GNAW Shannon plans
Below you will find a detailed plan circulated by the Grassroots Network
Against War for a direct action this Saturday against military refuelling
at Shannon airport (see http://struggle.ws/wsm/shannon.html for details on
Shanoon and previous protests).
The Workers Solidarity Movement is supporting this action and will be
taking part in it as will many other groups and individuals around the
island. We would STRONGLY encourage you to come to Shannon and take part,
the nature of the plan means it can only work with large scale
participation. With war likely within two weeks of this protest this may be
the last chance to end Irish involvement before the outbreak of war. You'll
find details of some of the buses heading to Shannon for the protest at
http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=30362
Direct Action, Shannon, March 1st. Dublin
GNAW - Grassroots Network Against War phone: 087-7501473 (dublin)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Detailed plans for direct action on March first. A few weeks ago Grassroots
Network Against War called a 'direct-action' protest at Shannon Airport. We
have undergone a debate within the island-wide network to formulate, in as
democratic and open a way as possible, a plan that we can propose to people
in advance. Following this process of debate, culminating in a delegates
meeting this weekend in Galway, we can propose the following plan.
We will attempt to engage in a mass trespass at Shannon airport. This
action will be an example of mass non-violent civil disobedience in the
tradition of Gandhi's salt march. It will be a purely peaceful protest. We
intend to signal our opposition to US warplanes refueling at Shannon
airport and to indicate that we refuse to sit back while our government,
acting in our names, gives material assistance to a war that will be both
brutal and unjust.
We intend to dissemintate this information widely so that people who come
to Shannon on March 1st can make an informed choice as to whether they wish
to participate in this action, and if so on what level they wish to be
involved. This is not a secretive or elite action, nor are we hijacking
anybody's movement. Since calling this protest we have met with other
anti-war movements and have always been clear that direct action will be
part of our protest on March 1st. Since we called this protest, other
anti-war movements have called demonstrations for the same time at Shannon,
which will operate on a different basis. We respect their right to organise
protests in a manner that they see fit and will continue to do everything
in our power to co-ordinate with them to ensure that there is no confusion
among or between the protests.
We reject suggestions, carried in some of the media that this indicates a
split in the anti-war movement. Within any such broad movement there are a
range of different viewpoints on suitable tactics and methods to employ. We
see this diversity as a sign of strength rather than division. If others
within the anti-war movement wish to distance themselves from any approach
that goes beyond symbolic protest, we will continue nonetheless to seek
unity of purpose in the movement and respect for diversity of tactics. Here
is the detailled plan for the direct action on the day:
1) The assembly point for the protest will be in the carpark of Shannon
Shopping center at 2pm. As soon as the crowd has assembled we will address
the crowd and explain this plan again and indicate how people can
participate and on what levels they can do so.
2) We will form into 2 sections, one for people that wish to take part in
the action (signalled by white flags) and one for people that wish to
support the action and show their solidarity but do not wish to take part
(signalled by pink flags). These 2 sections will proceed to march to the
airport with the white section in advance and the pink section behind.
3) Once inside the airport and parallel to the fence on the main approach
to the airport, those in the white section will link arms and form a line,
one deep, facing the fence. The pink section shall retreat to a safe
distance behind this line to observe.
4) The line will walk towards the fence with arms linked and once we reach
the fence we will attempt to pull it down. Once the fence has been
dismantled we shall cross it and shall remain in the grass verge on the
other side of the fence. We will not attempt to occupy the runway or to
reach any planes, the purpose of this action is to demonstrate that the
state can not secure the 'warport' against the anger of the people.
Q. What can I do?
For this action to succeed we need a critical mass of people. We need you.
Direct action means YOU do it. However, you do not have to be a super brave
commando to take part in this action. There are a number of different
levels that people can participate on and all of these are important to the
success of the action. Everybody has a part to play.
A) Take part in the trespass. Join in the line. Help pull the fence down.
Step across the fence.
B) Take part in the line but do not trespass. You can show your solidarity
with the action by linking arms and joining in the line but not
participating in the dismatlement of the fence and not crossing the fence
once it comes down. This would mean that you have not broken the law while
still taking full part in the action.
C) Take part in the trespass but not the line. For those who do not wish to
be involved in confrontational acts, stay back from the line but engage in
the tresspass once the fence has come down and the situation has calmed
down somewhat.
D) Be an active observer. You can take part in the action as an active
observer by not taking part in the line but observing it and being ready to
respond to events, linking up and swarming about to prevent the police from
attacking or arresting people. Create diversions, look out for others,
chant, sing.
E) Be a solidarity observer. A space will be set aside, marked by pink
flags, where people who do not wish to run any risks of arrest or physical
commotion can stay and observe the protest, and show their solidarity with
those willing to engage in civil disobediane. This is very imporant since
the presence of observers makes it much more difficult for the police to
engage in violent or aggressive behaviour towards the peaceful protestors.
