Photo Report on HMS Ocean Protest

by anon Sat Jul 01, 2006 17:19

http://www.trocaire.org/newsandinformation/news/hmsocea....html

“If we don’t protect our humanitarian space we are in danger of being perceived as the agents of governments, or other external forces, or being manipulated by them. One of the worrying results of this is the constraint it places on humanitarian organisations’ ability to deliver timely and appropriate assistance to affected people and, in turn, on those people’s perceptions of our neutrality,” Mr Kilcullen commented.

by rnd Sat Jul 01, 2006 15:48

I would like to know if there would have been a protest is it was a Japanese war ship or was this simply because it was English?

by MichaelY - iawm Fri Jun 30, 2006 14:45

Hey ROFL

What I said was " .....and the equally disgusting thing is that there are cynics, like the one posting above, who can neither think straight, further from their pocket, or understand where this road to perdition actually leads".
Now the comment was addressed to you and only you...not the 99.9% of our fellow citizens...whom you are surely not arrogant enough to think that you represent......who are neither dumb or wrong...there are, of course, a good number who are influenced entirely or essentially by money...like those who rant about blood money in Shannon being more important than ethics and morality - but that's another argument for another day.
As for the road to perdition...and your comment about the 'flip side'.....that's exactly what I meant ...when citizens live in a situation of a major democratic deficit, when their country is occupied/invaded/dominated and when their views are not taken into consideration....then they resort to violence....they are pushed to a situation where they use any means necessary.
That's what our and world history demonstrates.
As for the 'moral superiority' or otherwise.....was it not you that denigrated the way one of the speakers looked? What do you look like ROFL? A Tom Cruise or a Britney Spears lookalike - r u?

by rofl Fri Jun 30, 2006 14:19

and the equally disgusting thing is that there are cynics, like the one posting above, who can neither think straight, further from their pocket, or understand where this road to perdition actually leads.

Yeh insult 99.99 % of your fellow citizens, of course they are all wrong,dumb and/or thought process totally influenced by money..good stuff..have a tip..maybe if you dont go around with a morally superior attitude when somebody points something out all the time, you may have more success. And yeh letting gunboats open fire in the centre of Dublin was horrible,about as horrible as letting bombs rip through pubs and shopping centres, there is always a flip side ya know

by MichaelY - iawm Fri Jun 30, 2006 13:14

0.01% of our population, if my arithmetic is OK, makes about 5,000 - 5,500 women and men north and south. I think this would be a correct estimation of politically active people in the Left and the progressive organisations in our country. I am talking here of active citizens, of those of us dreaming of a better world, where countries are not attacked on spurious and manufactured grounds, children massacred because of so-called sanctions....people who are ashamed and angry to see the tricolour flying on a terrorist ship and willing to do something about it. People who still remember the horrific history of Brit warships on the Liffey and have not yet forgotten the identity of military occupiers in part of our island.
Then, of course, come the 100,000 plus who marched against the invasion of Iraq....the mega-majority of our people who who poll after poll say they are against the destruction of our neutrality and believe what the Empire is doing is wrong....people who dream of unity.
And the real and horribly appalling thing is that the Government is simply not listening....and the equally disgusting thing is that there are cynics, like the one posting above, who can neither think straight, further from their pocket, or understand where this road to perdition actually leads.

by info Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:52

And today's Daily Ireland report on the demo can be found at this link, though again not in full until 3pm. seems like a substantial report, though.

http://www.dailyireland.com/home.tvt?_scope=DailyIrelan...opp=1

by info Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:49

Yesterday's Daily Ireland article, with lots of info on this ship, can be found at the link below. Don't think the full article will be put up till 3pm, though. Dunno what that's all about.

http://www.dailyireland.com/home.tvt?_ticket=6BG7RVKACK...opp=1

by MichaelY - iawm Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:42

Good and dynamic protest this was....working day, long long walk, heavy clouds and pelting rain at the end. I counted 238 at the beginning - then it thinned out.
As for the ship, it's big, it's ugly and it's by all accounts a terrorist ship...it took active part in the invasion of a nation under false pretences...and look what happened yesterday to the Brit instigators of that invasion. They got clubbered in the two bye-elections. Blair will be remembered not only as the assistant butcher of Iraq but also the man who more than anybody else did a successful neo-con job of destroying the British Labour Party.
Finally, the man with the hair-do risks going down for 10 years when he comes up in Court again next Wednesday - he, along with this comrades, did a fine DIY job on some other 'fantastic' air-ships of American provenance in Shannon three years ago. Wish all activists shared some of his courage and conviction.

by more Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:21

someone I know counted the people at the start of the protest and said there was over 250! by the time it got to the end there was defo less than 100, but it was such a long walk. loads of people dropped off.

by Anti-Militarism - Catholic Worker Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:55

This was published on Ireland Online about two hours ago. Justin Kilcullen has made some very strong arguments against the invasion and occupation of Iraq over the past few years. Trocaire's refusal to be co-opted by this militarist agenda is highly commendable given the pro-militarist GOAL leader John O'Shea

Trócaire slams humanitarian talks on British warship
30/06/2006 - 08:25:33
http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=187534074&p...3478x

The aid agency Trócaire is refusing to take part in talks on humanitarian relief that are due to be held on a British warship in Dublin today.

The talks are due to take place during a visit to Dublin by HMS Ocean, which was centrally involved in the British invasion of southern Iraq three years ago.

Trócaire director Justin Kilcullen has described the move as insensitive given the fact that the vessel itself could be involved in creating a humanitarian crisis.

"What is happening is that the role that the traditional agencies led by the Red Cross and others has played has now been taken over essentially by a military agenda," he said.

"I think we have say stop to that. We are not going to be manipulated by an overall effort that is being run from a military perspective or co-ordinated by the military."

by Kieran O'Sullivan - IAWM Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:25

Very good pictures.
In brief there was aprox 120 people there at it's max. Yes there was a speaker from WSM.

The IAWM did put up some posters about the demo but despite Jone Collins resolution these posters were taken down. We mailed Dublin City Council to let them know and they still took them down.

by Tim Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:04

Good to see people showing our anger at the visit of this WMD to Dublin.
Couldn't make it up from Limerick due to work, so thanks for the photos.

I read this morning (examiner wedbsite) that Trocaire refused to take part in a conference on international aid as it was scheduled to take place on HMS Ocean. Trocaire referred to the use of this war machine to CREATE international suffering.

By the way, today should see the last WORLD Airways troop flights from Shannon Airport as they mover to Leipzig in Germany. I was out at the airport on Wednesday night - Thursday morning and saw American Trans Air (troop flight) two North American troop flights, and a US C-123 military cargo plane parked up. as I was leaving at 7:30, World Airways was just on its way down.

The US recently praised Ireland for taking steps to prevent terrorists yusing our ports... of course, yesterday we allowed terrorists to use Dublin port, every day we allow them to use Shannon, and occassionally Baldonnel... but like the definition of torture, the US state department has a skewed view of what constitutes "terrorism"

by dave Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:46

well done on a peaceful protest. The Gardi were complementary - point well made

by anon Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:09

Any chance of a report.

How many present?

Was a WSM or Anarchist Youth speaker allowed as agreed?

What about the other antiwar groups?