Note from Jenny James: this Green Letter is much longer than usual as we are including reports on the excellent anti-war activities of our Irish branch for those many friends we know will be fascinated.)
Colombia, with the accustomed backing and pressure from the US has taken yet another swerve towards the Right. There is an all-out attack on past labour gains: overtime pay, pensions, wages in general. (Maggie Thatcher would be jealous.) The hordes of street sellers are under constant pressure to disappear and the war has intensified.
So poverty and the problem of tens of thousands of country people displaced to the dirty, noisy, polluted cities is increasing, whilst the methods they are forced to use to survive, like selling pathetic little items on the streets, is technically banned. One of my Colombian sons-in-law was selling mobile phone calls on a street corner in Popay…n - the phone was confiscated by the police. One day in Bogot…, I wept as I witnessed the indignity of an able-bodied young man dancing grotesquely amidst the heat and fumes with a full-size inflatable female doll attached to his feet in front of the cars lined up at the traffic lights, hoping to earn a few pesos before they streamed by: this bizarre scene summed up for me the degradation of urban Colombia.
Our main money-earner, astrologer Anne, who is forced to spend most of her
life in Bogot…, is also feeling the blessings of the new government. She is
Irish, and this evidently is now a crime in Colombia, since the lengthy
imprisonment - accused of guerrilla sympathies - of three Irishmen, whom she
visits regularly, there being no Irish consul in Colombia. Attempting to renew
her residence visa, Anne has so far been refused. Needless to say, we dont
tend to take matters like this lying down
The FARC guerrilla force, under increasing attack from government forces, often react somewhat irrationally, to say the least, towards the civilian population. Here is a firsthand account of an alarming experience undergone by my daughter Louise (21):
Travelling by bus from Bogot… to Popay…n, we passed through at least 4 checkpoints manned by police and army and I was never asked for my identity card, which was in Bogot… with Anne, who was struggling to extend my visa. But in the tiny Indian village of PuracŠ in the mountains between our farm and our town house, the Guerrilla had a checkpoint where they asked for everyones papers, going through all the luggage and doing body-checks for weapons. There were three guerrilla women and two men. The men were quite friendly, but the women were very hostile to everyone, especially to the women passengers.
When I explained to a guerrilla woman the situation with my papers, she said, We will have to keep you here then. Get your luggage off the bus. And she walked away quickly, not willing to listen to anything I had to say.
I felt quite scared, thinking of my nephew Tristan who was murdered two and a half years ago after being kidnapped by FARC militia, and I thought of all our many friends killed or disappeared by the guerrilla for no reason. I got on the bus to get my bags down and the first thing I went for was my guitar as I knew singing our very radical social and political songs would be a way of making friends with them. A guerrilla man was on the bus going through the luggage with so much armament all over him that he could hardly move. I explained my situation and asked please would he help me? He just said, 'Theres nothing we can do, get your bags off the bus. You have to stay here.' At this point, I couldnt help crying. Everyone else was getting back on the bus, and I was able to tell my boyfriend who was travelling with me what was happening. As soon as everyone saw my situation, they were suddenly paralysed and refused to get on the bus without me! Earlier, I had made friends with the bus driver, a man in his 50s, sitting in the front with him for about an hour telling him about our work, the deaths of our boys, our being made refugees twice and he now refused to drive the bus away when ordered to by the guerrilla, saying, 'She is my passenger and I cant leave without her.' (Note: this brave move does not always work. Years ago, before the death of Tris, one of our best friends in the village we lived in in Tolima was taken off a bus, and the passengers and driver tried to stay in solidarity with him, but were told they would all be shot if they didnt go. Our friend, an old man, Don Pedro, beloved by everyone, was crying not to be left, but they were forced to go, and he was slaughtered.)
My boyfriend was white as a sheet. He comes from a rightwing town north of Bogot… and had hardly seen a guerrilla soldier in his life. He tried to talk to one of them, and at one point a male guerrillero asked me if I was a singer, and I said, Yes, and that if I had to stay with them, I would sing for them and that all my music was of social content and against the rightwing government.
Finally, the guerrilla man gave me a long lecture about the importance of
carrying ones identity card, told me never to travel without it again and that
I could go home this time, but that it would be the only time. Once we took
off, everyone in the bus was very kind to me and a drunk man who had been
drinking the whole journey and singing out loud came up to me with a bottle and
offered me some to calm my nerves. I said, Thank you very much, but I never
drink and Im calm already.
Many people are not as lucky as Louise. The point where she was stopped was
very near the place where 9 people were taken nearly 2 years ago, shot and
thrown down a deep ravine. The children of our commune had seen them when they
were captured near our farm, and as it was only a few months after our own boys
deaths, we sought out and made friends with the families of many of the
victims, sharing their grief. We also eventually obtained the release from
prison of a peasant falsely accused of complicity in the massacre.
