Irish Activist Begins 14-Day Hunger Strike In Appeal To 'Cement Roadstone Holdings'

by redjade Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:01

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign
http://www.supportpalestine.org

CRH must answer questions on Palestine Wall
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64876

Amnesty Urges Irish Company to Explain Its Role on Israeli Fence/Wall
19 February 2004
http://www.amnesty.ie/user/content/view/full/1624

IPSC Demands Cement Roadstone Holdings Answer Questions on Apartheid Wall
May 23rd, 2004
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/548.shtml

Mary Harney and the biggest monopoly of all [Cement Roadstone Holding]
By Vincent Browne
http://www.sbpost.ie/web/Sitemap/1.9did-699575789-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FComment-and-Analysis-2FVincent-Browne.asp

by Ciaron Thu Jun 10, 2004 10:17

If you can make it on short notice come to CRH, Fitzwilliam Square today (Thursday) 10.30 am sharp to help kickstart this public witness.

by Ciaron Thu Jun 10, 2004 14:40

Six of us there with Caoimhe as she set up on the sidewlk opposite CRH. She tried delivering a statement to CRH. They refused to open the door to her. She slotted it through the mailbox.

Caoimhe has done a number of phone/media interviews this morning.

If you can drop by the vigil and express solidarity that would be great.

by Starstruck - UCD Left Thu Jun 10, 2004 15:14

Are there any plans to hold a larger protest outside the offices?
If IPSC and other groups could do so during the fast im sure we could gain even more media attention and thus public awareness.
CRH is very dependent on the price of its shares and im sure some negative publicity dould sweat a little with regards to this.
How about during the DGN "tour of Dublin" on the 19th?
A matter for DGN i guess.
Could be wothwhile though.

by redjade Thu Jun 10, 2004 17:49

{ photos by redjade } (c)
http://redjade.alturl.com

by redjade Thu Jun 10, 2004 18:05

for updates on Caoimhe's well being, subscribe to....

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CaoimheButterly/

[ not a discussion list, just occaisional news announcements ]

by redjade Thu Jun 10, 2004 18:18

Front line life of an Irish peace crusader

Caoimhe Butterly, a young woman who has devoted her life to campaigning for human rights, is trapped inside Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound

Michael McCaughan
Sunday April 7, 2002
The Observer

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,680272,00.html

- - - - -

Courage under fire

For almost a year Caoimhe Butterly has been standing in the way of Israeli tanks and troops in Jenin. Last Friday she was shot by a soldier - but she still won't leave, she tells Katie Barlow

Wednesday November 27, 2002
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,848369,00.html

by grey Thu Jun 10, 2004 18:39

i support and admire caoimhe but ... (and her highlighting the cause not the personality, which i reckon she's managed to do)

by soundmigration Thu Jun 10, 2004 18:50

"Your words are like water to my tired thirsty soul. Your direct actions provide notions that just grow and go. Your humanity and passion, humility and drive. From the fires that are raging, you've given me light.."

solidarity and love

by Sean Healy Thu Jun 10, 2004 19:30

CRH's core business is building materials, and its subsidiaries sell them all over the world, including Egypt and some of the states on the Arabian peninsula. I wonder if any of there cement found its way into Palestinian weapons smuggling tunnels or buildings used as firing positions by Palestinian terrorists. Hey, is anyone boycotting the Palestinians - you know, as a whole - because, like, some of them are even employed as builders on the security barrier? Has Indymedia thrown out all its Intel-powered PCs? Intel has a huge R&D operation in Haifa. I hope no one here ever needs a life-saving medical procedure pioneered in Israel's world-leading medical/pharmaceutical industry.

by James Fri Jun 11, 2004 10:58

CRH's office is around number 41. The stretch between Pembroke Street upper and lower.

It was the office out of which Haughey's moneybags, Des Trayoner, opertated his banking operation. I think he was a chairman of CRH at the time. Anyway he got to collect thousands of donations up at the Shelbourne and he kept the records of his Ansbacher clients in his office there. Handy really, it's just a stone's throw from government buildings and the Dail. Democracy would have been tottering without such munificence and convenient access to illicit banking.

by Ciaron Fri Jun 11, 2004 11:23

No. 42

by i'd rather die Fri Jun 11, 2004 13:31

i'd rather die than know that the equipment used to save me in any way contributed to the genocide against the palestinian people. Not in my name and the more information i can obtain to make sure that i don't contribute one cent to this shame is welcome.

