Images from the Shell to Sea leafletting at the GPO

by inspired, impressed, influenced & encouraged Sat Sep 06, 2008 16:17

"People will stop robbing petrol stations when petrol companies stop robbing people".

leaves you speechless. you don't even need a morality debate after that one. could we have a chiasmus series please? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiasmus That is one beautiful kernel of the message. & it just went into tens of thousands of minds.

by lulu Sat Sep 06, 2008 18:19

One daft placard doesn't invalidate the debate on the Great Gas Robbery; it's maybe intended as humour, or, God forbid, to make people think...

by s2s Sat Sep 06, 2008 18:43

thanks to everyone who turned up...

brolly banner making

and the result

by Ciaron - Catholic Worker/Ploughshares Sat Sep 06, 2008 19:26

Well with the Irish Army at Shannon, the Irish Navy at Rossport - the crew at Tara should be bunkering down for the arrival of the Irish Air Force some time soon!

The placard originates from an armed robber I was sharing a cell with in '83 in Brisbane who observed "People will stop robbing banks, when banks stopping robbing people!"

It's an observation of high crimes and low cirmes in our society. High/wholesale theft, killing, thieving and dealing in dangerous substances are carried out by governments and corporations protected by the law serviced by the military.

Most people you will meet in jail aren't in there for heroicly rebelling against capitalism. They are in jail for mimicing the wholesale criminality of governments and corporations without having the birthright of the Bushes, Cheneys and Shell execs.

The placard is not a promotion of armed robberies of Shell stations or Shell using the armed force of the Irish Navy to rob Mayo. It is simply an observation.

I wore my Uibh Fharili top, a gift from my Bannagher born Pitstop codefendant, as my father was born in the same village as Taoiseach Cowen. As my father has read Michael McCaughan's fine book "The Price of Our Souls" about the Rossport campaign and our family (presently based in Brisbane, Vietnam and Dublin) unanymously opposes Shell's theft in Mayo.

by Supporter Sat Sep 06, 2008 20:24

Good to see solidarity in Dublin,whats going on in Mayo is a fuckin disgrace,state and capital once again uniting to suppress all that stand in their path.
No doubt there will be an escalation in the coming days as they try to tighten their grip to suppress the resistance,solidarity demos should spontaneously mobilise if they do so to push through the Solitaires plans.
All hail to the S2S,the locals,"outside" activists giving their all and of course the Chief,a one man David and Goliath warrior!

by A Gerachty Sun Sep 07, 2008 13:57

Its encoraging to see the people who wont lie down for the robbing of their country
Keep it up ye all

by MadamK Sun Sep 07, 2008 14:08

Great turn out ,more next time.

Deadly banner :)

by Starstruck Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:57

Nice 1 Madam K!

by Niall Mon Sep 08, 2008 13:38

Looking forward to Shell to Sea Day of Action, Glengad, Sat 20th August. More later.

by Chrissie Mon Sep 08, 2008 15:41

Niall, do ye mean Sat 20th September? :0}

by Niall Mon Sep 08, 2008 17:08

Oops! Yes indeed.

Shell to Sea Day of Action Saturday 20th Sept, 2008.

More later.

by Ciaron - Catholic Worker/ Ploughshares Tue Sep 09, 2008 08:37

"One daft placard doesn't invalidate the debate on the Great Gas Robbery; "

Well after recovering form Lulu here calling my placard "daft" (it took me time to walk up to the stationery shop, collect my tried and trusty Niko pens form another location, walk back to the house, draw up the thing with a zen focus so I wouldn't mispell any of the many words and run outta space and make the f'n thang). Ok maybe Lulu would have been happy if I had just kept my mass produced SF or SWP placard from the last S2S demo (and save a tree) but I like to bring a certain craftsmanship to my work. Also have waited patiently for a Lulu retraction of his/her assessment that my placard was, is and will ever be "daft", but that doesn't seem to becoming anytime soon ...I return reluctantly to this thread.

I always think it is good to reflect after you act...even if in environments like the Irish "left" all criticism is taken so personally.
-I think it was great that folks organised this manifestation
-great they text me and many others to come and whacked up ad on indy
-great that some folks took some photos and posted this report
-great so many people turned up on such short notice

On the room to improve side

-I think some folks are in danger of treating these manifestations like a lot of RC's treat Sunday mass, something to endure for an hour with a self defeating attitude that no one else but the chosen, en;lightened or the guilt trip conscripted could be possibly interested.

-I've done a lot of vigiling on that spot over the last 6 years and I enjoy a chat and catching up to folks but one has to be careful not falling into the trap of having the curious public bounce off the manifestation. It's important, as one chat's to comrades, to keep an eye on the public (not to attack like a Moonie every passerby with a leaflet, but) if someone pauses to express interest by carefully reading placard or banner to abandon converstaion with comrade mid-sentence and try to initiate conversation with pausing passer by (comrade will understand such disruption).....I'm not saying no one else was or wasn't doing this....from memory, I got to engage a couple of folks from the Maldieves (where is that? too embarrased at the time to ask!), an elderley nun, several folks with mental health issues, and a bunch of other folks.

-the other thang about these manifestations, is that some of us have known each other for years - RTS 02 Robocop times for me....where for some it is their first time. It's important to be inclusive (even if one concludes as one always should there maybe a cop among our number....if they got so many cops up at Rossport I'm sure they can afford one to linger around such scenes in Dublin etc etc). It's always important to "end well"
and I think in retrospect it would have been good to end in a prematch Celtic FC type huddle (no, this in a CW hidden agenda to call folks to prayer) where info and updates could be shared with everybody. Some folks had just returned from the front line at Rossport and the info they had to share was quite exciting and motivating....I don't think my friend who is new to the scene got to hear it from the horse's mouth, so that's unfortunate.

Anyways for what it's worth there some reflections. I think these regular (smaller) visible manifestations during a time of confrontation at Rossport are much more significant in an engaging and informing the public, and offering them opportunities to support the NVDA than a bigger one off manifestation on the 20th. where we risk preaching to the choir, going through the motions and chatting to ourselves.

by Estragon Tue Sep 09, 2008 12:49

Outside the GPO is a bit of a "safe zone" for protests. Like the street outside the Dáil, it's a place where the state will tolerate protests up to a point, and the public realise this and generally only a certain type will stop to make eye contact or engage.

For example, there is often a man outside the GPO given out photocopied booklets claiming that Nazi Germany was a gay thing, or something, and another who some issue with the Masons. It's a bit like Speakers' Corner in London, a place where you can say anything you like , and absolutely no one will listen to you.

The choice of the GPO for an anti-shell "manifestation" is a bad one, and shows lazyness of thinking. There is no possibility of any confrontation with the state (cops saying "you can't protest here" etc) and there is no real connection to either Shell or the govt departments responsible for this mess.

You are guaranteed to not get any mainstream media attention either.

So activists in their comfort zone, media ignoring them, public avoiding them. Great success.

(The Maldives are a group of beautiful tiny islands in the Indian ocean. There are a bout 1200 islands, and they are a popular luxury honeymoon destination. One of the realities of climate change is that they will be underwater by the end of the century unless we make some radical changes to the way we produce energy. The fact that Ireland is opening up its fossil fuel reserves for exploitation is pretty bad news for anyone from the Maldives who has kids. )