Risks.
We should emphasise that, although this is going to be an entirely
non-violent protest, those who participate in it do face certain risks. The
risks to solidarity observers should be very small, while for those who
take part in the line, there is a certain risk of arrest or violence from
the police. We believe that, given the current political climate, the state
will be very reluctant to be seen to be overly aggressive towards
protestors, therefore we do not think that the risks are exceptional.
However, it is up to everybody who participates to seriously consider the
risks before they take part in anything of this nature.
Together we can do it. We can form a force to free the skies of Clare from
the US war machine. Grassroots Network Against the War. A non-hierarchical
network of groups and individuals active against the war, formed at the
Grassroots Gathering in Belfast in September 2002.
----
If not now when?
Although we don't know the details of the Bush and Blair war plan it seems
certain we are only around three weeks from the official start of the war.
Unofficially the war has gone on for the last 12 years with bombs raining
down on Iraq and a regular basis and the economic war credited with killing
over half a million.
This coming war has got to be the least popular since World War One, which
was also preceded by massive international demonstrations.
Unfortunately in that war it was felt 'premature' to take action in advance
of the war and when it broke out most, under the enormous pressures of war,
took the side of 'their state'. We can rightly take great hop in the fact
that millions of people across the world demonstrated against war on Fed
15. But we also have to recognise that these demonstrations on there own
have not even slowed the march to war significantly.
Feb 15 demonstrates that the people of the world do not want this war. But
the fact we are going to war anyway reveals that nether the US not British
government have any intention of listening to this message. We are left
with no choice but to force them to listen by attempting to shut down the
drive to war through our own actions. This is already happening across
Europe and the US with blockades of troop trains, attacks on recruitment
offices and invasions of air bases. This level of action against war is
probably unique in advance of war breaking out - and clearly represents
tactics developed by the globalisation movement been taken to another
terrain. In Britain it has resulted in the deployment of the US National
Guard to US military bases in Britain!
Here in Ireland it might be expected that we would be something of a
sideshow. Yet because of our dependence on US capital and our geographic
location on the edge of Europe we have an opportunity to strike a blow
against war that can provide real inspiration for those elsewhere. Our
economic dependence on the US (Ireland is by far the largest per capita
receiver of US investment in Europe) means that we have a ruling class
slavishly chained to the interests of the US government. Despite
demonstrations of over 115,000 on the island on Feb 15th they are
determined to continue to support the US war effort, not just in words but
also in deeds.
Our geographical location has made us relatively essential for that war
effort. Official government figures revealed that something over 20,000 US
troops were flown through Shannon airport in the opening weeks of the year.
The Wall Street Journal of December 19th reported that in the January build
up "A defense official said more than 50,000 U.S. ground troops are likely
to flow into the Gulf region". It thus appears over 40% of these may have
come through Shannon airport, showing the importance of this airport in the
US military supply chain.
As elsewhere on the globe protests against the war have not just been
passive but have also involved direct action. In Ireland almost all of this
has been targeted on Shannon airport. Over half a dozen successful actions
have taken place ranging from a large scale breach of the fence in October
to physical attacks on planes as the build up to war escalated. These
actions and plans for further actions have had a real success, World
Airlines was the first troop carrier to announce it was, for a while, not
using Shannon. Yesterday North American Airlines and Miami Airline followed
this. According to RTE "Both said that security at the airport was of
concern to them".
The direct actions to date have been fairly minor, involving no more then
150 people. They had been organised either in secret or by small groups of
friends at the protests themselves. Not surprisingly many people (including
some of the organisers) felt that this was less that ideal. For cynical
reasons of their own some party political hacks used this to label these
actions 'elitist' or more bizarrely to claim that while they would support
mass direct action they couldn't support these actions.
As it became obvious not only that war was imminent but that opposition was
overwhelming a debate began in the Grassroots Network Against War about
organising a mass action whose details would be publicly announced in
advance. It was reckoned that it would now be possible for thousands of
people to take part in such an action. It was also hoped that the public
nature of the announcement would help gain the support of those who claimed
they were merely against 'elitist' or small group direct actions. So on the
morning of Feb 15th after a long discussion a national GNAW meeting took an
indicative vote to publicly call for a mass direct action aimed at tearing
down the fence at Shannon.
The plan that was later agreed is simple. One group will form a line facing
the fence, march over to it and attempt to tear it down. Another group will
stand behind them as observers in solidarity with the action. Full details
at http://grassrootsgathering.freeservers.com/gnaw.html Not being stupid I
recognised the possibility that for cynical party political reasons and
straightforward control freakery some would still oppose that plan. But
with war imminent March1st represents the last chance for such a mass
action before the outbreak of war. This could not be expected to win over
the die-hard 'law and order' brigade but it might be expected that those
organisations that claim to be 'revolutionary' would recognise that this
was the moment to act (or at least not to get in the way!).