I had intended to write about some surprisingly humane aspects of the Colombian prison system, which in general has a justifiably bad press through hideous overcrowding and terrible internal massacres caused through weapons being brought into the prisons for the use of the various warring factions and gangs. Nearly everyone is so poorly paid in Colombia that bribery of the guards is simple.
On my visits to the incarcerated Irishmen, I had also been astonished - having in the past been both an internal and external visitor to European prisons through active political work - to note the freedom, ease and regular lengthy conjugal visits allowed in Colombian prisons.
Alas, in disbelief I learn that the long hand of the USA now stretches to
control the high security jails of Colombia. My brain cant get around this
one, but it is a fact. Suddenly, our three Irish friends have been moved to
an American prison far far away from population centres, up on the high cold
p…ramo outside Bogot…. Here is Annes unhappy account of her first visit to
Combita, American implant on Colombian soil:
I travelled by bus from Bogot… in the middle of the night, a 3 and a half hour journey, and queued in the dark with another 60 women waiting to go in. You have to stand in the freezing air with bare legs - no long skirts or trousers allowed, only very short skirts which must be neither black nor blue! Soon I felt boiling hot with anger in spite of the cold as I was now told I could not wear my jumper, shirt or T-shirt as they were dark green! I was forced to leave the queue and go and acquire a white shirt!
At least the other women were vociferous in their own complaints, especially as it got later and later and we were still outside. Eventually we got in, and I refrained from slapping the woman guard who tried to tell me my identity card wasnt an identity card (foreigners cards are different). Then came the part the other women had warned me of: the body search, some kind of weird US-invented sado-masochistic kinkiness.
Three of us went into a room with three female guards. I got the worst one: a violent little lesbian punk-rocker-looking thing. Lift your jumper and shirt. Lift your bra up and down over your head 3 times. I gawked and asked why. Just do it. So I did, keeping a running commentary for the other two women who were being searched about the strangeness and inhumanness of it all. You cannot wear a black bra! Pardon? Its the rules. So I stripped, said I didnt like wearing bras anyhow, and gave it to her. Then she told me to lift my skirt, drop my knickers to my knees and do 3 knee bends. I gawked even more and fruitlessly asked WHY .. I performed a few half-hearted ballet plies and was told, You must bend your knees more. So I executed the most graceful full plies I could manage, complete with arm positions, and added a bit of belly dancing on the way up. The guard turned quite red, and the other two women visitors and one of the guards were smiling. I said to my guard that if she liked that kind of work, she has some serious psychological problems. Everyone stiffened as I was obviously going a bit far for them all. I announced that I found it very extreme and would be making a complaint about it.
Then we passed through another checkpoint and repeated the whole charade except that you only have to do one pliŠ . However, the girl in charge was totally different in attitude, apologetic, not offensive, and I complained about her work companion. She did not comment, but there was no bad vibe.
Once inside, I realized that the incidents over knickers and kneebends were minor and relatively human compared with the feeling of inhumanity that pervades the place, and most of my conversation with Jim, the friend I was visiting, was to do with battling with the US gods of steel and concrete that rule the place. Every little hint of anything soft or natural has been deliberately wiped out. After months of visiting the men elsewhere, I felt it was my very first time in a real prison. La Picota and La Modelo (infamous bad Colombian prisons) are holiday homes in comparison. I felt very homesick for them, so I can imagine what the fellas feel! The square hate-filled ugliness of the place is soul-crushing. But its Colombia, so you still have conjugal visits - but only 20 minutes every 45 days ..Thats cruelty to animals, one girl said to me. You have to spend the rest of the day in a cold shower
The bus back to Bogot… was driven by a maniac. I have his number and will
complain. He nearly drove a motorbike off the road. I told him what he'd
nearly done and he was quite shaken as I was very angry and upset. I got off
the bus in tears, a taxi driver stopped to offer his services, saw the state of
me and asked me what was the matter. The poor man got a long story about
prisons, the US and bus drivers. He said, Yes, they (the Americans) want to
turn us all into robots like them. He put his arm around me and gave me a
squeeze. I felt bad that I couldnt afford to take his taxi
It needs adding that the three Irishman have not been tried or sentenced,
mainly because there is not a scrap of concrete evidence against them.. They
form part of the thousands of people all over the world now in prison in the
wake of George Bushs phoney war on terror.
The branch of our community that still operates in Ireland is super-active at the moment, as our friend Mary Kelly, her 13 year old daughter Julie (who lived most of her life until now with us in Colombia), my own daughter Becky (40, mother of Tristan, my murdered grandson), and many other friends and associates have established a permanent Peace Camp at Shannon airport where an endless stream of American warplanes land and refuel, on their way to cause generalized catastrophe by bombing Iraq. This is in absolute contravention of Irelands own neutrality laws.