I'm sure apartheid South Africa offered services and expertise to the rest of the world, but it was not acceptable to deal with their regime - apartheid israel can only expect the same treatment.

caoimhe, you're an example to us all

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker Fri Jun 11, 2004 14:52 087 2134160 caimohe at vigil

Caoimhe went to dry off after getting drenched. Has returned this morning with more wet weather gear. Many vistors to the vigil this morning in response to page 7 article in the Irish Times today.

All welcome to drop by and show their opposition to Irish complicity in the construction of this apartheid wall. Caoimhe - vigil phone number as above. Feel free to send support texts.

by I-Mad! - Independent lefitst activist Fri Jun 11, 2004 18:19

Such a spirit of defiance and resistance to injustice are a source of inspirations to thousands around the world.

Thanks Caoimhe, and hope the storm you created grows bigger and louder. Your words have resonated from Jenin, and your works of courage against Israeli bulldozers inspire us all and now you blow the whistle again. Thanks over and over. Stay as defiant!

In Solidarity,

by Rasta4i's Fri Jun 11, 2004 23:42

of an Interview with Caoimhe

by Michelle Clarke - In search of Social Justice Sat Jun 12, 2004 00:21 none

Caoimhe: My thoughts and prayers are with you and your decision to go on hunger strike for 10 days to alert Irish people to public company interests in countries that are blatantly in contravention of human rights.

Shareholders receiving dividends and massive capital gains over the last number years ought to start becoming aware. It is time for individuals to start questioning the social and ethical politices of public companies. Likewise a Government that reduced capital gains from 40% to 20% on said profits must start taking responsibility.

It is not appropriate that we ought to be support the Israeli war against a vulnerable Palestinian population.

People who have pensions and investments marked by fiancial institutions ought to become aware as to what Companies their funds are invested in and be vigilent as to any anti-humanitarian involvement by those companies.

Remember a Green politician paid a high price media wise etc. when it was discovered that his mother's estate held a large amount of non environmentally friendly shares in public companies. He did not react promptly to the portfolio and the media and people expressed their horror.

Ireland precently is engaged in the Peace Process. We have the opportunity to pave the way in a worldwide pacifist/reconciliation approach. All people concerned about the Island of Ireland ought to become AWARE AND REACTIVE IN THEIR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS IN LINE WITH HUMANITARIAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Quotation:
A Human Approach to World Peace
1. Universal humanitarianism is essential to solve global problems

2. Compassion is a pillar of World Peace

3. All world religions are already for world peace this way, as are all humanitarians whatever ideology

4. Each indivudal has a universal responsibility to shape institutions to serve human needs.

Personal Outlook - The Dalai Lama, Tibet
Origin of the Shitzu breed of dog

Caoimhe I hope to make it to Fitzwilliam square over the next few days. The old bones are a bit brittle presently. Love as ever Shelley

by Michelle Clarke - In search of Social Justice Sat Jun 12, 2004 00:22 none

Caoimhe: My thoughts and prayers are with you and your decision to go on hunger strike for 10 days to alert Irish people to public company interests in countries that are blatantly in contravention of human rights.

Shareholders receiving dividends and massive capital gains over the last number years ought to start becoming aware. It is time for individuals to start questioning the social and ethical politices of public companies. Likewise a Government that reduced capital gains from 40% to 20% on said profits must start taking responsibility.

It is not appropriate that we ought to be support the Israeli war against a vulnerable Palestinian population.

People who have pensions and investments marked by fiancial institutions ought to become aware as to what Companies their funds are invested in and be vigilent as to any anti-humanitarian involvement by those companies.

Remember a Green politician paid a high price media wise etc. when it was discovered that his mother's estate held a large amount of non environmentally friendly shares in public companies. He did not react promptly to the portfolio and the media and people expressed their horror.

Ireland precently is engaged in the Peace Process. We have the opportunity to pave the way in a worldwide pacifist/reconciliation approach. All people concerned about the Island of Ireland ought to become AWARE AND REACTIVE IN THEIR INVESTMENT PORTFOLIOS IN LINE WITH HUMANITARIAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Quotation:
A Human Approach to World Peace
1. Universal humanitarianism is essential to solve global problems

2. Compassion is a pillar of World Peace

3. All world religions are already for world peace this way, as are all humanitarians whatever ideology

4. Each indivudal has a universal responsibility to shape institutions to serve human needs.

Personal Outlook - The Dalai Lama, Tibet
Origin of the Shitzu breed of dog

Caoimhe I hope to make it to Fitzwilliam square over the next few days. The old bones are a bit brittle presently. Love as ever Shelley

by Sean Healy Sat Jun 12, 2004 10:47

What a preposterous inversion! You are aware of the demographic trends that have put pressure on Ariel Sharon to WITHDRAW from most of the occupied territories. Israel has the means to destroy the Palestinians; it clearly lacks the desire. Think about the situation if the roles were reversed.

