Nonviolent News 108: April 2003

Shock as spiritual leaders back Iraq war
There was shock in anti-war quarters as some faith-based/spiritual leaders have today decided to back the US/UK war on Iraq. This has caused surprise as previous statements from leaders of numerous faiths, including Christian leaders, churches and inter-church groups in the USA and UK were almost unanimously either anti-war or saying ‘the case for war has not been proved’. A whole variety of factors has caused the moral basis of this war to be universally questioned. This new statement of support for the war on Iraq, which uses the term ‘smite’ 37 times, and ‘liberation’ 53 times, is signed by Pastor G W Bush and Rev A Blair, and has occasioned questions like “Who are these people?”. Other advice included to check out the date of issue of the statement of support for the war.

Iraq war; There’s an anti-war group near you
It’s impossible to give a complete listing of anti-war groups around the country. The following list includes the most ubiquitous grouping, the Irish Anti-War Movement, and others. You can check out other networks listed for local contacts – or simply keep your eyes open as so much is happening, often through informal groups…..or simply DIY. Next sizeable demos probably on Saturday 12th April.

Irish Anti-War Movement around the Republic: Athlone 087-6329511;

Carlow Anti War Movement 086-3772825;

Castlebar/Westport 098-42868;

Charleville 087-6329511;

Clonakilty 02-340881;

Clonmel 087-6329511;

Cork Anti War Campaign 087-1258325,corkantiwar@hotmail.com ;

Dingle for Peace 066-9155863;

Dundalk 087-9213200;

Drogheda 087-9213200;

Galway 091-521373;

Donegal Alliance Against War 086-3773913;

Letterkenny 086-3773913, dlgreen@eircom.net ;

Maynooth College 087-6329511;

Maynooth Anti War Movement 086-3849882 davidmartinlynch@hotmail.com ;

Midwest Alliance Against Militarism & War 086-8228032 also contact 086 8403782 in Limerick or 087-6261679 in Shannon;

Mullingar 087-7970139, pickarsgill@eircom.net ;

Sligo 087-6329511; Thurles 087-6329511;

Tralee Anti War Movement 086-3176921 traleeantiwar@yahoo.com ;

Tullamore Anti War Movement 087-7624327, oawm@eircom.net ;

Waterford 086-3274015

Westmeath: 087-7970139 or 086-1963134

Wexford: 087-2419852

Writers Against War 01 - 4911529, kostickc@tcd.ie

Irish Anti-War Movement contacts in Dublin:

Ballyfermot 087-9090166;

Ballymun/Finglas 086-3616159 or 086-3074060;

Blanchardstown 087-6273581;

Bray/Wicklow 2867980;

City Centre 087-9032281;

City Centre South 085-7158567;

Dundrum 087 6650442;

Dun Laoghaire 2304621;

Dun Laoghaire IT 087-6406431;

Fairview Against War 087 6811687;

Lucan 086-3849882;

NUI Maynooth 086 1640538;

Rathmines Against War 087-7955013;

Rialto 086-1523542;

Tallaght 086-8107508;

North County Dublin 087-2400331;

Trinity 087-7455475;

UCD 087-2839964;

DCU 087-6329511.

The IAWM website is at www.irishantiwar.org

IAWM in Northern Ireland: You can e-mail nowar_belfast@hotmail.com or phone Tom at 07900 353816 for Belfast, Barbara at 0771 – 9632264 for South Belfast, and Colm at 71 286 278 for Derry.

Other groupings include:

Belfast
Justice Not Terror Coalition, see next item for contacts.

Witness, a Christian group, has a daily candle-lit silent vigil at the City Hall, Belfast from 7.30 pm for an hour or so, in solidarity with the people of Iraq; contact witness@ikon.org.uk or see www.themanifesto.co.uk

Cork
Cork Anti-War Campaign can be contacted 087 – 1258325. qThere is a silent vigil at Daunt Square each Sunday at 7pm until the war ends, organised by the Quakers.

Derry
FEIC/Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign recently had a dozen people sitting in at the Derry offices of Raytheon, missile producer. Phone 0780 – 32687905 or e-mail feicmail@yahoo.ie

Amnesty International organise a vigil for Iraq at the War Memorial in the Diamond every Friday from 7 – 8 pm.

Dublin has a couple of wider networks based there:

Peace And Neutrality Alliance/PANA
e-mail pana@eircom.net and phone 01 – 2859111, 2808247, 2844765, and the qNGO Peace Alliance, e-mail ngopa@eircom.net and phone 01 – 4968595.

