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.

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Comments (5 of 5)

by Interested

Fri Feb 20, 2004 09:41

What time?

Time: 1.30pm

by pat c

Fri Feb 20, 2004 11:15

Ha'penny Inn in Dublin at 1.30 pm on Saturday.

irony folks

by tom

Fri Feb 20, 2004 15:12

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.
50 people
in a pub in Galway..
hardly a mass movement
nobody in ireland cares at this stage about Iraq apart from 50 refuseniks in a pub in Galway
kinda of ironic..
the mums and dads of the big march last year have dissipated..ahh
maybe thats because they were purely motivated by a thoughtless form of liberalism encouraged by soft left media in ireland..
You guys must really really really want Osama boys to get the upper hand in Iraq..
maybe you'll then get 100 crusties into a pub in galway..

If you're going to troll

by Alanis Morrisette

Fri Feb 20, 2004 19:11

try not to use words you don't understand

That's right, Tom

by Barenakedlady

Sat Feb 21, 2004 18:55

You've got their number. These soapdogers are OBLs greatest asset in his war on decency and humanity. They cheered for Stalin, they cheered for Pol Pot, they cheered for Saddam and now they're cheering for the so-called Iraqi "resistance".

Stalin used to call such people "useful idiots".

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Anti-war activists explore the ways forward

Comments (5 of 5)