Clare care about Shell Hell
clare |
environment |
news report 
Sunday October 15, 2006 02:18
by Clare Shell to Sea
Last Friday evening Clare Shell to Sea staged a picket outside the local Shell garage in Ennis. This protest was held to show solidarity with the beleaguered people of Erris. With just under twenty people gathering outside the forecourt a spokesman for the group said " this is a great turn out considering the call out was at short notice". Many of the protesters handed out leaflets to passing traffic as most of the drivers beeped the horns in agreement of the sentiment.
Although Royal Dutch Shell sold its many retail outlets last year the Shell to Sea campaign has stage many pickets at franchised petrol stations all over the country. This tactic in Ennis was working well on Friday with no motorists stopping to fill up with shell petrol. This picket will continue next Friday after a public meeting in Ennis. The time and venue will be announced soon.
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Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3EVENTS WEEK COMMENCING 16.10.06
1. Some Shell to Sea activists are travelling on Thursday to Erris to participate in the national day of action on Friday morning 20.10.06 at Ballinaboy.
2. There will be a protest outside the Statoil Garage on the Limerick Road in Ennis on Friday afternoon from 5.30 to 6.30.
Statoil is part the Corrib Gas consortium with Shell and Marathon Oil. Please note the slightly later starting time for this week's protest.
The Norwegian Embassy in Dublin will be notified of the event and displeasure will also be conveyed regarding its government's role in the fiasco.
(The Norwegian Government is a significant stakeholder in Statoil).
We will be doing a media blitz again for this week's event. Moreover, we will be bringing along banners, placards and flyers.
However, if anyone would like to make their own home made placard STATOIL TO SEA with the Statoil symbol on it, please feel free.
Let's keep this great momentum going!
3. There will be a Shell To Sea stall beside the O Connell monument on Saturday 21.10.06 from noon to 2.00 pm. This action started three weeks ago for the first time.
It has proved very successful and good fun. Please feel free to come along and help out.
The work consists of giving out info about the controversy and handing out flyers.
We are also looking in to the possibility of a big public evening meeting in Ennis with a really good speaker/authority on the controversy from Mayo.
Is it possible for all People of Eire to call a one day General Strike, to remind the Politicians to represent them and Eires interests, then for two days, then for three days etc etc
The Unions have a big role to play in this struggle, as they do in any struggle. They should realistically call for some action. If we had a proper TU leadership, such actions could become a reality.
But the fact is that Jack O'Connor & co. are not exactly just representatives of the working class. A leeching bureacracy has developed at the top of practically every union. The new social-partnership deal highlights this.
Trade Unions are vital to the success of struggles in the future. They must be reclaimed with the leaders replaced by genuine, militant activists. Then, we will see a lot more industrial action in this country.
As a final point, some people point to the Irish Ferries protest to show how the TUs are improving, however this is not the case. Here, the TU leadership were compelled by their membership to take some kind of action. They talked until morning's light in order to make some kind of deal and hold back the protest.
This does, however, show how the ordinary workers can force the leadership to take action. Either that or the leadership and bureacracy will be revealed for what it really is - a chain holding back genuine workers' movements.
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