The demonstration will be complimented by a party/gathering called by SOS at what was previously the site of the Shannon Peace Camp and by a Catholic Worker Peace Walk. SOS have issued an open invitation for people interested in contributing to the party and in a statement and interview have outlined their novel approach.

Court cases centring on events at previous Shannon demonstrations and direct actions continue, as do efforts to raise funds for those facing charges and fines. These include a pub quiz in Dublin on Thursday 19th June, and a concert in Dublin on Tuesday 17th.

An abundance of material continues to be published on Indymedia on the subject of the ongoing war in Iraq and protests and actions in opposition to it including these audio interviews with Caoimhe Butterly, who has recently travelled there.

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The Famine/Peace Walk Walk organised by Afri (Action from Ireland) took place from Doolough to Louisburg, Co Mayo on Saturday 31st May to commemorate this event and raise awareness around issues of world poverty and the arms trade. Walk leaders were Brendan Forde OFM who has worked for 30 years in Latin America, Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, Nuria Mustafa, an Iraqi exile living in Ireland, and Pat O’Brien, priest, poet and anti-war activist.

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One night I was woken up by a Garda, by him booting me in the ribs, because, he said, `I can't be arsed bending down and I don't like touching shit with my hands!'

My name is David and I am homeless. I was asked to write a piece on the reason for my situation and my experiences of being homeless. This is it. I am sorry if it comes across as a sob story, it isn't meant to and I am not looking for sympathy or for people to feel sorry for me. As it is things are looking up for me at last but it probably does come across that way because after a long time spent thinking about it, there aren?t many good things that I can say about it.

Contrary to popular belief homeless people haven't brought the situation on themselves and do not choose to live that way, as is the case with me. After my mother passed on, I decided that I wanted to get away from Liverpool and go back to my home country of Ireland, (having left when I was six or seven because my Mum and Dad split up, my Mum being from Liverpool she took me back to be with her parents.) as I had no family left there, being born an only child and late on in my parents life (my Father had passed on two years earlier and I had no family in Ireland either.) I had nothing to keep me there and I felt I needed a change.

Globalise Resistance, an Irish activist network, is calling on all organisations and individuals to sign the call opposing the G8 and encourages people to make their way to the protests and alternative summits that will be held near Evian. Anti-G8 leaflets and trade union motions are available from GR's web pages.

Globalise Resistance is running buses to get there, and an alternative bus known as the 'Good Bus' is being discussed.

Current GR Bulletin
The 'Good Bus'

See also CLAAAC - Anti-Authoritarian and Anti-Capitalist Convergence Against the G8, ATTAC, War On Want, World Development Movement, Globalise Resistance UK, Zone Autogérée a Genève (Fr.), AntiG8.org, Evian 2003, G8Deviant.org (counter-summit planning).

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This Saturday, the 10th May, Tony Doherty, whose father Patrick was killed on Bloody Sunday, is to take part in a walk from the Bloody Sunday monument to the monthly vigil outside Raytheon, to protest the killing by US Parachuters of 13 innocent protesters in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

The massacre, which took place on Monday April 28th outside the school that the 82nd Airborne Division were occupying, was later justified by an official US military cover story. The story claimed that soldiers had come under fire, and that they had only fired aimed shots at gunmen. The walk is organized by the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign as part of the campaign against the arms trade and its presence in Derry, in the form of Raytheon. Continue to the complete article here

Links: Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign / Irish CND / Mairead Maguire on Raytheon / Fallujah and the Media (from Counterpoint)