IAWM PRESS BULLETIN 08 December 2015
IAWM PRESS BULLETIN 08 December 2015
in this bulletin
1. NO MORE BOMBING OF SYRIA – Protest at Dáil 5pm Thursday 10 December.
2. Published letter in Irish Times on terrorist attacks and use of Shannon Airport
3. Donating to the IAWM
1. Protest at Dáil, 5pm Thursday 10 December.
NO MORE BOMBING OF SYRIA – CEASEFIRE NOW!
END ARMS SALES NOW – STOP PROFITEERING FROM WARS
RESTORE IRISH NEUTRALITY – US MILITARY OUT OF SHANNON
END THE CYCLE OF WAR AND TERROR – NO MORE WESTERN WARS IN MIDDLE EAST
Speakers include:
• Richard Boyd Barrett TD, President IAWM
• Clare Daly TD
• Azad Izzeddin, Syrian Refugee
• Margareta D’Arcy, Anti-War Activist
• Ed Horgan, Shannonwatch
• Memet Uludag, Steering Committee IAWM
• Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, anti-war activist, will recite poem
• Síomha Ní Aonghusa, anti-war activist, will sing a special song about war
Please come along to this important protest to let the Irish Government know that further bombing of Syria is so wrong, will only continue if not escalate the cycle of war, terror and more war and will only increase the suffering of Syrian people, create more refugees and not at all guarantee security in western countries. Ireland should play no part in the current war frenzy.
The Irish Anti-War movement, in solidarity with other anti-war events in the UK, France and elsewhere, is assembling outside the Dail at 5pm on Thursday December 10th to demand of this government that it upholds Irish neutrality, refuses to facilitate, or participate in, the bombing of Syria, calls for an immediate ceasefire and withdraws permission to use Shannon by the US military.
The claim that bombing will destroy Da’esh (Islamic State) is patently false. Bombs are one of the main reasons why we are facing terrorism in the first place. Bombs predominantly kill innocent people and thus help to draw people towards Da’esh both in the region and in the suburbs of European cities, where discrimination, racism and disaffection further fuels hatred of Western governments. The 8,500 drone strikes on Syria already carried out by the United States, France and Russia have created more Islamist militants than they have killed. The political vacuum left from the bombing of Iraq, which killed up to a million people, has been filled by the horror of Da’esh. To repeat the same mistake now simply makes no sense.
The Irish Government has said it will provide assistance to France. It has invoked Article 42, section 7 of the Lisbon Treaty which says that if an EU member state is the victim of armed aggression, the other member states will be obliged to come to its aid ‘by all the means in their power’. Irish Defence Minister Simon Coveney has given his full support for this. He has also said that Irish Defence Forces could take more of a role in Mali to free up French troops for their war on Da’esh. This pulls Ireland in to the new war frenzy and is exactly what anti-war activists warned against during the Lisbon Treaty.
While bombs fall, profits are made. Last year the UK sold £3bn worth of military equipment to Saudi Arabia, whose billionaires fund Da’esh and armed groups in Syria and Iraq. Ireland, too, participates in the arms bonanza. Last year alone, the Irish government issued almost 800 licences to exporters producing component parts for use in military goods abroad. Ending arms sales to the most reactionary states in the region should surely be the first step towards
Meanwhile, Shannon continues to be used by US troops. Approximately 1,000 U.S. troops are now on the ground in Iraq, with more on their way. 2.25 million troops have passed through Shannon since 2002, which makes it a vital link in the US war on terror. Yet the role of Shannon as a military airport continues to be denied by the Irish government.
The only way to deal with Da’esh is for western military intervention to stop. The Irish government, instead of cheering on bombing campaigns, should be promoting a ceasefire. It should be advocating a political solution to allow the people of Syria, Iraq and Libya to begin building the political structures which will side-line Da’esh. Ireland should stop repeating the EU refrain that the Paris attacks must mean closing the borders. If we are serious about helping people in Syria, we need to be offering the hand of welcome to its victims of war.
2. Letter in Irish Times on terrorist attacks and use of Shannon Airport – http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/prepared-for-a-terrorist-attack-1.2453508
3. Donating to the Irish Anti-War Movement
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