Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) Press Release, 10 November 2015
1. Veterans for Peace wreath laying at Garden of Remembrance, Dublin this morning at 10.00am
Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) Press Release, 10 November 2015
1. Veterans for Peace wreath laying at Garden of Remembrance, Dublin this morning at 10.00am
2. Unpublished letter to Irish Times regarding refugees, war and western arms sales
1. Veterans for Peace Ireland – Press release
Remembering – lest we forget – the destruction and stupidity of war
On Tuesday 10th November Veterans for Peace (VfP) Ireland will lay a wreath of white poppies as a symbol of peace at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square Dublin at 10am. Up to recently Veterans for Peace www.veteransforpeace.org has been an exclusively U.S. based organisation with over 6,000 members, but has been expanding its peace promotion and anti-war activities internationally. An Irish Chapter of Veterans for Peace was established in 2014.
Four U.S. members of VfP will be attending including President of Board of VfP Barry Ladendorf. Barry is a former senior officer of the US Navy and former Deputy Attorney General, California, and Adjunct Professor of Law, University of San Diego.
Veterans for Peace are very respectful of all those soldiers and civilians who were killed and injured in wars, but we are convinced that, especially in this era of weapons of mass destruction, wars are no longer acceptable and are hugely counterproductive.
The present chaos in the Middle East has been mainly caused by irresponsible and illegal wars waged under the false banner of humanitarian intervention, just as World War 1 was justified in Ireland as a war “in defence of small nations”
The mosaic under the water feature in the Garden of remembrance depicts the Celtic custom after battle, when weapons were broken and cast into a river, to signify peace.
World War 1 ended on the 11th hour of 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
French Field Marshal Joffre said that: “If the women in the factories stopped work for twenty minutes, the Allies would lose the war”. The arms industry, in Ireland and elsewhere and workers at forward air bases such as Shannon airport are fuelling wars in the Middle East, causing tens of thousands of deaths and millions of refugees.
The conflicts in the Middle East have sent refugees fleeing for refuge to neighbouring states and to Europe. The solution to this refugee crisis is to make peace in the Middle East and to stop making wars.
Perhaps now is the time to rewrite Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace” by removing the time for hate and war, and transferring the trillions of dollars wasted on armaments and making war, towards making peace instead.
Spokesperson for Veterans for Peace Ireland Edward Horgan believes that “those soldiers who died in WW1 were, for the most part, not heroes, but victims who were conned by their leaders. Those who were shot at dawn due to post traumatic stress were not cowards. They too were victims of war”.
VfP Ireland will hold a press conference at 11am in the Jury’s Inn hotel, Parnell Street, Dublin, and we invite media representatives and other interested persons to attend at the wreath laying in the Garden of Remembrance at 10am and the press conference at 11am.
For further information contact Edward Horgan on 085 8519623
or
edwardhorgan45@gmail.com
2. UNPUBLISHED LETTER TO IRISH TIMES RE REFUGEES, WAR AND ARMS SALES
https://irishantiwar.org/node/2319
END
Contact:
Jim Roche, PRO, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 647 2737
Edward Horgan, Steering Committee IAWM, 085 8519623
Memet Uludag, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 087 7919307,
John Molyneux, Secretary, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 085 735 6424
Michael Youlton, Chair, Steering Committee IAWM, Tel. 086 815 9487
Gearóid Kilgallan, Steering Committee IAWM, 01 2800866
For more information on the IAWM see:
Website – www.irishantiwar.org
@IrishAntiWarMvt https://twitter.com/#!/IrishAntiWarMvt
Find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/25608030879/
