Grassroots Network Against War

A non-hierarchical network of groups and individuals active against the war, formed at the Grassroots Gathering in Belfast in September 2002.

 

something about formation and history (include things like links to march plan).

the list of actions we were involved in.

files (i.e. calls for actions, posters, pdfs, blood on their hands, press releases etc etc)

need to get these photos.....

Below are a list of some of the Direct Actions against the war that took place in Ireland many of which were carried out by people involved with GNAW. This isn't an exhaustive list and some of these actions may have had nothing to do with GNAW (lets keep the Gardai confused on that). But they give you some idea of the sort of activity we took part in.

How do we stop the next war?

by Grassroots Dublin - Grassroots Network Against War
phone: 087-7501473 ggantiwar@yahoo.com

GNAW review meeting, Wed 30th April, 7:30pm, Teachers Club

The Movement against the war in Ireland (in general) set itself two aims - to stop the war - to try and end the refueling of US military planes at Shannon Airport. Despite massive mobilisations one of over100,000 people and some excellent actions at Shannon neither aim was realised.

The first aim was probably well beyond any one group or country! And we may have contributed slightly to the fact that the "axis ofweasel" were some what careful as regards casualties - well initially at any rate. But ending the stop over at Shannon was surely possible. So where did we go wrong ? What worked what didn't work - what could have been done better? How can we be ready to move quickly and effectively the next time?

This meeting is intended to be a review of the Grassroots NetworkAgainst War campaign. The following activists will briefly analysethe anti war campaign(s) from their perspective and that of thecampaigns they were involved in. This will be followed by an openforum, where anybody and everybody will be invited to have their sayabout the campaign and most importantly where we can go from here.

Ciaron O Reilly: Catholic worker
Paul Moloney: ISN/IAWM
Anthony: GNAW Dublin

Wednesday 30th April 7:30 pm
Teachers Club (Club Na Muinteori) 36 Parnell Square West Dublin

Dead Slow March for Peace Mourning the Death of Irish Neutrality andAll Deaths in Iraq

30th March

Next Sunday, 30th March will see a Dead Slow March forPeace taking place at Shannon Warport. People will gather at Shannon from all over the country to express opposition to the war in Iraq and to Irish participation in it, through the use of facilities at Shannon by US military on their way to the Gulf.

This will be a solemn occasion, an act of mourning for all those who have been or will be killed in this war and for the final death of Irish Neutrality. Organisers are asking participants to wear black clothes, white face paint and to bring red paint or fake blood to put on their hands.

This protest has been called by the Grassroots NetworkAgainst War and is being supported by the Cork Peace Alliance.

 

Below is the plan released for the Direct Action, at Shannon, on March 1st.

Dublin GNAW - Grassroots Network Against War
phone: 087-7501473 (dublin) ggantiwar@yahoo.com

Detailed plans for direct action on March first.

A few weeks ago Grassroots Network Against War called a'direct-action' protest at Shannon Airport. We have undergone adebate within the island-wide network to formulate, in as democraticand open a way as possible, a plan that we can propose to people inadvance. Following this process of debate, culminating in a delegatesmeeting this weekend in Galway, we can propose the following plan.

We will attempt to engage in a mass trespass at Shannon airport.This action will be an example of mass non-violent civil disobediencein the tradition of Gandhi's salt march. It will be a purely peacefulprotest. We intend to signal our opposition to US warplanes refuelingat Shannon airport and to indicate that we refuse to sit back whileour government, acting in our names, gives material assistance to awar that will be both brutal and unjust.

We intend to dissemintate this information widely so that peoplewho come to Shannon on March 1st can make an informed choice as towhether they wish to participate in this action, and if so on whatlevel they wish to be involved. This is not a secretive or eliteaction, nor are we hijacking anybody's movement. Since calling thisprotest we have met with other anti-war movements and have alwaysbeen clear that direct action will be part of our protest on March1st. Since we called this protest, other anti-war movements havecalled demonstrations for the same time at Shannon, which willoperate on a different basis. We respect their right to organiseprotests in a manner that they see fit and will continue to doeverything in our power to co-ordinate with them to ensure that thereis no confusion among or between the protests.

