US Embassy: 18-Hour Vigil for Peace

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | press release Wednesday June 23, 2004 03:28 by Anti-War Ireland - Anti-War Ireland/Pitstop Ploughshares 086 151 2013

Anti-War Ireland Vigil

Vigil For Peace At The US Embassy for Duration Of Bush Visit

Anti-war activists will hold an 18-hour overnight peace vigil at the US embassy in Ballsbridge, Dublin, for the duration of George W. Bush's stay in Ireland. The vigil will begin at 8.15pm on Friday night as Bush lands at Shannon airport.

So far those participating are Fintan Lane, convenor of Anti-War Ireland (currently banned from County Clare), and Deirdre Clancy, of Anti-War Ireland, Catholic Worker Movement and the Pitstop Ploughshares (currently banned from within five miles of Shannon airport). Both Lane and Clancy have served time in Limerick Prison as a result of non-violent civil disobedience in opposition to Ireland's complicity in the US war machine.

People should feel free to attend the vigil, even for a short time, in solidarity with those who have suffered at the hands of US foreign policy. The planned vigil is one of a variety of ways in which people affiliated with Anti-War Ireland are currently making their voices heard in opposition to the Bush aministration's policy in Iraq, Afghanistan and the whole of the Middle East.

Deirdre Clancy of the Anti-War Ireland and the Pitstop Ploughshares said: "I am dismayed at the government's welcoming of George Bush onto Irish soil, but not surprised. The Fianna Fail/PD coalition of the willing has consistently given mixed messages about its position on the murderous and disasterous foreign policy of the current US administration, while failing to provide any meaningful critique to the US government itself. Both Afghanistan and Iraq have been destabilized even further than before, and millions have suffered and died as a result of the 'might is right' policy of a US political elite, hell bent on further global economic dominance. The same diplomats who were placed in Central America in the 1980s and who funded death squads in countries like Nicaragua are now being posted to Iraq. We cannot afford to sit back and watch the US administration set up brutal puppet regimes in the Middle East in the way it has done in other countries in the past."

Fintan Lane, convenor of Anti-War Ireland said: "This vigil is in solidarity with those suffering as a result of Bush's belligerent war policy, but it is also a protest against the Irish government's complicity with the U.S. war machine. Shannon airport continues to facilitate the US military with more than 10,000 soldiers and their weapons passing through each month. It's a disgrace. An Irish civilian airport has been integrated into the U.S. war machine and we have been dragged into a war that most Irish people oppose. Bush has no intention of stopping at Iraq and it is clear that the global anti-war movement has a key role to play in forcing an end to the war policy of the current US adminstration. We hope that thousands take to street this weekend in opposition to the presence of George W. Bush."

PRESS RELEASE ENDS

More details from 086 1512013.