by Nordie Sat Jun 12, 2004 18:40

Israel dosen't lack the desire you fool. It would happily send the Palestinians to the death camps but what would happen it then? America is keeping it on a (very long) leash. If the true darkness comes again and absolute madness reigns like in WW2 you can bet we'll be seeing a lot less Palestinians in this world. Israels doing all it can without upsetting the world too much to destroy the Palestinians as it is. Sharon would love to flick the gas switch (rem the Zionists blame Arabs for being complicit in the Holocaust and are still thirsting for ulimate revenge) or at least murder them all in some other way.

by Sean Healy Mon Jun 14, 2004 13:40

I'm confused: I thought AmeriKKKa was the Israeli puppet.

Do you think if Israel had genocidal desires they'd risk a single soldier fighting Hamas, et al.? No, they'd level Rafah, Jenin and every other terror-incubating shithole in the territories. They'd do, basically, what the Syrians did in Hama a couple of decades ago. Get a sense of perspective.

by nordie Mon Jun 14, 2004 16:45

Its hardly that simple. Hardly as simple as your rabid mind. Bit more complicated my son, bit more complicated.

While Zionists have a massive influence on American politics America is hardly just a simple Zionist puppet. Thats the stuff of the X-Files. It also has more concerns and interests. If the Israeli Nazis started to just wipe out the Palestinians from the face of the Earth the way they would love to, America couldn't possibly justify that to the world. It could lose vital oil supplies and support from every right thinking country in the world and from so many of its people. They only way Israel could carry this out politically would be if the world was in complete chaos which is just the way its going anyway.

by Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign - F.E.I.C. Tue Jun 15, 2004 09:40 Derry Jim Keys on 07803268790/Rose Kelly on 00353749381820

Freedom Fast at Raytheon
10pm Fri 18th June - 10pm Sat 19th June 2004

Tell the war-mongers to FEIC off!
FEIC Monthly Vigil 5pm Sat 19th June,

Raytheon, Branch Road, Derry

From sunset Friday 18th June until sunset Saturday 19th June, members and friends of Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign (FEIC) will be keeping a 24 hour fast outside Raytheon’s Derry facility on the Buncrana Road.

Explaining the reason for what FEIC are calling a “Freedom Fast”, Rose Kelly said,

“Many people will be aware that Irish nurse Caoimhe Butterly is currently fasting for 14 days outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublin. Her action is to direct national focus on the Israeli Government’s barbaric treatment of the Palestinian people and the collusion of Irish companies in the illegal occupation. Flouting International law and UN Resolutions they have walled the Palestinians into what is effectively a giant concentration camp, a process that many are already referring to as ‘the Palestinian Holocaust’.

Our fast is at once an act of solidarity with Caoimhe while focusing attention on the fact that Raytheon weapons are being used by the Israeli State to pulverise Palestinian communities.”

Caoimhe Butterly explained the reasons for her actions and her support for the FEIC Freedom Fast: “There is huge empathy in Ireland for the plight of the Palestinian people. But it’s often hard for ordinary people to see what they can do in the face of such injustice. By fasting outside the Israeli Embassy and Raytheon, we demonstrate that people can be empowered and do something to draw attention to the extraordinary injustice continuing in Palestine at the hands of the Israeli government and facilitated by Raytheon’s product.”

Rose Kelly added: “We have concrete evidence that Raytheon’s work in Derry is integral to, and not separate from, its core business of making weapons. Raytheon have yet to respond to that evidence. A recent poll in the local press made clear that Raytheon must come clean about their work in Derry: they are not welcome. The use of Raytheon’s product in the pulverisation of Iraq and its people is just another reason to oppose their presence in Derry”

The ‘Freedom Fast’ coincides with FEIC’s monthly vigil at the Raytheon software facility. As usual the vigil takes place from 5pm to 5.30pm on the Saturday. We are inviting people to join us either for the vigil or at any time during the 24 hours. If you’d like to offer solidarity or join in the fast please contact Jim Keys on 07803268790/Rose Kelly on 00353749381820



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Raytheon Factoid of the Month

(Out of their own mouths…)



To qualify for self-determination, a people must show some kind of national identity....

What political organizations, social institutions, literature, art, religion, or private correspondence express any ties between the Palestinian people to the Land of Israel?"