Shannon
The Peace Camp website is at www.shannonpeacecamp.org

Information:
A valuable source of often instant information about anti-war actions is the Indymedia website www.indymedia.ie

Maguire and Patterson light match at UN
Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Ann Patterson of the Justice Not Terror Coalition (JNTC) in Belfast were at the United Nations headquarters in New York for St Patrick’s Day, 17th March, where they handed in paper doves to the General Secretary’s office inscribed with wishes for peace in Iraq from the people of Northern Ireland (the doves themselves were made in a Belfast primary school). Patterson and Maguire had earlier been two out of forty activists arrested at the UN building as they sought to highlight the need for a peaceful solution through the United Nations; they were charged with disorderly behaviour.

Mairead Maguire was subsequently arrested at another war protest in Washington. JNTC continues to run a weekly vigil every Thursday from 12 noon at Royal Avenue, Belfast (Tesco’s), among other activities. JNTC, c/o 16 Ravensdene Park, Belfast BT6 0DA, ph 028 – 90 64 71 06 or mobile 0771 – 5110517.

Tip the Scales for Trade Justice: Dáil lobby, 14th May
The Trade Justice Campaign has a public lobby of the Dáil on 14th May in pursuit of its campaign for trade to help end poverty, not for making it worse; this is in preparation for the world meeting of trade ministers in Mexico in September. In summary the Campaign calls for no new powers to the WTO/World Trade Organisation, an end to dumping (of subsidised food) which destroys livelihoods, fair and transparent trade policy-making, and trade justice not free trade. You can check out the website at www.tradejusticeireland.org or you can find out how to get involved through the following: ActionAid Ireland, 01 8787911 info@actionaidireland.org / Christian Aid Ireland, 01 6110801, dublin@christian-aid.org / Comhlámh, 01 4783490, conall@comhlamh.org / Fairtrade Mark Ireland, 01 4753515, info@fair-mark.org / Congress Global Solidarity, 01 8897777, congress@ictu.ie / Oxfam Ireland, 01 6727662, oxireland@oxfam.ie / Trócaire, 01 6293333, campaigns@trocaire.ie

Debt and Development Coalition
The Debt and Development Coalition (DDC) has its AGM on 3rd April and is launching its Birthday Campaign Card as 19th July is the first anniversary of the Irish Government supporting 100% debt cancellation for the heavily indebted countries. Postcards addressed to the responsible ministers at Finance and Foreign Affairs urge a new commitment to the annunciated policy, and among other things urge 100% debt cancellation as a priority during Ireland’s holding of the EU Presidency in 2004. The Campaign has also recently appointed Anne Reilly as Campaign/Education officer. DDC, All Hallows, Grace Park Road, Dublin 9, ph/fax 01 – 857 1828, e-mail ddc@connect.ie and website www.debtireland.org

Community Relations one stop shop, Belfast
The Community Relations Information Centre run by the Community Relations Council (CRC) in Belfast has always provided a valuable one stop shop for those interested in, or working on, community relations issues, with a range of free and for sale publications, plus advice. The CRC’s Reference Library has now been relocated to the Information Centre where it‘s open from 10 am – 12 noon, and 2 – 4 pm; the Centre itself is open 9 am to 4.45 pm but the suggestion is to check first if you’re making a special trip. The Centre is near the Presbyterian Church House headquarters, and opposite Murray Street where the CRC main office is based. CR Resource Centre, 21 College Square East, Belfast BT1 6DE, phone 028 – 90 22 75 55.

Chernobyl Children’s Project; 21st convoy
CCP has a great big convoy going to the former CCCP, in fact Chernobyl Children’s Project 21st Convoy with €2 million worth of medicines, equipment, food and clothing leaves Ireland on 6th April, arriving in Belarus six days later. The aim of the convoy is to deliver humanitarian and medical aid to people in the heart of the contaminated ‘Chernobyl Zone’. Twenty ambulances form part of the convoy and these will be delivered to hospitals and orphanages; they have been funded by CCP outreach groups in Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Cork, Westmeath, Carlow, Limerick, and from other organisations.

