Anti-war activists explore the ways forward

national | anti-war / imperialism | news report Thursday February 19, 2004 20:35 by barry

On the 17th of January some 50 people who have been active in the anti-war movement in Ireland came together for an informal meeting in Taylors bar in Galway.

The informal anti-war networking meeting which was held in Taylors bar in Galway in January this year was the latest and largest thus far of what seems to have become almost a series of meetings of like minded activists.

Initially these meetings tended to take the form of post-mortems in the pub after a long day of walking round Dublin or Shannon, usually tinged with a certain element of "what-if" of "if-only". The meeting in Galway after the EU summit may have been informal and poorly announced but it was well attended by numerous individuals who have been involved in many aspects of the anti-war movement over the last few years and found easy agreement on a number of issues, mainly around the need for anti-war groups to be autonomous, to respect each other and to find areas of common ground where they can work together.

The ongoing militarisation of Shannon Airport was the primary and recurring area of discussion ranging from the peace house through TOP Oil and the need for ongoing actions at Shannon and the likelyhood of the Bush visit being based around the airport.

Non Violent Direct Action was also a major focus with a lot of interest being expressed in NVDA training workshops around the country and the organisation of a "Training for Trainers" course to facilitate these workshops. The other major issue which arose was prisoner and defendant support for those who have taken extra-legal steps to demonstrate their opposition to war and the continuous need for solidarity actions, court support and fundraising to cover legal and associated costs.

As the meeting concluded interest was expressed by most of those present in having further meetings to continue to explore these and other issues and to develop systems of communication and co-ordination within the anti-war movement which would be acceptable to all those who wish to participate.

With these purposes in mind therefore a venue has been reserved in the Ha'penny Inn for the afternoon of Saturday 21st Febuary for a further open informal gathering of those who wish to oppose war and Irelands participation in the latest cycle of state violence.