Alas that is not how things seem to be. Now we are being told that such an
action is 'premature'. But with war likely to formally break out only days
after March 1st the question must be asked 'if not now, when'. With the
government going ahead with refuelling despite 100,000 marching in Dublin
against it we have to ask what level of active public opposition is
required before these 'revolutionaries' consider direct action to be
justified. We are at five minutes to midnight friends; the time to act is now.
Alongside this excuse, which at least can be honestly argued for come a
range of miserable evasions that do their authors no credit. With three
troop carrying airlines already gone from Shannon they seek to assert that
such actions cannot work! They mutter darkly about state repression, about
soldiers with guns, armoured cars with plastic bullets and the special
branch. What should we conclude from this, that we should avoid effective
opposition in case a cornered state strikes back? 'The great only appear
great because we are on our knees,' it appears these 'revolutionaries'
advise us to stay there lest we anger them.
Worst of all perhaps is the argument that direct action will alienate
people from the anti-war movements. This ignores the fact that a good part
of the movement building in this country happened through the publicity
following on from the various direct actions, in particular the physical
attacks on planes at Shannon. How quickly they forget that the time the
media was ringing them for a change was in the aftermath of these actions,
actions they were careful to avoid supporting. How quickly they forget that
when 100,000 marched in Dublin national coverage had already been given to
the fence being torn down at Shannon and the disarming of planes. I don't
argue that every one of these people supports these acts but they are quite
capable of understanding them in the light of the mass deaths that war in
Iraq will cause. When they marched in Dublin they marched AFTER all these
events had taken place. There is a poisonous insert to this argument. This
is that the direct actions will somehow stop workers in Shannon striking
against refuelling. The sad truth is that while all of us would recognise
such action to be the most effective in stopping refuelling there is little
evidence of it being about to happen. There is little evidence in fact that
it is any more they a 'pie in the sky' slogan some left groups throw around
to pretend they have an alternative.
Some people in GNAW have been talking to Shannon workers. We know that
those who work as cops at the airport don't like the direct actions because
every breach of security gets them into trouble for failing to prevent it.
We know that most workers there fear effective action against military
refuelling because some of the jobs at the airport may depend on this
refuelling. For these reasons there is little or no talk in support of
anti-refuelling strike action by workers at Shannon. The war is just days
away, things can change but to put all our eggs in the 'workers must
strike' basket seems foolish, to say the least. Particularly if it means
failing to take action that has been proved capable of driving out the
troop carriers.
We can say this to the workers at Shannon. If they take strike action
against the war then they do so in a situation where the mass of the
population will support them. Those of us in the anti-war movements will
owe them solidarity. Beyond this the vast majority who oppose the war
should be open to the argument that any loss of income at the airport
should be made up by the state or that equivalent jobs should be created in
the area. On the other hand if the Shannon workers continue to agree with
their bosses in insisting that war work is essential for jobs then where
will that leave them after the war? This war is all about the same forces
of corporate globalisation that are privatising and slashing airlines and
ground services across Europe. Militancy and public solidarity are the only
weapons Shannon workers have to defend their jobs in the long term,
sacrificing both for short term gain (won at the expense of those who will
die in Iraq) is no way forward.
Direct action in Shannon has worked. Three out of four of the airlines
ferrying troops through the airport have withdrawn citing "security
concerns'. Each and every action has catapulted refuelling into the
headlines and ensured that the following day people talk about Irish
involvement in the war at work, at school and in the pub. And these were
small actions. Now we are talking of an action that should involve thousands.
Some are even saying that the action planned for Shannon is just posturing
because the plan has been made public. Let's leave aside the fact that
these same people were earlier condemning direct action for being
'secretive'! Let's leave aside the fact that those organising Saturdays
action have already taken direct action at Shannon on several occasions
already and several have been arrested there. We have nothing to prove in
terms of our willingness to act.
Leaving all that aside I agree there is no guarantee that the planned
action can take place. The previous actions depended on very small numbers
of determined people to carry them out. Indeed in two cases they just
involved the one person who carried them out. That sort of action required
a level of secrecy, it worked because the Gardai did not know what to expect.
In proposing and organising a public plan we recognised that this was not
something that the one hundred or so people involved in GNAW could carry
through. We recognise that the Gardai can easily mobilise the numbers
required to stop so few. This plan could only possibly work if thousands of
people who will march against war are prepared to act against war on this
occasion. And that includes YOU.
At Shannon on March 1st look out for the pink flags and the while flags.
Within a couple of weeks a war will start in which tens of thousands (at
least) will die in Iraq. On Saturday consider whether the eve of war is
indeed the moment to act. If you consider the risk to be worthwhile on that
day join us at the white flags. If you support us but are unable to take
the risk of arrest (and there are lots of reasons why many people will not)
then join us, as a solidarity observer, at the pink flags.
Andrew
Detailed plan at http://grassrootsgathering.freeservers.com/gnaw.html
