Since October 2001 the US air force have been using Shannon Airport as a low cost air-base. Despite article 28.3.1 of the Irish Constitution stating "War shall not be declared and the State Shall not participate in any war save with the assent of Dáil Eireann" and Article 28.4.1 affirming that, "The government shall be responsible to Dáil Eireann", the people of Ireland and their elected representatives in Dáil Eireann have been sidelined by the government over this issue. Military and chartered passenger and cargo aircraft carrying US troops and military hardware are now passing through Shannon daily. Over one thousand such landings have occurred at Shannon over the past year. Some of these planes have the capacity to enable fighter-bombers to refuel mid-air and can be adapted to deploy the excessively destructive 'daisy cutter' bombs, and nuclear weapons. Since October 7th 2001 over 3,500 Afghan civilians have been killed by the US military. The use of Shannon Airport makes Ireland complicit in this appalling slaughter. Seamus Brennan, Minister for Transport confirmed in a comment in the Sunday Mirror on 5th January 2003, that the Irish Government did grant the use of Shannon Airport to the US military in its war against Afghanistan in 2001, thereby confirming the loss of Irish neutrality and the failure to comply with Article 28 of the Constitution.
Iraq is now the next target, with a US-led assault likely within six weeks. According to Medact, an international organisation of health professionals, a new war in Iraq could result in half a million deaths and this may rise to millions if civil war later breaks out. The Gulf War caused the deaths of over 200,000 Iraqis, half of these civilians, including women and children.
We Irish people have become complicit in these deaths by the unauthorized actions of our government. Unless we speak out and prevent Irish involvement in the forthcoming war we will also be complicit in any further such deaths. We are selling Irish neutrality for 30 pieces of silver, and, as has recently been discovered, the Irish taxpayer is even being asked to pay for the US military landing charges.
A small group of peace monitors, led by Tim Hourigan (086-3784780) have
been active at Shannon for the past year. The Shannon Peace Camp has been
established since last November.
shannonpeacecamp@hotmail.com
phone: 061-365871
On what may prove to be the coldest night of 2003 (down to -7 C) A women's peace camp was set up at the entrance to Shannon Airport, Co. Clare on 4th/5th January. The purpose of the Peace Camp is to highlight the abuse of Irish neutrality due to the use of Irish airspace and Shannon airport to facilitate the US war against Iraq. This group of female peace activists are literally freezing for peace. Terrorism must be condemned regardless of whether it is perpetrated by individuals or groups such as Al-Qaida, or by out-of-control states such as Iraq, North Korea, and more recently, the United States, which is behaving as if international law and the United Nations are its tools for war rather than instruments of peace.
The peace activists at Shannon vary from teenage students to more seasoned peace campaigners such as Mary Kelly who risked her life to save Palestinians at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem last year, and Margarita Darcy who was one of the original Greenham Common Peace Women protesting against the deployment of Pershing nuclear missiles in Europe.
Today, the Shannon Peace Camp is being threatened by Aer Rianta and the Gardai who have demanded that the Caravan on which the camp is based be removed. US bombers can land at Shannon on their way to killing thousands of innocent people but Irish peace activists cannot even be allowed to protest peacefully. There is a moral duty on all Irish citizens to uphold justice and prevent unjustified killings. If this cannot be achieved within the flawed Irish legal system, then there is a risk that some may resort to the use of more active protest methods. It is in everyone's interests that the peaceful protests at Shannon remain peaceful and that non-violence should be the underlying basis for these protests. If the forceful removal of the Shannon Peace Camp is carried out, or if the peaceful protesters are continually being harassed by state authorities, then the principles of freedom of expression and peaceful protests will have been seriously violated.
Urgent support is needed at the Shannon Peace Camp to provide a rota of volunteers round the clock, for these peace vigils. The objective is to shine a light on the darkness to which our government is committing each of us without our permission.
Peace not war is the road to survival.
Help the Shannon Peace Camp now. Let your voice be heard over the dogs of
war. Come to Shannon to promote peace.
Mary Kelly, Tim Hourigan
061 317721, 086-3784780, 087-37437271, 085-7290674
shannonpeacecamp@hotmail.com