EU and Irish militarisation
The European Network Against the Arms Trade www.enaat.org based in Brussels has produced a new pamphlet on the Militarisation of the EU which can be read on PANA’s website www.pana.ie “In 2019, the total defence expenditure of the 27 EDA members (including all EU countries except Denmark) stood at €186 billion, marking a 5% increase on 2018. There was also a significant increase in investments in new weapons and military technology: EU Member States spent €41.4 billion on equipment procurement and R&D. There is a great deal of pressure on EU countries to spend more on arms, mainly because of the commitments taken under PESCO ….. but also because of the NATO framework.”
The PANA website also has a statement by its chair, Roger Cole, on Afghanistan: “…The Republic of Ireland backed the war on Afghanistan not just by destroying Irish Neutrality as stated in International law of the Hague Convention of 1907, and allowing millions of US troops land in Shannon Airport on their way to the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq by sending over 200 members of the Irish Defence Forces to take part in the occupation of Afghanistan directly under the command of the nuclear armed military alliance NATO.”
Shannonwatch on Afghanistan
Shannonwatch has welcomed calls for Ireland to do more to resettle and provide international protection for people fleeing from Afghanistan. It also calls on the government to urgently assess its role in creating the conditions leading to the current catastrophic situation there. It continues, “In particular, there is an urgent need to assess and end the use of Shannon Airport by the US military, in light of what the twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan has led to…..The Irish people have never supported the US military use of Shannon. Now is the time to end it.” For more information see http://www.shannonwatch.org/ which also has news of US cargo planes flying to the USA from Afghanistan via Shannon “almost certainly carrying heavy loads of military equipment “.
l A statement by Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire on Afghanistan can be seen at http://www.peacepeople.com/the-afghan-war-200l-2021/
Irish CND Hiroshima Day commemoration, Dublin
The annual ceremony organised by the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, marking the 76th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, took place at the memorial cherry tree in Merrion Square, Dublin on 6th August. The speakers included the President of Irish CND, Patrick Comerford, and Joe Costello, deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, the latter laying a white wreath at the memorial. Joe Costello spoke of pride in Ireland’s contributions to moving nuclear disarmament forward in the international arena, most recently through Ireland’s role in bringing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons to reality; Ireland has divested state-held funds from companies involved in the nuclear weapons industry. He also reaffirmed Dublin’s commitment to the goals of Mayors for Peace, welcoming their newly-released Vision for Peaceful Transformation to a Sustainable World. http://www.mayorsforpeace.org/english/vision/index.html Patrick Comerford warned of the dangers and inappropriateness of nuclear weapons in dealing with the issues facing the world today. The Japanese ambassador to Ireland, Mitsuru Kitano, was another speaker at the event. http://irishcnd.blogspot.com/ The Peace People also organised a commemorative event in Belfast for the anniversary.
WRI: Nonviolence in Action, centenary conference
War Resisters’ International international online conference on activism, solidarity and antimilitarism – marking the WRI’s centenary – takes place in the period 20th – 28th November. See https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2021/nonviolence-action for more details. There will be a mixture of discussion groups, workshops and plenaries. Participation is free with a suggested donation of $10/€10 towards costs.
Good Relations Week in the North
Good Relations Week in Northern Ireland runs from Monday 20th to Sunday 26th September this year on the theme Brighter Days Ahead to celebrate and shine a light on the peace building and cultural diversity efforts of young people and the challenges they are facing. As usual a wide variety of free events can be expected which showcase the work of diverse groups across the North, including some face-to-face events. The event is coordinated by the Community Relations Council. https://www.community-relations.org.uk/good-relations-week
NI Equality Coalition on Covid recovery
The Equality Coalition in Northern Ireland has issued a statement urging decision makers to address inequality, and avoid austeriuty, as part of the pandemic recovery.. Covid-19 has disproportionately affected protected groups such as older people; persons with disabilities and those who are clinically vulnerable; women; black and minority ethnic people; and those with dependents. See www.equalitycoalition.net
Disrupting rights: Putting people at the centre of change
This 18-page resource by Nicola Browne of Participation and the Practice of Rights in Belfast can be found through a link on the Social Change Initiative’s website at https://www.socialchangeinitiative.com/disrupting-rights-to-deliver-real-change as well as at Change from the Ground Up at https://www.changefromthegroundup.org/disruptive-rights
Conflict Textiles
The Conflict Textiles website at https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/conflicttextiles/ is a very comprehensive overview on this topic and listing of current and past events and the arpilleras and other textiles which have appeared in exhibitions. Current online exhibitions include the online Nonviolence in Action: Antimilitarism in the 21st Century (marking the centenary of the War Resisters’ International) https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2021/conflict-textiles-exhibition-nonviolence-action-antimilitarism-21st-century and seven textiles which appear in the Ulster Museum, Belfast, in the Troubles and Beyond exhibition on Following the Footsteps of the Disappeared.