We reject suggestions, carried in some of the media that thisindicates a split in the anti-war movement. Within any such broadmovement there are a range of different viewpoints on suitabletactics and methods to employ. We see this diversity as a sign ofstrength rather than division. If others within the anti-war movementwish to distance themselves from any approach that goes beyondsymbolic protest, we will continue nonetheless to seek unity ofpurpose in the movement and respect for diversity of tactics.

Here is the detailled plan for the direct action on the day:

1) The assembly point for the protest will be in thecarpark of Shannon Shopping center at 2pm. As soon as the crowd hasassembled we will address the crowd and explain this plan again andindicate how people can participate and on what levels they can doso.

2) We will form into 2 sections, one for people that wish to takepart in the action (signalled by white flags) and one for people thatwish to support the action and show their solidarity but do not wishto take part (signalled by pink flags). These 2 sections will proceedto march to the airport with the white section in advance and thepink section behind.

3) Once inside the airport and parallel to the fence on the mainapproach to the airport, those in the white section will link armsand form a line, one deep, facing the fence. The pink section shallretreat to a safe distance behind this line to observe.

4) The line will walk towards the fence with arms linked and oncewe reach the fence we will attempt to pull it down. Once the fencehas been dismantled we shall cross it and shall remain in the grassverge on the other side of the fence. We will not attempt to occupythe runway or to reach any planes, the purpose of this action is todemonstrate that the state can not secure the 'warport' against theanger of the people.

Q. What can I do?

For this action to succeed we need a critical mass of people. Weneed you. Direct action means YOU do it. However, you do not have tobe a super brave commando to take part in this action. There are anumber of different levels that people can participate on and all ofthese are important to the success of the action. Everybody has apart to play.

A) Take part in the trespass. Join in the line. Helppull the fence down. Step across the fence.

B) Take part in the line but do not trespass. You can show yoursolidarity with the action by linking arms and joining in the linebut not participating in the dismatlement of the fence and notcrossing the fence once it comes down. This would mean that you havenot broken the law while still taking full part in the action.

C) Take part in the trespass but not the line. For those who donot wish to be involved in confrontational acts, stay back from theline but engage in the tresspass once the fence has come down and thesituation has calmed down somewhat.

D) Be an active observer. You can take part in the action as anactive observer by not taking part in the line but observing it and being ready to respond to events, linking up and swarming about to prevent the police from attacking or arresting people. Create diversions, look out for others, chant, sing.

E) Be a solidarity observer. A space will be set aside, marked by pink flags, where people who do not wish to run any risks of arrest or physical commotion can stay and observe the protest, and show their solidarity with those willing to engage in civil disobediane.This is very imporant since the presence of observers makes it much more difficult for the police to engage in violent or aggressive behaviour towards the peaceful protestors.

Risks.

We should emphasise that, although this is going to be an entirely non-violent protest, those who participate in it do face certain risks. The risks to solidarity observers should be very small, while for those who take part in the line, there is a certain risk of arrest or violence from the police. We believe that, given the current political climate, the state will be very reluctant to be seen to be overly aggressive towards protestors, therefore we do not think that the risks are exceptional. However, it is up to everybody who participates to seriously consider the risks before they take part in anything of this nature.

Together we can do it. We can form a force to free the skies of Clare from the US war machine.

Grassroots Network Against the War.

A non-hierarchical network of groups and individuals activeagainst the war, formed at the Grassroots Gathering in Belfast in September 2002.

Dublin grassroots gathering anti-war leaflet
This is the text of a leaflet drawn up by the Dublin grassrootsgathering and distibuted on the Feb 15 anti-war march in Dublin.