Peace alliance Spokesperson Critical of Catholic Worker Action at Shannon: So is Bertie it seems.

by Andrew Mon Feb 03, 2003 14:04

Seems to be the religous equivalent of the way many on the left make heros of dead or retired freedom fighters but run a mile from their living equivalents. Che is a rather good example. In trade unions terms Joe Hill is another. Dead and gone their ideas are no longer a threat, but living and acting in front of you throws down the challenge of why you are not doing the same. BTW Trevor Seargent is being quoted on RTE News at One denouncing the action.

Incidentally other direct actions this weekend in New Zealand and at Portmouth Naval base, more details at http://struggle.ws/stopthewar.html

by Alan Mon Feb 03, 2003 14:04

Which "Peace Alliance" are they referring to? Who decided? This is where the bandwagon jumpers are separated from the genuine people. The 'respectables' are deserting!

by BOC's now available at your local McDonalds! Mon Feb 03, 2003 14:08

Protesters are not peaceful but violent he says. He is going to have to talk to Michael McDowell about it. RTE are continuing to repeat unquestioningly the line about the 5 protesters having assaulted a Garda and intimating that they may face serious charges as a result. All this spinning and so early in the morning for Willie's Doktors. It will indeed be interesating to see what the Greenies and Shinners do. All hands on deck on the phones to find out and get out the truth of the situation. RTE 6 hours behind IMC - let's hope they stay that way.

by Disobedienti Abu! Mon Feb 03, 2003 14:15

The general public understand that these actions are merely symbolic and taken out of complete frustration at a government that now firmly looks towards Boston!
These peace activists are inspiration for everyone interested in politics today!
Love and Peace to the People of the Middle East!
We must continue to (in our Small way) fight peacefully on their behalf!
Catholic Workers you are true practising Christians!

by pissedoff Mon Feb 03, 2003 14:37 getoutofshannon at hotmail dot com

Merely sybolic acts my hole.Violence is violence whether its bombing a child in Iraq or destroying an aircraft

by Marianne Mon Feb 03, 2003 18:11

Pissed off you might be, but comparing the damaging of an aircraft to the killing of a child is just sick.
Violence is not plain violence fullstop
Nothing is ever black and white.
Violence as i see it is an act of agression against a living thing (be it human or whatever)
A plane is not a living thing.
therefore to me what they did is not violence
It is commendable
An act which saves the life of a human being, (or even makes the guy fixing the plane think about why he's fixing it) is not violence.
Not to me.
See, it's never just blackandwhite

by trot watch Mon Feb 03, 2003 23:57

I agree with Andrew, except for one thing:
"left make heros of dead or retired freedom fighters but run a mile from their living equivalents. Che is a rather good example..."
Dont forget mose who cLAIM TO BE ON THE LEFT such as the swp and the sp run a mile from Che also, he is too principled, too admired and too hot for them to handle and he was not insane as many of them seem to be.

by Donnacha - none Tue Feb 04, 2003 18:00 donnacha at sortedmagazine dot com London

RTÉ tried bleedin' hard to quote Sargent as saying he denounced the action, but, if you listen to the piece from Morning Ireland linked above, he said it is regrettable the way the attacks are receiving all the media attention and distracting attention from what's happening in Iraq. He didn't even directly criticise those involved, he was less than subtly criticising the Irish meeja (of which I'm no longer part). The way the meeja's reporting things, coupled with the outright mad comments of the politicians (ie. it'll cost taxpayers money to bring in the army, which is the fault of the protestors, as opposed to they wouldn't have to bring in the army if they acted under Irish law and told the US where to stick their warplanes). Ironically, RTÉ is also taking the opportunity to score a few points against the government by criticising the security measures and claiming the same thing wouldn't happen in any other European country, which is also complete bullshit as protestors here in the UK have broken into a number of bases to prove they could and Mark Thomas programme on Ch4 last week showed how easy it would be as they stood around at a fence for minutes waiting for the cops to turn up.

D.

by Donnacha - none Tue Feb 04, 2003 18:08 donnacha at sortedmagazine dot com London

Just in case it's needed, I don't agree with Trevor Sargent's position, I was having a dig at RTÉ's "reporting" of his statements. If the government wants to stop "reckless acts of violence" then get the bloody planes out of there and then the pesky "people" in that so-called democracy won't attack them, now will they?

D.