de Borda news; Refer-endums and government formation
Open Democracy has published a short piece on looking beyond binary referendums, see https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/why-ireland-needs-look-beyond-binary-referendum-unification/ following University College London’s report on unification referendums in Ireland. Meanwhile on 4th October at 4pm, a week after the German general election, the de Borda Institute will be running a virtual workshop on the matrix vote ‘in’ Germany, a role-play to show how a Bundestag, rather than spending weeks in inter-party negotiations selecting a new Government, could elect one in less than a week. Run in conjunction with the Centre of Conflict Resolution in Munich: http://www.ccr-munich.de/ccr.htm this will be an English language, online matrix vote role play; in the webinar itself, they will elect a proportional, all-party, power-sharing Government, choosing not only who is to be in Cabinet but also in which Ministry… all in just the one matrix vote election. See https://politicalreform.ie/2021/08/31/pluralism-is-possible/ and www.deborda.org – volunteer participants still welcome/
Season of Creation
Eco Congregation Ireland (ECI) has shared the following resources for Creation Time/Season of Creation which takes place at this time of year: Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference – https://www.catholicbishops.ie/2021/07/21/season-of-creation-2021/; Season of Creation 2021 – https://seasonofcreation.org/; Climate Sunday Resources – https://www.climatesunday.org/; Prayer Vigil for COP26 – https://prayandfastfortheclimate.org.uk/2021/07/31/prayer-vigil-for-cop26/; Eco-Congregation Scotland – resources on COP26 can be found at https://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/ See also ECI’s own website at https://www.ecocongregationireland.com/
Feasta’s COP26 youth delegation
FEASTA is supporting the youth climate justice movement by nominating a number of young activists from Ireland and around the world to be delegates as part of FEASTA’s accredited observer status at the UNFCCC at the next climate conference (COP-26) to be held in early November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland. Their profiles are available on their website at https://www.feasta.org/ (along with a huge amount of other material).
Covid restrictions in Republic
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has welcomed the plan to end all Covid restrictions by 22nd October.ICCL Executive Director Liam Herrick said: “ We hope this will mean the overarching emergency legislation will be allowed to lapse on its 9 November sunset clause. We also hope this means previous government statements – that quarantine and vaccine passports will remain with us for longer – are now null and void.” ICCL also calls on government to commit to ending mandatory quarantine, a form of detention, and the discriminatory use of the vaccine passport, as soon as possible. Without the overarching emergency legislation, which lapses on 9 November, there will be no legal basis for restrictions on movement or gatherings. In the meantime, ICCL has called on Government to relax the regulations for attendance at funerals, which has a deep impact on families and has been one of the hardest restrictions for those faced with it during the pandemic. ICCL’s report on Covid and human rights in Ireland is at: https://www.iccl.ie/resources/publication/human-rights-in-a-pandemic/
Stop excluding military pollution…….
As a result of final-hour demands made by the USA government during negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto treaty, military greenhouse gas emissions were exempted from climate negotiations. World Beyond War has a petition, available at https://tinyurl.com/ytj8effe which includes “We ask COP26 to set strict greenhouse gas emissions limits that make no exception for militarism, include transparent reporting requirements and independent verification, and do not rely on schemes to “offset” emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from a country’s overseas military bases must be fully reported and charged to that country, not the country where the base is located.” https://worldbeyondwar.org/
Local leadership in peace processes
From 13-14 October, Principles for Peace (P4P) and Peace Direct invite peacebuilders, activists, changemakers, and anyone committed to preventing conflict and restoring peace to a two-day conversation on ‘Local Leadership in Peace Processes’ using Platform4Dialogue online discussion platform; this is part of a series of consultations on this topic. Having already established the need for a fundamental shift in how peace processes are undertaken – one that encourages local responsibility and accountability by placing local leadership at the centre and empowering peaceful elements of society to deliver on the foundations of a sustainable peace – the next session will look more at what this entails. They are keen to learn from practical real-life examples of good practices. Further info at https://tinyurl.com/cf53abb8 which includes a registration link.
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