Pit Stop ploughshares 5 go to the Four Courts

by redjade Mon Jul 26, 2004 17:05

{ photos by redjade } (c)

Gathering before going into court

Court Solidarity

by Eoin Dubsky Mon Jul 26, 2004 18:25

What on earth is taking the courts so long? I say throw the book at them*! (where "them" are Bertie & Con, "the book" is any number of texts which outlaw murder and theft) :-D

You're all looking very well nonetheless. Great to see so many people came out too. Keep it up! You'll have your day in court soon!

by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker & Pitstop Ploughshares Mon Jul 26, 2004 23:02 Heading for Australia for August - lil' beauty, surf's up! 01- 492 6100

We gathered in central Dublin within a week of the 900th. U.S. soldier dying in Iraq and when the U.S. Marines responded the following day by slaying 25 Iraqis.

Damien, Deirdre, Karen, Nuin and I have been on bail for the past 18 months. We have made the journey from the GPO to the Four Courts (& Green St.) over a dozen times. The walk to court is designed to be isolating, demoralising and defeating. The only thing we have to counter this state designed path is our spirituality and your solidarity.

The expressions of solidarity today were a hundredfold. Thirty folks had gathered for celebration and reflection at the DCW house on Saturday. Eileen (an Evertonian) & Josie (a Red) arrived on the Liverpool ferry. Both women had been at the Liverpool Crown Court in '96 when the "Seeds of Hope" Ploughshares were acquitted of £2.5million "criminal damage" to a British Aerospace Hawk Fighter set for export to Indonesia and its genocidal war on east Timor. On the ferry over they met many folks who were aware of our case and were supportive.

This morning Martin picked us up at the house and drove us in to town. A Clare man fresh from the tied All Ireland Hurling Quarter Final who had spent 18 years doing solidarity work in Ethiopia. Waiting for us at the Spire with familiar punctuality was Colim who had also spent years in Ethiopia working as an aid worker on engineering projects. Peter from (John Vaniers) L'Arche community, Des formerly of the New York CW, indy photographers JD & Paul, banner artists Marie & Geraldine, homeless friends Pat & Mary, Kiwi punk spiritual anarchist Joel and his child Darra, recently arrived Canadian anarchist Sean (freshly recruited the previous day at Speakers Corner), homeless co-worker Pat, Mountjoy '70's Grad Justin, Sanctions buster John, old friend of the NYCW Tim & the Pit Stop Ploughshares were also there.

In the spirit of Selma we proceeded to court in single file carrying photos of Iraqi children and signs of "No War: No War Planes through Shannon". Solidarity texts were coming thick and fast from folks who couldn't make it.

We arrived at the Four Courts formed a circle, shared who were were, where we were from and why we had gathered......in a spirit of solidarity to nonviolently resist continued Irish complicity in the U.S. invasion, occupation and plunder of Iraq. We shared news of other anti-war resisters in front of the courts and in jails & brigs in the U.S., England & Israel.

We have always hoped to enter the court as we entered the militarised hangar at Shannon Airport in Feb. 2003...in a spirit of community, nonviolence, upbeat and hopeful for humanity. Our legal team consulted us and then swung into action. They secured me the ability to go home and see my mum & dad in OZ. I haven't seen them in 3 years, so looking forward to it. Good folks, solid people taught me a lot about solidarity and resistance.

That the rights to see one parents have to be won reminds you that being on bail is not freedom. The last 18 months has been a sort of suspension of our lives as we struggle to maintain community, keep focussed on this ploughshares witness, support the attempts of others to nonviolently resist this war. It's a struggle to stay out of the first world bubble of normalcy as the majority of the world goes to hell in famine and war as direct result of our rampant consumerism and sedation.

The judge set our next date for October 11th. where the issues of discovery will be revisited. The best solidarity you could offer us and more significantly the children of Iraq under hi tech fire is contiued sustained nonviolent resistance.

October 11th. is Colombus Day in the U.S. so may be we will explore a theme of over 500 years of genocide of indigenous Americans when we next gather. How ironic that the U.S. military name their helicopter gunship after the Apache tribe they once tried to wipe from the face of the earth.

Hope you can join us on the trail to trial.
Ciaron O'Reily
for the Pit Stop Ploughshares

by Catholic Worker - Iowa, USA Thu Aug 05, 2004 13:51

War toys at the State Fair
By Beth Dalbey
bethdalbey@bpcdm.com

Though not armed, a Bradley fighting vehicle will be part of the Iowa
Army National Guard’s exhibit at the Iowa State Fair Aug. 12-22,
reigniting a three-year dispute between the state fair board and peace
activists.

With tensions heating up in Iraq in 2001, pacifist Brian Terrell and
three other protestors responded to the presence of weapons of
destruction at the fair with a poster-sized photograph of a dying Iraqi
child. State police patrolling the fairgrounds asked them to leave, and
when they refused, they were charged with trespassing. All four
protestors were convicted of the misdemeanor charges, but Terrell’s
conviction was overturned by an appellate court, which ruled that he
“was asked to leave for no other reason than that the Guard did not
like the content of the message” he and the other demonstrators were
offering.

The Guard’s State Fair displays since then have been void of weapons
and Terrell thought the matter settled until a few weeks ago, when he
discovered the National Guard was again planning to display a Bradley
fighting vehicle. Terrell, the executive director of Catholic Peace
Ministry, pointed out, as he did in 2001, that the fair board’s own
rules prohibit “the carrying or possession by any person other than a
peace officer of any weapon … on the fairgrounds.”

Kathie Swift, the fair’s marketing director, said no one has disputed
that, and even if a Bradley fighting vehicle could be “construed as a
weapon, it’s not loaded.” She said the National Guard had been given a
waiver in its exhibit contract. “The Iowa Code pre-empts our rule,” she
said, citing Iowa Code Chapters 724.2(2) and 724.4(4c), which permit
National Guard members to carry weapons.

Terrell said that’s an overly broad interpretation of the Code, and for
once, he and the National Guard seem to be on the same side of an
issue. Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, a Guard spokesman, agreed that the
provisions of Chapter 724 aren’t relevant to the debate.

However, he defended the decision to include a Bradley fighting vehicle
in the Guard’s exhibit, saying it’s important to let the general public
know “the kind of things we are engaged in as an organization.”

“Tax dollars pay for everything we do,” Hapgood said. “It’s important
to let them know what we are doing for them for homeland defense,
helping neighbors [in times of disaster] and also showing some of the
kinds of things were involved in on an international basis.

“This is about educating and informing people. The State Fair isn’t a
place where we recruit, but we get some exposure with the public to
create a better understanding for who we are. For us, it’s about
support, whether or not you agree with what we are asked to do.”

Terrell countered that the display is paid for under the National
Guard’s recruiting and retention program, but the display is geared to
appeal to young children. “They’ve made a playground out of lethal
weapons and have a big blow-up mascot of a soldier waddling around
giving Army key chains to children and doing camouflage face-painting,”
he said. “It’s tantamount to brainwashing. It’s not education. If so,
they would have been giving the same education we were arrested for in
2001: ‘These are death traps. A shell inside and everyone would be
dead.’ It’s not education; it’s propaganda.”

If the National Guard display includes a Bradley fighting vehicle or
other lethal weapons, Terrell is hopeful the outcome of the 2001 case
will serve as a reminder for law enforcement officials to respect and
protect the constitutional rights of Americans to raise a dissenting
voice.