Top Oil On Amien Street Picketed..

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Monday November 03, 2003 20:36

by antrophe - global action

Dishevled and lost looking, we sat perched on the concrete wall outside Top Oil on Amien Street. With no banners, and no leaflets, if there was a bus top there at least it could have done something of a job in justifying our presence outside a seemingly random petrol station in the city centre. We didn't spend the whole evening looking lost, eventually somebody showed up and we preceeded to leaflet people as they passed and cars as they went in.

Dishevled and lost looking, we sat perched on the concrete wall outside Top Oil on Amien Street. With no banners, and no leaflets, if there was a bus top there at least it could have done something of a job in justifying our presence outside a seemingly random petrol station in the city centre. We didn't spend the whole evening looking lost, eventually somebody showed up and we preceeded to leaflet people as they passed and cars as they went in.

We were joined by a procession of eight people led by pacisficist nun, who played some wierd little drum. A decent number of cars decided not to drive in and at the height of traffic, say around five oclock, business did look like it was being affected adversely.

Top Oil is not just a random petrol station in the middle of Dublin. While the medias war may be over, for the people of Iraq, the war of aggrssion being waged to seize the natural resources of their country continues unabated. All in the name of democracy of course, instead of Saddams there are now 150, 000 american troops involved in suppressing the population on a daily basis. Already there have been two attacks on demonstrations by soldiers which rate on a similar scale to bloody sunday here. With attacks on american installations increasing since the actual war, there is a growing sense of demoralisation within the military. Families have begun to speak out on behalf of their relatives serving. As one member of the group Military Families Speak Out says

'I believe George Bush lied to us to get us to go along with this war. I also believe the continuing occupation is only necessary so that Bush can pay back the corporate sponsors who put him in office. I think this is very close to class warfare, too. The young men and women George Bush sends to die are far removed from him and his circle of elite friends.'

In Ireland, resistance to the war has abated, the marches and demonstrations have subsided but war planes are still refuelling in Shannon, and we are still implacated in what is happening in Iraq.

Meanwhile, down in galway there was a picket of the TOP OIL offices by NUIG Eco Society and a leafletting of the main shopping areas. The Catholic Worker heads were on trial today, so thats what prompted the pickets as much as the actual need for a boycott of top oil. Now there is a need to regularise the pickets, one hour once a month at the vaious stations, thats all it takes.