Here is a report from Mary of the court case of Eoin Dubsky, an Irish peace activist who achieved to enter Shannon warport as they have now renamed it, and spray-paint slogans on the windscreen of a bomber plane.
Eoins solicitor asked each prosecution witness what was aboard the plane? None of them would answer. And what was aboard all the other warplanes that land? No answer. The realization dawned on all present that the court had no authority to ask questions or to board those planes to find out what they are carrying, i.e. that our Government is not in charge of security - effectively the US is in charge!
The Judge proved to be very thorough, fair, and humourous. The Garda (Irish police force) came across as .. well, somewhat unconvincing. At one point, one Garda said the planes might have been carrying food .. the Judge snorted Do you expect me to believe that these planes are carrying hamburgers for the US troops! Another Garda said that he thought the Hercules aircraft was part of an air show.
The Judge was very severe with the Garda. One got such a telling-off for a procedural error that we almost felt sorry for him! There was a lot of mix up and confusion amongst the Garda and airport security about protocol and the Judge was not impressed. Eoins defence solicitor claimed that he did not do criminal damage but was trying to bring to the attention of the public the criminal action that these planes were involved in. He asked the Judges permission to quote from international law and very surprisingly the Judge said Yes and listened very attentively, wrote copious notes and asked for copies of all the international laws used!
Eoin took the witness stand and the prosecutor tried to give him hell, calling him a common criminal. He replied that he did this action because of his concern for the people in Iraq under threat of war. When asked why he did not use the democratic process, he said he had done: he had TDs (MPs) asking questions in the D…il (Parliament) and had joined our campaign to have the Irish Prime Minister indicted for complicity in warcrimes. The Garda at the station where he handed in a complaint against the Prime Minister had threatened to have him arrested for wasting their time.
There was shocked silence at this piece of information and the Judge got him to repeat the facts twice! Eoin was brilliant giving his evidence for over an hour, unwavering and using the prosecutors jibes in his favour the whole time. Later he had an Iraqi woman doctor take the stand and speak at length about the effects of Depleted Uranium (D.U.) on Iraqi children and unborn babies, the terrible increase in deformities and multiple cancers, the attacks on water and sewage systems, and the 300% increase in US/UK attacks over the past few months. An American woman who went to Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness also gave shocking testimonies. The Judge sat in attentive silence throughout and did not even take notes. He deferred making a judgement until a future date. My reading on this is that he is scared to give a decision, as it was obvious he wanted to rule in favour of Eoin, but that this would cause a legal riot. He has huge responsibility on how to rule in this case, which was reported on very favourably in the main papers the next day.
During the lunch break, we all piled into a pub. The Garda were in the
front bar. I was slagging them about not being able to give evidence properly
as they were in agreement with us really. I asked them what they thought of
the case, and one of them said, Sure we cant be talking to you, Mary, youll
only put what we say up on your website! He told me they had read some report
where I had called their Superintendent obnoxious - while laughing all along.
Next day I did an interview with W. Cork radio and with Radio Free Eirinn in
New York ..
As I write, all this was just 6 days ago, and since then there has been a tidal wave of happenings. I am bowled over, stunned at the amount of support, fantastic solidarity, positivity and non-stop activity that has come out of this camp. Of course, the Garda came by on the second day and said, Hey, we thought your protest was just for 24 hours. They said we had to leave - orders from the owners, Aer Rianta (Irish Airways). I demanded that a representative of Aer Rianta come on site to talk to us, and he did, but was horrible and would not even introduce himself. I asked his name and requested that he prove to me that the land belonged to him. He stormed off in a police car.
Later he turned up with a map, was very nervous and held the map upside down when he showed it to us! I said, I cant just believe that map. We need to see the original title deeds please. He stormed off again.
I went to the Garda station to say we would move as soon as we saw the documents requested. The Garda on duty was very friendly and said, Quite right, that they too would want real proof that the land belonged to the airway before they came to move us! I had been very worried that they would come in the night and force us to move. He said, No way, we will give you 24 hours notice! Since then we have not heard a word from them.
