AWI Anti-war demonstration,
Shannon, Co. Clare,
Saturday, 28th October 2006
Assemble 2pm at the Lidl shopping centre in Shannon town centre
éirígí calls on all of those who believe in neutrality and the notion that the people and the territory of Ireland are sovereign to support the Anti-War Ireland (AWI) demonstration in Shannon, Co. Clare on Saturday 28th October, 2006.
At no time have the people of Ireland given the Dublin government the right to allow Irish territory to be used by US forces in their imperialist war for control of Iraq and the wider Middle-East. The fact that the government would do so in the face of the will of the people of Ireland, as expressed in poll after poll, is a direct affront to the notion that there is any degree of respect for democracy on the part of the ruling class in Ireland.
In fact, Bertie Ahern very clearly displayed the contempt in which he holds the people of Ireland when he had the nerve to declare himself as being in agreement with those who participated in the 100,000 person march against the Iraq war in 2003 at the very same time that he and his government were allowing Shannon airport to be used as a transit point for the weapons and personnel that were destroying human life in Iraq on a daily basis.
Ireland must bear its share of responsibility for the fact that, according to the Lancet, since the beginning of the Iraq war over 650,000 men, women and children have died in that country. When the Iraq war ends in defeat for the US forces and their Iraqi and international surrogates, as surely it will, there will be a stain on the reputation of Ireland that will be hard to remove; history will record that the authorities in Dublin viewed short-term economic gain as being more important than moral integrity and a responsibility to stand on the side of international law and the principle that countries have the right to territorial integrity, and their people the right to self-determination.
Support the demonstration in Shannon and show Ahern & Bush et al. that the people of Ireland do in fact maintain a keen sense of political morality & justice. Join with us in telling the world that the crimes of Basra & Baghdad are not committed in our name.
Imperialists Out Of Ireland!