CCP is a registered charity, established in 1991, which has sent more than €26 million worth of aid and brought over 10,000 children to Ireland for recuperative holidays. The project, founded by Adi Roche, has 16 aid programmes throughout the ‘Chernobyl Zone’. Contact: CCP, 2 Camden Place, Camden Quay, Cork, ph/fax 021 – 450 6411 / 455 1544, mobile 086 – 245 6411, e-mail press@adiccp.org and web www.chernobyl-ireland.com

Int’l Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament, 24th May
The valuable annual publication for this day focuses this year on “Women of Faith: Planting Seeds of Peace”, and as usual edited by Shelley Anderson and co-published by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and World Peace Bureau (IPB). It includes a mixture of articles on different situations and contacts. Available from IFOR, Spoorstraat 38, 1815 BK Alkmaar, Netherlands, ph. +31 – 72 512 3014, e-mail office@ifor.org and web www.ifor.org or IPB, 41 rue de Zurich, 1201 Geneva, Switzerland, ph +41 – 22 731 6429, e-mail mailbox@ipb.org and web www.ipb.org

Peacing it together – WAVE & Kilcranny CR conference
WAVE (Ballymoney) and Kilcranny House in Coleraine are organising a conference with the title Peacing it Together on 9th-10th April to address increasing levels of violence in their area, particularly community relations issues significant to Coleraine, Ballymoney and Moyle, and focusing on pro-active work impacting on the local community, There is a charge of £5 for voluntary/community groups, £25 statutory, with a full and varied programme; the venue is the Lodge Hotel, Coleraine. Details from Kilcranny House, phone 028 - 703 21816 or WAVE, phone 028 - 276 69900.

Globalising Justice – Amnesty NI
Amnesty International has different events happening on Saturday 12th April at Queen’s University, Belfast, under the theme of ‘Globalising Justice’. At 7.30 pm in the Whitla Hall, Tariq Ali will be speaking about ‘The war on human rights’, tickets are £4 or £3 concession. From 6.30 – 7.30 pm there will be a Fairer World fair, also in the Whitla Hall (free entry), and earlier still a short but colourful parade on the theme ‘Respect Refugees! Reject racism!’ at 2.30pm, starting in front of the university. Amnesty International, 397 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 3GP, ph. 028 – 9064 3000.

Permaculture – Basic natural landscaping @ Kilcranny
There is a weekend course on Basic Natural Landscaping at Kilcranny House, Coleraine, 10th –11th May, with Philip Allen, designed to show how easy it is to plan any landscape to be a special environmental resource. For more ideas about this log on to www.permaculture.co.uk or phone 028 - 70321816 for registration details. Kilcranny House, 21 Cranagh Road, Coleraine BT51 3NN, web www.kilcrannyhouse.org

Latest Peace News shows Vital Signs
‘Vital signs’ (of the health of the international peace movement ‘post-9/11’) is the theme of the excellent international English-language nonviolence magazine Peace News, which appears quarterly, including articles on nonviolent resistance in the USA, and resisting war on Iraq. Subscriptions are £12 in UK, €25 in Europe; Peace News, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DY. The website including information about payment methods is at www.peacenews.info or e-mail admin@peacenews.info

AVP/Alternatives to Violence Project – a few places
There are a few places on the Alternatives to Violence Project weekends taking place at Kilcranny House, Coleraine, in May. There is a Second Level course from 2nd – 4th May, and a Third level/Training for Facilitators course from 16th – 18th May (First level is necessary to do Second level, and Second level for the Third/Training for Facilitators course). Contact Kilcranny House, 21 Cranagh Road, Coleraine, BT51 3NN, ph 028 – 7032 1816 or e-mail info@kilcranny.thegap.com

We hope to have an update on AVP in Ireland in general in the next issue.

Meath-ing place on parades and protest
Meath Peace Group’s next Public Talk is on Parades, Protests and Human Rights - The Quigley Review, Monday, 7th April, 2003, St. Columban’s College, Dalgan Park, Navan, Co. Meath at 8.00 pm. Speakers: Brice Dickson(Chief Commissioner, NI Commission on Human Rights), Michael Hamilton (Research student, School of Law, Univ. of Ulster), Cllr. Nelson McCausland (Convenor, Education Committee, Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland) and Austen Morgan (Barrister at Law, Author). Chaired by: Lt. General Gerry McMahon (Chair, Irish Peace and Reconciliation Platform). Inquiries to Julitta Clancy (00-353-1-8259438) or e-mail: meathpeace@hotmail.com and website: www.geocities.com/meathgroup/index.html

Nonviolent News is usually produced 10 times a year (on paper) and extended e-mail and web editions

Subscriptions for the printed edition are; UK£5 or €8 minimum (£3 or €5 unwaged or you can have Nonviolent News e-mailed (suggested donation £2 or €3 minimum).

Additional donations welcome and vital to keep INNATE afloat. Submissions are welcome - the deadline for the next issue is noted on the left.

You can browse through previous issues from the menu on the left.