everything to do with using our movement for ends it has not agreed to.
This is unacceptable on every count – we do not go to protest war and
killing to make deals with the Gardai.
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