The Irish Times phoned me up and I gave an interview and they carried the story the next day. Such publicity gives us immense security. I had told the Aer Rianta guy that if they moved us, we would end up in a place far more embarrassing for them. Our initial tents had looked very temporary .. the arrival of a caravan showed that we meant business. I said, 'Are you telling me that one caravan is more dangerous than all those war planes you are allowing through the airport?!' I have plenty of tinker blood in me and he knew straightaway that I was very serious. I put out an SOS for people to come and help us in case of eviction. People in the anti-war movement in Dublin organized a demo. outside the Dept. of Transport there which is the head of Aer Rianta. So many people around the country have now become involved, as we are a focal point for people to express themselves on this issue, and we are getting lots of visitors. They have brought loads of fire wood, donations of money (including 40 euros from a local bank manager!), a stove, a caravan, an offer of a mobile home, and there are dozens of articles and photos in the press every day. We got 3 minutes on the TV news, which Becky reports was very impactful, showing a Hercules warplane at the airport and a troops transporter landing; it showed Eoin walking into court, interviews with me and other women, then clips of scenes from Greenham common anti-nuclear weapons camp showing 50,000 women, many climbing over the fence. The Irish public was saturated with information all week, as Beckys case (from a former demo at the airport) and Eoins were also in the news. A big surprise is that the Irish Labour party has now come out against the use of Shannon for warplanes and the countrys largest union, the SIPTU is also opposing the Iraqi war.
Julie, Becky and I went to Limerick to join others doing a leafleting-awareness stall on the main street. People came and signed our petition. Then we went to the airport just as the hugest Jumbo jet, Evergreen, which also carries troops and cargo, arrived. Three days ago, there were 10 planes - that means at least a whole infantry of 4000 men passed through. A Hercules came in on the same day. Luckily we were there to do our job, alert the media and it got on telly that night. We also appeared on the Late Show, the most watched TV programme in Ireland. They tried to twist the story by giving nearly all the time to a virulent pro-Sharon Israeli soldier who went on about having to put a gas mask on his grandfathers face when Saddam let off some Scud missiles during the Gulf War, but after the show, many people from Shannon drove out at midnight to come and see the camp, and a guy from Cork drove all the way to offer support. A brother of Christy Moores (famous Irish singer) came and sang us a song he had written about the situation, and one of the founders of Greenpeace Ireland contacted me to say she has organized a walk along the Shannon river to end up at the airport. The local priest spoke out against the war in the church on Sunday. We also got a call from a friend to tell us that RED FM, a Cork radio station, has been broadcasting a hate campaign against us, using a shockjock to call us a bunch of dirty lesbians and say he would like to bomb us out of it, and he called on people to attack us. He is a very rightwing American. I phoned the manager to complain.
But a great breakthrough just now: a guy from the Met. Office at the airport let us know he is willing to help with information. He says there are four of them who want to stop giving information to the US planes. Many of the workers are pissed off and dont want to service the warplanes. I have sent a letter to their Trades Union asking for a meeting between them and members of the peace camp. We are hoping that they will get the workers to down tools on this one. Local kids come to the camp every day and sit around the fire at night. Some of their parents work at the airport.
We have done so many radio interviews all over the country. I was on
Donegal and Kilkenny radio. All of this after 6 days.
I hope that reading this has cured all those who, like us, have despaired at
ever being able to swerve the insane course of world events. For continuing
information, email Becky at:
atlantisfoundation@eircom.net
or Mary at newpal@eircom.net - or just go
to Shannon airport!
And now back to Colombia, where I have the impossible task of conveying the sound of music, the rhyming of Spanish words and the charisma of three young girls you have never met who are producing some grippingly powerful songs in an attempt to shift the destiny of Colombia. Songs against drug-taking, songs for peace and social justice, songs of sorrow for the scarred countryside and songs of joy for that which remains wild and intact. Katie and Louise, 17 and 21, sisters, the composers, and Laura, Mary Kellys daughter, also 17, adept musician, performing daily, mostly free, known already throughout the department capital of Popay…n, struggling to produce their first CD, paid for with their own work teaching dancing, music, English . Every time I say, but surely youre going to put such-and-such a song on the CD, its so powerful .. I hear, But, mum, we cant, every song costs 500,000 pesos to record.. Thats 200 dollars. For songs that unfailingly get to the core of guerrilla fighter or soldier, rich rightwinger or poor campesino. Songs that could help change Colombia.
Up until now, over the years of our campaign, I have mainly only asked for seeds - the response has been absolutely fantastic. Now I want to ask for help to Buy a Song. I dont want a single one of their best compositions left off that CD for lack of pesos. Their musicians play for free, the girls have sold their beloved piano to pay for 4 of the songs and of course the CD will when finished wing its way to any contributor (though, sorry, its in Spanish!). For a selection of the words (translated), please write to me at atlantiscol@hotmail.com or write to: Jenny James, Atlantis, Telecom, BelŠn, Huila, Colombia.
For newcomers to the Green Letters: Nos. 1-58, plus pictures and other material
are available on: www.afan.org.uk Af…n means URGENCY in Spanish.
Love to all our friends and unknown readers, Jenny James, Atlantis Ecological
Community, Colombia, South America.