Report from Anti-war Activists Meeting in Limerick (Saturday 1 November 2003)

by Adam - Gluaiseacht Wed Nov 05, 2003 06:42 peace at gluaiseacht dot net

First of all, sorry for the delay. The report below was meant to go up on Sunday but was delayed by technical difficulties.

Report on Shannon Reistance Meeting 1 Nov

A very productive meeting was held in Limerick on 1 November to discuss options for promoting and facilitating NVDA based resistance at Shannon Airport.

The main areas discussed were:

1 - Peace Camps
It was agreed that the peace camp had been an valuable part of the peace movement in ireland ove rthe last year. It was agreed to organise a number of temporary peace/action camps. A flexible approach was felt to be the best one - such camps could vary from one day to a few weeks and vary in style and location. A working group was formed to take this forward. Anyone interested in helping please get in touch.

2 - Dec 6th Blockade
A number of issues relating to tactics and preparation for the blockade on Dec 6th were discussed. Some members of the IAWM subgroup organising the blockade were present and participated int eh disucssions and will take the results of the discussion back to the group. Everyone was quite upbeat about the blockade and will no doubt be involved in building for it. This will hopefully include a series of workshops at various locations around the country. The suggestion that each group send a rep to a meeting in limerick the night beforehand to finalise last minute details was made.

by An Púca Fri Nov 07, 2003 01:15 flannbui at yahoo dot com

A cara,
There was talk before about writing some sort of resistance pledge at the Limerick meeting.It might not be a bad idea Ireland has a long history of pledges and public oaths as political protest sometimes with impressive results The Ulster Solemn League and Covenant 1912, The anti conscription Pledge of 1918, The Fenians, the United Irishmen, The "Old" I.R.A. 1917-23 all used oaths and pledges etc.. to build wider support amongst the public

Heres an example I have from the American anti war movement.

THE PLEDGE TO RESIST.

"We Believe that as the people of these United States, it is our responseibility to resist the injustices done by the Government in our names.

Not in our name will you wage endless war.
There can be no more neadless deaths,
no more transfusions of blood for oil.

Not in our name will you invade countries, bomb civilians, and kill more children letting history take its course over the graves of the nameless.

Not in our names will you erode the very freedoms for which you claim to fight for.

Not by our hands will we supply weapons and funding for the anihaliation of families on foreign soil.

Not by our mouths will we let fear silence us.

Not by our hearts will we allow whole people or whole countries to be deemed evil.

Not by our will and not in our name.

We pledge resistance!
We pledge alliance with those who have undergone suffering for voicing their opposotion to war, or for their religion, or ethnicity.
We pledge to make common cause with the people of the world to bring about justice freedom and peace.
Another world is possible and we pledge to make it real."

Good stuff eh? And id say its moderate enough to be accepted by all if adapted to Ireland and the Shannon issue.

Obviously alot more needs to be done than pledges and speaches if we are to get anywhere.

I couldent make it to the Limerick meeting last Saturday but id love to get involved please e-mail me.

Is míse
An Púca