--Adam Cherrill,
Manager of Business Development,
Raytheon Business Systems, November 18, 2002

(Source: Joshua Ruebner, An Iron Triangle: Raytheon-Israel-Congress, Counterpunch, February 11, 2003 (http://www.counterpunch.org/ruebner02112003.html)

by Sean Healy Tue Jun 15, 2004 12:19

These superjews are truly amazing. Despite being a small and despised nation, they have managed to get not only the powerful Americans, but the numerous Muslims to dance precisely to their tune. If only they had realised their extraordinary superpowers earlier, they wouldn't have had to endure nearly two millenia of misery as the convenient scapegoats of Christianity and Islam. Or was the Holocaust actually just part of their diabolical plan all along???

by Sean Healy Tue Jun 15, 2004 12:22

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1087100112446

The Higher Islamic Council in Jerusalem on Sunday condemned senior Palestinian Authority officials who were importing cement from Egypt for the construction of the security fence and settlements as "infidels" and urged Muslims to boycott them.

A PA parliamentary commission last week announced that at least four Palestinian companies, some owned by top PA officials, had been importing cement from Egypt on behalf of Israeli contractors. The report, which followed a seven-month investigation, said the cement was being used to build the security fence and new homes in some of the settlements in the West Bank.

The report named Civilian Affairs Minister Jamil Tarifi and Economic Minister Maher Masri as part of a larger group of top PA officials who were involved in the case, which has sent shock waves throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In the context of the parliamentary inquiry, members of the investigative team questioned several other PA officials, including Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's top aide, Muhammad Rashid.

The team also flew to Cairo, where its members interviewed the owners of two Egyptian companies, who confirmed that they had been selling cement to the Palestinian companies, which acted as intermediaries for Israeli businessmen.
On Sunday, the Higher Islamic Council held an emergency meeting in Jerusalem to discuss the repercussions of the cement scandal.

The council issued a fatwa [religious decree] ruling that any Palestinian who assists in the construction of the "racist separation wall" is an apostate and infidel. It called on Muslims to boycott all those whose names had been linked to the case and to chase them away from their homes.
However, the fatwa stopped short of referring to the Palestinians involved in the case by name.

"The act of building the racist wall is a sin," said a statement issued by the council. "This is an act of infidelity and those involved should be exposed. They are not entitled to burial in a Muslim cemetery, their wives are forbidden to them and free to marry someone else, and they must leave our blessed homeland because they are helping in the Judaization of the Holy Land."

The Palestinian Legislative Council last week called for a criminal investigation into the cement case.

The call was made following a heated debate in the council, whose members accused Masri of negligence and fraud.

Thirteen legislators voted in favor of a bill that held Masri responsible for the scandal, as opposed to six who did not support it. Some legislators called for putting the minister and other top PA officials on trial.

Addressing the council, Masri admitted that some Palestinian companies that received import licenses from his ministry had violated the law, and said he had taken measures to make sure that the illegal transactions were halted. He also promised that all those involved in the scandal would be punished.

The Palestinian parliamentary team found that a German Jewish businessman had imported on behalf of Israelis about 120,000 tons of cement from the Bani Swaif Cement Factory in Egypt. It said that when the Egyptians discovered that the concrete was being sent to Israel, they ordered the cement factory to cut off its ties with the German importer.

According to the commission, the German businessman then sought assistance from Palestinian companies, which agreed to act as intermediaries. It concluded that senior PA officials had received bribes to issue import licenses to several importers and businessmen working on behalf of Israelis. "This is a legal and political crime that harms the national economy and security," the commission stated.

The commission's report did not refer to the Al-Quds Cement Factory in Abu Dis, which has also been accused of supplying material for the construction of the security fence and settlements. The factory is co-owned by Qurei's family.

by kokomero Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:37

are a feature of wars and oppression as any fool knows.

It is also well known the risk that these people are taking, and you'd probably be criticising Palestinians if they decided to execute those who imported cement to build the wall wouldn't you "Sean Healy"?

Support Caoimhe, boycott the Israeli apartheid state and pressure your MEP to invoke the human-rights clauses in bi-lateral agreements between the EU and Israel.

The Israeli pariah state will not last very long if they have nowhere to export their goods, often grown on lands stolen from Palestinians!

by kokomero Fri Jun 18, 2004 11:57

"During the Nazi occupation of Poland, while millions of Jews died, there
were cases of individual Jews collaborating with the Germans and informing
on their fellow countrymen, Jews and Poles alike. There were the Jewish
"szmalcowniki" (blackmailers). There was a
Gestapo-sponsored Jewish militia (Zagiew - Zydowska Gwardia Wolnosci, or
Jewish Guard of Liberty, led by Abraham Gancwajch) and the Society of Free
Jews (Towarzystwo Wolnych Zydow, under Captain Lontski),
whose members spied on the Jewish underground. There were the Jewish
Gestapo brigades and Jewish Sonderkommando units. There was a Jewish police
force (Jupo). There were camp "trusties" (Kapos), retrievers (Abholer),
raiders (Ordner), stool pigeons (Spitzel), scouts (Fahnder), and catchers
(Greifer) of Jewish descent, such as the infamous blond-haired, blue-eyed
Stella Goldschlag of Berlin, who
ferreted out and handed over to the Gestapo even her best friends and former
schoolmates. There were the Jewish prostitutes who worked the SS
guardrooms...

At his trial Adolf Eichmann testified that the Nazis regarded Jewish
collaboration as "the very cornerstone" of their anti-Semitic policy. Alois
Brunner, Eichmann's assistant, was credited by Simon Wiesenthal... as having
invented Jewish collaboration because of his fervor and success in enlisting
the Jews to carry out their own Shoah. According to Tadeusz Bednarczyk:
"Collaboration and betrayal among the Jews reached an alarming proportion in
the Warsaw ghetto. There was, proportionately speaking, a substantially
greater number of them than the number of collaborators and traitors
in the Polish nation and perhaps in other occupied nations... The conclusion
is sad. There were many Jewish Gestapo agents, traitors, "szmalcowniki" and
collaborators."...

The Jewish militia, otherwise known as Zagiew, the previously
mentioned "Jewish Guard of Liberty", consisted of Jewish Gestapo agents. At
the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942, the Gestapo had around 15,000
such Jewish agents in the General Government.

Tadeusz Bednarczyk, a Polish resistance fighter in Warsaw and chronicler who
came to the Warsaw ghetto on a daily basis until April 18, 1943, commented
that in addition to the 6,000 Jews employed by the Judenrat in Warsaw and
the 2,500 Jews who joined the ghetto police, the Germans had in their
service over 1,000 Jewish Gestapo agents in the German-sponsored Zagiew
organization. Some 300 of these agents
continued to reside in the Gestapo premises on Szucha Street after the
liquidation of the ghetto and, during 1943-44, were employed in ferreting
out Jews... Previously these agents had hampered the smuggling of food to
the Warsaw ghetto and had been instrumental in organizing the Hotel Polski
affair, in which wealthy Jews were lured to come out of hiding on false
promises of obtaining foreign passports and permission to leave occupied
Poland. Instead they were robbed and murdered. Polish archives hold
documentation with an incomplete list
of 1,378 Jewish collaborators and betrayers. One of them, Hening, directed a
seventy-member team at the Gestapo premises on Szucha Street and was charged
with the task of obtaining information about Polish underground
organizations...

For reasons such as these, a secret Jewish court in the Warsaw ghetto
executed fifty-nine Zagiew collaborators. The Polish underground killed the
collaborators as well. So did the Gestapo - because the collaborators "knew
too much" and because rival Gestapo groups often killed the agents of their
competitors. In time, their numbers dwindled, and the remainder, together
with the decreasing numer of members of the Society of Free Jews, were
incorporated into the
Jewish Gestapo brigades, formed in 1941 by Hauptsturmfuehrer Alfred Spilker.
Spilker was appointed by Hans Frank to head up the special Sonderkommando
AS, which, in conjunction with the Abwehr, attempted to counter the efforts
of the Polish underground. Sonderkommando AS
consisted of groups of renegades from various nationalities. Among them
were 820 Jews, who formed the Jewish brigades. During the Warsaw uprising,
"Spilker's boys" were assigned the task of "cleansing" the areas captured by
the Germans...

Simon Wiesenthal's words provide a sobering commentary on the postwar
treatment of Jewish-Nazi collaborators by the very people they betrayed: "We
have done very little to condemn Jewish collaboration with the Nazis. When,
after the war, I demanded that those who had abused their office in ghettos
or concentration camps be removed from Jewish committees, I was told that
'this would diminish the guilt of the Nazis'".

(Tadeusz Piotrowski, "Poland's Holocaust", McFarland & Co.: Jefferson, NC,
1998, pp.66-67, 70, 74-75).

by Sean Healy Fri Jun 18, 2004 18:45

You're right, kokomero. The occupied territories are EXACTLY like Poland under the Nazis. (Always with the Nazis!)

by kokomero Mon Jun 21, 2004 14:53

you have seen reason and agree with me. I take it you'll now be laying off the pro-Zionist spamming.